Honeysuckle (Lonicera caprifolium, Lonicera japonica, Lonicera periclymenum)
Honeysuckle is a beautiful climbing plant to grow in your garden with sweet scented white, yellow and red flowers throughout spring and summer followed by berries in the autumn that the birds love. It also grows in the wild, usually in heavily wooded areas.
Apparently it was once thought far too dangerous to bring honeysuckle flowers into the house because the scent would cause young ladies to become ‘unnecessary’ and given to ‘forbidden thoughts’… seems to me like a definite flower to keep indoors…
Dab honeysuckle oil on your forehead to promote quick thinking and boost your memory. This also helps to increase your psychic powers. Use honeysuckle flowers in all prosperity and money workings. Honeysuckle can be added to other herbs in magical workings to help balance the blend and aid in the effectiveness of the intent. Use in incense blends to help you meditate, increase your psychic powers and connect with spirit.
Honeysuckle Magical Properties: Prosperity, psychic powers, protection, balance, lust, meditation, memory.
Ruling Planet: Jupiter
Sign: Gemini, Cancer
Element: Earth
Gender: Masculine
Rose (Rosa spp)
We must all be familiar with the rose, whether it is as a bush, a climber or in a bunch of flowers. It is a perennial with more varieties and colours than you can shake a stick at.
The flowers bloom between May and September and are followed by rosehips. You can also find certain varieties growing in the wild. I have several rose bushes and climbers in my garden and dry all the petals, which is incredibly easy. I sprinkle the petals on a large tray and leave them to dry in the conservatory.
:Rose is a good herb to use to represent the mother and also for any workings where mysteries need to be delved into. Use rose in any workings for love, psychic powers and knowledge. Rose petals are also good for dream work and moon magic. Roses and the petals have long been associated with love so they work well for any kind of love spells. Use pink roses for friendship, red roses for passion and white roses for peace. The rose has sharp thorns, so use it in protection workings. It is also a very feminine flower so can be incorporated into any spell or ritual work that requires feminine energy. Rose also had a connection with death and rebirth, the plant appearing to be dead during the winter months but coming back to life in the spring. Sprinkle rose petals in your bathwater for a balancing, relaxing and love-filled bath. Use rose petals in workings for luck and abundance. Rose petals also work well for casting the circle at handfastings.
Rose Magical Properties: Love, psychic powers, healing, luck, protection, peace, mysteries, knowledge, dreams, friendship, death and rebirth, abundance.
Ruling Planet: Venus,
Moon Sign: Pisces
Element: Water
Gender: Feminine
From A Kitchen Witch's World of Herbs & Plants by Rachel Patterson
Images by k mitch hodge and tiffany chan on Unsplash