A Magickal Herball Compleat.pdf - Magicka School

And I will say to Ptah, Lord of Truth:
"Give me my fair one tonight."
The river is like wine.
The god Ptah is its tuft of reeds,
The goddess Sekhmet is its bouquet of flowers,
The goddess Yadyt is its water lily bud,
The god Nefertem is its opened water lily.
My love will be happy!
The dawn illuminates her beauty.
This view can be supported by the fact that in many examples of Egyptian art
there are images of men and women holding the flower hinting, perhaps, at sexual
potency, desirability or fertility.
But the flower wasn’t just seen as being efficacious in this life; it also seems to
have been used as a symbol of rebirth after death. The fact that in 1922, blue
water lily petals were discovered in Tutankhamen's inner gold coffin is often cited
as suggesting this, and there are many mentions of it in The Egyptian Book of the
Dead [16]. Further, the four Sons of Horus who guarded the canopic jars, were
often depicted standing on blue water lily flowers and were present at the
judgement of the dead in the Halls of Ma'at, where they stood in front of Osiris
on half opened versions of these plants [17].
From all this we can see that the blue water lily was used throughout many areas
of Ancient Egyptian life and was unusual in its pre-eminence in religion, art,
politics and sex.
Other herbs more familiar to us today were used much as they have been in
Europe for centuries. The Egyptians were familiar with the cooking and healing
properties of aloes, anise, black seeds, calendula flowers, celery, chamomile
flowers, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, henna, hibiscus,
marjoram, onion, parsley, peppermint, sage, sesame seed, spearmint, sunflower
seed and tamarind.
Herbs, the Greeks and Ancient Romans
Greek medicine and the use of herbs as a healing tool has its roots in the
mythological figure of an Ancient Greek demi-god, known in Latin as
Aesculapius, who is often identified with the distant Egyptian figure of Imhotep.
Traditionally he symbolised the healing processes, while his six daughters Hygieia,
Meditrina, Iaso, Aceso, Aglæa and Panacea represented the forces of cleanliness,
medicine and healing. His sanctuaries were to be found widely throughout the
Greek world and it is just possible that Hippocrates [18] (c. 460 - c. 370 BCE), one
of the most famous and influential Greek physicians, began his career on the
island of Kos, where there was a famous asclepieion or healing temple.
It was from Hippocrates that the Greeks developed a humoural system of
medicine, where treatment was based around the need to restore the balance of
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