Mardi: Herbal-Wise

Honeysuckle, that high climbing bush with the almost overwhelmingly sweet smelling flowers, has been a symbol of love since the European Renaissance.  Brides wore or carried honeysuckle flowers, and lovers were painted near plants drooping with buds.   In folk magick, however, the honeysuckle is rarely mentioned as a love drawing herb.

Old wives would recommend planting honeysuckle bushes near the front of one’s house to draw good luck.  Training the branches to grow over the main door to the home was thought to ward of illness and fevers in particular.  Honeysuckle flowers were kept in a vase in the kitchen to draw money into the home.

Diviners would crush honeysuckle flowers and rub the juice on their foreheads to encourage their psychic powers.

Scott Cunningham recommends ringing green candles burned for prosperity work with honeysuckle flowers.  Combining this ritual with the magick of honeysuckle in the kitchen can make an attractive and aromatic summer centerpiece for a kitchen table that will help encourage harmony in the home as well as bring in needed funds.  Bonne chance ~

Header: The Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens c 1609