Witches Bane
ALL OILS IN THIS SECTION ARE NON-TOXIC - STILL - DO NOT INGEST.
A long time ago when people still spoke and worked with the plants, trees and the gods, learned of the Solanaceae genus of plants. They learned of their good and bad vibrations. Many people died for their knowledge of such plants. Plants are neither good nor evil in their nature. It is humankind that sets a plant toward a good purpose for healing, or a bad one for killing or cursing. Only in the last century have extracts of these plants been used in modern medicine. For example atropine, which is derived from Belladonna, Datura, and Mandrake, is listed as a “core medicine” on the World Health Organization’s “Essential Drugs List” as it is used for heart, lung, nervous system problems as well as resuscitation after heart failure, and it is also an antidote for different types of poisoning. All of the plants in the Solanaceae family should never be taken internally due to the compound tropane found within them.
Diana to Aradia from Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches of Italy:
“And thou shalt be the first of witches known;
And thou shalt be the first of all i’ the world;
An thou shalt teach the art of poisoning,
Of poisoning those who are great lords of all;
Yea, thou shalt make them die in their palaces;
And thou shalt bind the oppressor’s soul with witchcraft;
And when ye find a peasant who is rich,
Then ye shall teach the witch, your pupil, how
To ruin all his crops with tempests dire,
With lightning and terrible thunder,
And with the hail and wind…“
- Sarah Ann Lawless http://sarahannelawless.com/2010/05/10/solanum/
This is a cautious journey into the darker side of Nature and her fiercer aspect as manifested in the so called ‘baneful’ herbs. While there are as many ethical codes as there are types of Witches, remember that every herb has its own blessings and curses. For instance, you might regularly sprinkle nutmeg on your pies yet if you were to consume a whole nutmeg pod, you most certainly would die a painful death! You must decide for yourself if your usage is educated, just, and worth the risk. Baneful herbs tend to be toxic, making them stronger and faster acting both physically and spiritually. Considering the potential health and legal risks of using baneful herbs, why would any practitioner do so? Used in magick and medicine for centuries, these botanical curiosities can lead to hallucination, coma, or painful death if not applied properly. Then again, so can the misuse of modern pharmaceutical medicines. For those of us who are drawn to traditional hedge witchery, herb craft, and the Green Path, to not seek these herbs and their wisdom leaves a void in our practice… maybe in our very energy, our ability to heal, and the possibility to communicate with the spiritual Green. The symbolism and spiritual power of these plants is derived from humanity’s oldest consciousness and relationship with our environment. Before grocery stores, before even farms, we foraged ALL of our medicines and food from the Earth. The loss of this relationship and level of knowing pains many of us. - Grim Rowntree
