Belladonna Oil

Gender: Feminine

Planet: Mars, Saturn

Element: Water

Deities: Hecate, Bellona, Circe

Common Names: Nightshade, Deadly Nightshade, Atropa, Belladonna, divale, dwale, banewort, devil’s cherries, naughty man’s cherries, black cherry, devil’s herb, great morel, and dwayberry.

The name Atropa comes from one of the Greek fates Atropos. The name belladonna means “beautiful woman” and of course it is indeed a seductively beautiful plant, but that seduction is as dangerous as that of a femme fatale. The plant was often used to dilate pupils in women and as a facial cosmetic.

It is a herb of the Underworld and connected with underworld deities. As such it may be used to consecrate tools used for underworld contacts, particularly those made of lead or onyx. It can be added to the Samhain incense, providing that it is used in the open air, to attract the Ancient Dead to the feast. Samhain is the time of year when the spirits of the ancestors are asked to join us to celebrate the eternal cycle and benefit us with their advice and wisdom.

Ritual uses: The priests of Bellona, according to ancient tradition, drank an infusion of Belladonna prior to worshipping Her and invoking Her aid. Bellona is a roman Goddess of War.

Belladonna along with other poisonous herbs like opium poppy, wolfsbane and poison hemlock have said to have been used by witches  as a flying ointment. The sheer toxicity of the ingredients is laughable for it to have ever been used by us mere mortals but the thought of these dangerous herbs makes my pulse race- oops my dark side is showing :D

Belladonna contains a number of toxins which cause hallucinations, delirium and death. As a hallucinogen it is still sometimes used by the brave and/or stupid.

There is a German legend that the plant belongs to the Devil himself, and that he goes about tending it all year long - except for on Walpurgisnacht, when he is preparing for the witches’ sabbat. The plant also appears in Scottish history - it is said that MacBeth’s soldiers managed to poison an entire army of Danes by mixing Belladonna into liquor that was offered during a truce. Once the Danes fell into “a deep slumber,” they were murdered by Scottish troops.

The Romans used it as a poison (as in Augustus and wife of Claudius using it to kill their contemporaries) and was commonly used to make poison tipped arrows. It was a poison used by Agrippina the Younger and Livia to kill the Emperor Augustus. Macbeth of Scotland used it to kill one of King Duncan’s lieutenants during a truce to poison the troops of the invading Harold Harefoot of England.

This oil is a representative of Belladonna, and is NOT poisonous. But please do not ingest.

info from: http://herbalriot.tumblr.com/search/Belladonna