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Arab-Islamic magic during the Middle Ages: An introduction

Magic in the Arab-Islamic world is a complex issue in nature, and there are as many attempts to define what magic is as people have written about it.

The very word for magic, siḥr, magic, is formed on the Arabic root ‘ س ح ر‎ ’, this root conveys the meaning of spell, fascination, enchantment and spell. It appears about 60 times in the Qur’an with some of its lexical derivations, being in the suras of Mecca where it appears (or some of its derivatives) with more frequency.

Compared to Meccan period of Revelation, Medina suras contain fewer references to magic, but include the most famous Quranic statement about magic, and it does so through the story of the angels هَـارُوت وَمَـارُوت, Hārūt and Mārūt in the second sūrah and whose base is found in ancient Indo-Iranian traditions (Zoroastrism, Haurvatat and Ameretat)

The beginning of the verse, namely 2:102, leads us to the times of Solomon, and reads as follows:

’And they followed, [instead] what the demons recited in Solomon’s reign.

It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils, teaching magic to the people and what had been revealed to the angels of Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say ‘’ we are a test, so don’t be disbelieving [practicing magic]‘

Regardless of the interpretation that can be given to this verse, and that indeed it was interpreted in many ways, it should be considered as the ‘locus classicus’ of Islamic exegesis regarding magic.

What is clear, in any case, is that the Qur’an does not explicitly condemn or prohibit the use of magic anywhere.

At a more practical and popular level we can even observe that in certain verses and even complete sūrat, such as the last two of the Holy Book, they have often been used for magical and, especially, prophylactic, protective purposes, and we should not fail to mention the extensive literature dedicated in medieval Islam to these ‘magical questions’ such as the first letters of the Qur'an, the names of the اصحاب الکهف aṣḥāb al-kahf, the “Companions of the Cave” in sūrah 18 الكهف, ‘al-Kahf’ or the 99 epithets of God.

Now, it is also true that we can find in Islamic orthodoxy a much less favorable judgment about magic and its practitioners, which in general have been considered a major threat to the community of believers.

The 9th-century traditionalist and scholar Tirmidhī, author of one of the aḥādīth six canonical collections in Sunni Islam, states, for example: ‘’The punishment for the magician is death by the sword’’. This type of condemnation was repeated for centuries by the vast majority of jurists and theologians who warned against the dangers of the siḥr, just as in the Christian Middle Ages magicians, sorcerers and witches were regularly accused, persecuted, sent to prison or executed.

Practitioners of magic, in general, were accused of بِدْعَة‎ bidʿa that is, having brought heretical innovations, a very serious reproach according to Muslim orthodoxy., And yet, it can be affirmed that the majority of jurists and theologians, even the more traditional, they made an effort to distinguish between the different categories of magic, whose main objective in doing so was to have the intention of separating the allowed resources from the forbidden ones.

According to Toufic Fahd: ‘’ What is allowed is natural magic, known as white [positive] magic, which includes, among other enchantments, imaginary and hallucinatory phenomena produced by natural means, based on properties not connected with religion; psychic phenomena materialized by the use of filters and amulets activated by means of absorption or fumigation of powders and greases.

The practice of this magic is tolerated insofar as it does not cause harm to others. But when the magician influences nature in order to do damage, he exercises forbidden magic. This involves resorting to demonic inspiration, dark [negative] magic (…)’

In this field there has always been a huge gap between the theoretical views on magic professed by jurists and traditionalists of the Middle Ages on the one hand, and on the other hand, real practices, since they have been carried out continuously until nowadays by magicians, sorcerers and talisman specialists in many parts of Dār al-Islam. This can be explained by the divergence of views even among the best qualified representatives of legal theory, thus the 13th-century Andalusian author, Abû ‘Abdallâh al-Qurtubi, who amply commented on the famous Qur'anic passage from Hārūt and Mārūt, is known for adopting a much more tolerant and conciliatory position than its predecessors.

Another important reason must be in the many healing virtues that many of these practices should have. Legal theory of magic could be seen as a threat or danger to believers, but as long as they did not transgress the limits of the forbidden, a local magician with great esoteric knowledge was highly respected for his ability to contribute to the well-being of his neighbors.

Thus, a more or less complete vision of the materials and practices related to magic in the medieval Arab-Islamic world would require dealing with disciplines or concepts as diverse as amulets, talismans, illusionism, spells, magic squares, onomatomancy, dream interpretation and astrology, to name a few.

One of the most informative sources we have about magic in the Arab-Islamic world is مقدّمة ابن خلدون The Muqaddimah, by the fourteenth-century historian Ibn Khaldūn. In his Muqaddimah or Προλεγόμενα Prolegomena, Ibn Khaldūn leaves us an exceptionally detailed account of magic and talismans.

Defined as ‘’The sciences that show how human souls can be prepared to exert an influence on the elements, either without any help or with the help of celestial forces’’

Speaking of souls who have magical abilities, Khaldūn states that there are three levels:

‘’The former exercises its influence merely through the power of the mind, without any instrument or help. This is what philosophers call siḥr, magic.

The second exerts its influence with the help of the nature of the spheres and the elements, or with the help of the numbers.They are called talismans, ‘tilasmat’. It is a lower grade than the first group.The third group exerts its influence on the powers of the imagination (…) is what philosophers call prestidigitation’’. This group, prestidigitation, phantasmagoria and illusionism, isn’t considered real by Ibn Khaldūn, so no further mention will be made of it.

What the text seems to mean is that the highest level of magic is the only one that should be called sihr, and that it is reserved for those capable of resorting to supernatural powers without any instrument or intermediary.

As for the other level of magic, which implies the existence of a medium or intermediary to carry it out, it generally corresponds to theurgy and natural magic, since supernatural power is not required.

A particular form of natural magic is that of talismans, طلسم ‘tilasm’, from the ancient Greek τέλεσμα, religious rite, payment, in which inscriptions normally with astrological meaning are used as amulets to protect someone or some community against dangers such as manifestations understood as a result of the evil eye.

Several centuries before Ibn Khaldoun, in the introduction to the “Epistle to Magic”, the إخوان‌ الصفا Ikhwān Al-Ṣafā, that is, the Brothers of Purity, give the following definition of sihr: “You must know, brother, that the essence of magic and its reality is everything through which the intellects are bewitched and everything that souls give themselves through speeches and actions that produce amazement, submission, attention, listening, consent, obedience or acceptance ”

Ikhwān Al-Ṣafā was the name adopted by a group of medieval Muslim scholars, who wrote an unparalleled encyclopedia at the time inside or outside the Islamic world. This takes the form of a corpus with approximately fifty epistles, where each one was dedicated to a type of knowledge, organized so that a suitably qualified person could advance through the noble sciences to the most ineffable wisdom. Who the Ikhwān were and where they lived is a question that is still debated, although it is increasingly clear that they were Neoplatonic philosophers who must have had some affinity with Ismailism.

The definition of Ikhwānan magic was taken by the Andalusian author of the غاية الحكيم Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, the Purpose of the Sage, a celestial magic treatise that would exert enormous influence in the West during the Renaissance, becoming known as Picatrix and inspiring thinkers and scholars, like Cornelius Agrippa.

It is because of this Latin adaptation known as Picatrix that the authorship of the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm and another treatise on alchemy, titled Rutbat al-ḥakīm, the Degree of the Wise, have been a problem until relatively recently, when in 1996 it was demonstrated that the author of the Purpose of the Wise was, in fact, Maslama Ibn Qāsim al-Qurṭubī, who traveled to the East in the first half of the 10th century, moreover, there are reasons to believe that Maslama is also the scholar who introduced the encyclopedic corpus of the Ikhwān Al-Ṣafā in al-Andalus for the first time.

The Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm is presented as a curious grimoire that, in addition to describing highly elaborate forms of rituals in which the spirits of the planets and other celestial beings are invoked, is striking for the extreme heterogeneity of its sources, most they are clearly oriental. The sources for this compilation appear to have been largely Arabic translations and texts of the Ismailism, Sabaism, astrology, alchemy, magic, and Hermeticism produced in the Middle East between the 9th and 10th centuries.

Another very important aspect of magic in the Arab-Islamic world was the magical interpretation of the Qur’an words and letters as sciences normally called عِلْم الْحُرُوف ‘Ilm al-Ḥurūf ’ or سِمة ‘Sīmiyā‘, from the Greek σημεία, sign, symbol.

The so called science of letters, believed to have originated from the ٱلْجَفْر‎ al-Jafr, a Shi’ite divination system based on onomatomancy that inevitably reminds us of Qabbalah, that was developed later. This science of letters quickly developed three overlapping currents: a mystical, a philosophical, and an alchemical one.

For many medieval scholars who were interested in the science of letters, speech has not only an epistemological value, but an ontological value. That is, the words and therefore the letters not only provide information about things, but also reflect their inner nature, that is, their name reflects their being. Some thinkers went even further and affirmed that the name of things is not only a reflection, but its own nature, therefore, knowing its name is the same as knowing the thing itself.

This concept prompted medieval thinkers to develop systems of language analysis, classifying letters in different ways and according to various criteria.

The best known is the classification of letters according to the four elements: of the 28 letters of the Arabic Abjad, 7 belong to fire, 7 to air, 7 to water and 7 to earth, and which in turn, had certain elemental properties: 7 are warm, 7 are dry, 7 are cold and 7 are humid.

One of the most refined and sophisticated systems of analysis of things through names is found in the corpus of texts attributed to the alchemist Jābir ibn Hayyān, known in Europe for his latinized name, Geber. He postulated that since the names of things reflect their nature, it might be possible to know the exact composition of a thing in terms of elements and their properties thanks to its name. This method, called ilm al-mīzān, was the first step for Geber’s Elixir Theory.

The religious side of the science of letters developed in two forms, asmāʾu llāhi lḥusnā and fawātiḥ al-suwar

The asmāʾu llāhi lḥusnā, literally the Most Beautiful Names of God, are the 99 divine names, an Islamic tradition that attributes 99 names to God, which are the 99 ways to describe the different aspects of God. The opening of the sūrat, or the huruf muqatta’a, are mysterious letters or isolated groups of them found in the early 29 sūrat of the Qur’an.

The Prophet did not give any explanation on this and it gave rise to many speculations.

As it has been said, since letters have an ontological value, they not only allow us to know things, but also act on them through their names. This idea gave rise to the magic of letters, one of the broadest fields of the so-called science of letters.

The most famous figure in letter magic is undoubtedly, Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Buni al-Maliki al-ifriqi, Ahmad al-Buni, who died in the early 13th century. This scholar is credited with a whole series of magical treatises that had a profound influence on magic in the Arab-Islamic world, not only in the academic world, but also, and perhaps mainly, at popular level.

However, recent studies have pointed out that the most famous and influential work attributed to Buni, the كتاب شمس المعارف ولطائف العوارف Shams al-Ma'arif wa Lata'if al-'Awarif, the Great Sun of Gnosis, is actually an apocryphal compilation. This treatise is a great synthesis of theoretical knowledge about the magic of letters. The letters themselves are considered as spiritual beings, linked to angels and through which it is possible to act on spiritual entities by their means, even to restrict the angels themselves.

To get a better idea of magic ramifications in the Arab-Islamic world, there is probably no better example than the seventeenth-century Turkish compiler and encyclopedist Hajji Khalifa, also known as Kâtip Çelebi.

“Kashf al-ẓunūn ’ un asāmī al-kutub wa-al-funūn ”, Opinion’s Scrutiny of the Names of Books and the Sciences’, includes under the title “siḥr” an astonishing variety of 14 disciplines among which divination, natural magic, properties of The Most Beautiful Names, of the numbers and of certain invocations, sympathetic magic, demonic conjuration, the enchantments, the evocation of spirits from the corporeal beings, invocation of the spirits of the planets, phylacteries, amulets, talismans, filters, the art of artifacts creation, the art of discovering frauds in conjurations, conjuring, and medicinal plants and herbs and their properties.

Bibliography

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The only clear view is from atop the mountain of your dead selves.

Peter Carroll

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Spark of Creativity, Gaia Perissutti

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can confirmed now that I’ve finished, that chapter was easily my favourite part

Have just begun reading Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine.. let’s see how this goes

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Have just begun reading Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine.. let’s see how this goes

#witchcraft #witch #phil hine #chaos magick

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“Walpurgis Night” Lavestalu

Circle Dance by Una Woofruff

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bluemoonwitchcraft · 8 months

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I’m working on some beginner materials to put out…eventually. But I think my advice is pretty much summed up with:

give thanks/offerings to your ancestors - even if you didn’t like the ones you knew, I promise you’d like someone back there; doesn’t have to be daily but regularly and water counts

give thanks/offerings to the land - I don’t care where you are or if you like where you are, you’re only there because the land allows it; doesn’t have to be daily but regularly and water counts

pick a divination tool and use it - ideally pick 2; it’s very fashionable to study things in witchblr but expertise rests on a solid foundation of use; tarot, geomancy, dice, bibliomancy, and scrying are all great

pick a guiding philosophy/source of wisdom - a lot of paganism consists of practices which do not in of themselves guide how you should move through the world or make decisions; can be a philosophy, motto, or other religion

these are to me is what I’d consider the bare minimum but here’s the bonus round:

on each planet’s day, give thanks/offer to that planet - moon on monday, mars on tuesday, mercury on wednesday, jupiter on thursday, venus on friday, saturn on saturday, sun on sunday - water counts but they do love frankincense

track the moon - a lot of people are big into phases, I prefer tracking what sign she’s in; each month she will conjunct with every planet in the sky so tracking her a good way to stay aware of those influences

learn a method of cleansing self + space - fav instructions here; physical cleansing should always be a part of it if at all possible; smoke (incense, bound herbs), sound (clapping, snapping, singing, ringing), and energetic scraping are all good options

learn a method of warding self + space - go beyond visualization; witches bottle, salting, symbols of protection above a door, creating or appeasing a guarding spirit are all good options

learn a basic method of petition or spellcasting - a simple way to start is asking the spirits you’ve already been working with like your ancestors and the land and giving them a little extra back

decide on a small tradition for holidays - as you add in holidays, pick one small tradition to try to replicate next year; eating apples at Mabon, leaving an extra plate out at Samhain, lighting a candle on the stove for Imbolc, etc

doing these sorts of things for a year will honestly get you a lot further than most in my experience. these are a solid foundation from which to build in basically whatever direction you want. earnest practice beats passive theorizing and consumption any day.

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Many European and Western Magick Traditions owe many of their origins from Arab Magicians, whose roots were based in the valley of the Nile, the 'Cradle of Magic' that is Egypt. According to the Kabala, of the ten shares of magic that the Earth received, nine fell in Egypt, while the rest of the world shares the tenth. Indeed Egypt (Khem in Egyptian - meaning 'The Black Land' , referring to the black, fertile soil of the Nile Valley) is often to referred to as 'The Temple of the World'.

Heka - Magic or 'Magickal/Meaningful Speech' Talon Abraxas

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Herb and Flora Properties

Acacia: Exorcism, banishing, money, love, to be burned for alter offering, aiding in psychic powers, meditation, protection

Acorn: Strength, money and wealth, protection

Adam and Eve Roots: (TOXIC) Attract love, happiness

Adders Tongue: Healing, divination

African Violet: Protection, promote spirituality

Agaric: (TOXIC) Encourage fertility

Agrimony: Protection, banish negative energy-entities, reverse spells, break hexes, promotes sleep, psychic protection, returns spells to their senders

Ague Root: Protection, break hexes

Alder: Whistles entice the Elemental earth, water magic, strength

Alfalfa: Abundance, prosperity, money, anti-hunger, frugality, providence, place in the kitchen

Alkanet: Repel negativity, attract prosperity, purification All Heal- Mental powers

Allspice: Money, luck, healing, prosperity when burned, courage, magickal power, love, lust

Almond: Prosperity, success in business ventures, money, wisdom, love, anger management

Aloe: Protection, luck, money, repel evil, healing, beauty, success, peace

Aloes, Wood: Love, spirituality, money, protection Althea - protection, psychic power, attract good spirits

Alyssum: Protection, calm anger

Amaranth: Healing, protection, healing heartbreak, invisibility Amber: Healing

Ambergris: Lust, sex Anemone - health, protection, healing

Angelica: Protection, exorcism, remove curses and hexes, healing, visions, wards off negativity when sprinkled around the house, increases life energy bringing warmth of Fire element, wards off negativity when sprinkled around the house

Anise: Divination, psychic awareness, joy, dreams, luck, love, enthusiasm, Winter Solstice, entices the spirits to aid in spells

Apple: Love, healing, garden blessing, buried in the garden on Samhain as food for the departing spirits, to be shared with one you love, immortality, happiness, luck, broken heart, spirit food, the goddess

Apricot: Love

Arabic Gum: Purification, spirituality, protection

Arbutus: Exorcism, protection

Arrowroot: Protection

Asafetida: Purification, protection, exorcism

Ash: Prosperity, protection, healing, love, wands, leaves for prophetic dreams, sea rituals, longevity, peace, luck, purification, study, enhances magic, besom

Aspen: Protection, eloquence, anti-theft

Aster: Love

Astragalus: Fortification, Strength

Avens: Exorcism, love, purification, Exorcism, purification, love

Avocado: Beauty, love, lust

Bachelors Buttons: Love

Balm of Gilead: (TOXIC) Love, manifestations, ease a broken heart, protection, healing, love

Bamboo: Protection, luck, break hexes, wishes

Banana: Prosperity, fertility, potency

Banyan: Luck, happiness

Barley: Healing, protection, love

Basil: Exorcism, love, protection, prosperity, wealth, repels negative energy, sympathy, wealth, flying, courage, business, fertility, healing relationships, ensure faithfulness on masses

Bay: Psychic powers, protection, healing, purification, strength, wish magick, wisdom, good luck, fertility, banish negativity, energy, insight, divination, victory, prosperity, employment, mental power, burn for psychic powers

Bayberry: Employment

Bean: Love, protection, exorcism, wart charming, reconciliation, potency

Beech: Creativity, wishes, fertility, balance mental health

Beet: Love

Belladonna: (TOXIC) Visions, astral protection, divination

Benzoin: Purification, prosperity, astral projection, confidence, protection

Bergamot: Success, money, confidence, protection, prosperity, employment, unwanted advances

Be-Still: (TOXIC) Luck

Betony: Love, healing, burn at Litha for purification, protection; place under pillow to be rid of nightmares; sprinkle around doors to ward off despair, psychic awareness

Birch: Purification, protection, exorcism, cleansing, beauty, catalyst, blessing, health, besom, beginnings

Bistort: Fertility, psychic powers

Bittersweet: (TOXIC) Protection, healing, broken heart

Black Cohosh: Courage, love, protection, potency

Black Hellebore: (TOXIC) Invisibility, exorcism, astral projection

Black pepper: Courage, protection

Black Snakeroot - Love, lust, money

Blackberry: Healing, protection, prosperity, money, pies for Lughnassadh

Blackthorn: Returns evil to it's sender

Bladderwrack: Psychic powers, protection, money, water or sea spells, wind spells, travel, psychic Clarity

Bleeding Heart: Love

Blessed Thistle: Protection, animal healing, abundance

Bloodroot: (TOXIC) Love, purification, protection

Bluebell: Luck, truth

Blueberry: Protection

Blue Cohosh Root: Courage, balance, protection

Blue Flag: (TOXIC) Money, wealth, success in business

Bodhi: Wisdom, fertility, protection, meditation

Boneset: Protection, exorcism

Borage: Courage, psychic powers, carry leaves for protection

Bracken: Protection, healing, fertility, prophetic dreams, rune magick

Brazil Nut: Love

Briar: Add to tea for clairvoyant dreams, protection

Briony: (TOXIC) Mage magick, protection, money

Bromeliad: Protection, money

Broom: (TOXIC) Divination, wind spells, purification of the circle, hung indoors for protection

Bryony: (TOXIC) Pleasure, reveal secrets

Buchu: Prophetic dreams, psychic powers

Buckeye: Luck, divination, money, wealth, prosperity, gambling

Buckthorn: Protection, exorcism, wishes, legal matters

Buckwheat: Protection, money

Burdock: Protection, healing, wards off negativity, purifies, protects (washing floors or dried root on red string around the neck), happy home, clears space & holds the space safe, spirit of north

Cabbage: Luck

Cactus: Protection, chastity

Calamus: (TOXIC) Luck, protection, healing, money, purification

Calendula: Stress management , opening to the 3rd Chakra, helps energy move outward from center of body extending in all directions

Camellia: Prosperity, wealth, luxury

Camphor: (TOXIC) Healing, divination, chastity, past lives, prophetic dreams, purification, psychic awareness, unwanted advances

Caper: Lust, love, potency

Caraway: Protection, lust, healing, mental powers, repel negativity, psychic healing, vitality, energy, magickal power, anti-theft

Cardamon: Lust, love, burned in love spells and in love sachets

Carnation: Protection, strength, healing, altar offering to the goddess, strength

Carob: Protection, health

Carrot: Fertility, lust, vision, the God aspect

Cascara Sagrada: Protection, money, legal matters

Cashew: Prosperity, money, communication

Cassia: Psychic awareness, spirituality

Castor: (TOXIC) Protection, repel negativity

Catnip: Love, beauty, happiness, power, courage, positive cat magik, friendship, joy, anger management, depression management, familiars

Cat Tail: Lust

Cayenne: Exorcism, healing

Cedar: Healing, purification, money, protection, cleansing, courage, stopping sexual harassment, prosperity, aura field and space

Celandine: Joy, protection, happiness, escape, legal matters, depression management

Celery: Lust, psychic powers, mental clarity, concentration, peace

Centaury: Snake removing

Chamomile: Purification, tranquility, money, sleep-rest (tea), love, luck, meditation, prosperity, incense for the God, gambling, hex breaking, legal matters, peace, dreams, dexterity, protection

Chapparal: Fire element rituals, Protection, Spirit of South

Cherry: Love, divination, burn chips at sabbats, creativity , victory

Chestnut: Love

Chickweed: Love, fidelity

Chicory: Favors, frugality, remove obstacles, invisibility, frigidity, liberation

Chili Pepper: Fidelity, love, break hexes

China Berry: (TOXIC) Luck, change

Chrysanthemum: (TOXIC) Protection

Cilantro: Health

Cinchona: Protection, luck

Cinnamon: Prosperity, success, spirituality, healing, lust, protection, love, psychic powers, passion, power, dreams, strength, astral projection, courage, money, purification, personal empowerment

Cinquefoil: Money, protection, sleep, prophetic dreams, purification, lust, prosperity, divination dreams

Citron: Healing, eaten to increase psychic powers

Civet: Love, lust, sex

Cloth-of-Gold: Animal communication

Clove: Protection, exorcism, purification, love, money, mental clarity, burn for wealth, wards off negativity, counter spells, cleansing, divination, luck, depression management, psychic awareness, prophetic dreams, happiness, gossip

Clover: Success, protection, money, exorcism, love, fidelity, consecration, beauty, luck, youth, healing, faeries, prosperity

Club Moss: Protection, power

Coconut: Purification, protection, chastity, Water

Cohosh, Black: Courage, protection, potency, menopause

Coltsfoot: Love, psychic visions, healing, wealth, prosperity

Columbine: Courage, love

Comfrey: (TOXIC) Money, root or leaves for healing, carry for safe travel, protection, stress management, safe Journeys (Worldly or through Meditation) , Winter Solstice

Copal: Love, purification, exorcism, protection, spirituality, earth element, sets sacred space, allows guides and guidance to come

Coriander: Love, health, healing, protection, longevity

Corn: Divination, protection, luck, money

Cornflower: Psychism

Cornsilk: Water element, stimulates flow

Cotton: Luck, healing, protection

Cowslip: Youth, healing, treasure finding, luck, love, psychic dreams

Crocus: Love, visions, wisdom

Cubeb: Love

Cuckoo-Flower: Love, fertility

Cucumber: Healing, fertility, chastity

Cumin: Exorcism, protection, prevents theft, fidelity, love

Curry: Protection, exorcism

Cyclamen: Fertility, protection, happiness, lust, broken heart

Cypress: Healing, protection, comfort, longevity, peace, sleep, liberation

Daffodil: Love, luck, fertility

Daisy: Love, lust, Luck, depression management, faeries and elves, happiness

Damiana: Divination, love, lust, sex magick, dreams, visions, psychic powers, opens door between worlds

Dandelion Leaf and Root: Purification, divination, wishes, calling spirits

Date Palm: Potency, fertility

Datura: (TOXIC) Protection, sleep, break hexes

Deerstongue: (TOXIC) Lust, psychic powers, gossip management

Devil's Bit: Love, protection, luck, exorcism

Devil's Shoestring: Protection, luck, gambling, power, employment

Dill: Love, lust, seeds draw money, leaves for protection, flowers for love

Dittany of Crete: Manifestations, astral projection

Dock: Money, healing, fertility

Dodder: Love divination, knot magic

Dogbane: Love

Dogwood: Protection, wishes

Dong Quai, Slices: Health, vitality, fire element rituals

Dragons Blood: Power, protection, exorcism, potency, love, courage, fortune, catalyst, magick power, strength, purification, stimulates action of other herbs in incense blend, stimulates movement of energy

Dulse: Harmony, lust

Dutchman's Breeches: Love

Ebony: Protection, power

Echinacea: Strengthening spells, health, strength, wards off negativity or undesirable energies

Edelweiss: Invisibility, bullet-proofing

Elder: (CAUTION: SEEDS ARE POISONOUS, TOXIC) Money, wishes, theft protection, exorcism, healing, prosperity, sleep, wards negative thoughts when used as wind chimes, blessings, do not burn the wood of elder for it is sacred to Hecate, see fairies in the trees at Litha, flowers used as an alter offering, berries for esbat wine, flowers added to candle spells directed at hecate during the new moon, cleansing, offering

Elderberries: Prosperity, protection, sleep, joy, visions, banishing, energy, ancient wisdom, contactwith elementals, invoke magic

Elderflower: Purifying, healing

Elecampane: Love, protection, psychic powers, anger management

Elm: Protection, love, attracts elves

Endive: Love, lust

Eryngo: Peace, love, lust, traveler's luck

Eucalyptus: (TOXIC) Healing, protection, joy, purification, air element rituals

Euphorbia: (TOXIC) Protection, purification

Eyebright: Joy, psychic powers, mental clarity, mental ability and clarity, visions

False Unicorn Root: Connection to magical realm, contains energy and intention

Fennel: Protection, exorcism, healing, purification, virility, sacred to the God, hung over doors at Litha, strength, courage, money

Fennel Seed: Stimulates movement

Fenugreek: Prosperity, wealth, money, mental powers, clearing

Fern: (TOXIC) Money, wealth, eternal youth, protection, outside for rain, luck, riches, health, exorcism

Feverfew: Protection, wards sickness, wards accidents in traffic

Fig: Divination, fertility, love

Figwort: Protection, health

Fir: Health, prosperity, birth and rebirth

Flax: Luck, money, protection, purification, beauty, psychic powers, healing, health, initiates flow

Fleabane: Exorcism, protection, chastity

Forget-Me-Not: Mental powers

Foxglove: (CAUTION: POISONOUS, TOXIC) Faeries and elves, lust, grow in garden for protection of the house and yard

Fragrant Bedstraw: Love

Frankincense: Exorcism, purification, protection, spirituality, power, meditation, blessing, concentration, banishing, courage, divination, healing, love, purification, consecration, sets sacred space, sets safe space for guides to come in, spirit of east or north

Fumitory: Money, exorcism

Furz/egorse: Burn at Ostara for protection and as a preparation for any conflict

Fuzzy Weed: Love, hunting

Galangal: Protection, legal matters, lust, health, money, psychic powers, break hexes, energy, strength, courage

Gardenia: Love, peace, healing, spirituality, psychic awareness

Garlic: Protection, healing, health, exorcism, lust sacred to Hecate, flowers for altar offerings, cloves for protection, anti-theft, wishes, relief from nightmares

Gentian: Power, love, break hexes, wishes, theft

Geranium: (TOXIC) Courage, abundance, health, love, protection, fertility

Giant Vetch: Fidelity

Ginger: Love, money, success, power, aphrodisiac, psychic ability, apathy, lust, good health, magickal power, fire element rituals, brings into existence, bringer of the manifestation, 3rd chakra vitality, inner strength, stimulates flow of energy, spirit of south

Ginseng: Longevity, sexual potency, protection, healing, love, lust, wishes, beauty, vitality, fertility, desire, encourages a long lasting affect, strength

Goat's Rue: Healing, health

Goldenrod: Prosperity, money, divination, luck

Goldenseal: Money, healing

Gorse: Protection, money

Gotu Kola: Meditation

Gourd: Protection

Grain: Protection

Grains of Paradise: Love, lust, luck, money, wishes

Grape: Mental clarity, money, fertility, garden magick, happiness

Grass: Psychic powers, protection

Ground Ivy: Divination

Groundsel: Health, healing

Gum Mastic: Magickal power

Hawthorn: Happiness, fertility, powerful wands, protection, chastity, fishing magick, faeries and elves, purification, business, depression management, purity, cleansing

Hawthorne Berries: 4th chakra strength and vitality, love, contentment

Hazel: Luck, fertility, protection, wishes, nuts strung on cord in house or ritual room to invite the help of plant fairies, used for wands, healing, anti-lightning, love, aphrodisiac, wisdom, divination, mental powers, intelligence, inspiration

Heather: Luck, protection, red to start or end an affair, white for protection, purple for spiritual development, use at samhain to invite spirits to visit, rain making, spirituality

'Heliotrope: (TOXIC) Exorcism, prophetic dreams, healing, wealth, invisibility, money, spirituality, prosperity, psychic awareness

Hellebore, Black: (TOXIC) Protection

Hemlock: (TOXIC) Astral projection, diminish libido, power, purification, charging, alignment

Hemp: Healing, love, visions, meditation

Henbane: (TOXIC) Love, luck, divination, invisibility

Henna: Healing, health, love, change, dying material

Hibiscus: Love, lust, divination, 5th Chakra

Hickory: Legal matters

High John the Conqueror: (TOXIC) Strength, confidence, health, love, money, success, happiness, break hexes, increase strength, legal matters, anointing, victory

Holly Thistle: Purification, break hexes

Holly: Protection, luck, dream magic, anti-lightning, balance, dreams, enhances magic, holiness, consecration, beauty

Honesty: Money, protection

Honeysuckle: Protection, money, psychic powers, confidence, broken heart, luck, happiness, healing, depression management

Hops: Healing, sleep, stress management, opens the channel in and out of the body in relationship with the universe

Horehound: Exorcism, healing, purification, protection, mental clarity, balance, banishing, opens air element within body & in the world, opens channel for clear communication

Horse Chestnut: (TOXIC) Healing, money

Horseradish: Exorcism, purification

Horsetail: Fertility

Houseleek: Love, luck, protection

Huckleberry: Protection, luck, dream magic, break hexes

Hyacinth: (TOXIC) Business, court cases, sleep, depression management, love, protection, happiness

Hydrangea: Break hexes

Hyssop: Healing, protection, purification, wards negativity, prosperity, money, banishing, dragon energy

Indian Paint Brush: Love

Iris: Purification, wisdom, courage, reincarnation, spirituality, happiness

Irish Moss: Luck, money, protection, opens throat, opens channel for clear communication

Ivy: (TOXIC) Divination, protection, healing, fertility, love, fidelity

Jasmine: Divination, love, money, prophetic dreams, sleep, prosperity, spirituality, visions, confidence, broken heart, astral projection, business, court cases

Jimson Weed: Protect against evil spirits

Job's Tears: Luck, wishes, healing

Joe-Pye Weed: Love, respect

Juniper: Protection, love, exorcism, health, anti-theft, banishing, peace, wishes, aphrodisiacs, sets sacred space, spirit of north

Kava Kava: Lust, protection while traveling, astral projection, visions, luck, visions, protection, love, opens one to receiving guidance and guides

Kelp: Wind spells, psychic powers, protection, connection to divine source through the physical and spiritual, unity, life-force strengthening, spirit of center

Knotweed: Health, binding spells, protection

Lady's Mantle: Love, self control

Lady's Slipper: Protection

Larch: Protection, anti-theft

Larkspur: Protection, health

Lavender: Protection, call in good spirits, love, sleep, longevity, happiness, peace, healing, burn for purification, peace, use in bath for purification, burn at Litha as an offering, psychic awareness, chastity, liberation, menopause, childbirth, grief or loss, youthful vigor, stress management, travel, anger management, attracts elves

Leek: Exorcism, love, protection

Lemon: Purification, love, friendship, longevity, cleansing, healing, peace, success, broken heart, anger management, devotion

Lemon Balm: Love, success, healing, depression management, aphrodisiac, soothe emotional pain after relationship ends

Lemon Verbena: Protection, purification, love, power, beauty, youth, happiness, peace, mental and emotional balance, summer solstice

Lemongrass: Psychic powers, mental clarity, lust, repel snakes

Lettuce: Love divination, sleep, protection, chastity, luck

Licorice: Love, lust, fidelity, aphrodisiac, meditation, harmony

Life-Everlasting: Health, healing, longevity

Lilac: Eorcism, protection, purification, beauty, love, peace, psychic awareness

Lily: Protection, exorcism, repel negativity, truth, break love spells, strength, purification, breaking hexes

Lily of the Valley: (TOXIC) Mental clarity, happiness, insight, depression management, peace

Lime: Healing, love, protection, cleansing, happiness, purification

Linden: Healing, protection, luck, love, sleep, bark for protection, leaves and flowers for immortality, good fortune, youth, attraction, longevity

Liquid Amber: Protection

Liverwort: Love, protection

Lobelia - (TOXIC) healing, love

Loosestrife: Peace, protection, harmony, purple restores harmony and brings peace

Lotus: Protection, spirituality, love, lock opening, liberation, mental powers

Lovage: Love, attraction, cleansing, purification

Love Seed: Love, friendship

Lucky Hand: Protection, luck, money, travel, employment

Mace: Psychic powers, mental clarity, divination'

Maguey: Lust

Magnolia: Fidelity, past lives, peace, sex, broken heart, beauty, wisdom

Mahogany, Mountain: Anti-lightning

Maidenhair: Beauty, love

Male Fern: Luck, love

Mallow: Love, protection, exorcism

Mandrake: (TOXIC) potency, exorcism, protection, fertility, money, love, health, protection, catalyst, prosperity, divination, increase psychic powers, aphrodisiacs, cursing enemies, building, banishing, protection in the subconscious, unconscious and underworld,

Maple: Money, longevity, love

Marigold: Prophetic dreams, protection, legal matters, marriage spells, enhanced psychic powers, pick in full sun, business and legal matters, clairvoyant dreams, mixed with water and rubbed on the eyelids to see fairies

Marjoram: Protection, love, happiness, health, money, depression management, prosperity

Marshmallow: Healing, friendship, boundaries, love, protection, strength, emotional balance'

Masterwort: Protection, strength, courage

Mastic: Psychic powers, lust, manifestations, love, magick power

May Apple: (TOXIC) Money, prosperity

Meadow Rue: Love, divination

Meadowsweet: Love, divination, peace, happiness, harmony, 3rd chakra

Mesquite: Healing

Milk Thistle: Creativity, protection, dispel, transformation

Mimosa: Love, protection, prophetic dreams, purification, past lives, visions

Mint: Exorcism, protection, money, lust, healing, travel, alter offering for helpful spirits , love, luck, anger management, dreams, abundance, prosperity, rejuvenation

Mistletoe: (TOXIC) Healing, protection, love, fertility, health, exorcism, hunting, success, catalyst, lust, liberation, sexual potency

Molukka: Protection

Moonflower: Liberation

Moonwort: Love, money, divination

Morning Glory: (TOXIC) Peace, happiness, depression management

Moss: Luck, money

Motherwort: Balances within, self empowerment, 2nd chakra

Mugwort: Astral projection, strength, psychic powers, protection, prophetic dreams, healing, divination, rub fresh herb on crystal balls and magick mirrors to increase their strength, pick on full moon night, clairvoyance, purification, sex, renewal, fertility, clearing, sleep, visions, opens one to the teachings of the subconscious and unconscious self, 6th and 7th chakras

Mulberry: Protection, strength

Mullein: Exorcism, health, protection, courage, love divination, calling spirits, dreams, opens life energy flow through the body

Musk: Purification, sex

Mustard: Fertility, protection, mental clarity, health, money

Myrrh: Spirituality, purification, protection, healing, exorcism, wards negativity, burn for purification and consecrations, banishing, sets sacred space, ancient wisdom

Myrtle: Peace, money, love, youth, fertility, sleep, healing, prosperity

Narcissus: Peace

Nasturtium: Healing

Neroli: Love

Nettle: Exorcism, protection, healing, lust, abundance, 3rd and 6th chakra, banishing, stress management, gossip management

Niaouli: Protection

Norfolk Island Pine: Protection, anti-hunger

Nutmeg: Protection, money, health, luck, fidelity, break hexes, burn for prosperity, love, psychic awareness, relief from nightmares

Nuts: Fertility, prosperity, love, luck, use for tips on wands, gifts, communication

Oak: Protection, health, money, healing, potency, fertility, luck, the God, wands, burn leaves to purify the atmosphere, acorns draw money, burn wood for good health, acorns draw money, power, balance, prosperity

Oak Moss: Court cases, money, protection

Oats: Money, offering to the god, stress management

Oleander: (TOXIC) Love

Olive: Healing, peace, fertility, potency, protection, lust, victory, spirituality

Onion: Exorcism, healing, protection, purification, money, prophetic dreams, lust

Orange: Love, divination, luck, money

Orange Bergamot: Prosperity, success, energy, joy, friendship, success, prosperity, psychic awareness, peels for love, incense for good fortune

Orchid: Love, psychic powers

Oregon Grape: Money, prosperity

Orris: Divination, protection, love, prosperity, money, clairvoyance, sex, psychic awareness

Palmarosa: Hhealing, love

Palm Date: Fertility, potency

Pansy: Love, divination, rain magick, mental powers, strength

Papay: Protection, love, wishes

Papyrus: Protection, wisdom, self-insight

Parosela: Hunting

Parsley: Purification, protection, lust, love, fertility, prosperity

Passion Flower: Peace, sleep, friendships prosperity, increase libido, popularity, anger management, stress management

Patchouli: Money, fertility, lust, break hexes, incense for drawing money, earth, underworld, business, confidence, court cases, love, desire, prosperity, protection, success, sex, enemies

PAU D'ARCO: Fertility, wards off negativity, clears

Pea: Money, love

Peach: Exorcism, love, fertility, wishes, longevity, broken heart, youth

Pear: Love, lust

Pecan: Money, employment, prosperity, dreams, discipline

Pennyroyal: Exorcism, consecration, strength, protection, peace, healing

Peony: Exorcism, protection, purification

Pepper: Exorcism, protection, use in amulets or grow for protection, wards negativity

Peppermint: Purification, sleep, love, healing, psychic powers, divination, money, apathy, exorcism, insight, lust, menopause, clears energy and space

Pepper Tree: Protection, purification, healing

Periwinkle: (TOXIC) Protection, money, love, lust, mental clarity

Persimmon: Healing, luck, changing sex, insight into others

Petitgrain: Protection

Pilot Weed: Protection

Pimento: Love

Pimpernel: Protection, health

Pine: (TOXIC) Protection, exorcism, money, healing, fertility, brush outdoor ritual area with a branch to purify and sanctify, burn for cleansing, needles in money spells, spirituality, gambling, dreams, cleansing, banishing, purification, prosperity, employment, birth, rebirth, strength, life and immortality

Pineapple: Luck, money, chastity, hospitality, protection

Pipsissewa: Money, calling in good spirits

Pistachio: Breaking love spells

Plantain: Protection, healing, strength, snake repelling

Plum: Protection, love, healing, self-confidence

Plumeria: (TOXIC) Love

Poke: (TOXIC) Courage, break hexes

Pomegranate: Divination, luck, wealth, wishes, fertility

Poplar: Money, astral projection, success

Poppy: Fertility, love, sleep, money, luck, healing, invisibility

Potato: Healing, image magick, astral projection, separation, foundations, earth energy

Prickly Ash: Love

Primrose: Protection, love

Purslane: Protection, love, happiness, luck, sleep

Quassia: Love

Queen of the Meadow: Power, protection

Quince: Protection, love, happiness

Radish: Protection, lust

Ragweed: Courage, faeries and elves

Ragwort: Protection

Raspberry: Healing, visions, protection, love, alleviates labor pains, spirit of center, spring equinox

Rattlesnake Root: Protection, money

Red Clover Blossoms: Abundance, love, money, protection, success, summer solstice

Red Root: Clears energy, dispels

Rhubarb: Health, protection, fidelity

Rice: Protection, money, fertility, rain, blessings, weather magick

Roots: Protection, divination, power

Rose: Beauty, protection, purification, love, psychic powers, healing, divination, peace, luck, courage, catalyst, sex, sleep, prophetic dreams, anger management, love divination, abundance, attraction, prosperity

Rose Geranium: Protection

Rose Hips: Healing, luck, call in good spirits, abundance, strength, fall equinox ceremony

Rosemary: Exorcism, protection, healing, love, lust, mental clarity, sleep, youth, burn for purification, wards negativity, love, blessing, consecration, cleansing, strength, wishes, dreams, beauty, theft, healing, psychic ability, spirit of south, grow to attract elves, blessing

Rowan: Protection, success, psychic powers, healing, power, wands and amulets for knowledge, incense of leaves and berries for divination, fires to call upon spirits for help, grow for protection of the home, inspiration, wisdom, enhances magic, attracts faeries

Rue: Exorcism, protection, purification, break hexes, health, mental clarity, healing, blessing, consecration, use in altar oil, love, money and wealth, gossip management

Rye: Love, fidelity

Saffron: Love, lust, healing, strength, happiness, psychic powers, wind raising, depression management

Sage: Purification, protection, wisdom, longevity, wishes, health, immortality, intuition, divination, luck, prosperity, money, spirituality, menopause, psychic ability, clears, inner guide, longevity, vision

Sagebrush: Exorcism, protection, purification, joy, peace

St. John's Wort: (TOXIC) Exorcism, protection, courage, strength, happiness, health, love divination, burn at Litha to send away negativity, wear for invincibility, willpower, gathered at Litha, power, stress management

Saltpeter: Unwanted advances

Sandalwood: Protection, exorcism, purification, wishes, healing, spirituality, full moon esbats, wards negativity, spirit offering, luck, sex, banishing, astral projection, business, success, mental powers

Sarsaparilla: Love, money, inner strength, grounding, purification

Sassafras: Money, health, healing

Senna: Love

Serpentaria Root: Love, aphrodisiacs

Sesame: Money, success in business, lust, happiness, gambling

Shallot: Purification

Shamrocks: Faeries and elves

Shepherds Purse: Sleep, depression management, healing

Skullcap: Peace, love, fidelity, stress management, anxiety management

Skunk Cabbage: Good fortune, legal matters, legal matters

Slippery Elm: Halts gossip, aids verbal communication and development, enemies, friendship, ends disputes

Sloe: Exorcism, protection, banish negative energy/entities

Snakeroot: Money, luck, break hexes, love, lust

Snapdragon: Protection, break hexes, exorcism, prophetic dreams, prosperity, gossip management, money and wealth

Solomon's Seal: Love, exorcism, protection, an offering to the elementals for their aid

Sorrel, Wood: Healing, health

Southernwood: Love, lust, protection, faeries and elves

Spanish Moss: Protection

Spearmint: Healing, love, mental clarity

Spiderwort: Love

Spikenard: Health, fidelity, love, luck, strength, wisdom, mental powers

Squill: Protection, money, break hexes, business

Star Anise: Psychic powers, luck, good fortune, spiritual powers

Stephanotis: Lust

Stillengia: Psychic powers

Straw: Luck, attracts fairies, do not burn magik infused straw, it will bring ill-fortune, used as an image to protect an area, image magick, fertility

Strawberry: Love, luck, joy, broken heart

Sugar Cane: Love, lust, prosperity, sympathy

Sumbul: Psychic powers, love, luck, health

Summer Savory: Mental clarity and strength, mental powers

Sunflower: Wisdom, health, wishes, fertility, happiness, friendship, prosperity

Sweetgrass: Calling in good spirits, bringer of positive energy, clears, seals In, burned after white sage which clears, spirit of east

Sweetpea: Strength, courage, friendship, chastity, truth, love

Tamarind: Love

Tamarisk: Exorcism, protection

Tangerine: Magickal power

Tansy: Healing, health, longevity

Tea: Strength, courage, prosperity, riches, health

Thistle, Holly: Purification, hex breaking

Thistle, Milk: Exorcism, protection, healing, strength, break hexes, snake enraging

Thyme: Purification, courage, psychic powers, sleep, wards negativity, burn for purification, and healing spells, love, renewal, youth, divination, prophetic dreams, faery folk, romance

Ti: Protection, healing

Toadflax: Protection, break hexes

Toadstool: (TOXIC) Rain making

Tobacco: (TOXIC) Healing, purification, offerings

Tomato: Protection, prosperity, love

Tonka: (TOXIC) Courage, love, money, wishes, luck, friendship, prosperity

Tormentil: Protection, love

Trefoil: Decorate alter, protection, luck, when taking one, leave a bit of ginger or milk poured into the ground as payment to the fairies

Trillium: Love, luck, money

Tuberose: Love, lust, peace, psychic awareness

Tulip: Protection, prosperity, love

Turmeric: Purification (used with sea salt), fortification, strength, clears aggression

Turnip: Protection, endings, banish negativity

Uva Ursa: (TOXIC) Psychic powers

Valerian: Protection, purification, love, sleep, prophetic dreams, peace, sex, friendship, anxiety management, self esteem

Vanilla: Love, lust, mental clarity, money, confidence, attracting people, magickal power, prosperity, success, wishes

Venus Flytrap: Protection, love

Vervain: Sleep, protection, purification, love, money, peace, healing, gather/burn at Litha, altar offering, brings riches, creativity, wards psychic attack, youth, chastity, astral projection, unwanted advances, anger management, prosperity

Vetch, Giant: Fidelity

Vetivert: Love, luck, money, break hexes, wards negativity, anti-theft, exorcism, wishes, peace, protection, prosperity, divination

Violet: Protection, healing, love, lust, luck, wishes, peace, sleep, insight, visions

Wahoo: (TOXIC) Courage, success, break hexes

Walnut: Health, mental clarity, wishes, infertility, spirituality, travel

Watercress: Healing

Wax Plant: Protection, power

Wheat: Money, fertility, prosperity

White Willow Bark: Healing, blessings, binding, sacred earth connection between human and earth and spirit, protection, spirit of east

Wild Lettuce: Love divination, protection, sleep, opens to the deeper consciousness, attunes to deeper meanings

Wild Plum: Healing

Wild Yam: Fortification, grounding, release, 1st chakra

Willow: Protection, healing, love, burn bark with sandalwood for divination, vitality, energy, ending pain, moon magic, wishing, spirits, death passage, besom, inspiration, pyschic energy

Wintergreen: Protection, healing, break hexes, strength, good fortune, opens channels

Winter's Bark: Success

Wisteria: Spirituality

Witch Grass: Exorcism, happiness, love, lust

Witch Hazel: Protection, chastity, healing, beauty, unwanted advances

Wolf's Bane: (TOXIC) Protection, invisibility

Wood Betony: Love, purification, protection

Wood Rose: Luck

Wood Sorrel: Healing, health

Woodruff: Protection, money, victory, add to Beltane wine to clear away barriers, success, changes, psychic awareness, prosperity

Wormwood: (CAUTION: POISONOUS, BURN IN WELL VENTILATED AREA, PREFERABLY OUTDOORS TOXIC) Exorcism, protection, love, psychic powers, calling spirits, protection while traveling, evocation, divination, scrying (stronger when combined with Mugwort) at Samhain, sacred to the moon, good luck, clairvoyance, divination, safety in cars

Yarrow: Hhealing, divination, exorcism, protection, courage, love, psychic powers, happy marriage (wedding bouquet), wards negativity, defense, protection, gather at Litha, happiness, fidelity, broken heart, prophetic dreams, spirit of south, clears, stimulates movement

Yellowdock Root: Clears stuck energy, fortification

Yellow Evening Primrose: Hunting

Yerba Mate: Love, lust, fidelity

Yerba Santa: Protection, healing, psychic powers, beauty, clears channel to divine life force

Yew: (CAUTION: POISONOUS, TOXIC) Yule symbol for death and rebirth, used for dagger handles, raising the dead, psychic awareness, spirits

Ylang Ylang: Insight, love, past lives, peace, sex, visions

Yohimbe: (TOXIC) Love, lust

Yucca: Protection, purification, transmutation

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the cottage I’m staying at this weekend

#witchcraft #witch #spells #spellbook #pagan #witches of tumblr #spring #flowers

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bluemoonwitchcraft · 8 months

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~sampughart

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Goetic Circle of the Black Pullet, 18th century

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The grave being swallowed whole by a tree.

Laurel Hill Cemetery

Deerfield MA 7/16/19

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Artwork by Nona Limmen

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Arab-Islamic magic during the Middle Ages: An introduction

Magic in the Arab-Islamic world is a complex issue in nature, and there are as many attempts to define what magic is as people have written about it.

The beginning of the verse, namely 2:102, leads us to the times of Solomon, and reads as follows:

’And they followed, [instead] what the demons recited in Solomon’s reign.

What is clear, in any case, is that the Qur’an does not explicitly condemn or prohibit the use of magic anywhere.

In this field there has always been a huge gap between the theoretical views on magic professed by jurists and traditionalists of the Middle Ages on the one hand, and on the other hand, real practices, since they have been carried out continuously until nowadays by magicians, sorcerers and talisman specialists in many parts of Dār al-Islam. This can be explained by the divergence of views even among the best qualified representatives of legal theory, thus the 13th-century Andalusian author, Abû 'Abdallâh al-Qurtubi, who amply commented on the famous Qur'anic passage from Hārūt and Mārūt, is known for adopting a much more tolerant and conciliatory position than its predecessors.

Defined as ‘’The sciences that show how human souls can be prepared to exert an influence on the elements, either without any help or with the help of celestial forces’’

Speaking of souls who have magical abilities, Khaldūn states that there are three levels:

‘’The former exercises its influence merely through the power of the mind, without any instrument or help. This is what philosophers call siḥr, magic.

A particular form of natural magic is that of talismans, طلسم 'tilasm’, from the ancient Greek τέλεσμα, religious rite, payment, in which inscriptions normally with astrological meaning are used as amulets to protect someone or some community against dangers such as manifestations understood as a result of the evil eye.

This concept prompted medieval thinkers to develop systems of language analysis, classifying letters in different ways and according to various criteria.

The religious side of the science of letters developed in two forms, asmāʾu llāhi lḥusnā and fawātiḥ al-suwar

The Prophet did not give any explanation on this and it gave rise to many speculations.

Bibliography

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