Tag: Gardens

The Goddess Companion

Pomona lived in ancient times,
a nymph whose merest touch would green
an orchard, would fill its boughs with fruit.
Oh how Pomona loved her orchards!
The rest of nature left her cold, but
fruit trees! apples! pears! These were
Pomona’s great delight, her fiercest joy.
She bore a knife, but not for hunting:
no, hers was used to trim a hedge
of rose or cherry-wood, or to prune
a fruitless tree, or graft an aged apple
so that it burst forth anew.
Orchards were her secret nurseries
and trees were her beloved ones
who never thirsted, never withered.
Oh! to live among Pomona’s trees!
Oh! to be loved as much as that!
~Ovid, Metamorphoses
 
The Roman Goddess Pomona was honored as the spirit of fruit trees, and also as the gardener who tends them. For many people, connection with nature occurs primarily through gardening. Even in urban areas, a pot of marigolds on a balcony will brighten the darkest day. The connection between people and plants is one that has always illuminated myth and ritual. Although few rituals exist today to celebrate the great productivity of plant and animal life each summer, we can build our own with friends and family. Eating the first corn, cutting the first ripe tomato, grilling fresh fish in the open air: if done consciously, these can become rituals of thanksgiving and love to the earth that sustains us.
 
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By Patricia Monaghan

Herb of the Day for July 11th is Pimpernel

Herb of the Day

Pimpernel

Folk Names:  Blessed Herb, Greater Pimpernel, Herb of Mary, Luib na muc, Pimpinella, Poorman’s Weatherglass, Shepherd’s Weatherglass.

Gender:  Masculine

Planet:  Mercury

Element:  Air

Powers:  Protection, Health

Magickal Uses:  The pimpernel is carried for protection and to keep people from deceiving you. When placed in the home it wards off illnesses and prevents accidents.

Its power is supposed to be so great that when dropped into running water it will move against the current.

Magickal knife blades are rubbed with pimpernel juice to purify and empower them.

Cleansing Stones Using Earth

In a small dish of earth, bury the stone for three days. Most of the time houseplants can be used for this. Put a toothpick or some sort of marker in the surface of the earth above where you’ve buried your stone, though, or you might never find it again. In addition, beware of using houseplant’s earth if the stone contains a lot of negative energy; it will be absorbed by the earth (which is why you’re using the earth to cleanse the stone), but it will in turn be absorbed from the earth into the houseplant, and the house is likely to die.

Magickal Intentions – Lust

Herbs have been used for centuries to create a sexual desire in those near them. Not surprisingly, they are commonly used to arouse another person’s lust, perhaps against their will.

However they are also used as love herbs are to attract others who desire sexual contacts, and this a certainly less manipulatory than the former use.

Magickal Intentions – Protection

From the overwhelming number of herbs used for this purpose it is obvious that protection is (and has been) of the utmost concern for many people. Most of the protective herbs are  general in their effects; they guard their bearer against physical and psychic attacks; injury; accidents, poison, snake bite, lightning strikes, wicked spirits, the evil eye and so on. In other words they are protective in a general way.

Naturally they won’t do you much good once something  has happened–protective herbs should be a preventative. This doesn’t mean that if you wear a protective root or carry a sachet you’ll breeze through life unfettered with annoyances. But carrying some of those herbs will certainly help screen out potential harmful situation.

In today’s world we should guard ourselves with every available means. Protective herbs are one of these.  They create a type of force field around your home, possessions, or self. When carried they also increase the effectiveness of your body’s natural defenses.

An ounce of prevention, after all, is worth a pound of cure.

Herb of the Day for May 11th is Lemon Grass

Herb of the Day

Lemon Grass

This herb is a native of Southeastern Asia growing in tropical climates all over the world. From a distance it may be mistaken as Johnson grass, but this herb is very useful. It yields the finest commercial lemon oil and make the best culinary herb for lemon lovers. The bulb helps digest fatty meats and its’ leaves flavor teas, seafood and vegetable. Grow me in full sun with lots of water. Propagate the herb from root division or buy a bulb at the Chinese vegetable market, root it in potting soil and it will be producing new leaves in three weeks.