Home Herbalism...

                                                    my just sorted herb cupboard :)

My ways are those of the kitchen herbalist, partly because I suck at marketing, partly because I love the freedom of small scale experimentation n' brewing in my medicine makings and green witchery.

Fresh plant tinctures from the garden often brew past their allotted 6 weeks, but this does no harm. If anything I feel it makes for more potent medicines than commercial or larger scale prepared ones. The tinctures themselves can last for years, once prepared and decanted, of course smell and taste are going to be indicators. Sometimes, on the other hand I'm awaiting the potions arrival and jump its bones as soon as possible!

                                                    infusing whole dried Calendula flowers

Infused oils are crafted with love into double infused ones, because I have the time to do so. In the cooler parts of the year I may well leave these for longer than 6 weeks too, although in the heat of Summer I have a bar fridge dedicated to herbs, resulting in pretty fine quality products made using them as ingredients. Creams, salves but also the simple oils.

I am an organic processes herbalist walking my path. I come from an artsy, spirited background and am a chaotic liver (domestics came to me late in life), plants are entrenched with me. Our garden attests to this. Parsley self seeds left right and centre, popping up between Croneworts in their patch, Lavendar and Rosemary bushes vibrantly expand, Lemon Balm oozes from her pot, Lemon Myrtles are coming into bloom, a native amidst weeds, she is accompanied by Dune care plants, used to regenerate our local coast.

Beginnings, also endings...

 Coming up to Samhain in the northern hemisphere, it seeps through into my awareness, even in the southern. As cackling pumpkins, and silhouettes of pointy hat wearing women, with a fine way to travel, appear out of nowhere. Thoughts shift deeper to ancestors, family that have crossed over, especially my brother, Dylan. I realised i didnt have any photos of him up in hq, so pulled out all my boxes and folders with family pictures and other gathered images to create a collage pinned to my cork board. Cranked the stereo and went with the process....

Outside, Ive been watching the green, crysalis like, buds on our Tree Datura growing, and then today they began to unfurl into flower. Like the wet wings of an emerging insect the flowers took form and opened out into the distinctive trumpet shape. I was drawn into the flower, intoxicating in its lovelyness and the play of light within.

Where there are beginnings, also endings. I found a small Eastern Brown snake dead out front of our place. I was fascinated by her beautyfull colouring and the silkyness of her scales, so smooth, but her spirit was still noticeably present so I was real respectfull. Brown snakes have a nasty bite and can be aggressive. I was surprised to see her, as the local snake expert told me they tend to avoid Carpet snakes, despite their shyer nature. We have a couple of them resident, including a big mama.

I put her quietly to rest at the base of a big ol tree.

Tarragon or 'Little Dragon'....

The first thing that drew me to Tarragon was its botanical name, Artemisia dracunculus, translating to 'Little Dragon'. With a name like that I figured she must be pretty cool, shallow I know. She is from the same, rather potent, family as Wormwood, Southernwood and Cronewort.

However finding info on her seems tricky. There is some discussions about how to tell French Tarragon from Russian or Spanish. It seems French is the most sought after and difficult to grow, as she rarely flowers and nearly never sets seed, identifier number one. She's grown by dividing rootstock, where as Russian and Spanish flower and set seed. Second identifier seems to be that chewing her leaves numbs the toungue, although I found that with the plant pictured above from my garden and she's flowering away happily. As I havent tasted the French kind to know its apparently 'distinctive' flavour, I can't as yet tell if the aniseedy taste of the plant I have is said plant. They seem also to share the same botanical name at times, which is confusing.

My gut response to Tarragon is that the ability to numb ones mouth suggests a sedative or calming medicine to me, which would make sense considering her family roots. The aniseed flavour a relationship to digestion. Maude Grieves says that Russian Tarragon is eaten in Persia to induce apetite. Infact Tarragon is probably best known for being popped into a bottle of vinegar where its flavours infuse into what can then be used to flavour dressings or pickles. The essential oil it contains, identical to Anise is lost in drying.

With a name like 'Little Dragon' one could easily imagine her having protective qualities, as Scott Cunningham suggests, but also to be earthing or grounding. Being that the symbol of the Dragon as representative of the Earth is a global phenomena. Some folks refer to the grid of energy lines crossing the planet sometimes called Ley Lines, or Song Lines, as 'Dragon Lines'. Certainly the potency of her flavour brings one into body and hence present with earthly realms.

Garden paintings....

I came across this design on a forum and had to make one for our garden it was so very apt. I just used acrylics straight on wood and then sealed it with a varnish afterwards. I enjoyed the process and end result hanging in the garden, so that i followed up with some other designs, including the celtic knotwork piece below. Its a really simple way to create outdoor artworx using recycled timbers.

Garden beds and a back pack full of concrete....

For the last few weeks as I walk to the beach Ive been going past a garden thats getting a serious makeover. Part of the leftovers of which were a large pile of bricks and smashed up concrete that I had my eye on for raising the egdes of my garden beds so I can add more organic matter to the soil. Last night I finally asked the owner if he'd mind me raiding the pile, he replied 'no worries'. So today I did laps with my backpack carrying chunks of concrete and then arranging them in place. On about the 6th lap the owner came out and asked what I needed after this? So I tell him my plan, at which point he directs my attention to several rather lavish piles of soil and mulch. "The job goes another 3 weeks but there should be some left over" he indicates, keeping my cool while my inside goes WOO  HOO, I say well we'll see a bit later then. Joy joy, I then proceeded to begin daydreaming. Ive built two vegie beds and another one out the front and hardly touched the pile! So tommorrow Ill go around and build up the other beds. Its a blessing for this carless chick to have such resources walking distance away, and I can even borrow their wheelbarrow to move stuff. I just love that its all being done with materials that were gonna be chucked. Just like my garden at the flats!

      herb and vegie bed to be

garden beds and steps at flats

Herbs face to face.....

The rain was coming down, finally, the grounds parched epidermis getting a good moisturising soak. I sat on the outside couch gazing at the garden beds and greenery. I thought to make an experiment in my calm state, looking at the plants i selected one, the maidenhair fern, and wondered if I could gauge her medicinal uses simply by listening and connecting.

I looked at her soft leaves, and the shape they hold, branching like lungs. Respiratory soother I absent mindedly pondered, soothing and soft, perhaps healer of red sore inflamed skin. I continued to gaze, then got off my butt and pulled out a medicinal plants of Australia book, just to see...

Adiantum peltatum has been used in Europe and elsewhere under the name of 'sirop de capillaire' in diseases of the chest, our common maidenhair fern the one I was sitting with, Adiantum aethiopicum, has been used for the same purpose, as an infusion of one to five parts of plant to 100 parts water. Clever plant.....

Was this how it all started, the plants teaching us experientially? Duh. There is something different in relating to a plant growing nearby you, than a dried plant part thats come a ways to get to you.Which is why localised lore is such a beautyfull way to relate to our environment, and people have worked to preserve it.

I tried the same experiment with dried celery seed, but I was off the mark. I kept getting 'nourishment', as in the goodness of homemade stocks and soups, what I read said sleep inducement, aid to divination and concentration, a sometime ingredient in flying salves. All forms of nourishment, but the informations not as accurate as with the fern.This is why I want to grow the herbs i work with, and work with the herbs I grow, to get to know them face to face...

Dove wings and herbs...

People have used animal skins, feathers, claws and such in ritual and totemic ways for eons. If you're going to kill something for meat and waste not, of course you gather the parts that can be utilised aswell. Originating in the days before you could pop up to the shop for some sinew, such economy was a sign of acknowledgement of an animal giving its life and simple need for materials.  Such thoughts found me today as I came across a small dove who had hit an upstairs window at a dear friends home, and fallen to the ground dead. It was a bit of a shock for her bird spirit. I placed her body on my altar, lit incense and candles to honour her passing and asked permission to harvest her beautyfull wings....yessss....

Plants can be similar, although we can often harvest without ending a plants life, unless its the root we're after. An annuals lifespan can seem so short as they speedily seed and spread. In our garden Ive decided to focus on gathering some perennials to build up the plant base for my craftings. So, I ventured out to the local herb farm to score some green folks, and oh my I was pleased with what I found. Motherwort, Leonuris cardiaca, to begin with. In tincture form this plant is the in the pocket remedy for anxiety or panic attacks, she got me through my bike license test, and is non addictive unlike pharmaceutical sedatives or tranquilisers. Whilst only small at the moment she can grow upto a metre wide and tall, self seeding into a 'patch'. 

Other familiar faces included Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), Rue (Ruta Graveolens), Echinacea and Lemon Verbena, with her georgeous lemon scent, and they all came home to play. *smile*

Our magical garden...

Originally I thought excitedly in our new garden space to grow some traditional witch/shamanic plants from seed, plant them out and my shady garden would be perfect for them to flourish.  That wasnt the journey that eventuated a couple of months down the track when the sun shifted and the seed raising mix was still free of sproutlets....

My attempts to grow traditional plants like Henbane, Belladonna, Mandrake and also Lobelia inflata have had very disappointing results. However, whilst focusing on the Solanaceae I did discover two kinds self seeding here, Solanum nigrum, and an as yet to be identified vine with purple flowers like a tomatoe. Solanum nigrum berries are edible and the steamed leaves tasty. Perhaps the northern Australian climate just isn't condusive. A friend and I visited a local specialist nursery and they had had little luck either. I'll have to work with what occurs organically in the area, which includes Datura species. We have a white one, Brugmansia suaveolens, and Ive seen others growing locally.

The native ferns i planted out this week amidst the bromilliades and succulents are doing well. Ferns having a long history of magical and medicinal use, being some of the most ancient plants on the planet. Said to be gateways to the otherworld and realms of the fey, especially on Midsummers eve. The spores said to allow one a degree of invisability to go about daily business without attracting overt attention.

 The Elderberry I planted soon after moving in as a just sprouting cutting has quadrupled in size. The Elder has such potency that the lore around harvesting its wood is detailed and comes with warnings not to offend resident dryads. Its flowers and berries are known for their medicinal wine but the bark and wood belongs to the Crone. It seems that rather than me working with the plants, again, I find it is they working with me, and that nature provides just not always what we expected.

I now have a slighly different vision for the garden here thats evolving into a more realistic assessment of soil, climate and salt air. Literal rainforest and heathland occur naturally. It will take time, energy, nutrients, suitable planting and water, but Im getting to know the potentials of the space, 6 months down the track. The outdoor area is quite big and has lots of different microcosms/ mini ecosystems, its a matter of finding plants to suit the various areas. I want to add a lot of vegetation, which was part of the reason I wanted to grow herbs from seed. :( Vegies I can do, but herbs, no joy. Not like our previous garden where I just broadcast seeds direct into the soil, watered and up they came, chamomile, echinacea, here they get fried and dried out in one hot day.

I envisage a lot of diversity, native bush flowers, tropical plants, herbs and vegies, to maximise survival and beauty. Learning what grows will be slighly experimental. I want sculptures about, and have setup an outdoor altar of an old wood fired stove. Looks like something from a fairy tale eh? That sits by the fern patch...
 
Yesterday i found this bench thrown out because one of its planks is broken, still has ample room for my behind and makes for comfort amongst the afternoon breezes area.

So gradually our garden is becoming, just not as expected, but after all what garden doesnt contain a little wilder magic? Like the sawn off stump thats resprouting in our front yard. When I first looked at the place there was a big ol tree but when I came to move in it had been sawn off to a stump, it was a  bit of a shock really. Apparently its a weed, well we should be able to tell shortly as shes covered in regrowth. Is it a fig or a rubber tree?  

Some ponderings on Earthwitchery.....

Earthwitchery, for me, evokes a practising of magic not of a high nature, but down and dirty, literally. Some may call it the Wise Woman Way, or being a Green Witch. An appreciation of the magics of compost, of gathering and growing things, of divination in the form of animals who cross our paths, of trance journeying, of brewing and ointments, crafting with intention, simple ritual, direct participation with nature, and learning to relate to the spirit in all things. Ways to nurture the Earth, and honour deity, acknowledging the aliveness, intelligence and wisdom of the green.

There is a kind of deeper quiet stillness that comes from being present with nature that poets and bards immortalise. Not that she is still herself, in fact her motions, seasons and tides are guaranteed to change and shift beneath our feet and around us. No stasis there...

Her body is my body is her body is my body as she heals I heal as I heal she heals her body is my body is her body is my body as she heals I heal as I heal she heals

Compost that’s going to break down without smelling baaad is a bit of an artform. It depends what goes into it, but if it’s going well, it smells sweet like leaf litter on forest floor and evokes all sorts of primeval ancestral recall. Earthwitchery is a bit the same for me, it feels like remembering. It’s a sensual bodily engaged experience. Give me scents, sounds and visuals through which to enhance relating to the world. The symbology of plants, animals and stones....

Plants have been with us for hundreds of thousands of years, feeding us, altering consciousness, healing and giving solace to the soul. Placed in Neanderthal graves have been found herbs still in use today, like yarrow. Every place on the Earth has its own knowledge and stories of local plant use. These, blended with personal experience offer a rich tapestry from which to draw. Much as some forces have tried to destroy such information, it persists. The earth witch works to stitch such pieces together, in her own unique way.

Wild crafting, and general scavenging for supplies, rock my world. My favourite medicines have been made from wild crafted herbs. Where I can approach a plant personally ask its permission to harvest, leave an offering as thanks, and know the place it’s come from. Although, I just brewed up an experimental batch of dandelion beer from store bought dried herbs, and that was also pretty satisfying. Any work, or play, with plants where you add energy into the mix creates feelings of integration. Through processing herbs into infusions, teas, tinctures, oils, incense, vinegars, beers or wines, we bring out their strengths and learn their talents.

“One great bonus of hedgerow cookery for me is the excuse to walk through peacefull, unspoiled countryside at my own pace, in my own time, exploring and discovering food plants in their natural habitat: what a world away from the bustle of shopping – and it has given a goal to a country walk. The sense of triumphant achievement as I come home laden with my unusual harvest of new fruits or vegetables to try out is unmatched- and season after season I still find it so.”

Rosamond Richardson in Hedgerow Cookery

“In the early days in this big wide open country, there was always healing cures here on the Land – the healing songs, fat, paintings and the healers- and its still the same now, even after all the old-time elders have passed on. The Land still has that power. The healing belongs to the country where it originated from, and belongs to the people of that country.”

    Veronica Perrurle Dobson in Arrente Traditional Healing

Even traditional hunter gatherers encourage the growth of favoured plants through practices such as fire regimes and spreading seed. It’s in our genes, and there’s something about tending to a garden, or wild place, that joins us when we caretake a plot, creating sanctuary for nature spirits and recognising sacred places. We become observant of change, and encouraging of growth, although decay will follow. Tis the way of life. Such things are marked, and given their honouring times, shadows not denied, but included as allies. Seasonal festivals and celebrations echo the cycles of life, death and rebirth that every life contains.

“What is needed, once you know about the timing, is to prepare a space for your own reception of the energies that are available. Give yourself time to dream and remember, allow some space for reflection and observation, stay awake! Whatever happens in your life at these particular times is oracular- it tells or shows you something. It presents you with messages, signs, and omens about your life.. Big dreams are likely to occur now, as well as other unusual psychic events. Synchronistic and magical happenings are possible, meetings with important others in your life, and so on”

                  Vicki Noble

I don’t partake internally of entheogens. I do try to grow and am fascinated by some of the source plants, especially the Solanaceae, or Banes, and I am partial to a beverage, or three. I choose repetitive rhythm to shift into trance in circle. This is the landscape where deity comes alive for me, becoming three dimensional, and the direct experience of information helps practices evolve and touch base. In such states, receiving nonlinear clues that broaden horizons becomes possible, often practically applicable, and connected by a sturdy thread to daily reality and life. 

“Among the living today, we stand towards trance much as we stood in relation to electricity more than ninety years ago before Edison invented the electric light bulb. Just as it might have been thought ‘imaginative’ in those days to speculate on the possible uses to which electricity might be put in our lifetime, so it will be thought ‘imaginative’ if we now speculate on the potential uses of trance to mankind....”

                         ‘Trances’ by Stewart Wavell, Audrey Butt and Nina Epton.

 “In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals for the Creator, the one above, did not speak directly to man.”

                                                      Chief Letakots-Lesa (Pawnee)

The symbology of animals connects us to their traits and habits. Observing what animals are present in our surroundings can be like a form of divination, a message to translate in discovering what the teachings of a given species are. A certain animal may be present so much in your journey that they become totemic. You may find your path crossed by a dead animal, or part of an animal, which hold its messages and reflects them back to you. Coming upon feathers, claws, wings, bones, skulls, fur and such can be seen as a call from the animal.

“All of the animals I have artifacts of are animals who have taught me something- through observation of their behaviour and spending time being close to their DNA. I certainly find that wearing feathers, holding bones, meditating with bones and things like that, helps me to gain more insight. I feel that at some level an animal’s DNA has its vibratory rate, like everything else in the universe, and by holding that artefact you can actually tune into that vibratory rate and see things from the animal’s perspective.”

                                               Andy Baggot

All cultures and all people make, including materials that have personal significance enhances these processes. Crafting with intention is a beauty filled thing, in fact, to some degree the one can not exist without the other. Simply in deciding to make something, a certain amount of directed focus is born. Getting lost in the process of creating a piece by hand is quite trancelike or meditational, and very satisfying. To make and decorate tools to be used in ritual, or everyday objects that remind us of our paths, gives them a feel that store bought just can’t compare to, although there are craftspeople selling their own work too.

Ritual practice is a crafted way to connect with the realms beyond daily living, yet behind and part of it at all times. Although, as a solitary, it’s been a steep learning curve to find some direction, keeping it simple helps. An altar is an important centrepiece, often containing natural forms and found objects displayed for the pleasure of deity and spirit. It can give visual triggers and associations to aid shifting into sacred space... reminders and cues. As in other areas, I love to work with what I’ve managed to gather, or draw in, organically and that tends to require making do, or ad libbing.

There is much to be learned for this apprentice to Earth Witchery, but the journey has definitely begun....    

Some Resources:

‘The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of The Heart in The Direct Perception of Nature’ and ‘Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers’ by Stephen Harrod Buhner

‘Healing Wise: A Wise Woman Herbal’ by  Susun Weed

‘Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small’ by Ted Andrews

‘Animal Dreaming: The Symbolic and Spiritual Language of the Australasian Animals’ by Scott Alexander King

‘Voices from the Earth: Practical Shamanism’ by Nicholas Wood

‘Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives’ collected by Joan Halifax PhD

The dance of the seasons...

The Earth circles her dance around the Sun on a tilted axis. The seasons of the year are created by the tilt of the Earths axis and exposure to the flow of energy from the Sun. The Earth is rotating like a top, the South pole pointing towards a point in space signified by the Southern Cross constellation. So, during half the year the Southern Hemisphere is more exposed to the Sun than the Northern Hemisphere, whilst during the rest of the year the reverse is true. Hence the opposite seasons in the hemispheres.

The Autumn Equinox means sunlight is waning, day and night are of equal length. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. At the Spring equinox, daily sunlight is waxing, day and night are of equal length. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year.

Old Celtic calendars observed 'Cross quarters' approximately midway between each adjacent pair of equinox and solstice days. Unlike modern calendars that define the start of the seasons on a solstice or equinox, the Celts percieved solstices and equinoxes as events occuring midseasons, with the seasons beginning and ending on the cross quarters.

Thus the Cross quarters in the Southern Hemisphere are Lammas (the beginning of Autumn) February 2nd,  Samhain (the beginning of Winter) April 30th/ May 1, Imbolg (the beginning of Spring) August 1, and Beltane (the beginning of Summer) October 31st. The solstices and equinoxes Mabon (Autumn equinox) March 21st, Yule (Winter solstice) June 21st, Ostara ( Spring equinox) September 21st, and Litha (Summer solstices) December 21st.

The Green Woman....

Incensed....

Picture a flaming hearthfire, on top a pot bubbles away with a  soup, or stew, or stir fry flavoured with herbs and spices. Smoke from the fire is mixing and blending with the scents of cooking, slightly tinged with the particular tree who gave of their wood to this scene. Perhaps some bread is baking, to dip into the meal. This picture is taking place all over the world, the localised herbs and spices varying what hungry noses are tempted by. What we are observing is highly likely the origin of incense...

Plants, and the scents they release when burned, have inspired, blessed, healed and comforted for eons. Be their form chunks of sap, branches or leaves straight from a tree, or the more processed mixtures of dried and powdered herbs burnt on charcoal, bound to a stick or swung in censors.

A newborn baby is held over a small fire, laced with leaves, be they spinifex or eucalypt, depending on what grows nearby, there is a blessing and welcoming into her new environment by  passing through the smoke. A connecting to plants, and the hearth. For who is the bridge between earth and animals, even human ones, if not plants, it’s been thus since we were pondscum feeding on algae.

On the other side of the planet sage is rolled into a stick, bound in thread and allowed to dry like this, to be later lit and used to ‘smudge’ before a ritual dance, ceremony, or soul retrieval. The smoke brushed around the body using a cluster of eagle wingtip feathers it curls into where its needed, then rises high into the sky, and upper realms of spirit.

Incenses origins often reside in resins and barks. Sandalwood is so desired, that all the trees in Mysore, the place it occurs naturally are government property wherever they occur, and harvesting is watched over. There is also an Australian sandalwood, Santalam acuminatum, a interior species thats being used similarly as an alternative. The seeds of which were traditionally made into necklaces, not unlike the ones in india that saddhu’s wear and consider holy. They look like small round brains, interestingly enough considering the sacredness of them.

With such deep ancestral memories and associations is it any wonder that incense has been adopted by nearly every kind of faith, including atheism, on the planet. A precursor and codeveloper with perfume and aromatherapy, varying scent to mood and occasion. How blessed are we to have such a tool for shifting consciousness at our fingertips? It doesn’t have to be expensive, with a charcoal block any mix of dried herbs can be sprinkled on and encouraged to share its smoke.

Home feeling a bit stagnant? Setting a romantic or meditative scene? Taking a luxurious bath, got a candle going? Bit blue? Why not light up?

The banes.

Most of the herbs I use day to day are safely nourishing and able to be used in quantity. I drink them in infusions, tinctures and cook with them. Yet recently i find popping up, mostly in dreams, or shamanic journeys, some other pretty powerfull, and potentially poisonous plants. So far, Henbane (Gafaan, Hyoscyamus niger),  Hemlock ( Muinmhear, Conium maculatum) and Wolfsbane ( Fuath mhadhaidh, Aconitum napellus). Is it the call of the wild, or the draw of the dangerous?

This is the forest primieval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep voiced neighbouring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
                                                     Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Oddly enough the book I have with the most detail about these plants is in  a textbook on pharmacognosy from the 1930s designed to train pharmacists and medical practitioners of the day. They liked their plants potent, but referred to them as 'crude medicines'. They suggest hemlock as a sedative, one which by the way can kill you via parlysis with your mind totally concious till the end. Spine chilling stuff.

These same plants were allys of a different sort of practitioner in making their much spoken of flying ointments. Salves containing henbane, hemlock and friends rubbed on the skin to aid journeying, or 'flights'. Those chicks knew what they were doing, and would probably have used a specific harvest time and part of the plant to control dosage plus including some seemingly inert ingredients that play a role, knowledge I just dont have at this time. These plants are to be treated with caution, lest we travel roads from which we can no longer return, but also now, and in the past, they are teachers.

deep thou takes me, and far
travelling the world tree
to its rooted source, and branched heights
where dwell spirits and goddesses
remedies and brews remembered
i didnt even know i had forgotten

Wolfesbane...

 I have been doing my otherworldly journeying thang the last few days, more shamanic than my more usual greenwitchyness, or so I thought...

 A couple of times Id ended up at a native american pow wow, stayed a little to watch dancers, then thought this is not my ancestral tradition and moved on. At one point however i saw flashes from around the world showing the common thread running through all traditions of women processing food and medicines, women in africa pounding grain, an european kind a chick using a mortar and pestle, native americans grinding corn....

Last night as I was returning my wolfriend called after me, check out 'wolfsbane' laughing, it was gobbledegook to me at the time...

Anyways, so I think what the **** is wolfbane for about 1/2 a second, then pull out the herb books. Came across wolfbohne, which is lupins, a good green mulch for poor soils and that made sense for the garden here. I just decided to pull out an olde booke to doublecheck, and theres wolfesbane in the index, aconite, Aconitum napellus. As i read more I find shes, highly poisonous, and a plant that, along with hemlock, was used in 'flying ointments'. Whats flying but the same thing as the 'shamanic' journeying  done with repetitive rhythm or other psychoactive plants. This shit is global, and the european witches were that part of the worlds version of shamans. Love it when life messes with labels and information comes through in such experiential ways. Thats one way to learn about herbs...

Id never heard of wolfsbane, but you can bet my wolf friend had, as it was used to poison arrowheads to hunt wolves....