Everybody needs places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and cheer
and give strength . . .
John Muir
Garden Magick from the Ground Up
What, do you suppose, turns a typical flower garden into an enchanted garden? What elements do you imagine would have to be incorporated to transform an outdoor area, such as the typical backyard, into a sacred space? Think about this for a moment. You could work with the four basic elements of natural magick, earth, air, fire, and water. Incorporating those into your sacred space would be a fantastic way to start. Are any other ideas coming to mind? Yes, there are various statues and representations of the God and Goddess available. Those could make nifty, magickal garden decorations. I can just imagine the little wheels in your mind busily turning away . . .
However, before you start thinking too much in terms of garden accessories and knickknacks, hang on for a minute. I wasn’t speaking of something corporeal that you’ll have to go out and purchase. No, I was thinking like a witch. I was envisioning more along the lines of the metaphysical and the spiritual. Now I’ve intrigued you, haven’t I?
The single most important and powerful aspect of turning the mundane yard into the magickal sanctuary would be you. Yes, you. You and your magickal will and intentions. In truth, the difference between the magickal and the mundane garden is the deliberate act of consecrating the area for the purpose of creating a permanent sacred space. This sacred garden space would be both an area in which to raise your enchanted plants and a place to perform magick. If we are to enter into the world of herbal enchantments and garden magick, we need to leave our excuses and preconceptions behind. It is time to step up and go to work. The easiest way to accomplish this is to get off your rump and start to work in the garden.
Now is the moment to get your hands dirty. You need to begin to put what you’ve learned about flower folklore and magickal herbalism into practice. Let’s make it a part of your everyday life. As you work within the traditions of garden witchery, the garden becomes a place where both our metaphysical and ordinary lives begin to thrive together.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings.
Wordsworth
Nature, the Ultimate Sacred Space
In chapter 2 we talked briefly about creating your own outdoor sanctuary. Let’s expand on that a bit. Find a relaxing, private place outside, a natural sacred space for you to perform your herbal spells and to garden. Go outside right now, and scout out a likely spot, someplace private that feels right to you. You will know it when you’ve found it. You may get a bit of a tingle or even a rush. Some folks get a sense of peace, and they’ll notice more activity from birds and insects, like butterflies or bees for example.
At home, my sacred garden space is the entire side yard. The side yard is surrounded by a six-foot privacy fence and shielded at one end by large maple trees. This area incorporates the back patio, shade gardens, the rose arbor, and a small fountain. At the other end of the side yard is a full sun exposure area. This flower bed runs along the entire length of our house.
In this sunny bed, I have roses and many of my magickal “sunny” herbs growing all crammed in together, cottage style, such as lamb’s ears, tall Russian sage, rue, several varieties of yarrow, coneflowers, phlox, feverfew, and balloon flowers. A pink clematis, growing up the corner section of the privacy fence, frames the garden gate and then peeks over the top of the fence.
Even though we have gardens that surround the house, it is here in my “working space” that guests are always drawn to. With all of the magickal work that I and my family have done in the garden over the years, it definitely carries a mystical energy all of its own.
I want to point out that your personal sacred space does not have to take up an entire section of your yard. I have magickal friends who use their front porches or apartment decks as their outdoor sacred space. They arrange hanging baskets, containers, and pots of magickal herbs and flowers about their porch or deck. Then they add accessories like a little table and a comfortable lawn chair.
My friend Amy uses a cushioned wicker love seat and a matching small coffee table to set a candle and her other magickal supplies onto. Her little back deck is her personal sacred space. She loves it out there. Some nights after her two kids go to bed, she grabs a glass of wine, heads out to the deck, and sits there in solitary splendor, reading, relaxing, or performing her magick.
Large or small, the size of your personal sacred garden space does not matter. You do not require an elaborate setup. Go with what you have. I may have a large sacred space in the side yard, but I usually choose a specific small spot for my spellcasting. When the roses bloom in May, I sit under the rose arbor. During the hot summer months, I work in the shade garden. On nights of the full moon, I stand in the middle of my “full sun exposure” flower beds and cast my spells. No one can see me out there. I am hidden behind the privacy fence, and this particular garden faces southeast and gives me an unrestricted view of the rising moon. Sometimes I simply sit in the grass in the middle of the garden and drag a small table over next to me, to set a candle or two on.
Some garden witches might set up at the backyard picnic table and keep an eye on their little ones while they run around the yard. You could toss down a blanket and sit on the ground, next to a favorite blooming shrub. Or perform your magick quietly under a tree. Again, it is how it feels to you that is the important thing. Ideally, you want to be comfortably surrounded by nature. On the porch, deck, or in the backyard, garden witches adapt to their environment and go where the magick of nature leads them.
Setting Up Your Sacred Space
To set up your sacred space, mark your four cardinal directions or points. If you need to use a compass, then do so. Otherwise put your back to the rising sun one morning and hold your arms straight out to your sides. You will look like a human letter T. Here is how you mark out your cardinal points. Your back is meeting the east. Your left arm is the south. Your nose points the way to the west, and your right arm is facing the north. Get it? You could make yourself a set of permanent garden markers to help you remember where the directions are. Try using small decorative rocks or polished stones.
You may mark each cardinal point with the stone or some other type of natural garden accent. Try painting four smooth stones to use as quarter markers. Paint one green for the element of earth and the direction north; yellow for the element of air and the east; red for fire and the south; and lastly, blue for the element of water and the direction west. Then place these markers in the appropriate spots to designate your sacred space.
Don’t like the idea of using a rock as a marker? How about a separate container garden to mark each of the four quarters instead? Here’s an idea . . . all red flowers, like salvia or cockscomb, grown in a container for the southern quarter. This would represent the element of fire beautifully. The flame-shaped blossoms and the hot color would be complementary to this quarter’s energies.
Other colors of plants and flowers that you could incorporate might be earthy green foliage and ferns for the north. Blues and purples for the watery west, and airy and soft yellow and white flowers for the east. What other kinds of flowers or herbs do you imagine you could use?
As long as we are discussing the four quarters and the elements, let’s add a natural representation for each of the four elements as well. This will enhance your garden and your natural magick, as it will help you to link more closely into each of the four magickal elements.
For earth, you could incorporate stones and crystals. To acknowledge the element of air, you could set out a few fallen feathers that you have collected. To announce and celebrate the breeze as it blows through your garden, hang up a set of wind chimes, or you could place a bird feeder in the eastern quarter. For the element of fire, try garden lanterns or candles, or perhaps some decorative garden lighting. Finally, the element of water could be represented by a small fountain or a water feature, such as a bird bath or even a small saucer filled with water for the birds to drink from. Encourage the birds, squirrels, and beneficial insects to live in your garden. Make it a happy and safe haven for them and for you.
Now that you have your sacred space all set up (or at least planned out), we should supply you with some spells and charms for this occasion. This elemental trio of charms is to be used to designate your new sacred garden space and to bless your magickal garden and plants. Note: If you prefer, you may also use the “Faery Blessing” charm from chapter 7.
Blessings for the Garden
Announcing Sacred Space
I call the Spirits of Nature, the Great Mother and Father.
Assist me now, by the powers of earth, air, fire, and water.
Merge your magick with mine, circle around this place,
As we now announce the creation of a sacred garden space.
Blessing of the Elements
Come water, earth, fire, and wind,
To me, your sacred powers lend.
This garden of mine is now sacred space,
By the elements four, I bless this place.
A Garden Blessing
Through the seasons of rain, sun, and snow,
May these plants and herbs happily grow.
Winter to spring and summer to fall,
Lord and Lady, bless them one and all.
The things that all sacred garden spaces have in common are they are outside, so magickal herbs and plants are close at hand. The sacred space has a working area—a place to sit and a small table or safe surface to work on. The four elements are somehow represented. And finally, the sacred space is consecrated, blessed, and relatively private.
Even if it may be bare bones in your yard right now, don’t be discouraged. It’s okay, you have plenty of time and opportunity to build that garden. Instead, think of the possibilities! Come up with a plan. Decide what you can do yourself to improve your landscape and future magickal garden over the next few years. Start small, with an eye on expanding the garden’s boundaries outward later on.
. . . with silver bells and cockle shells
and pretty maids all in a row.
Mother Goose
How Does Your Magick Garden Grow?
I want to make very clear to you that my gardens did not just poof! appear suddenly overnight. It took several years to accomplish what we have today. The gardens are always evolving and changing. Gardeners, both magickal and mundane, are forever learning and trying something new in the yard. My family and I transplant or thin out some perennials every spring and we move things around occasionally. I like to try new plant varieties from time to time. Show me a gardener who doesn’t.
Does everything I plant turn out splendidly? No, not always. I make mistakes too. Sometimes you pat yourself on the back, amazed at your own cleverness, and now and then you make a bad plant choice and then you ruthlessly pull things out.
For example, I ripped out most of my side yard’s sunny bed two years ago this spring, as it had been overtaken by evening primrose. Evening primrose is a lovely perennial that makes lots of pink blooms and tolerates poor soils. It is, however, extremely aggressive and can overtake a bed in a few years. In my case they were starting to choke out some of my other magickal perennials.
So, faced with an all-out perennial war, I checked the almanac and timed my transplanting down with a waning moon. We dug out all but my biggest perennials and set them in the shade. Then I had my oldest son go through the bed and around the big perennials with a rototiller. My neighbors thought I was crazy, ripping into the garden that way. But it needed it. We raked and pulled out all of the offending primrose. I then amended the soil with compost and humus. My husband, son, and I divided up the phlox, yarrow, and coneflowers and transplanted these and my other perennials back into the improved bed all in the same day. To finish, we watered them in well by hand. (I didn’t want a sprinkler to beat them all down.) Later that evening, I went outside and checked on the newly transplanted plants. A few needed more water. So I gave them all a drink again and blessed the garden so our plants would thrive.
I was rewarded with a happy, healthy cottage garden that year. The following summer the coneflowers grew heartily and the purple garden phlox grew five feet tall. No kidding. I have pictures of my daughter standing next to the phlox. They are almost as tall as she is. During the months of June and July, as the phlox bloomed, the garden was fabulously scented. It was especially fragrant at night and it looked and felt like a faery tale out there. Amazing what a little hard work combined with magick can accomplish, isn’t it?
I have caught hold of the earth,
to use a gardener’s phrase,
and neither friends nor my enemies
will find it an easy matter
to transplant me again.
Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke
Digging In
Wow, we really have dug in good, haven’t we? Let’s see. . . we talked about turning back into the rhythms and tides of nature. We went over mystic plants and trees, and discovered that magickal herbs and plants are to be found everywhere and are easy for the average homeowner to grow. We used our time constructively while looking at astrological timing and gardening by the moon. We greeted the Goddess and reviewed deities that correspond to nature, the moon signs, and phases for gardening. We delved into antique flower folklore and talked about the joys and risks of working with nature spirits and the faeries. We covered ideas for garden witch crafts and creating a garden witch’s BOS. We even went over suggestions for natural family sabbat celebrations. Finally, we plotted and planned out ideas for creating and consecrating outdoor magickal gardens and sacred spaces.
Well, what could possibly be left? Only the toughest part of your training: committing some basic herbal knowledge to memory. Transplanting your new herbal knowledge into your spellwork. And, finally, creating your own garden witch spells and rhymes.
Strange to the world, he wore a bashful look,
The fields his study, Nature was his book.
Robert Bloomsfield
Hitting the Books
It’s time to hit the books. Visit the library and start reading up on the topics of perennials, general gardening, and herbs. It is very much worth your time. Watch the clearance tables at the larger bookstores. Occasionally you will find a great bargain on a gardening book or two. Talk to other gardeners, and see which books are their favorites. A few good reference books are vital for any research. A handful of the books that I would recommend for your herbal and magickal reference shelf are as follows:
Herbs by Lesley Bremness (DK Books, 2000).
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham (Llewellyn, 1985).
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal and Gem Magic by Scott Cunningham (Llewellyn, 1992).
Magical Herbalism: The Secret Craft of the Wise by Scott Cunningham (Llewellyn, 1982).
The Women’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects by Barbra Walker (Castle Books, 1988).
An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present by Doreen Valiente (Phoenix Publishing, 1973). This is an excellent all-around reference book.
The Witches’ Way by Janet and Stewart Farrar (Phoenix Publishing, 1984). A definite, thoroughly British classic.
Moon Magick by D. J. Conway (Llewellyn, 1995). If you are stumped for ideas or just want information and suggestions for specific deities, this is a fabulous book and one of my all-around favorites.
Take a good look at these books. Now, have you ever noticed that most modern Pagan/ Wiccan authors have books by Scott Cunningham, Doreen Valiente, and the Farrars in their bibliographies? Think there might be a reason for that? If you have a modern magickal book that has really helped you or is one of your favorites, check that book’s bibliography. Then go track down those books. Dust off your library card and start researching. Think of it as a sort of quest, and it is. It’s a quest for knowledge.
It is so easy to whimper and whine about a lack of advanced material, and so much harder to experiment and create your own. It will take time and effort and, besides, you need something to keep you busy on rainy days and during the long winter months anyway. (Don’t even tell me that you don’t know how.) Basic correspondence charts are everywhere. Refer to them until you get the rudiments of magick memorized.
The resourceful garden witch is one that carefully researches various magickal traditions and pantheons and knows their basic magickal and herbal correspondences. That way they can quickly and easily design and cast spells of their own creation. The finest quarter calls, herbal spells, and flower charms are truly the ones that you invent yourself.
To create a little flower is the labor of ages.
William Blake
Creating Your Own Style of Garden Witchery
To rhyme or not to rhyme, that is the question. If you have trouble making your herbal charms and spells rhyme (and you don’t have a thirteen-year-old rhyming wizard living with you), go get yourself a rhyming dictionary. Keep your charms short, sweet, and uncomplicated. Don’t worry about trying to sound like Byron or Yeats. I like to think of the formula for creating spells that rhyme in a very elementary way—that old den mother adage of KISMIF, which stands for Keep It Simple, Make It Fun.
At first, teaching myself to write herbal spells that rhymed made my stomach tie itself up into a knot. Who was I kidding? I’m not a poet. I made myself a nervous wreck trying to sound fluid and elegant. Then I realized I’m neither of those things. What I am is no-nonsense, slightly sarcastic, and funny. No matter how serious I try to be, the humor always sneaks back out. So I just made the charms and spells sound like me. That took the pressure off, and I began to enjoy the process. And, wonder of wonders, that turned the trick.
Use your imagination. I’ve completely lost count of how many times I have suggested that to you. Look for inspiration everywhere, especially in nature. You may find yourself moved to create new quarter calls or spells in the most unusual places . . .
While I was traipsing through the woods, vainly trying to keep up with my trout-fishing family this past summer, I was inspired to write a new set of quarter calls. At the time, I was finishing up the first draft of this book and realized that with all of my talk of herbal spells and charms, I had yet to include any circle castings. (How remiss of me.) I had the idea, rolling around in my head, to possibly write a circle casting that incorporated magickal flowers or herbs.
Now, as you know, a complete quarter call generally includes a salute to each individual direction, a call to the coordinating element, and an invocation of that element’s specific qualities, such as west, water, love . . . following me so far?
As I tagged along behind the family, admiring the wildflowers along the stream bank, I stopped to appreciate a gorgeous wild hydrangea in bloom. I then noticed a tough little cypress tree growing close by. He was next to a huge oak and then surrounded by lots of young oak trees, all growing in a circle. That got me to thinking . . . what about a circle call working with the magick of trees instead?
As we hiked back to the cabin for lunch, I looked around at the various trees, growing wild in the park. After the meal, I sent the troops back out and I settled down alone with a note pad and wrote the following.
This quarter call does indeed draw on trees and their magickal attributes. You will notice that there are coordinating times of day as well as directions and magickal correspondences. To perform this circle casting, start in the east. As you call each quarter, you will keep moving to each new direction to your right. Then move to the center to seal the circle.
Circle of the Trees
In the east, maple leaves rustle in the morning breeze,
Element of air, I call for inspiration, join me now, please.
In the south, the midday sun shines upon the mighty oak tree,
I request the element of fire for strength and to illuminate me.
In the west, the willow sways by the silver springs at twilight,
Element of water, I call for love and the gift of second sight.
In the north grows the cypress, tree of the midnight hour,
Element of earth, grant me protection, wisdom, and power.
Four different trees of magick, four separate times of power.
This circle of trees is now cast by root, stem, leaf, and flower.
To open this circle, begin in the north. Release each element with your love and thanks. Try something like this:
Element of the earth, I thank you for your presence. Go in peace. Blessed be.
Then move to your left and release each element in turn—west, then the south, and finally the east. To finish up, I would open the circle by using that oldie but goodie Craft standard, “The circle is open, but unbroken. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.”
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.
Shakespeare Hamlet
Writing Your Own Herbal Spells and Charms
How do you begin writing your own herbal spells, you may wonder? Remember all of those correspondence charts found in the other chapters of this book? There were charts for astrological associations, color magick, crystals, goddess correlations, floral languages, and magickal plants. Refer to those. They should be able to get you rolling.
When I first began to create my own garden witchery spells, I usually wrote everything out on paper. That way, I could work all the bugs out and it helped me to identify and then use colors, crystals, flowers, plants, and herbs that worked in sympathy with one another. Here is a spell worksheet template for you to refer to and then work from.
Garden Witch Spell Worksheet
Goal:
Day:
Moon phase:
Moon sign:
Deity invoked:
Herbs used and their magickal application:
Flowers used and their magickal significance:
Candle color (if you would incorporate candle magick):
Crystals or stones:
Charm or verse:
Setup (equipment, such as candle holders, a vase, a cauldron, or fireproof bowl):
Results (how long it took for this spell to work, and any results that you noticed):
Let’s give you a hands-on type of example of how to pull this all together. Imagine that you’re sitting at home, sick with a nasty sinus infection. (This requires no effort for me at the moment as I have one myself—and to top it off, I have also completely lost my voice.) After calling the doctor and getting them to send out some antibiotics two days ago, I am slowly recovering. However, it’s back to work for me tomorrow, and I still feel pretty wobbly. So I decide to take matters into my own hands and work a little healing magick for myself.
Okay then, what flowers or herbs do I have available to me at the moment? It is late November and, as I look out the window, I notice that a rose bush of mine is still blooming. It is a red and white rose called Love. That will work out fine, as red and white are both goddess colors. Rose petals are used magickally to “speed things up,” so I can work with that to speed my recovery. White is an all-purpose color in magick, and the color red is often incorporated into healing rituals.
I toss on my coat, slip on my shoes, and head outside with a pair of pruners. What else is available to me out here? There was a bit of ice in the rain that fell yesterday. The garden is chilly, sparkling, and it looks downright magickal. Little drops of ice are dangling from the branches and plants. I am amazed that this rosebud looks so healthy. As I walk quickly around the gardens, I pluck some catnip, a leaf or two of the green ferny-looking yarrow foliage, and a bit of rue.
Back inside, I tuck all but the catnip into a vase and sit down to assemble the components for the rest of my herbal spell. I gave the catnip to the kitties—they smelled it on me a soon as I walked in the back door.
My notes might look something like this . . .
Goal: To recover from this sinus infection.
Day: Thursday, a Jupiter day. Jupiter days can be used for health and good luck. (See chapter 6.)
Moon Phase: Waxing, it becomes a full moon tomorrow. To augment the recovery process. Full moon energies for extra power.
Moon Sign: Taurus, an earth day. That’s handy, we are doing earthy magick, after all.
Deity Invoked: The Mother Goddess.
Herbs Used and Their Magickal Applications: Rue helps you recover from an illness. Yarrow is a witch’s herb, it’s all purpose.
Flowers Used and Their Magickal Signficance: A red and white petaled rose to speed things up and to promote peace and love. (Check chapter 1.)
Candle Color: White. All purpose. (I happen to have plenty of plain tealights on hand.)
Crystal or Stones: Bloodstone and malachite for their healing energies. (See chapter 8.)
Charm or Stones:
Icy garden rose of red and white, assist me now in my plight.
Sacred herbs of healing power, lend your magick in this hour.
Grant me recovery and good health, for it’s back to work I go,
With a little help from a rose, healing rue, and the witch’s yarrow.
Setup: I already placed the rose and herbal foliage into a bud vase. I will place the vase next to my small cauldron. Inside of my cauldron is the tealight and the two stones for healing. I am placing these on top of the cast-iron, wood-burning stove in the living room. It is a safe place to let the candle burn inside of a small cauldron, as the cats stay off of there and my teenagers will know to leave it alone.
Cast a circle. Use a favorite quarter call, or use the “Circle of Trees.”
Call the Goddess for her assistance:
Great Mother, I call on you. Help me to recover quickly from this illness.
Light the candle, say the verse three times.
Take a deep breath, close eyes, and imagine sinking roots into the ground the way a tree does. Visualize all fatigue, worry, or illness draining away and into the earth, where it will be absorbed harmlessly away. Now imagine healing energy coming back from the earth. It starts through the soles of the feet and then goes streaming up through all of the body. Raise up the arms and wiggle fingers. (I like to imagine that my fingers are like the leaves on the tree.) Feel stronger and happier. Lower arms. Take a deep breath and blow it out. Open eyes. Note: This is my version of what is called “grounding and centering.”
Open the circle.
Allow the candle to burn out. Keep the flowers in the most-used room of the house (in my case, the living room).
See, that wasn’t hard. It only took, from start to finish, about a half hour of my time. That includes writing the charm, gathering the supplies, and performing the spell. No muss. No fuss. I am a practical witch, after all. This is why you should know your basics, so when the time comes for magick, you simply step up and do the job.
You know, I really liked that spell. I think I’ll call it the “Icy Rose Healing Spell.” Now go and take the outline of this icy rose spell and the garden witch worksheet, and get to work. Apply this outline to the other herbal charms and spells in this book and those future garden witch spells of your own creation.
Start a new section in your garden witch Book of Shadows and title it “My Herbal Spells.” Now come up with a few herbal spells and flower charms of your own. Don’t let those blank pages scare you. Just think of all of the innovative garden magick that you can conjure up all by yourself. You can do it. I know you can.
Congratulations, You’re a Garden Witch
We should stop for a moment and consider just what has brought us to this momentous occasion. Work, hard work; herbal study; experimentation; and the willingness to memorize basic spells and rituals, including those necessary astrological correspondence tables. You will try your hand at writing your own garden witch spells and will have consecrated or blessed your own sacred garden space.
We have tuned back in to nature and aligned ourselves to the wheel of the year by acknowledging and celebrating the changing seasons in all their glory. We have pondered the mysticism of trees, plants, and herbs, and awakened to the power of the elements. We’ve rediscovered the quiet sense of achievement that only a gardener can fully understand of breaking a sweat while working in the garden under a midday sun. We have enjoyed the mystery of the garden at night and the wonder of feeling the moonlight filter down on us through the leaves of the trees.
You have been rewarded with dirty knees and feet; red, ripe garden tomatoes and peppers; grubby hands, broken fingernails, and your first vase of magickal flowers from your own garden. How many sets of gardening gloves did you go through before you started disregarding them all together? You probably will have your gardening tools consecrated before too long. (I wonder what quarter the ceremonial garden hoe belongs to?) You decide. This book has enough information to keep you busy in the magickal garden for a good long while.