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Anyone who has studied the folklore of British plants will be familiar with frequent prohibitions against bringing certain plants and flowers inside. This belief is so prevalent that in the 1980s the Folklore Society conducted a ‘Survey of Unlucky Plants.’ 

Approaching this from a witch’s perspective, it serves as a good example of the difference between useful folklore and superstition. Although folklore is a cornerstone of my practice, if I were to obey every prohibition against bringing these plants indoors, I’d be forced to do half my work outside (in the rain most likely.) 

As a witch, I acknowledge that certain plants are considered unlucky, even deadly, to bring inside - but I am then curious as to why. Some are obviously poisonous, like the Yew, or associated with death and funerals, like the Lily. Others have Saturnian properties, as does Ivy, or are linked to the fairies, like Hawthorne and Bluebells. Given these associations, the taboos begin to make sense - at least for those who fear death, bad luck and the Good People.

However, if one does not fear these powers, knows ways in which to protect oneself from them and perhaps even works directly with them, then perhaps the prohibitions are less significant. By working closely with the plants themselves, developing a reciprocal relationship and becoming allies, I see no reason to fear them. I also feel there is a difference between growing and nurturing a plant on the windowsill, and hastily ripping up a bunch of flowers from a nearby woodland (where you also run the risk of offending the genius loci.) 

‘...some say her father was a Necromancer, and that he had Skill in the Black Art, whereby it became entail’d upon her by Birth : But the common Story, which I shall follow, is, that she never had a Father of human race, but was begot as the Welch Prophet Merlin was of old by the Phatasm of Apollo, or some wanton ariel Daemon in the following surprising Manner...’