Mercredi: Herbal-Wise

Because I missed Tuesday’s post, due to a nasty microbe that is still giving my stomach fits, I am switching things up a little bit this week. Today will be the usually-on-Tuesday herbal post and tomorrow we can finish up the discussion on magickal bath salts. With good fortune and force of will, HQ should return to normal next week.

Flax and flax seeds in particular are one of my favorite magickal ingredients. The seeds are easy to get – most craft stores sell them now for making beauty related items like eye pillows – and they are above all else wonderful for protection work. They are also said to improve your psychic powers.

In root work, flax seeds are used particularly to protect babies and children. Put nine flax seeds and a whole angelica root into a white flannel bag with a charm or medal that represents a Guardian Angel. Empower this mojo for your child and keep it somewhere in your baby’s room, preferably near their crib, to protect them from illness and physical harm. Some workers dress the bag regularly with Blessing Oil. As your baby grows, collect their baby teeth when they fall out. Put the teeth in a box or bag filled with flax seeds to protect your child as they grow to adulthood. To strengthen the mojo and ensure its efficacy, add a silver dime from the year your child was born to the packet.

Sleep with a purple flannel bag of flax seed that has been dressed with Psychic Vision Oil under your pillow to improve your psychic abilities. Keep your fortune telling tool, be it a scrying mirror, cards, runes, cowrie shells or what have you, in a box or bag to which a few flax seeds have been added to encourage their potency.

In other magickal traditions, flax seeds are used as a form of insurance against evil spirits and the evil eye. Red pepper flakes and flax seeds kept in a box or urn on the mantel or in the kitchen are said to keep evil away from your home. Flax seeds can be scattered around your property to turn away harm from intruders of the animal, human or spirit varieties. This trick probably goes back to the old belief that witches and revenants are naturally compelled to count each seed before they can enter the property. Our ancestors seem to have relied on their evil spirits having a bit of OCD.

Finally, an old European wives’ tale says that you should have your child dance in a field of growing flax on their seventh birthday to ensure they will be beautiful and robust. I’d say picking an attractive partner would be a better bet, but I’ve yet to become an “old” wife. Bon chance ~

Header: Sleepy Baby by Mary Cassatt c 1910