All Hallow's Eve /Samhain, and Plant Lore
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with many herbalists, gardeners and pagans. Folklore focuses on the
legends and myths associated with various plants as opposed to the
scientific knowledge associated with the fields of study such as botany
and horticulture.
All Hallow's Eve or Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival day,
traditionally marked the end of summer and beginning of winter. Long
before modern-day Halloween costumes and candy overtook the
proceedings, the final day of October was a time of reflection, both of
past events and of loved ones who had recently died. At the same time,
the evening provided a chance to look forward and try to divine what
the new year would bring.
While that spirit of reflection has been lost on most of us who
celebrate the holiday's modern incarnation, the symbols remain. Images
of cauldrons and broomsticks, pumpkins and witches endure as icons of
Halloween. Steeped in history and lore, many of these symbols have a
connection to herbs that reveals users long forgotten.
Herbalist or Witch
The historical image of a cauldron bubbling over with magical potions,
for example, probably originated from the large pot in which women of
the Middle Ages boiled ingredients to produce a variety of medicinal
simples and compounds. Simpling and compounding are the arts of
collecting medicinal herbs, flowers, fruits, and roots in order to keep
a necessary supply of potions, ointments, salves and poltices on hand.
Women of the household most often conducted and supervised the simpling
that occured in their household. During the Medieval and Renaissance
periods, the disciplines of herbalism, alchemy and magic often
overlapped and these women sometimes added the roll of spell-casting to
their role of creating homemade herbal cures.
As for the contents of the symbolic cauldron, Shakespeare immortalized
these herbs in Macbeth (Act 4, Scene 1), with the chant:Double, double,
toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Sinister-sounding as they may seem, the ingredients used by
Shakespeare's witches were nothing more than the folk names of a
variety of common herbs. Eye of newt could have been any of the
daisy-type flowers such as English daisy (Bellis perenis). Wool of bat
is more commonly known as holly (Ilex aquifolium); tongue of dog is
hound's tongue (Cynoglossum officinale); and adder's fork today is
called serpent's tongue (Erythronium americanum). We know fillet of a
fenny snake as chickweed (Stellaria holostea), while toe of frog may
have been a type of buttercup such as Ranunculus bulbosus.
And what about the witches themselves? The word "witch," another
ubiquitous image of Halloween, translates from the old Anglo-Saxon word
wicce, which means "wise one." The word "witchcraft" literally means
"the craft of the wise ones." Also known as the village wise woman,
cunning man, tribal shaman, or hedge witch, this person was the healer,
teacher, and care-giver of his or her people.
European gypsies of the Middle Ages combined their knowledge of herbs,
magic, and divination in their day-to-day activities. Superstitious
people often labeled these forest-dwelling gypsies as witches and
sorcerers. They were nothing more or less than the herb men and women
or shamans of their tribes.
A Clean Sweep
Broomsticks are an ancient symbol representing womanhood, while
pitchforks are an ancient symbol representing manhood. Brooms, a symbol
often associated with witchcraft, are used to sweep away, or cleanse an
area of negative energy prior to performing magical and healing
rituals. Wise women and witches would also use their broomsticks to
perform a sort of imitative magic. They would go out into the fields
and dance and leap high into the air while astride their brooms and
pitchforks. It was thought that this would cause the crops to grow as
tall as they were able to jump into the air.Today, the broomstick
conjures the mood of Halloween for young revelers - and it's another
image with a meaning steeped in history. In centuries past, Samhain
marked the time of year when witches would "fly" in order to divine the
future. The image of witches flying off on their magic broomstick
correlates to their use of magical flying ointments during their
divinatory endeavors. After the witches covered themselves with the
ointment they would lay down by the fireplace in order tokeep safe and
warm while on their shamanistic journeys.
Superstitious people, believing the witches could literally fly,
assumed they climbed aboard broomsticks and rose through their chimneys
to terrorize the countryside with their wicked deeds. But the "flight"
was really one of spirit. All Hallow's Eve marked a time when the
boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead thinned. With
the help of hallucinogenic herbs, those seeking spirit flight could
explore this realm, using their experiences to divine clues about what
the future held. The symbol of this flight, the witch's broom (also
known as a besom), has historical associations with a variety of plants.
Broom (Cytisus scoparius)
Bundles of this plant were attached to a handle and used in cleansing
rituals prior to performing magic. This practice was thought to sweep
away any negative energy and evil spirits that might interfere with the
magic being performed by the witch. Broom is also a narcotic and
depresses respiration.
Celery seeds (Apium graveolens)
These seeds were eaten by witches before flying so that they wouldn't
become dizzy and fall off their broomsticks.
Ragwort stalks (Senecio spp.)
According to legend, the stalks of this plant formed the basis for
magical flying brooms.
Ash (Fraxinum spp.)
Ash often made up the handle of the broom and had the added benefit of
preventing a witch from drowning.
Birch (Betula pendula)
The branches of this tree could also serve as the traditional witch's
broom. A bundle of birch twigs could be bound to one end of the broom
handle using a flexible, vine-type plant such as osiers.
Willow (Salix alba)
This plant was also known as osiers. The larger branches of this plant
were used to make the handle of the witch's broom. The longer, pliable
twigs would be used to bind other materials to the broom handle.
Other plants were associated with witches' brooms, including bulrush
(Typha latifolia), mullein (Verbascum thapus), and even corn stalks, if
nothing else was available.
As for the actual "flying," we again investigate herbs for some
insight. The narcotic and hallucinogenic properties of many herbs
served in witchcraft and magic rituals during ancient and Medieval
times. Many of these herbs became ointments with the addition of melted
fat. Rubbed into the skin, ointments would carry the chemical
properties of the herbs into the blood stream, causing a variety of
physiological effects - irregular heartbeat, tingling, numbness,
delirium, mental confusion, weightlessness, and hallucinations. These
effects would create the feeling of flight, especially since the
witches would often fast prior to going on their shamanistic journeys
to heighten the effects of the herbs they used.
The motivation behind the desire for flight lay in the belief that upon
leaving the physical body after death, spirits moved to the astral
plane. Witches thought it possible to temporarily depart the body and
visit this astral plane when in a trance or sleep like state. Because
the astral bodies of both the living (as visitors) and the dead
traveled on the same astral plane, the possibility existed that the two
could meet. This was the goal of "flying." This spirit flight was
really a type of divinatory shamanism and is still practiced by many
tribal healers such as modern-day shamans and medicine men. Halloween
was thought to be one of the best times of the year to practice this
type of divination. The boundaries between the world of the living and
the world of the dead were thought to be at their weakest during this
time. After the effects of the herbs wore off the visions the witches
had would be interpreted for clues about what the future held.
Flying Potions and Poisons
Several herbs would help facilitate astral projection and spiritual
visions. The typical ingredients that would have been part of a witch's
flying ointment included aconite (Aconitum napellus), deadly nightshade
(Atropa belladonna), mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), thornapple
(Datura stramonium), blood root (Potentilla erectus), poison hemlock
(Conium maculatum), black hellebore (Helleborus niger), and henbane
(Hyoscyamus niger).
Aconite (or wolf's bane), according to legend this was Hecate's herb,
the Greek goddess of the Underworld. Aconite was purportedly made from
the foaming mouth of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the
entry to the underworld. The seeds of aconite, when bound with the skin
of a lizard, would render a witch invisible. Wolf's bane also had the
reputation as a deterrent against attacks by werewolves and vampires
and is a powerful sedative. An overdose of this herb is fatal and was
at one time used to kill wolves hence the folk name wolf's bane.Black
hellebore (aka Christmas rose) this herb is a strong narcotic and a
traditional ingredient of the witches flying ointments. It was once
thought to be able to cure anyone suffering from madness.
Byrony the forked roots of this plant were sometimes used as a
substitute for mandrake and sold under the name English mandrake.
Natural body shaped pieces of the root were believed to be the most
magically potent. Disreputable apothecaries carved the root to make it
look more like the human body.
Deadly nightshade (aka witch's berry) is related to both mandrake and
henbane. Atropos, one of the three Greek goddesses of Fate, used this
plant to cut the thread of life - hence the plant's Latin name, Atropa
belladonna. Because of the plant's toxic nature, some also believed it
to be the favorite plant of the Devil. Indeed, the herbalist John
Gerard remarked upon the poisonous nature of deadly nightshade in his
book The Herbal, or General History of Plants: "A plant so furious and
deadly; for it bringeth such as have eaten thereof into a dead sleepe
wherein many have died."
Hemlock (aka beaver poison) this plant acts as a sedative, induces a
sense of giddiness and causes the sensation of flying. This is an
extremely poisonous plant and causes the respiratory nerves to become
paralyzed which causes the victim to suffocate. A fatal dose of hemlock
was taken by the Greek philosopher Socrates c. 399 BC.
Mandrake (or sorcerer's root) was considered a particularly dangerous
herb. The roots, which have a shape resembling the human body, formed
the basis for magic "poppets.," The root was thought to emit such a
horrific scream when removed from the ground, so the folklore goes,
that the noise would kill any person or beast unfortunate enough to
hear it. The trick was to tie a sacrificial dog to the end of the root
then run away quickly. When the dog went to follow its master, it would
pull the root out of the ground. The witch would then return at a later
time to collect the root and the remains of the dog.
Thornapple (aka devil's trumpet) is a powerful narcotic with stupefying
effects. Its uses in ancient times included a potion that would subdue
victims marked for ritual sacrifice. During the witch hunts of the
Medieval and Renaissance periods, it also helped numb those on their
way to execution. Fellow witches hiding in a crowd of onlookers would
surreptitiously pass a sponge soaked with a thornapple potion to the
accused.
For further details regarding henbane (aka Devil's eye) including the
magical attributes associated with it, see the article Henbane;
Horrible or Heavenly? by Kay Morgenstern which was published in the
Fall 2002 issue of the Herb Quarterly.
A Dark Past Brightens
Witches have endured a bad reputation, to say the least, not to mention
outright persecution. If these healers could use their plants for
medicinal purposes, went the witch-hut logic, they could also use them
for evil. Anyone known to grow, gather or utilize the mysterious herbs
associated with witchcraft often earned the "witch" label, even if he
or she only harvested the herbs for culinary purposes of for
self-medication.
The person most often accused of witchcraft was the village wise woman,
also known as the village healer or herbalist, who dispensed a wide
variety of botanical cures. Many of these earth-healers were poor,
elderly women living solitary lives apart from the rest of the
townsfolk, usually in or near the woods where they could forage for
food and medicines among the roots and herbs.
Fortunately, as the witch hunts wound down, the so-called witches were
finally left alone to go back to practicing their craft of healing and
helping out their neighbors. Herbalism went on to enjoy a renaissance,
complete with widespread mainstream acceptance. And of greatest
significance to trick-or-treaters, All Hallow's Eve became a decidedly
more festive affair - one with enduring ties to complex plant lore.A
Final Note - Before the Jack-o-Lantern
On Samhain in ancient Ireland, revelers hollowed out large turnips
(Brassica rapa) or even potatoes or beets, carved them into frightening
designs, and lit them from within with either a candle or a piece of
burning coal. They'd then place these lanterns in the windows and
doorways of their homes for two reasons. First, they believed the
designs would scare off evil spirits, preventing them from entering the
house. Second, the hollowed creations would let the spirits of their
departed loved ones know they were welcomed into the house during this
time of year. These turnip lanterns were the precursor to our
modern-day Jack-o-lantern. The larger, easier-to-carve pumpkins found
in the New World made ready substitutes for Irish immigrants arriving
in America during the Irish potato famine of the 1800's.
Author's comment:
This article is intended to be used for entertainment purposes only.
Many of the herbs mentioned in the article are poisonous and their use
should be avoided.
Sources:
Buckland, Raymond. The Witch Book; the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft,
Wicca and Neo-paganism. Visible Ink Press, 2002.
Clarkson, Rosetta. Green Enchantment; The Magic Spell of Gardens. The
Macmillan Company, 1940.
Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs.
Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
Jacob, Dorothy. A Witch's Guide to Gardening. Taplinger Publishing Co.,
1964.
Vickery, Roy. A Dictionary of Plant Lore. Oxford University Press, 1997
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