“ There is a kind of natural magic, wich is named Witching or Medicinal, wich is done with potions, charmed drinks for love and diverse poisonous medicins.” (Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa)

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All regions of the world have magic in their history. A lot has been written about “Witches’ Herbs”, and “Flying Ointments”. These are the roots of all magic and the fantastic stories that came out of it. They have a long history of medicinal and divinational use.

A lot can be found on the internet, more than one can put in one website. This page is a guide to some of most important the herbs that have been used for magical purposes throughout the ages in Western Europe, meaning that all the wild plants in this guide can be found in the Northern hemisphere. All these plants are poisonous, some of them extremely so. And all of them are psychoactive, they contain substances that alter the mind in the right dosage, but keep in mind that an overdose of these poisonous substances leads to a certain death. is beeing said, in experimenting with these herbs, one should always follow the golden rule:

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Burn it - Smear it - Drink it - Eat it.

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This means that the first encounter with strenght of an ingredient would be by burning the dried herb on smoldering coal and inhaling the smoke. is can be in open air or in a consealed space, like a tent, a grotto or a pit with a lid in the ground. Anyway a place where you can easily get away from. Depending on the plant you can then smoke the seeds, leaves, bark, owers, dried sap, etc..., still being able to stop when things get ugly. Some of the effects are realy terrifying. Misplaced bravery can kill you.

 

Smear it means you prepare an ointment. is can be an oil or a fat, like bees wax or olive- and coconut oil.
e use of babyfat has its roots in catholic antipropaganda, to scare people away from the old pagan knowledge and should not be taken in consideration, although it is said that animal fat works better for absorbing the constituants through the skin.

Some of the old sorcerers however were vegetarians and substituted these by vegetable oils and so putting an end to animal sacri ce for their magical performances. Recipes containing blood should be avoided.
Some of the herbs can be ingested oraly, some need a MAO inhibitor to be e ective in this way (see the popular ayuasca) . e e ects will take longer, sometimes even days. So be verry cautious when you want to take this step. Prepare yourself properly, and if possible, have someone monitoring you. ese practises are verry dangerous, and should only be done with the greatest care and a lot of study beforehand. Onecan find a plethora of information in the Vault of Erowid. In the right dosage, they can become a key to the “other world”.

 

Bon voyage,

Myrddin.

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