Herbal Magick - Small Farm, Permaculture, and Sustainable Living

Mandrake nd a
Herbal Superstitions A to Z
It was once believed that mandrake plants were inhabited
by dark-skinned supernatural beings known as mandragoras
(“man-dragons”), which were mischievous by nature and often
called upon to aid sorcerers and sorceresses in the practice
of their craft.
A legend dating back to medieval times claims that when
a mandrake plant is pulled from the ground, it emits an earpiercing
scream and begins to sweat droplets of blood. Legend
also has it that any person whose ears were unfortunate enough
to hear the plant’s shriek would either be driven to madness or
suffer an agonizing death. How this legend came to be is somewhat
of a mystery, but it was nevertheless well known throughout
Europe and even prompted many practitioners of sorcery
to use dogs to uproot their mandrakes as a safety precaution.
One interesting theory concerning the origin of the shrieking
mandrake legend can be found in Richard Lucas’ The Magic
of Herbs in Daily Living:
“Tests conducted by Sir Janghadish showed that a plant
pulled up by the roots suffers tremendous shock, comparable
to that of a person beaten into insensibility. This immediately
calls to mind the legend of the screaming mandrake. Perhaps
the myth originated when some person here and there with
mediumistic ability tore a mandrake from the ground and psychically
sensed the plant’s torment and anguish. Such an experience
would have excited profound emotions of horror in
the mind of the psychic, especially if the person was a timid
soul or one whose psychic faculties had just emerged for the
first time. It is not difficult to understand that in some instances
the shock could have caused insanity or heart failure.”
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