Page 7 - Kallima Spiritual Centre - Newsletter - June-July 2021

The Magickal Energy of Herbs
I am a HUGE fan of herbs, whether it’s growing them myself in my witchy herb garden and harvesting to use within teas, tinctures, beauty products and my spellwork or having a dried selection or essential oil form in my witchy stash to use at any time I need these wonderful beings within my path.
I use essential oils within magickal dressing and anointing oils, within magickal sprays, oil diffusers, holistically whether it’s topically to help aid an ailment or inhaling the oil for mental and emotional support. However these do need some training and much research before using them in such ways as these little bottles of oils are extremely concentrated extracts of the plants themselves and without proper training and research these can cause more harm than good.
Dried & Fresh herbs are much safer to use for all, but of course again research is needed before using herbs for specific ailments concerning the human body as they can cause problems as well if used incorrectly.
However using herbs within witchcraft is safe and doesn’t need to be considered too much unless when handling you are sensitive and of course if you're working with particular poisonous herbs, so still air on the side of caution.
Now the careful chat is out the way let’s talk herbal history.
As we all know the plant kingdom came into existence on our Earth millions of years before the existence and evolution of human beings. Saying that, it’s fair to say that herbs are the oldest magickal tools and ingredients in existence. Known for
millennia to have beneficial properties for both the physical and spiritual well-being, many different species of plants were incorporated into the practices of healers, shamans and other medicine men and women of the old days within villages and tribes - this is where, as we know it, the origin of herbal magick. You still see to this day in Chinese, Ayurvedic and Native American medicines being used from the knowledge of their ancestors centuries ago. In these traditions there is still a good amount of chanting, prayers and spellwork adding to the curative effects of the plants themselves.
Back before medicine was separated from magick, physical healing was often accompanied by ritual and prayer, so that a patient might be treated with a herbal decoction, as well as a smudging ritual and an incantation to the spirits for a quick recovery. Today, the simple daily ritual of enjoying a cup of herbal tea can have emotional and spiritual effects as well as nutritional benefits. This combination of healing and magickal properties makes herbs incredibly powerful components to use within your magickal practice or your daily life for that matter.
The healers of old would pass this information down through their lineage or to people they trained to become the next healers. This was all done verbally so you can imagine the concentration and memory they had to possess to keep track of every plant they worked, what it looked like, where it grew, how it grew, antidotes to them if a reaction occurred, what reactions may occur, along with their correspond- ences if working spiritually, this was all a trial and error for them as they did not possess the equipment we do today 7