*TRANSCENDENT*

Hello my fellow Catholic witches! So while I was looking through stuff to do for May, I came across Mary Gardens and I thought they sounded like something full of potential witchery.

What is a Mary Garden?

A Mary garden is a garden dedicated to Mary. It is full of plants relating to Mary and her son, Jesus. They also contain a statue of Mary and sometimes have benches and candles for prayer. Some people also add plants relating to other saints. Sometimes they are dedicated to a certain aspect of Mary (such as Our Lady of Sorrows). They can be as big as a park or as small as a flower pot.

Plants for a Mary Garden

Relating to Jesus

Grapes- His blood

Wheat- His Body

Hyssop- Used at the Crucifixion

Begonia- Heart of Jesus

Geranium- Heart of Jesus

St. John’s Wort- Jesus’ Blood

Snapdragons- the Child Jesus’ shoes

Passion flowers- Christ’s Passion (the stamens and pistils look like the nails and the crown of thorns)

Red Roses- Christ’s Passion (as the crown of thorns and the five petals are Christ’s five wounds)

Plants with thorns- the crown of thorns

Dogwood- the Crucifixion

Relating to Mary

All flowers are associated with Mary but here are some that have more specific associations.

Roses- The Marian flower. Said to be found in her tomb, and appear in most of her apparitions. Used during May Crowning. Their colors symbolize her as follows:

White - Mary’s Purity

Red- Mary’s Sorrow

Gold- Mary’s Glory

Lilies- Said to be found in her tomb and given to her by the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation

Forget-Me-Nots- Our Lady’s Eyes

Baby’s Breath- Our Lady’s Veil

Bachelor’s Buttons- Our Lady’s Crown

Bleeding Hearts- Mary’s Heart pierced by swords

Iris- the swords that pierced Mary’s Heart

Marigolds- Mary’s gold

Violets- Our Lady’s Modesty

Lavender- one legend says this plant got its scent when Mary laid Jesus’ clothes out to dry on it

Lily-of-the-Valley- Said to have grown from Mary’s tears as she stood at the foot of the cross

Damask Roses- the roses Our Lady of Guadalupe told St. Juan Diego to gather

English Daisy- Mary’s Love

Maidenhair Fern- Mary’s Hair

Field Bindweed- Our Lady’s Cup (from a German legend that Mary freed a wine seller’s cart after giving her a drink. Because he did not have a cup, Our Lady used the flower of Field Bindweed instead)

Morning Glory- Our Lady’s Cloak

Hawthorn- traditionally used during May Crowning

Honeysuckle- Our Lady’s fingers or Our Lady’s stick

Hydrangea- Ave Maria

Jasmine- Mary

Larkspur- Mary’s tears

Moonflower- Our Lady of the Night

Primrose- Mary’s candlestick

Juniper- Our Lady’s Shelter, said to have hidden the Holy Family during the flight to Egypt

Snowdrops- used at Candlemas

Sweet Alyssum- Blessed by Mary

Tulip- Mary’s Prayer

Water lily- Our Lady of the Lake or Stella Marius

Parsley- Our Lady’s Little Vine

Sage- Mary’s shawl

Thyme- Mary’s humility

Fennel- Our Lady’s Fennel

Spearmint- Mary’s mint

Horehound- Mother-of -God’s tea

Dandelion- Mary’s bitter sorrow

Catnip- Mary’s nettle

Valerien- Our Lady’s Needlework

Chamomile- Maiden’s weed

Other plants

These relate to saints or to God.

Columbine- the Holy Spirit (because they look like doves)

St John’s Wort- Named after one of the many St. Johns

Chicory- the Heavenly way

Coriander- St. John’s head

Dill- Devil away

Tarragon- Named for St. Martha’s dragon

Shamrock- St. Patrick

Lilies- St. Joseph’s staff

Peony- Pentecost Rose

Nasturtium- St. Joseph’s flower

Tritium- the Holy Trinity

Ivy- Where God has Walked

Hollyhock- St. Joseph’s staff

Gladiolus- 12 Apostles

Grape Hyacinth- St. Joseph’s bells

Basil- St. Anthony of Padua

Cosmos- St. Michael’s flower

Aster- Michaelmas daisies

Chrysanthemum- All Saint’s flower

Cherry- used on St. Barbara’s feast day

Pussy willow- used on Ash Wednesday

Palm- used in Palm Sunday

Pansies- the Holy Trinity

Blackberries- last gathered on Michaelmas

What does this have to do with witchcraft?

Hello my fellow Catholic witches! So while I was looking through stuff to do for May, I came across Mary Gardens and I thought they sounded like something full of potential witchery.

What is a Mary Garden?

A Mary garden is a garden dedicated to Mary. It is full of plants relating to Mary and her son, Jesus. They also contain a statue of Mary and sometimes have benches and candles for prayer. Some people also add plants relating to other saints. Sometimes they are dedicated to a certain aspect of Mary (such as Our Lady of Sorrows). They can be as big as a park or as small as a flower pot.

Plants for a Mary Garden

Relating to Jesus

Grapes- His blood

Wheat- His Body

Hyssop- Used at the Crucifixion

Begonia- Heart of Jesus

Geranium- Heart of Jesus

St. John’s Wort- Jesus’ Blood

Snapdragons- the Child Jesus’ shoes

Passion flowers- Christ’s Passion (the stamens and pistils look like the nails and the crown of thorns)

Red Roses- Christ’s Passion (as the crown of thorns and the five petals are Christ’s five wounds)

Plants with thorns- the crown of thorns

Dogwood- the Crucifixion

Relating to Mary

All flowers are associated with Mary but here are some that have more specific associations.

Roses- The Marian flower. Said to be found in her tomb, and appear in most of her apparitions. Used during May Crowning. Their colors symbolize her as follows:

White - Mary’s Purity

Red- Mary’s Sorrow

Gold- Mary’s Glory

Lilies- Said to be found in her tomb and given to her by the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation

Forget-Me-Nots- Our Lady’s Eyes

Baby’s Breath- Our Lady’s Veil

Bachelor’s Buttons- Our Lady’s Crown

Bleeding Hearts- Mary’s Heart pierced by swords

Iris- the swords that pierced Mary’s Heart

Marigolds- Mary’s gold

Violets- Our Lady’s Modesty

Lavender- one legend says this plant got its scent when Mary laid Jesus’ clothes out to dry on it

Lily-of-the-Valley- Said to have grown from Mary’s tears as she stood at the foot of the cross

Damask Roses- the roses Our Lady of Guadalupe told St. Juan Diego to gather

English Daisy- Mary’s Love

Maidenhair Fern- Mary’s Hair

Field Bindweed- Our Lady’s Cup (from a German legend that Mary freed a wine seller’s cart after giving her a drink. Because he did not have a cup, Our Lady used the flower of Field Bindweed instead)

Morning Glory- Our Lady’s Cloak

Hawthorn- traditionally used during May Crowning

Honeysuckle- Our Lady’s fingers or Our Lady’s stick

Hydrangea- Ave Maria

Jasmine- Mary

Larkspur- Mary’s tears

Moonflower- Our Lady of the Night

Primrose- Mary’s candlestick

Juniper- Our Lady’s Shelter, said to have hidden the Holy Family during the flight to Egypt

Snowdrops- used at Candlemas

Sweet Alyssum- Blessed by Mary

Tulip- Mary’s Prayer

Water lily- Our Lady of the Lake or Stella Marius

Parsley- Our Lady’s Little Vine

Sage- Mary’s shawl

Thyme- Mary’s humility

Fennel- Our Lady’s Fennel

Spearmint- Mary’s mint

Horehound- Mother-of -God’s tea

Dandelion- Mary’s bitter sorrow

Catnip- Mary’s nettle

Valerien- Our Lady’s Needlework

Chamomile- Maiden’s weed

Other plants

These relate to saints or to God.

Columbine- the Holy Spirit (because they look like doves)

St John’s Wort- Named after one of the many St. Johns

Chicory- the Heavenly way

Coriander- St. John’s head

Dill- Devil away

Tarragon- Named for St. Martha’s dragon

Shamrock- St. Patrick

Lilies- St. Joseph’s staff

Peony- Pentecost Rose

Nasturtium- St. Joseph’s flower

Tritium- the Holy Trinity

Ivy- Where God has Walked

Hollyhock- St. Joseph’s staff

Gladiolus- 12 Apostles

Grape Hyacinth- St. Joseph’s bells

Basil- St. Anthony of Padua

Cosmos- St. Michael’s flower

Aster- Michaelmas daisies

Chrysanthemum- All Saint’s flower

Cherry- used on St. Barbara’s feast day

Pussy willow- used on Ash Wednesday

Palm- used in Palm Sunday

Pansies- the Holy Trinity

Blackberries- last gathered on Michaelmas

What does this have to do with witchcraft?

Just wanted to share some bits and pieces of irish folk magic that I’ve been collecting! I’ve adapted some ideas for modern practices! I’ve referenced Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland by Lady Wilde for this collection! More to come soon.

🌿The Hazel, Rowan, Willow and Yew trees were the most sacred trees in Ireland. The Hazel tree banishes and wards evil spirits, witches and demons. A stick made out of Hazel cut on Bealtaine morning can be used to cast circles to protect against them.

🌿The Rowan tree is very protective, and hanging a branch over your door keeps evil spirits and evil hands away. (Great for witches ladders and protects against hexes and curses)

🌿A stick of Blackthorn can banish unwanted spirits or demons.

🌿Mix 9 pinches of dried mountain moss with 9 pinches of hearth ash. This mixture is said to help against inflammation (Maybe add it to a poppet in the inflamed area or to spell sachets/ jars for healing purposes)

🌿Healing charm:

“May thou be healed in blood, marrow and bone. And may the (issue) die in thee in the name of (your deity/ god of healing) So it shall be!”

🌿A horse tooth rubbed on the jaw is said to ease toothaches, or carried in your pocket to protect against toothaches. (I’d say a horse tooth as a spell ingredient can help with issues of the mouth like public speaking, interviews etc)

🌿A horse shoe cleansed with fire (made red hot) then tied up over the entrance to your home is said to protect against bad luck. It must never be taken down. The horse shoe also protects against the Sidhe (Fairies) and witchcraft.

🌿Lusmore (Foxglove), vervain and mountain ash are good against witchcraft (breaking hexes/ curses etc) Vervain is best gathered on the rising of the Dog-Star (Sirius). Offer fruit and honey to the earth in return.

🌿Spiders tied up in a bag and carried with you wards off illness.

🌿The bones of a black cat can render you invisible, if the bone appears invisible in a mirror. (Perhaps a black cat bone can be useful in glamours to draw attention away from you) Black cat hair also wards evil spirits and witchcraft (hexes, curses)

🌿Honey, Milk and a pinch of salt drunk from a sea shell was said to be the cure for madness. (If you enchant this drink to help with emotional imbalances/ irrational thoughts etc it could be useful!)

🌿Wolf skin worn around the body as a girdle wards illness. (Wolf hair could be used in protection sachets/ jars against illness)

🌿The cure for deafness (perhaps for boosting clairaudience) Take cowslip roots, blossom and leaves- clean them well and bruise/press them in a linen cloth. Add honey and store in a bottle. Rub on the ears when needed (you could probably eat a spoon full or take it as a tea too)

🌿If you feel that someone is giving you the evil eye, say at once “The curse be upon thine eye”. The evil eye is cast strongest on Bealtaine. To cure the evil eye, drink holy water. (Moon/ sun water created on May Eve/ Bealtaine)

🌿Finding a 4 leafed clover brings you luck in all things, so long as you never show the clover to anyone else.

🌿It’s lucky to cut your hair on the new moon!

🌿Milk is often given as an offering to the Sidhe (the fae), in hopes that they will not disturb the home. The offering is left on dressers or by the hearth at night. But never give away milk, butter or fire on Bealtaine for it could mean you give away your luck.

🌿Primroses placed on the threshold (by your door) keep the Sidhe away.

In Irish, the word for curse or evil spell is “Piseog” (Pee-show-g). It is usually a form of sympathetic magick, meaning the magickal use of an object or action to symbolically represent a person, event or place. Piseogs were often cast on May Eve (Bealtaine)

It was common to bury an egg in your targets garden. The egg represented the household. When the egg begins to rot, so too will the households wealth, health or fortune.

Placing raw meat (bacon or chicken for us modern folk, or traditionally a pig or chicken carcasses) was said to ruin your targets crop and cause misfortune. In turn however, the person who casts the piseog gains the wealth, fortune and a successful crop.

Wake up before sunrise on May morning and visit a spring well situated under an old oak tree and skim the top of the water with a saucer while chanting your targets name. This piseog prevents the targets milk from having cream and it will give you all their cream instead.

If you stand in front of your targets property while holding a long rope and swing it to and fro while saying “leath mo chuid ime-se agus lán do chuid ime-se" which meant “half of my butter and all of your butter” you will get all your targets butter.

**Butter, milk and cream can represent wealth or success in modern workings.

Note: Milk and butter was extremely valuable to the irish. It was the difference between life and death, wealth and poor. Irish witches were often called “Butter Witches” as many of their curses or actions within the christian era revolved around stealing milk and butter. The witches were also said to turn into a Hare as a disguise when stealing the goods. These piseogs can be cast with the intention of taking away wealth/ success from a person, using butter or milk symbolically to represent it.

Here’s some simple irish curses:

Fán fada ort Long may you be astray

Léan ort Sorrow betide you

Briseadh agus brú ort Strife and stress upon you

Lagú cléibh ort Weariness of heart upon you

Nár eirigh an lá leat That you may not be successful on the day

Náire agus aithir chugat That you may be shamed and disgraced

Hello! So I’ve been asked by a few people about where to find resources on irish folk magic so I thought I’d share where I get my info from in a post.

Remember that Irish folk magic is not an organized practice, so there is no one book or one place to go for it (Though I would love to write a book on it in the future!) At the moment bits and pieces of the practice are found within folklore, charms and cures, superstitions, passed down through Christian families and within tales of the Bean Feasa (Wise woman), irish cunning folk and Fairy Doctors. Use these terms when you’re searching for more info in the future!

Note: I recommend you have a good understanding of witchcraft in general before you delve into these resources so you’ll know what to look for. Although Christianity is very tied to irish folk magic, you can look past it and pay close attention to what herbs, plants or items they are using, how they use it and what they use it for. These resources are not going to spoon feed you irish folk magic, you need to look for it within the texts and take note of it yourself if it’s useful to you. For example, In the book “Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland”, there is a story of a Priest who performs an exorcism on a possessed man. The Priest beats the man with a stick of Blackthorn to banish the demon from his body. From this, I then took the note “Blackthorn is used for banishing demons or negative spirits”. If you keep this in mind while you research, you’ll find lots of useful stuff!

Either way, I will still be making more posts on irish folk magic when I find more useful info!

Books: ***Some links here you can read the whole book for free!

Irish Folk Ways by E. Estyn Evans

***Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Wilde.

Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland by Lady Wilde (A lot of stuff in here is unsanitary, immoral or silly despite them being legitimately used and believed in. Take things in this book with a grain of salt but make use of the herbal, edible and tree usages! Do research on the plants before you use them yourself. Always be cautious with unknown plants)

***Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions by James Bonwick

The Book of the Cailleach : Stories of the Wise Woman Healer

Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland by Andrew Sneddon

***Irish Cursing and the Art of Magic by Thomas Waters

Irish Superstitions by Daithi O hOgain

Irish Witchcraft from an Irish witch by Lora O'Brien (The title for this book is misleading. It’s more irish paganism than witchcraft but it’s useful if you’re looking to practice both irish folk magic with irish paganism)

Fairycraft by Morgan Daimler (This is more of a modern take on how to incorporate the irish Fairy Faith into modern witchcraft practices, kinda like a modern version of the old Bean Feasa or Fairy doctors did)

Online:

Duchas https://www.duchas.ie/en Duchas is a huge collection of irish folklore, gathered and written down here in Ireland. Collected from old folk who still practice folk magic, superstitions, folk medicine or remember their own grandparents doing so.

It’s confusing at first but type in a word you’d like more info about and many documents relating to the word will pop up. Example: Lavender- https://www.duchas.ie/en/src?q=lavender If you click on the title, it’ll open the page up for you and the digital version of the document will be on your right which makes things easier to read. From this search I learned that soaking your bed sheets in lavender and rosemary water will help fight sleeplessness! Very useful for magickal workings :) If you search around and try different words, you’ll find hidden gems!

The Witch, the Bean Feasa, and the Fairy Doctor in Irish Culture By Morgan Daimler https://www.academia.edu/17823067/The_Witch_the_Bean_Feasa_and_the_Fairy_Doctor_in_Irish_Culture Check out Morgan Daimler’s books on irish paganism, her stuff is fantastic!

Bean Feasa https://beanfeasa9.wordpress.com/ This website is a modern take on the irish Bean Feasa. There’s a bit of valuable info on there that I think would be good to know. Bean Feasa were irish wise women (Woman of knowledge) known to heal using herbal remedies and help from the otherworld.

Biddy Early https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biddy_Early Biddy Early was a famous irish wise woman and possible witch. Research on her could be very beneficial when researching irish folk magic. There’s a book on her that’s probably out of print so it’s expensive, but have a look around and try to find a different copy if possible. https://www.amazon.com/Biddy-Early-Wise-Woman-Clare/dp/1856353168

Others:

https://ogham.celt.dias.ie/menu.php?lang=en&menuitem=03 This website is a good quick way to write in Ogham

Podcasts:

Folklore Fragments by UCD (They have loads of episodes on youtube and they are very useful! Keep a pen and paper ready to write down useful info)

Hello! So I’ve been asked by a few people about where to find resources on irish folk magic so I thought I’d share where I get my info from in a post.

Remember that Irish folk magic is not an organized practice, so there is no one book or one place to go for it (Though I would love to write a book on it in the future!) At the moment bits and pieces of the practice are found within folklore, charms and cures, superstitions, passed down through Christian families and within tales of the Bean Feasa (Wise woman), irish cunning folk and Fairy Doctors. Use these terms when you’re searching for more info in the future!

Note: I recommend you have a good understanding of witchcraft in general before you delve into these resources so you’ll know what to look for. Although Christianity is very tied to irish folk magic, you can look past it and pay close attention to what herbs, plants or items they are using, how they use it and what they use it for. These resources are not going to spoon feed you irish folk magic, you need to look for it within the texts and take note of it yourself if it’s useful to you. For example, In the book “Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland”, there is a story of a Priest who performs an exorcism on a possessed man. The Priest beats the man with a stick of Blackthorn to banish the demon from his body. From this, I then took the note “Blackthorn is used for banishing demons or negative spirits”. If you keep this in mind while you research, you’ll find lots of useful stuff!

Either way, I will still be making more posts on irish folk magic when I find more useful info!

Books: ***Some links here you can read the whole book for free!

Irish Folk Ways by E. Estyn Evans

***Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Wilde.

Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland by Lady Wilde (A lot of stuff in here is unsanitary, immoral or silly despite them being legitimately used and believed in. Take things in this book with a grain of salt but make use of the herbal, edible and tree usages! Do research on the plants before you use them yourself. Always be cautious with unknown plants)

***Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions by James Bonwick

The Book of the Cailleach : Stories of the Wise Woman Healer

Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland by Andrew Sneddon

***Irish Cursing and the Art of Magic by Thomas Waters

Irish Superstitions by Daithi O hOgain

Irish Witchcraft from an Irish witch by Lora O'Brien (The title for this book is misleading. It’s more irish paganism than witchcraft but it’s useful if you’re looking to practice both irish folk magic with irish paganism)

Fairycraft by Morgan Daimler (This is more of a modern take on how to incorporate the irish Fairy Faith into modern witchcraft practices, kinda like a modern version of the old Bean Feasa or Fairy doctors did)

Online:

Duchas https://www.duchas.ie/en Duchas is a huge collection of irish folklore, gathered and written down here in Ireland. Collected from old folk who still practice folk magic, superstitions, folk medicine or remember their own grandparents doing so.

It’s confusing at first but type in a word you’d like more info about and many documents relating to the word will pop up. Example: Lavender- https://www.duchas.ie/en/src?q=lavender If you click on the title, it’ll open the page up for you and the digital version of the document will be on your right which makes things easier to read. From this search I learned that soaking your bed sheets in lavender and rosemary water will help fight sleeplessness! Very useful for magickal workings :) If you search around and try different words, you’ll find hidden gems!

The Witch, the Bean Feasa, and the Fairy Doctor in Irish Culture By Morgan Daimler https://www.academia.edu/17823067/The_Witch_the_Bean_Feasa_and_the_Fairy_Doctor_in_Irish_Culture Check out Morgan Daimler’s books on irish paganism, her stuff is fantastic!

Bean Feasa https://beanfeasa9.wordpress.com/ This website is a modern take on the irish Bean Feasa. There’s a bit of valuable info on there that I think would be good to know. Bean Feasa were irish wise women (Woman of knowledge) known to heal using herbal remedies and help from the otherworld.

Biddy Early https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biddy_Early Biddy Early was a famous irish wise woman and possible witch. Research on her could be very beneficial when researching irish folk magic. There’s a book on her that’s probably out of print so it’s expensive, but have a look around and try to find a different copy if possible. https://www.amazon.com/Biddy-Early-Wise-Woman-Clare/dp/1856353168

Others:

https://ogham.celt.dias.ie/menu.php?lang=en&menuitem=03 This website is a good quick way to write in Ogham

Podcasts:

Folklore Fragments by UCD (They have loads of episodes on youtube and they are very useful! Keep a pen and paper ready to write down useful info)

The Blue Moon 🌚 31st October 2020 🎃

Taken on my telescope 🔭 🌙✨