Mardi: Herbal-Wise

Root vegetables don’t generally pop up much in the kind of spell work you find in modern books.  The “witchcraft” section at Barnes & Noble is jammed with tomes that will happily tell you to run around trying to find dragon’s blood and eggs from black hens but none of them seem inclined to recommend ingredients you can easily get at the farmer’s market.  Or in your own back yard.  It’s a shame, really, because some of the best ingredients actually are the easiest to come by.

Carrots are a fine example of my point.  They’re easy to grow (even here in the frozen north my daughter always gets a nice crop of orange and purple minis) or, if you’re not much of a gardener, easy to buy.  You don’t have to do much to them besides pealing them with intention to make your working successful, and they’re tasty and healthy. 

These fabulous root vegetables are best used in lust/love and fertility spells.  The ancient thought process of “like makes like” has made the carrot ideal for helping men recover from or avoid impotence.  Just eat them and feel virile.  Really, it’s that simple.

Women or men can feed carrots to a man to insight his lust.  Salads, particularly those made with endive, are a wonderful way to work this kind of magick.  Use creamy dressing rather than vinaigrette, however; too much vinegar will have the opposite effect and turn your man off.  Cole slaw is probably the hands down best salad for this kind of work as cabbage is said to create luck and faithfulness in love and the traditional dressing is mayonnaise based. 

Finally, wise women and old wives in European traditions would recommend eating carrot seeds for a woman wishing to conceive.  You can eat them individually (in odd numbered groups) or bake them into – what else – carrot cake.  Here a word of caution, however: pregnant women should not ingest carrot seeds so I like the more modern approach which is drinking carrot juice daily.  Better safe than sorry.  Bonne chance ~

Header: Turnips and Carrots, ho! by Thomas Gaugain