Stocking Up on Herbs & Spices

[blue_moon]

Hi there,

I'm stocking up my herbs and spice rack since summer. And I was wondering what else to keep at hand - for spell casting not only medicine and cooking.

Few weks ago we collected dandelions and plantain (we have a wierd November, unusually worm), rosehips and calendula.
I want to try to keep my magick regional - with herbs and plants growing where I live. I rather collect or grow them to give em an extra magick than buy them

What are you essenrials?

[Becks]

This is a great question Blue_moon. I am like you, in that I like my local plant allies, and I feel that something is gained by working with items from close to home.

I have a lot going on, but always have local mint, honeysuckle, chamomile, and nettle. I use Devil's club, cedar, and rosehips.

I collect what I can and buy others locally. I can't wait for the day I have a garden.

[EtherealMoonRose]

I only have a handful of different herbs planted at the moment and the rest are dried. My essentrials are-

Rosemary
Sage
Basil
Thyme
Mint
Oregano
Tarragon
Cinnamon
Star anise
Dill (for spellwork mainly, personally not a fan of the taste)
Bay (I want to get a tree and plant it before summer)
Mugwort
Wormwood

I recently planted a valerian and hyssop plant. Looking forward to trying them out in spell work and tea

[blue_moon]

Nice list! Thanks for sharing!

Becks - me too... I don't have a garden but found a nice spot of nature just a few steps from our house.
I don't have mich luck on my balcony - its hot, sunny and windy. I've been growing thyme out there and two different kinds of mint.

[Xiao Rong]

I want to try to keep my magick regional - with herbs and plants growing where I live. I rather collect or grow them to give em an extra magick than buy them

Me too! I think our local environments can give us so much of what we need for our spellwork (and even give it an extra boost!) that frankly I don't find it necessary to go out of my way to buy very much, aside from common cooking spices. I've tried to do my best to learn about the medicinal and magical plants in my backyard, and that's already quite a significant task! Frankly, I don't even have much occasion to use most of the ones that I've identified, which include:

- black-eyed susans
- chicory
- dame's rocket
- dandelion
- daylily
- ground ivy
- Queen Anne's Lace
- clover
- sweet woodruff
- thimbleweed
- woodsorrel
- plantain
- mugwort
- purslane
- wormwood

This year I had a little container garden:

- Sage
- Mint
- Oregano
- Chives
- Scallions
- Marigolds (from my covenmates who gave it to us for Litha)
- Basil
- Thyme

I was so excited because all of them were doing great this summer, and I normally have such a brown thumb ... I think I may have grown too much mint -- after I harvested it, I had a quart of mint simple syrup, a quart of mint oil, and another quart of mint extract. I have NO idea what I'm going to do with it all (except perhaps give it away for Christmas/Yule?). Maybe I'll do a giveaway for this forum with some of that mint, haha!

[blue_moon]

I sadly had no luck with my herbs this year... everything died away.. my lemon balm my mint and calendula flowers, even my thyme! But I'm sure they will come back next year.

I took a second "trip" to the untouched piece of nature across the street to get some more plantago for medicinal use and see what else I can find. And I found alot. Braught home some stingy thistles I'll use for protection/banishing, some blackberry leaves some tansy and yarrow leaves and flowers.

Und can you tell me if the plant on the top is wormwood?

[img]http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp18 ... sgadqo.jpg[/img]

[valerian moon]

Lemon balm and mint are my essentials. Always good with green tea!

[SpiritTalker]

I use mostly these:

Mugwort for magnetizing crystal ball
Red rose buds for abundance & blessing
Mint for purifying, abundance, vitality (my go-to
Cinnamon, nutmeg, all-spice & ginger blended for psychic enhancement (and on toast )
Rosemary tea to prompt trance recall
Salt, black pepper corns, paprika for protection
Bay & lily of the valley oils for trance/meditations
Tarragon & garlic for salads