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Herbal Magick - Small Farm, Permaculture, and Sustainable Living

Herbal Magick - Small Farm, Permaculture, and Sustainable Living

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18 <strong>Herbal</strong> <strong>Magick</strong><br />

thumb.” The grounds behind her house hosted a beautiful<br />

garden filled with roses, vegetables, fruit trees, <strong>and</strong> herbs.<br />

I have many fond childhood memories of my gr<strong>and</strong>mother’s<br />

garden, <strong>and</strong> to me it was quite an enchanted place. Sometimes<br />

it seems as though it was only yesterday that I walked barefoot<br />

upon its dew-kissed violets <strong>and</strong> clover on a misty summer<br />

morning or smelled the scent of its parsley, basil, <strong>and</strong> oregano<br />

plants, as I lay upon a hammock reading omens in the clouds<br />

drifting lazily above.<br />

Fairies <strong>and</strong> other nature spirits were said to have inhabited<br />

Gr<strong>and</strong>ma Rose’s fragrant <strong>and</strong> secluded garden. I never actually<br />

saw them, but I could always sense their nearby presence whenever<br />

I spent time there. Sometimes I would catch a glimpse of<br />

some tiny sparkling thing moving in my peripheral vision, but<br />

as soon as I would turn to look, it would always be gone.<br />

I also remember an old tree near the garden that my friends<br />

<strong>and</strong> I felt was inhabited by some unseen elfin creature (for lack<br />

of a better word). They feared that tree <strong>and</strong> always kept their<br />

distance from its grotesquely twisted trunk <strong>and</strong> branches whenever<br />

we’d play in the yard. But, for some reason, I always felt<br />

strangely drawn to it <strong>and</strong> would often tell my secrets to it or<br />

place flowers or some of my toys at its base as gifts for the<br />

elemental spirit dwelling within.<br />

Gr<strong>and</strong>ma’s d a’ H Home e Remedies em<br />

My gr<strong>and</strong>mother was a wise woman. She knew of the healing<br />

powers that herbs possessed <strong>and</strong> often applied them in her<br />

home remedies. Garlic was revered for treating infections, homemade<br />

apple cider vinegar for the itching caused by poison ivy,<br />

<strong>and</strong> witch hazel for swellings <strong>and</strong> inflammations. When my<br />

mother was a young girl <strong>and</strong> was stricken with rheumatic fever,<br />

Gr<strong>and</strong>ma Rose treated her with a mustard poultice that<br />

she called a plaster.

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