Gothic Gardening: Potpourri

Garden Necromancy: Summoning Spirits

Many, many plants have historically been associated with the dead and the spirit world; often these were grave goods (offerings buried with the dead, see bottom of this page), or plants traditionally grown in cemeteries.

The plant traditionally associated with raising the dead is the yew, but there are many other plants which are associated with the dead for the purpose of summoning the spirits, most often to entice the spirit into answering questions about the future. The magical incense burned by witches to attract spirits and help the materialize is known as a "suffumigation".

Various plants were used in suffumigations, including anise, dried carnation flowers, amaranth flowers, and gardenia petals, dittany of Crete, frankincense, heather, pipsissewa, sweetgrass, and wormwood. Dittany, in particular, was considered an excellent base; spirits would appear in the center of the smoke. Balm of gillead was also burned as a material basis for spirits. Asafoetida destroys the spirit manifestations when throw into the fire (although I've also found information that it pulls in negative spirits).

Sandalwood is very commonly combined with other herbs for conjuring spirits. Wormwood, mixed with sandalwood, should be burned while in a graveyard. This will cause the spirits of the dead there to rise and speak. Crushed willow bark with sandalwood should be burned outdoors during the waning moon for conjuring. Sandalwood and frankincense is burned during seances. Lavender is also mixed with sandalwood for spirit summoning.

An incense for summoning recalcitrant spirits consists of three parts wormwood and one part Solomon's Seal. This is good for human dead who are not in very helpful moods. An incense for summoning spirits which were in a depressed state when they died consists of three parts wormwood and one part vervain. This is also good for people who are not aware they are dead. This will not only call them, but will also lighten their mood. The ancient Greeks believed that wormwood should be burned on a fire of privet in order to summon the dead, since a fire of privet was thought to open the doors of the Underworld.

A recipe from a seventeenth century manuscript, 'Secret of Secrets', gives the following recipe for calling spirits:

• Hermes saith there is nothing like unto spermaceti to Raise spirits suddenly, being compounded of spermaceti, lignum aloes and pepperwort and Muske saffron Red storage mixed with the bloud of a Lapwing this being fumigated. And if it be fumigated About Toombes or graves of the dead it causes spirits and ghosts of the dead to gather together as it is sayd.

Other spirit offerings used, especially if seeking blessings from the spirits, include lilac, mint, and purple heather, specifically. Pipsissewa is blended with rose petals and violets to draw beneficial spirits. Catnip, if grown near the house or hung over the door will attract good spirits and good luck. Althea is considered a 'spirit puller': you place it on the altar to bring in good spirits during a ceremony.

Solomon's Seal was used as an offering to elementals when pleading for their aid. Bladderwrack was used specifically to summon water spirits. Broom (the plant, not the household implement) was used to call forth the spirits of the air. From a mountaintop, you would throw the broom up in the air to raise the winds and to call the air spirits. When the winds needed to be calmed, you would burn the broom and bury the ashes.

Boil some thistle, then remove it from heat and lie or sit beside it as the steam rises. Listen carefully, and you should be able to get the spirits to answer your questions. Tea made from dandelion root and placed beside the bed while still steaming will also call them.

The Chinese called spirits using bamboo flutes-they would carve the name of the spirit into a bamboo flute. A flute carved from elder, played at midnight far from human habitation, will also summon them. A German legend says that a sprig of mistletoe carried into an old house will allow you to see the ghosts that live there, and that you can also force the ghosts to answer your questions. In ancient Greece, visitors to the Oracle of the Dead on the bank of the river Acheron were given lupin seeds to eat before the spirits of the dead were invoked.

Gothic Gardening: Theme Gardens

Growing your Grave Goods

Unlike the modern aphorism, 'You can't take it with you', most cultures around the world did a great deal to make the transition into the Afterworld comfortable for the being in question, which meant including objects in the grave which would travel with the person. These objects were often of a person nature, and would include stones, artifacts, minerals, shells, vessels, amulets, food, and drugs. The Neanderthals of Shanidar put flowers in graves 60,000 years ago.

To help you with the selection of plant material that you would like included in your gravesite with you, here are plants that have traditionally been included in graves from cultures all around the world. Many of these plants have interesting properties, which makes them valuable while you're still alive, too.

Beans. Beans of some sort were part of belief systems just about everywhere in the world. They were considered guardians of life energy and food of the gods. Many beans have 'magical effects', and as such, had cults surrounding them, such as the mezcal bean. Other beans were used as death charms, such as jequirity, which was ground and then brushed across the threshold of a house. The person entering barefoot would then die. Bean fetish objects were often included in graves.

Cedar. This was used by the Egyptians for magical cosmetics and perfumes, incense, and to embalm mummies. It was also venerated by the Romans and the ancient Mesopotamians. In his Herbal, Dioscorides called cedar "the life of death".

Colorines. The Aztecs associated colorines with sacrificial death. They carved figures of their gods from the wood, and used the beans as an aphrodisiac and for producing dreams.

Ephedra. One of the oldest magical plants known to man, ephedra was used in the Iranian Haoma cult, Tantric moon rituals, orgiastic Saturnalia, and N.A. Indian vision quests. Consequently, the leaves of this plant were often included in the funerary goods.

Guayusa. This type of holly grows in Ecuador, and has been found in graves there dating from 500 BC. The leaves were found in medicine bags, along with snuff pipes. This plant is supposed to give strength and auspicious dreams, and is used as an emetic and enema.

Hemp is one of oldest cultivated plants. It was originally grown in China, and has been used by almost every culture in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It's medicinal and inebriant uses are well known.

Lotus. The lotus flower is a symbol of perfection, immortality, and enlightenment. The roots and seeds were used as amulets.

Maize. The Maya say that maize has the greatest life energy of any plant. Dried kernels are used as oracles and worn as amulets. Maize supposedly has the power to dispel demons.

Maté. Maté Yerba shrub leaves were found in pre-Columbian graves in the Andes. The leaves were placed in gourds lined with silver, so the dead could make maté tea and remain awake on their journey to the afterlife.

Poppy. This was one of the plants, along with henbane, thornapple, and tobacco, which later became associated with witches. However, poppy capsules have been found in archaeological sites in Switzerland which belong to the Lake Dwellers, and are 4000 years old.

Prickly Poppy. Aztecs thought that 'all poisonous plants are eaten in the underworld, and all who go there eat prickly poppy'. This is a medicinal plant with many uses.

San Pedro Cactus. A Peruvian plant, also found in pre-Columbian graves, which was used for traveling to unseen worlds.

Tobacco. Originally a New World plant, it was adopted into magical ceremonies all over the world. Mayan temples and pyramids are decorated with images of the plant and their gods smoking tobacco. It was an important inclusion in pre-Columbian graves.

Boxwood. Now used mainly as a hedge, sprigs of boxwood were found in three early Roman coffins (probably a local custom). Much later, the English used boxwood at funerals. The custom was to leave sprays of it next to the door so that people could take a spray and throw in into the grave at the appropriate time.

Juniper. The coffin juniper, Juniperus recurva var. coxii, has a resinous wood that is used for Buddhist incense and for, obviously, making coffins. The Greeks burned juniper berries at funerals to repel demons.

For more information on above mentioned plants, trees & herbs, see also my Chapter on this subject, or go to:
Gothic Gardening: Ye Olde Gothick Herbal (a really great site!), For more like this, see Gothic Gardening 'Potpourri'
For More Gardens (The Garden of Ill Omens, Gardening for Bats and Much More):
Gothic Gardening, Theme Garden