Walpurgisnacht Altar Arrangement
In addition to the protective bundles and arrangement of devil’s walking stick boughs on the mantle, I made a vase of plants gathered on our Walpurgisnacht night hike in the Ozarks for the altar.
This plant is another lesson in carefully handling plants you are not familiar with. “The bright red/orange sap acts as a strong irritant, which may result in rashes or caustic burns.” “There are a lot of folk remedies that use bloodroot sap as an ingredient for things like chemically burning off warts or even skin cancers with "black salve", but these are extremely not recommended.” (science.org)
“Bloodroot is poisonous to both livestock and humans in large doses. Alkaloids are found throughout the plant that affect the nervous system. Ingestion causes vomiting and potentially a fatal coma in those that overdose.” (cornellbotanicalgardens.org)
I handled it very carefully when cutting it for my arrangement, which science.org said was fine (just to immediately wash away any sap and maybe wear gloves on principle) and made sure that no cuttings fell in the floor where Marcy could get them (a good practice in general with pets).
In folklore the plant was has been used in love works, protective work, ancestral work and the sap as a substitute for blood offerings in modern folk magic (llewellyn.com). As I was gathering plants to repel the dark forces that are said to be loose on Walpurgisnacht in the folklore of my ancestors, I included it for its protective properties. “There’s a Cherokee legend that says if you carry a small piece of the root, it will ward off evil spirits.” (patti Wigington.com) I did dig up some of the root and plan on including it in an amulet bag.
I only took one plant, though it was abundant in the area we were hiking, as it is slow growing and endangered in some areas due to over harvesting. I plan on leaving it alone in the future. It is illegal to gather in some states, though not in Arkansas. Foraging plants in general is allowed in the Ozark-St. Francis forest for personal use.
I included spiderwort in part for its color. I’ve talked in other posts, about the devotional embroideries I’ve stitched, of the importance of purples and greens to me at this time of year. I also included as a protection adjacent plant— a warning plant if you will. “Scientifically, Tradescantia has gained modern significance as a bioindicator plant — its stamen hairs are sensitive to radiation and certain pollutants, turning pink in response, making it a living environmental monitor used in ecological research.” (flowernames.flowersluxe.com).
A common flowering plant locally around Walpurgisnacht, I’ve used it in my celebrations in past as candied flowers to decorate desserts.
This violet is unlike any other that I’ve ever seen with tiny yellow green flowers hidden in the leaves growing along a long axis. Though it was only budding, I went ahead and cut a stem in the hope that it would open in the vase (below you can see that one is attempting to do so. Regardless, the tiny little buds were pretty in themselves.
It is more populous in Arkansas than any other state in its range, however it is on endangered lists in Minnesota, Florida and New Jersey.
Though I mostly gathered this one for pretty, I found a few mentions of violets as protective plants (though mostly it would seem, they are known for love magic). “ . . . violets are also known as flowers of the dead and can be used to protect against malefic spirits. .” (wordsensorium.com) I found mention of them being used to banish demons and spirits in Slavic folklore on a Facebook folklore page, but no details as to which Slavs or any real documentation.
I wrote another post about the protective bundle I made for the threshold. Following the Czech formula for Walpurgisnacht protective bundles using thorny plants to repel evil forces, I used the very thorny devil’s walking stick as the backbone, followed by a layer of wood nettle and then some long stems of wild garlic and plantain (which was commonly used on this night and others to protect the stables and outbuildings).
I wrote in that post that I really couldn’t find much folklore about the plant, which I found odd with its fascinating appearance. I did find one article whose author talked about potential uses of the plant magically and they suggested using it as a substitute for blackthorn, one of the plants that was commonly used by Czechs on Walpurgisnacht.
In addition to using it in my threshold bundle and over the mantle alongside my roosters, I used a smaller bough to add height to the altar arrangement.
I fell in love with the perfoliated structure of this plant—with leaves and buds that appear to be threaded onto the stem. I found photos showing the gorgeous yellow flower, but even unopened the plant is striking. I cut a stem hoping it might open in the vase.
Apparently young shoots can be harvested in early spring, boiled, and eaten like asparagus or added raw to salads, though older leaves become bitter.
The Iroquois used the plant medicinally to knit bones (hikers notebook.blog). Because of its unique structure I could see it in my minds eye weaving something together and I decided to use it to “knit” together this altar arrangement.
In conclusion: there is just something magical about the Ozark-St. Francis Forest. It feels genuinely ancient and thus it felt special and right to incorporate its plants into my Walpurgisnacht workings.
