Herbal Magick - Small Farm, Permaculture, and Sustainable Living

32 Herbal Magick
For protection against sorcery, demons, and the harmful
gaze of the evil eye, many folks in the Middle Ages would pass
figwort plants through the smoke of a Midsummer fire and
then hang them over the doors and windows of their homes as
amulets. Legend has it that the figwort possesses great protective
powers.
Jumping through the smoke generated by wood betony cast
into a Midsummer bonfire is one old Pagan method of purifying
the body of demons and disease. Wood betony that is gathered
on Midsummer is also believed to have protective powers.
It is often kept beneath the pillow to preserve sleepers from
nightmares, and worn as an herbal amulet to ward off evil.
Another curious old legend surrounding the Midsummer
fire claims that if you gaze into one while looking through a
bouquet of larkspur, this will prevent blindness or ailments of
the eyes from occurring. The protective power of this spell,
however, only remains in effect for one year and the spell must
be repeated every Midsummer.
Midsummer is not only a time for working herbal magick,
but herbal divinations as well. One old method to make the
vision of one’s future husband or wife materialize called for a
handful of hemp seeds to be sprinkled while walking nine
times clockwise around a church and reciting a special incantation.
In order for the divination to work, it needed to be
carried out at the midnight hour as Midsummer began.
Diviners have employed herbs since ancient times. However,
not all herbal divinations center on romance and matrimony.
Meadowsweet gathered on Midsummer, for example,
was used long ago to determine the gender of a thief. It was
believed that if the plant sank when placed on water, the thief
was male. If it floated, this indicated a female.