Choose Your Garden - The Witches Herb Garden

What do you do when your best childhood friend announces late in life to you, that she is a practicing witch?

Well, if you are me, you back peddle in that conversation and take it in stride. You have to remember that she and I have been sharing secrets since we were twelve years old (nearly fifty years), and they've been some doozies on both our parts. I let the whole subject of her believing she is a witch slide, while I digested that new bit of information.

With both of us being California girls, our liberal minded education and cultural upbringing allowed for open-mindedness. This sort of fell in the category of when she announced she was a flower child and running away to San Francisco to be with "her own kind." Diana always tended to jump in with both feet when it came to the occult, mystical, paranormal, and alternative life-style stuff.

A few months later, when I visited her new home, Diana asked me what she should do about the neglected garden left behind by the previous owners. I couldn't help but give her my best lighthearted answer:

"Obviously, start over and plant a Witch's Herb Garden."

Diana's fascination with witchcraft puts her in good company, a lot of people are curious and embrace the subject wholeheartedly.

Fortunately, we live in a time when we can look with lighthearted curiosity at the uses made by some of the more powerful and poisonous plants that witches used in the past. So I'm going to only concern myself with the gardening aspect.

While we've all heard of witch hunts, few know that as many as six million women lost their lives in witch hunts through the ages. Witch hunts are a brutal scar in women's history and the Church's struggle to maintain power and domination over long held beliefs.

Diana's own witch hunts, however, have to do with gathering and growing natural and wild herbs. Remember, that just like there are good and bad witches, the herbs witches use fall into two categories:

• Offensive
• Defensive

The first thing we did was to plant her garden with the nine Anglo-Saxon sacred herbs:

• Chamomile
• Chervil
• Crab apple
• Fennel
• Muswort
• Nettle
• Plantain
• Sainfoin
• Watercress

These are the herbs that witches believe repel evil attacks, which is something important if you wish to remain a strong and competent witch.

Next, we planted Angelica. Angelica is believed to be a sacred remedy again enchantments and potions -- it's sort of the all purpose witch's protect-all herb.

We then lined what was formerly the grass lawn portion of the garden with clovers, both three-leaved and four-leaved because they also have protective powers, even going as far as to release people who were unhappy in their military service or marriages.

Special attention was given to Dian's desire to plant four essential protective herbs:

• Dill
• Garlic
• Houseleek
• Mugwort

She intended to use them to protect herself and others from spells, the devil, and lightning. Now, I could understand this because I'd seen the spells she was under in a couple of disastrous marriages to men who abused her. I knew she'd need protection from her lovable but very religious mother if she ever thought her daughter was practicing witchcraft.

Even the protection from lightning made sense, since she'd been struck by lightning not once, but twice in her life-time.

Maybe Diana knows there is something to witchcraft?

The former owners garden had the old fashioned wrought iron fencing, that had been painted white, more Victorian looking than what Diana wanted. Always a couple of rebels, we painted the wrought iron, deep purple, her favorite color.

After she had some sort of private ritual asking the spirits to help her decide where to place the iron wrought table and chairs (repainted a bright violet color) for sitting in your garden we talked a lot about her place in the garden in terms of the sanctity of any outside garden under the heavens.

While herb gardens are often placed in full sun, many of the plants that were important to her witchcraft endeavors, required at least partial shade. Some of the things to consider when planning such a garden are:

• Making a circular planting
• Having a discreet outdoor altar
• Abramelin operation covered in vines for privacy
• Special magical rocks and crystals in each corner of the garden to energize the garden (Diana used moss agate and quartz crystals).
• Including a knot garden in the plan
• Planting and choosing herbs by the Elements
• Plants that allow a fair measure of privacy (Diana planted a bean tee pee with poles together for her beans to climb upon --large enough for her to sit inside comfortably).
• Painted Berkana runes on flower pots and markers

When we were finished with that Witch's Garden, it struck me that it was very similar to Moonlight Gardens. Like many a witch, Diana gardens by the moon -- following the signs and the ways of the equinoxes. Because of that, I was able to get her to agree to planting some flowers and herbs suited to viewing by moonlight such as:

• Angel's Trumps
• Evening primrose
• Four-O-Clocks
• Lavender
• Moonflower
• White Roses

I learned a lot from the experience of helping Diana plant her Witch's Garden, like the facts that, witches and wiccans do NOT believe in:

• Hurting people
• Taking drugs
• Killing animals
• Telling lies
• Drinking animal blood
• Summoning demons

More importantly- the good witch Diana showed me a less judgmental path, one of peace and harmony with the universe. Her belief system is a nature based religion, one that should be treated with respect.

A few months after we designed her dream Witch Garden, she sent me some lovely pictures of a peaceful, respectful of nature, retreat of a garden that anyone would be proud to own. So to my way of thinking, more witches should come out of the broom closet and proudly plant their Witch Gardens.

• Basil -- Diana not only wanted this herb planted in her garden, but carried it everywhere with her. It was in every purse or wallet she ever owned. Why? She swore by its ability to attract wealth and to give her courage.
• Bay Leaves -- Dream enhancer and aid to get rid of negativity and evil.
  
• Catnip -- Aside from the well known cat magic, it is an aid to closer friendships and love.
• Henbane -- Old time love potion, for witches and non-witches. Very poisonous plant, use extreme caution in having or using.
• Mint -- Money attraction, healing, increasing luck, and travel protection.
• Parsley -- Arthritis aid and culinary herb.
• Rosemary-- Memory aid, sleep air, purification, love, power, healing and intellectual improvement.
• Rue-- Diana planted an abundance of rue for protection, health, clarity of thinking, performing rituals, and to ease her cluttered mind.
  
• Sage -- Fertility aid, longevity aid, wisdom aid, healing and health.
  

• Thyme -- Thyme was her incense of choice, as well as her special bath ritual for keeping a healing sleep.