Let’s Talk Herbs!

Eye of Newt, toe of a frog, wool of a bat, and tongue of dog…While these may not be the ingredients today’s witches use, there are some GREAT everyday herbs you can use to create some abundance in your life. Whether you need an abundance of love, financial abundance, or just getting your goals achieved, there is an herb out there to help you. You can use some of these on your alter space, mix them into your morning coffee, or even just make a mojo bag.

Herbs can be used for a multitude of different things in your practice, such as but certainly not limited to tea reading, candle magic and energy magic. You can use herbs to cultivate your intuition, to protect yourself, or even to help enhance something that you feel you may be lacking! Take a peek at your birth chart and see what’s happening! Are you missing some air in your chart, for example?

Maybe make yourself a tea blend heavy on the ‘air’ herbs to bring some of that energy into yourself! Check out the list below for some ideas!  

The Zodiac, elements and herbalism 

• Aries: Fire; basil, nettles 
• Taurus: Earth; elder, mugwort, rose 
• Gemini: Air; elecampane, peppermint, skullcap 
• Cancer: Water; aloe, bladderwrack, chickweed, cleavers, passionflower 
• Leo: Fire; angelica, motherwort, St. John’s wort, basil, hawthorn, yerba mansa 
• Virgo: Earth; fennel 
• Libra: Air; yarrow, rose, passionflower, lemon balm 
• Scorpio: Water; aloe, basil, bladderwrack, blessed thistle, chickweed, hawthorn, nettles 
• Sagittarius: Fire; dandelion, willow 
• Capricorn: Earth; blessed thistle, lemon balm, mullein, yarrow 
• Aquarius: Air; oats, lemon balm, dandelion, lavender  
• Pisces: Water; angelica, chickweed, bladderwrack, oats  

What can you do with this information? You can create tea blends to cultivate and enhance the energies of the zodiac signs. Combine the herbs associated with your sun, moon and/or ascendant sign along with some psychic herbs to really elevate your intuition! Say you have a lot of water between these three signs. With all this water, maybe you need some fiery “let’s do this!” energy! Consider drinking a dandelion tea with some cinnamon to get you feeling passionate and romantic!  

Now, not everyone has all these herbs on hand. If you’re just beginning your practice or just learning about herbalism, you’ll likely find that many of the herbs listed above are absent from your spice cabinet. To get you started, below are some common herbs and spices that most of us will likely have easy access to!  

Everyday Herbs and Spices and their uses 

• Salt: The ultimate protection spice 
• Pepper: Amplify salt’s protection properties with black pepper. Great for offensive defense 
• Thyme: Can help with positive attitude, strength and courage 
• Rosemary: Use to amplify other spells or to cleanse a space 
• Basil: Cleanse spaces and people, helps to calm and soothe emotions 
• Honey: Bring positivity to a person or situation 
• Oregano: Luck and happiness 
• Lemon: Purifying and clearing energy for clear intention setting 
• Cinnamon: Helps make spells stronger, especially in love and abundance 
• Sugar: Sweetens up all things including relationships  

If you’ve never made your own loose leaf tea, don’t fret! Here’s a how-to for you! Bring fresh water to a boil. Pour in tea pot and swirl around to warm. Put the loose tea in, one generous tablespoon to one cup of water, unless otherwise stated. For herbal blends, steep the tea for 20 minutes or more, even overnight! For black or white tea, steep for three to five minutes. Pour through a strainer and drink! Note: Don’t use dried herbs that have lost their scent or look lifeless. To begin making your own blends, do some research and find herbs that will work for your needs! Start simple, choose one or two herbs and add additional flavors sparingly until you have an understanding of how much is enough! Remember, you can always add more, but you can’t take it out once its in there, so go slow! Some great flavorings to start out with are vanilla, cinnamon and ginger! Keep notes as you go- you’ll want these notes for future reference to keep from making the same mistakes! This way, you’ll know what really works for you and what really doesn’t.  Or try one of mine.

Here’s our own little tea blend for intention setting with the full moon in the summer months!  

• 3 parts hibiscus 
• 2 parts borage 
• 1 part chickweed 

If you’re not a tea drinker, what can you do to work with herbs? Here’s a couple ideas!  

Use jar candles! Purchase yourself some jar candles and sprinkle the herbs you intend to use atop the candle or use a small, sharp instrument to make little holes in the candle to put your herbs in. Make sure to focus on your intention while adding the herbs! You can then use this candle in your practice, be it for a spell, for divination purposes, rituals, meditations or anything else that comes to mind! 

Roll your own beeswax candles! You can sprinkle the herbs into the candle as you roll it or you can easily press the herbs into the outside of the candle before you burn it! Look for mullein flower stalks in the wild and dry them out! You can then coat these stalks in wax and burn them like a candle! This is a great way to ward off negative energies!  

Make sure to burn these candles in a large fire safe container, as the herbs can go up in flames pretty quickly!  

Want to strengthen your intuition while you’re getting to know your herbs? Here’s a fun practice! Hold the herb between your fingers and really concentrate. Ask the herb, “what should I use you for in the future?” Write down what your intuition is telling you about this herb! After all is said and done, cross check your intuitive ideas with the herb’s associations and see where you landed!  

Here are some Journal Prompts:

• What is preventing me form finding the balance in my life that I would like to have right now?
• Where do I need more confidence in myself and in my abilities?
• What beliefs or Ideas do I need to release and leave behind to make a change?

Have your own tea blends that you swear by? I would love to hear from you!

Divine Direction by Mia is an online service dedicated to providing simple and profound guidance to those looking for clarity and direction on their life journey; and others who are interested in learning about the practical applications of Astrology.