The Complete Beginners Guide To Herbs For Witchcraft

Why Do We Use Herbs?

Plants and herbs are some of the most abundant magical allies that we have available to us as witches. And I’m using the word allies here very intentionally. When we work with herbs and plants, we are not working with them as just inert material. We are working with them as spiritual allies, as literal spirits. You are working with the consciousness of these plants in order to work your magic. And this is what makes plants and herbs so useful.

Every single plant has spiritual properties and magical talents that you can ask them to use for your purposes. For example, basil is an excellent plant for drawing in opportunities to work and make more money. When you use basil in a money spell, you are asking basil to do this thing that it is so good at. You are literally asking the spirit of basil to help you accomplish your goals magically.

The great benefit of plants in this sense is just how many plants there are to work with magically and how incredibly varied they are in personality, temperament, and talent. Whatever it is you could possibly want to do magically, there is a plant or even a collection of plants that can help you do that. This gets deep into the operative animism that is so foundational to witchcraft. When you choose plants to work with in a spell, you are essentially putting together a team of spirits to assist you. This may sound daunting to beginners but it will quickly become an essential part of your practice once you start putting this botanical knowledge to use in your craft.

How We Use Herbs In Magic

I could certainly spend plenty of time talking about all the different ways that we use magickal herbs from powders, decoctions, and incense, to candle spells, herbal bundles, and essential oils, and all of that would be in some way useful. But the reality is that as you search for different kinds of spells and as you perform magic, you will naturally run into all of these methods of using plants without having to go out of your way. Almost every spell you find will include some kind of plant material for you to work with. More important than simply giving you a list of all the different ways that we use plants in magic, I want to teach you how to actually use your plants and herbs as magical materia, not just as inert substance.

This is the key to working with plants in your magic. Having the herb present is not enough, that is not in itself magical. The plant has to be awakened. You have to call out to the spirit of the plant and petition it for your magic. This is where the magic actually happens. You can take a candle, add the oils and herbs, say the incantations, light the candle, and let it burn, but if you are not doing the magical work to actually call upon every single part of your spell spiritually, you are not doing real magic. You may be setting magical intentions, you may be doing a little bit of manifesting, but this is all based on your own personal power. You are not calling on anything outside of yourself, you are not creating any kind of magical force to act upon the world.

This is one of the things that beginners really struggle with in witchcraft. Every time you cast a spell, you need to be treating it like you are putting together a team of spirits to help you accomplish what you want to happen. That is where the magic really happens. Now magic can certainly work through the conduit of personal energy and manifestation. That does work and I do teach about that, but if that is the kind of magic that you want to work, you do not ever need to work with plants and herbs. Plants and herbs serve as spiritual allies. Witchcraft involves going outside of yourself to petition these spirits for their assistance rather than relying only on your own energy and your own ability to manifest.

Now, there are two primary ways that you can go about doing this. The first is by interacting with your plants and herbs as spirits. This of course requires that you have some level of ability to psychically perceive and communicate with spirits. If you have this ability, simply start reaching out to your materia and calling it to wake up. And I mean verbally, out loud. You can call to a plant or an herb and tell it to wake up and then when you feel and sense the spirit beginning to stir and pay attention, you can have a conversation with it. Tell it what you’re trying to do. Learn about the spirit. The spirit of your plants and materia can teach you a great deal about how to do magic better.

For those of you who cannot yet communicate with spirits directly, that is okay. You can still work with your herbs as spirits. You’re just going to do it a little bit different. My preferred method for this comes from Southern conjure. In this practice, you make offerings to the spirit of the plant. You will make an offering of whiskey or of incense then you will verbally, again out loud, call to the spirit and make your petitions. Ask the spirit to do what you want it to do. You do not have to be able to sense the spirit and communicate with the spirit. You simply have to work with the plant with the understanding that you are speaking to the spirit of that plant.

If you would like to begin having a little more communication with these spirits and get a better idea of whether or not they want to work with you in this way, you can use a pendulum and yes no questions to begin getting an idea of what these plants are like and what they are best at.

Safety In Magical Herbalism

This is definitely not the most fun part of this conversation, but I would be remiss if I did not bring up the safety concerns that you need to be aware of when you work with herbs and your magic. If you are working with primarily culinary herbs and spices, you’re probably fine. We use those plants in our cooking because they are safe to consume. If you don’t want to do a ton of research on the safety of all of your plants, then stick with these kitchen herbs and spices. They make incredible magical allies even if they feel very common. Just because you have them in your kitchen pantry does not mean that they are not powerful spirits who can help you accomplish your magical goals!

Now, as you start venturing outside of these more common kitchen herbs and spices, you will need to begin carefully considering the safety and applicable uses of each herb that you work with. And I mean every single herb that you work with. You will want to know important facts like if an herb is safe to consume. You cannot go making teas or magic with an herb that is poisonous. And you want to know which herbs can and cannot be used in this way. The same thing goes for burning herbs. Some herbs are toxic if they are burned and inhaled. You do not want to be exposing yourself to potential harm through your witchcraft. So if you’re going to be setting plants on fire or using them in incense, make sure that those plants aren’t going to hurt you as they burn.

Finally, if you’re going to be ingesting a plant in any form, you should always check to make sure that it isn’t going to interact with any medications that you might take or that it won’t cause unwanted health repercussions. For example, we’re going to talk about mugwort below. Many people use mugwort tea for a variety of purposes, both in psychic and dream work and for health and hormones. However, mugwort can cause miscarriages. So if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, you should avoid mugwort, at least when it comes to consuming it. You can still use it externally in your magic, but you do not want to be making tea out of it or putting it into your food. Knowing the medicinal properties of your herbs can help you avoid the potentially serious consequences of using them improperly in your magical practice.

These are the kinds of things that I want you to research when you are learning about your herbs and plants. Yes, you need to learn about the magical properties of these plants, what these spirits do and don’t like, what they are good at, and what they can help you with in magic. But always prioritize knowing how safe these herbs are and in what instances they are safe to use and consume. There are plenty of dangerous herbs that are commonly used in the craft and not all of them come with obvious warnings like “deadly nightshade”. If you have any doubt, always err on the side of caution. If you’re working with a plant and you don’t know if it’s safe to consume and you don’t know if it’s safe to burn, then do not consume it and do not burn it. Use it in other external ways, such as using it in a jar spell or using it in a charm bag, but do not put it into a potion that you will drink or add it into incense if you don’t know that it is safe to do so.

8 Magical Herbs To Start With

We’re going to begin talking about some different herbs and plants that you might want to work with in your magic. The important thing to pay attention to here is that these are by no means the best plants and herbs for you to work with in your magic, nor do you have to work with every single one of the plants listed here. There is no definitive list of the most powerful herbs for your magic. There are hundreds of herbs that you can work with in your magic and it’s going to take a fair amount of time and effort and research to find the ones that work best for you. That is okay. That discovery is part of the process of learning herbal witchcraft.

I’m providing these as simply a starting point for you to begin your own explorations and research. You also do not have to have a huge number of herbs that you work with. Just because there are hundreds and hundreds of plants available for you to work magic with does not mean that working magic with hundreds of plants is right for you. You are much better off working with a limited selection of herbs and getting to know them very deeply than you are trying to work with dozens of plants and only having a cursory knowledge and relationship with those plants. Depth of relationship is more important than the number of plants you can work with. So let’s take a look at eight herbs that you can use in your magic.

Mugwort

Mugwort, also known by its Latin name artemisia vulgaris, is an incredibly traditional witchcraft herb and as I mentioned above it is excellent for use in dreaming magic as well as in divination and all kinds of work for your psychic abilities. Mugwort is ruled by the moon so it has a lot of these lunar qualities and is useful in lunar magics. These would be magics to do with the subconscious mind, with dreams, divination, psychic vision work, spirit communication, and all things hidden. You can stuff a cloth pouch with mugwort to make dream pillows and place it under your pillow at night to induce lucid or prophetic dreams, cleanse your crystal ball or pendulum with a mugwort tea to enhance your divination or use mugwort incense to prepare for all kinds of astral projection, dream walking, and shamanic journey work.

Star Anise

Star anise is a very versatile herb that can be used for protection, prosperity, and love magic. You can use star anise as a talisman to ward off spirits and negative energies by simply carrying star anise pods with you or placing them around your home or in your purse. This plant is also associated with the new moon and can be used to call on these energies to enhance psychic powers and divination. Star anise is also excellent for drawing money so it makes an excellent addition to cash box spells, lodestone money drawing spells, money bowls, and other money magic.

Bay Leaves

Bay laurel is a wonderful magical herb because it is so useful in such a wide variety of positive magic. Bay leaves are known for their uses in protection, purification, strength, victory, healing, good fortune, and money magic. This is an herb of empowerment, openness, and receptivity. If you’re struggling in life, feeling closed off, or feeling like life is passing you by, bay leaf is a potent magical ally. You can slip a bay leaf in your wallet to protect your money from misfortune and increase your prosperity or add it to healing charm bags.

Basil

Basil is a favorite herb of mine (so much so that I have a whole blog post about it!) One of the things that makes me love it so much is its combination of powerful, assertive, action oriented Mars with the luxurious, creative, pleasure loving Venus. Basil combines these energies into a powerful force for money magic, protection spells, good luck, love, healing, and purification. If you want to put yourself out there more and have fun doing it, basil is the herb you want. This is why I recommend it for money bowls and other forms of magic. Basil isn’t going to bring you a short term windfall or a little extra cash, it wants to bring you the opportunities, connections, and work to level up your whole life.

High John The Conqueror

High John The Conqueror root is a mainstay of magic in the American South and is known for uses in all forms of power, luck, achievement, love, and prosperity magic. Just carrying the root in your pocket can draw in love, luck, and success. This root is used in a wide variety of drawing and dominating spells and can be used in oils or made into a tincture for sprays. High John also works wonderfully in magic for legal matters and overcoming obstacles. 

Calamus Root

Calamus root is a plant of power and domination. Anywhere you might want to impose your will on the world, calamus root can help. Whether that’s magic for protection, domination, healing, luck, or money, calamus root has your back. It can be used to amplify the power of your spells and bend other people to your will. Calamus is also excellent for protection magic, especially when you need protection from specific people. For example, using calamus in a boss domination spell can keep you safe from a nightmare boss and protect your job and livelihood.

Rue

Rue is one of the best herbs for hex breaking, protection, and purification. This is my go-to herb when I’m helping clients who have been cursed. Most commonly, I combine hyssop, rue, and agrimony into a hex-breaking bath but this combination can also be made into a magical oil, a spray, or a sachet to carry with you. For a serious spiritual cleansing of your home, you can steep rue in hot water and then use the resulting wash to mop floors or clean your windows and front door. This both repels negative energy and hexes and creates a powerful protective force to prevent future nastiness from encroaching on your space.

Rosemary

Rosemary is known for its uses in purification, love magic, and healing. The biggest thing to know about rosemary is that it is a plant of sanctity. This keyword can tell you so much about how this plant works in your magic. When we’re using rosemary for purification, this isn’t just your run of the mill cleansing, we are sanctifying, i.e. making sacred and repelling negative influences as a result. This makes it an incredible plant for house blessing! When we use rosemary in love magic, we are sanctifying the relationship. This isn’t an herb to use for a steamy summer fling! This is a plant that wants to create a soul-deep bond built on mutual respect and love and for this reason, it’s well-loved for its ability to strengthen marriages and promote fidelity. When we use rosemary for healing, we are again sanctifying or removing the impurity of disease. This means that it’s less effective for magic for healing things like broken bones where there is nothing to remove or purify. It’s much more effective against conditions where the body is fighting some external encroachment such as a virus or bacteria (though, of course, magic should always be used WITH actual medicine for healing).

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to magical herbalism. Take this practical guide as a starting point and explore the world of plants and their spirits in your magic. Connect with the plants in your spice cupboard, work magic with the plants in your garden, and learn about the species and land spirits that grow locally to you.  There is an entire world just teeming with magic when you learn to connect with plants as the magical allies that they are.

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