The Witch's Garden Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering the planetary associations, elemental correspondences, and magickal properties of specific plants mentioned in the lecture notes.

Angel's trumpet (Brugmansia Sauveolens)

A plant ruled by Venus and Saturn associated with the element of Air; its magickal meanings include working in the realm of dreams, assisting with astral flight, and aiding in transitions or transformations.

Belladonna (Atropa Belladonna)

Also known as Deadly Nightshade, it is ruled by Venus, Saturn, and Mars; it is used for fascination and charming magick, hexing and healing, and as an ingredient in the Witch's Flying Ointment.

Bleeding heart

A plant ruled by Mars and the Sun and associated with the element of Fire; it is used by modern Witches in love magick and to help heal unhealed wounds of the heart, release grief, and address co-dependency.

Calla Lilly (Zantedeschia Aethiopica)

Ruled by the Moon, Sun, Venus, and Pluto, this plant represents the balance of spiritual and sexual natures; it is used for beauty, fascination, and situations involving death and rebirth.

Camellia (Camelia Japonica)

A plant ruled by the Moon and Venus associated with Water; its magick focuses on prosperity, luxury, and connecting the heart and head to bring comfort and grounding.

Cannabis (Cannabis Sativa)

Ruled by the Moon, Venus, Saturn, and Neptune, it is used to enhance meditation, divination, and spirit contact by dissolving rigid boundaries and expanding awareness.

Dandelion (taraxacum officinale)

A Jupiter and Sun herb associated with Fire and Earth; it is used for prosperity, success, and grounding dreams, while also helping release anger or emotional poisons from the liver.

Dragon Tree (Dracaena Draco)

A Mars and Sun tree that provides a red resin used as a magickal catalyst for power, protection, exorcisms, and taking clear action.

Fly Agaric (Amanita Muscaria)

An archetypal magick mushroom associated with the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Mars; it is used for spirit contact, particularly involving the faerie realm and the underworld.

Hellebore (Helleborus Niger)

Ruled by Venus, Saturn, and Mars, it is a potent poison used for protection, invisibility, necromancy, and to hear the voice of the goddess during the wintertime.

Dragon's Blood

A red resin used as an incense, ink, and catalyst to enhance and empower all magickal workings; historically sourced from the Dracaena Draco species by violin makers.

Atropos

The third fate in mythology for whom Belladonna is named; she is responsible for cutting the line of life.

Witch's Flying Ointment

A classic preparation using plants like Belladonna to aid astral travel, spirit flights, and communication with spiritual entities including the faerie realm.

Christmas Rose

The common name for the variety Helleborus Niger because it blooms in the wintertime, often under the snow.

Hemlock

Ruled by Saturn and Venus, this herb is one of the most dangerous of the Witch’s herbs, preferring to grow near boundaries and borders of the roads, gardens, and waterways, for it is an herb of the gate, of the veil, between life and death.

Henbane

Ruled by Saturn and Jupiter, is a mystical herb with multiple associations, most often about darkness and death. Considered both an oracular herb and funerary herb in the Greek mysteries, this herb dealt with both the realm of the dead and realm of the spirits, its smoke used to enter trance and see beyond the veil.

Holly

Ruled by mars and venus, Planted near graveyards and churches, it protects you from hostile spirits.. This herb can can be used in dream charms, to both protect and guide you on the journey

Ivy

Ruled by Saturn, Venus, Moon and Venus, this herb as a wreath upon the door is both protective and blessing. In folklore, women carried this leaf hidden upon them for good fortune.

Lavender

Ruled by Mercury and Jupiter, It does not quite quicken the mind, but brings peace, perspective, and fortitude to the mind for long-term projects. Because of its clarifying and uplifting nature, it has been used in both herbal floral washes for clearing, as well as purifying blends of herbs to be burned in bundles or mixed with incense.

Love lies Bleeding

Ruled by mars and saturn, South American flower that was introduced into Europe after the colonization of Central and South America, making its way into European magick as well as English gardens. Due to its symbolism, it has associations with slow death and suffering, and can be used in magick to commune with the dead, though it is quite harmonious and generous plant, as its main botanical signature is the prolific manufacture of high protein seeds that can be used as grain.

Mandrake

Ruled by Venus, Saturn and Mars, Lore tells us that the this herb is created by the fallen semen of the hanged man at the gallows, and that when dug, its scream can kill a human, evoking the idea of enticing a hungry dog tied to the loosed root to tip out of the ground by placing meat just outside it’s reach, and thus the dog bears the scream’s deadly sound, not the human harvesting it.

Moonflower

Ruled by venus and moon, The heart-shaped leaves are associated with the heart, causing it to be used in love and lust spells, attracting love just as the scent of the flower attracts moths for pollination.