So You Want to be an Herbalist?

10 Tips for Becoming a Magickal Herbalist

Herbalism is one of those things that is so inexorably tied up with witchcraft that it's hard, if not impossible, to imagine anyone with a magickal practice who doesn't have at least a passing interest in herbs. There are few places on our world that don't have plants, and the potential to use them to create changes in our lives, warding off the unwanted and helping us to attract what we desire, is something that has enticed humanity throughout the ages. Even within medicinal herbalism, there is still that feel of mystery and magick surrounding the herbs and the gentle results they bring about. 

Herbalism, both magickal and medicinal, is a multilayered modality that accommodates both beginner and expert alike, with a simple approach being just as feasible and rewarding as more complicated clinical herbal research. There is, perhaps, a greater simplicity in magickal herbalism than medicinal herbalism, but it can still seem no less daunting of a field within which to get started and learn. In no specific order, here are ten tips to help you on your way to becoming a magickal herbalist.

• Keep your money. Okay, so there are a TON of fabulous, exotic sounding herbs from all around the world that you can get with just a few clicks online. And there are so many shiny tools that you need to be a "serious herbalist." BUT, most of that is unnecessary. Hear me out first: you absolutely need a few tools and supplies in order to make most herb crafts, such as some forms of incense, natural oils, lotions, and fine powders. But, you don't need that many. A mortar and pestle, censer, and cheese cloth are pretty much all you need to make nearly every type of herb craft there is. Later, once you figure out the basics and what you like to make the most and what you use the most, you can add additional tools as necessary (like a set of funnels in various sizes, stainless steel tweezers, glass droppers, glass mixers, and blue or amber colored glass vials and jars.) And don't worry about jars! For now, just save jars from food products that you buy and use, as long as they have a tight fitting top (like spaghetti sauce jars -which are great for holding large quantities of dried herbs, small mustard jars -great for ointments/salves.) These will need to be scrubbed and sterilized before you can use them (always sterilize your jars before putting oils, lotions, or ointments in them: you can do so by baking them in the oven at a low temperature with a pan of water on the rack beneath them) but you'll be saving money and showing greater appreciation for the Earth (who grows all those lovely herbs.) Win/win. Oh, and those jars with smells that just won't go away after washing: either soak them in vinegar or microwave them with a bit of lemon juice inside to permanently eliminate the smell.
• Before you take that splurge and buy a cauldron do your research! It's okay, nearly everyone buys a cauldron right away, but make sure that any cauldron you buy is food safe cast iron. Not all cast iron cauldrons are safe to cook in as they contain lead and that lead will leach into whatever you make in them. And if you then put that oil you just baked in your cauldron onto your skin, you're just poisoning yourself. Be smart, be safe: research that cauldron.
• Learn your local plants. You have, where ever you live, enough variety of plants to completely support basic magickal herbalism needs -and I say this as someone who lives in the South West and only has four types of trees on their land. There are many plants that, often overlooked and considered weeds, can be powerful magickal allies. Consider Dandelion, White Clover, Stinging Nettle, Yarrow, Plantain, and Crab Grass (aka Witch Grass): these are common plants throughout much of North America and while there is profound effort by some people to eradicate these plants from their yards and gardens, these plants are very useful to the witch. Best of all, because they are so prevalent, they are easily acquired. Even if you don't have a particular plant growing in your yard, you may have a neighbor who would appreciate your help "weeding" their garden or yard. Get there early in the morning (when the oil content in the leaves will be highest) and take home everything you pull. You can identify the plants, if you don't already know what they are, while they dry, and build your knowledge of local plants, as well as build your herbal supply, at the same time.
• Leave the microwave alone. It's been suggested too many times that a microwave is a fast and convenient way to steep herbs in oil or even melt beeswax, but microwaves have no place in herbalism. They kill off vital properties in beeswax and evaporate many of the properties of the herbs. It also heats up too fast. For herb crafts that need to be baked (e.g. natural oils, ointments, and lotions can all be started by baking the oil) this will produce a lesser quality product. Herbs need to be treated gently. A microwave can't do that.
• Don't shy away from medicinal herbalism information. Medicinal herbalism uses techniques to produce the highest quality dried herb material and the highest quality finished herb products. The techniques ensure the greatest amount of essential oils remain in the herbs as they dry and that the greatest amount of those properties are transfered into the oil, for example, as in the case of making lotions and natural oils. Think about it: if medicinal herbalism techniques produce the highest quality product, wouldn't that also mean that those same techniques produce the highest quality magickal product, too? These techniques preserve, as much as possible, the innate physical qualities of the herbs, naturally, these same techniques preserve the energetic qualities of the herbs as much as is possible, too. And the medicinal properties of herbs can lend clues to how that plant can be used within your Craft.
• Trust your gut and trust that plant. Most of us tend to underestimate ourselves too often, and when it comes to learning new skills and systems, this is very often the case. But you already have everything you need to figure out the magickal properties of any plant. You don't need to buy numerous books on magickal herbalism or copy endless correspondence lists off of the internet (which is why you will never find a correspondence list on this site.) Nope. Not at all. Think back to the above point, identifying and collecting local plants. The next step is to figure out the use of those plants. You can do this with books, the internet, researching folklore, by considering practical and medicinal uses of the plant (which you should totally do, anyway,) etc, but the best source of information as to how that plant can be used in your magick is to ask the plant. Correspondence lists will give you ideas of what the general energy of a species of plant can be used for, but in approaching a specific plant and asking it how you could use it, you may find that the plant tells you something entirely different. In this regard, you aren't connecting with the plant's energy in an archetypal generic way, rather, you are connecting directly with the spirit that resides within that specific plant -and that plant spirit may decide to help you in unexpected ways.
• Be patient, take it slow. There are many different herb crafts* to learn in order to be a well rounded and competent herbalist, and never mind learning the uses and properties of various herbs. This will take time. You'll be on your way, much more quickly, to being a good herbalist if you tackle one type of herb craft at a time, learning it, incorporating it into your magickal practice, and then moving on to another type. One at a time. When it comes to building your memorized herb uses: don't worry, the more you actually practice magickal herbalism (i.e. make and employ herb crafts) the easier you'll just pick up the uses. And on the plus side, you'll be spending time learning the uses of plants you're actually using, not wasting time and effort trying to memorize herbs you may never encounter.
• Write everything down. Grab yourself a sturdy notebook with a lot of pages and write down every recipe you come up with. My entries tend to look like this, with the intended outcome noted, as well as what really happened:

First Impression Ointment                            March 13, 2010
1 1/2 tsp Bay Leaves
1/2 tsp Spearmint
1/2 tsp Peppermint
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2c Olive Oil
1/6c Grapeseed Oil
1 TBS Beeswax
Solar and Venusian herbs to make the wearer more confident and appear more attractive, with a Mercurial herb for eloquence. For aiding first impressions and making others more easily influenced by the wearer. Apply to hands and throat.
Works well for making a good first impression, by phone and in person, however, it does not have the desired compelling properties as a second function.

As you can see, it's not overly complicated, and this recipe has specific amounts (whereas I normally use proportions, e.g 3 part Bay Leaves, 1 part Spearmint, etc, with one part being whatever unit makes sense, this may be a teaspoon one time, 1/4 teaspoon the next.) But, the important thing is that everything is there: I have a record of my work, what my intention was with this herb craft, and whether or not the outcome followed the desired goal (in this case, it did, but I ended up wanting the salve to have a wider range of uses, to that end it did not work.) This allows me to look back at this recipe, tweak it, and make it again to better suit my intended use, or leave it as is if it did work out as planned or if I liked the unintended use it was better suited to. And if I had an allergic reaction to the salve, this allows me to better identify which ingredient(s) were the cause and to avoid that ingredient(s) in the future. In time, this record becomes a teaching guide, showing you where you made mistakes and how to avoid them in the future. To this end, it's important to write down any insights you have to the nature of certain herbs, any messages you receive from specific plants to what their uses are, ideas you have for recipes, different techniques you come across for making particular herb crafts,** and your experience in trying out those techniques.

• Talk with other herbalists. Find out what their passions are, what they're really good at, ask questions, get advice, ask them about their mistakes, what they wish they had done differently starting out, and share your own experiences, too. In this way, you can learn a lot of really useful advice and tips from people who are actually doing this -which isn't always the case with herbal advice online, especially in Pagan and Witchcraft forums (people like to copy and paste, it makes them appear smart.
• Check out your local resources. In some places, university extensions and nature preserves will offer courses, workshops, and tours on everything from identifying natives plants and invasive species to starting your own garden (which may prove very useful later on and provides you with access to individuals with interest and knowledge of plants, these are good connections to be making!) There may be courses or workshops offered through your local metaphysical shop or natural foods store, maybe a presentation at your local library. Many times these are free, require a small fee, or (in the case of short courses through a university extension) require a certain number of volunteer hours at one of their gardens, for example. All of these are great ways to get firsthand, face to face training from knowledgeable and experienced individuals that, while not directly related, can prove quite useful.

For more information you may find helpful, check out the HerbCraft section of the Articles page.


*Oh, so many wonderful different herb crafts to learn and make: incense, incense papers, hydrosols, lotion, natural oils (which can be made with essential oils and/or dried or fresh herb matter,) ointments (aka salves,) powders, sachets (aka gris-gris, herb bags, charm bags, mojo bags, etc,) soap, teas (aka brews, which can be made by infusion or decoction,) and tinctures. Way too many to learn all at once. Give yourself six months to a year to be a competent herbalist.
** For example, there are six different ways to make natural oils, one of them being absolute garbage, one being okay but not producing the best quality finished oil, one that takes weeks, one that takes hours, and one that uses just essential oils -no dried herb matter.