Comments | little_details: Magical Herbs to Call and Weave Magic

imuptonogood in little_details

Magical Herbs to Call and Weave Magic

Jul 11, 2010 08:27

I am looking for some herbs that could be used in a magical ritual in England; I need one to awaken / strengthen / draw the magic, and one to weave or bind it. The context is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.(so the herbs could be herbs found in England or in the Potterverse).. and they will be used in a funeral ceremony.

I've tried Google ( Read more... )

~woo-woo

Comments 24

sollersuk July 11 2010, 18:57:17 UTC

People who used herbs in this way rarely wrote about it. However, you could try Anglo-Saxon (language: Old English) leechdoms, as there was a lot of magic in medicine then.

imuptonogood July 12 2010, 17:04:45 UTC

Thank you! I didn't even know the word for that. It will be fascinating to look into leechdoms and old english herbal remedies. (I suppose I must restrain myself for the moment, however, or I'll never get the chapter written. Just a brief peek...)

arinwolfe July 11 2010, 19:11:53 UTC

the only things i know are from my work in pagan magic, woudl that help?

clairful July 11 2010, 19:44:42 UTC

This isn't my post, but I'd be interested to hear that.

imuptonogood July 12 2010, 17:06:13 UTC

If you actually use it, it would be helpful. If it is something garnered from a Llewellyn publication or the like, perhaps, perhaps not.

But, as clairful said, it would still be interesting, if you wanted to share.

arinwolfe July 12 2010, 21:11:41 UTC

Does it have to be herbs? for me crystals work better. But I can find herbs/oils et. if that is the spesfic need

laudomia July 11 2010, 20:03:56 UTC

Just about everything Potter is here:
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/index-2.html

The specific url for herbology is here:
http://www.hplex.info/magic/herbology.html

imuptonogood July 12 2010, 17:10:19 UTC

You know, I always go to the HP Lexicon, and completely forgot about it this time. THANK YOU! The herbology link is giving me some ideas, which I will most likely merge with some of reynardo's suggestions.

It occurred to me that Holly and Yew are both symbolic of ressurrection, and it would be very symbolic to use them in a "traditional wizarding funeral" (grin).

essayel July 11 2010, 20:04:04 UTC

Have a little look at the Doctrine of Signatures - where the appearance of some plant gives the clue to its use. You could combine that with the magic of the Potterverse to get the effect that you want.

For instance the 'horns' of the honeysuckle could 'call' the magic down and goosegrass, aka cleavers, which is covered in little hooks and very eager to wrap around things, could bind it in place.

If you want ACTUAL magic recipes I don't really know what to suggest.

imuptonogood July 12 2010, 17:12:09 UTC

That sounds useful. Thanks.

areteus July 11 2010, 20:30:41 UTC

Most herbal remedies were linked to healing or harming (remedies or poisons), certainly the herbal remedies that actually work (like willowbark which was later refined to extract asprin). The real world 'magic' that was usually linked to these came in the form of spells which were uttured over the herb as it was being prepared which were supposed to make them more potent.

A possible thing to look at may be good old fashioned tabletop RPG games which often had a lot of stuff in them about herbal things. I remember one edition of AD&D which had a list of herbs and their effects and the Middle Earth Roleplaying game by ICE had a long list of herbs from the Tolkien universe.

Doctrine of signatures as mentioned above is also useful to consider as a search term.