Herbs and plants do so much more than spice up our food, or decorate our homes or gardens… They have magical energies you can use in your spellwork to enhance your work, boost your spell or even add protections and wards.
How exactly do herbs work in witchcraft
Herbs are very versatile in how they can be used. You can use herbs to create spell mixes, potion bottles, teas, incense or even offerings for your deities, spirit guides or ancestors.
What kinds of herbs can I use, and are there herbs or plants I should be cautious of or avoid altogether?
Pretty much any herb, flower or plant can be used and yes there are herbs and plants you should be cautious with when creating teas or incense. You wouldn’t want to put Angelica, Belladonna or Hemlock in a tea and you would absolutely not want to burn poison ivy, oak or sumac.
While yes- Belladonna is a sedative and some people do use it to get sleep – I would not advise trying that if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you need help sleeping, go with Valerian Root or Melatonin. Much safer options.
Check out the PDF’s for a one-sheeter about herbs/plants to avoid or take caution with.
Drying Fresh Herbs
If you grow, or in some instances you purchase fresh herbs found in the produce department of the grocery store, or at a farmers market – you can dry them out by laying them in a flat layer on a paper towel or sheet of wax paper. I found an amazing resource here on harvesting, drying and storing fresh herbs.
Storing Your Herbs
I have a special blend of OCD’s so I like to have all my herbs in identical jars. I found a set of glass octagon-shaped jars with screw-on lids that I then labeled for the herb it contains.
Any extra herbs I have that don’t fit into those jars, I keep in zip lock bags in a box under my altar that I call “backstock”.
So you can do that – get jars or you can just use whatever storage method works best for you. Before the jars I kept them in small ziplock baggies – like the ones you use for beads… but I went to the jars because I was tired of sifting through the box of herbs looking for a specific baggie when I could just browse a shelf of well organized and labeled jars…
Herbal Hacks
You can ABSOLUTELY buy herbs and spices in the bakery aisle at the grocery store – on a tight budget when getting started I bought mine from the dollar tree. Things like rosemary, cinnamon, bay leaves, sea salt, cloves, oregano, paprika, peppercorn, poppy seeds and thyme are just as good even if they did come from the dollar tree’s baking aisle area.
Using Herbs
First, you want to take a moment to organize your thoughts around what you are looking to accomplish, what is your goal, what is your intention. From there, check out the pdf reference sheet of herbs and select the ones that will best align with what you’re trying to accomplish.
When you’ve decided which herbs you want to use, you’ll want to blend them and even grind them up. You can use a mortar and pestle, all old-school like, or you can get a cheap coffee grinder and use that.
Once you’ve got your chosen herbs blended to your satisfaction its time use them.
Please feel free to download these PDF Resources
Recommended Reading
Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs – Scott Cunningham
Circe's Grimoire 
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