Herbal Magick - Small Farm, Permaculture, and Sustainable Living

24 Herbal Magick
given as a gift) will impart the worst of luck to both the giver
and the recipient.
Other plants said to invite bad luck when brought into a
house include broom (especially if brought in during the
month of May), dog rose, elder, gorse (also known as furze
flower), hawthorn, heather (unless it is white), ivy, lilac, lilyof-the-valley,
pussy willow, snowdrops, and the flowers of any
plant, shrub, or tree (especially fruit-bearing ones) that bloom
out of season.
“Hawthorn blooms and elder flowers,
Fill a house with evil powers.”
—An old English saying.
The speedwell was once thought to be an unlucky flower.
So unlucky, in fact, many young children were often warned
not to gather it lest their mothers would die before the year
was done. In some parts of England, it is still believed by some
that picking speedwell (also known as “bird’s-eye”) will cause
one’s eyes to be pecked out by birds!
Bringing any type of white flowers into the house will
result in a death in the family, according to an old superstition.
To avoid bad luck, white flowers should never be given to
the ill or brought into hospitals.
Bringing yew into one’s home is also said to be a very
unlucky thing to do. Some folks believe that if it is brought
indoors at Christmas, a family member will meet his or her
demise within the next 12 months.
Herbs rb o of the th Devil Dev As any contemporary Witch, Neo-Pagan, or educated occult
historian can tell you, worship of the Christian’s devil was
never an element of the Old Religion or the Witches’ Craft.
However, the vast majority of Christians in the Middle Ages