Second Sight: Plant Lore & Trance Work

Aug 20

Flying ointments past & present

Enduring hypothesis regarding medieval flying ointments hold that they were hallucinogenic salves applied to the vaginal mucous membranes by way of the smooth end of a broomstick, hence the iconic image of witches flying on broomsticks… While this is a charming proposition, I would like to highlight the varied applications and ways one might employ plants to aid in trance work, induce visions, or promote vivid and prophetic dreams.

In addition to ghastly base ingredients, the botanicals recorded in flying ointments of old are most commonly highly toxic, hallucinogenic plants of the solanaceae family such as aconite, belladonna, mandrake, and henbane, as well as mostly harmless garden herbs that hold an oneiric or chthonic reputation in folk superstition.

We craft a non-toxic flying ointment of a sort in our Portland based apothecary, and we call it Second Sight Salve. It is entirely safe and contains plants that have been applied in rustic country divinatory practice, as well as resins and botanicals used as traditional perfumer’s ingredients. If you attend one of our intimate Plant Spirit Journey events at the shop you will get to try it first hand. When I am preparing for trance work at our gatherings, I enjoy a moment in the quiet and the candlelight where I apply this salve to the back of my neck, forehead and temples. It’s incredible the emotional imprint that can be stored and associated with scent. We infuse this salve with cretan labdanum, a rose resin traditionally harvested from the fleece of goats driven through the briars. This salve has rich, musky, green notes that I very much associate with trance work. For use in dreamwork, you could apply this salve similarly before bed. Another way I use the Second Sight Salve is in a ritual bath prepared before bed to encourage helpful dreams. In silence, anoint the entire body in this fragrant poppy oil and animal fat in the steam and the candlelight while considering the trouble at hand, let yourself drip dry without toweling and speak to no one before going straight to sleep.

Read on about the plants in our Second Sight Salve below:

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IVY - Hedera helix

It is a striking image strolling through the old cemetery near my home. Mounds of emerald green leaf cling to the old headstones, that ubiquitous shining vine that thrives in the shadows of ruined places.

Ivy’s presence in folk charms and divination rites hints at the deeper role this plant can play in trance and dream work: an ally that protects, conceals and reveals. In Irish stories, Ivy is often described as surrounding the entrances of caves, secret doorways and portals, concealing otherworlds from the mortal. Daniel Schulke claims that ivy is ‘aligned with the snake spirit’, and this certainly seems to be a sound association when considering Ivy’s spiraling, clinging, serpentine growth pattern. In some tales from Ireland, ivy is known a protective plant against wild or malevolent spirits of the land, or the fae. One piece of lore states to pin an ivy leaf to all four corners your pillow to dream of the devil.

Likewise in folk magic, the hagstone or the adder stone (a stone with a natural hole in the center, bore through by running water), is used as a tool for protection when carried as an amulet, and as a tool to break glamour or enchantment, to see things as they truly are. In Celtic stories it is believed that to peer through the serpent stone grants the ability to see the fairies, or the true forms of witches by revealing their disguises and traps.

Ivy is associated with Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. You often find Ivy depicted with grape vines- as the cooling, grave-touched nature of Ivy is thought to counteract drunkenness when worn as a crown. To me this association with sobriety is very much connected to the glamour breaking aspects of ivy in Celtic folklore. It also smells amazing when extracted for perfumery, as the green smell of crushing ivy leaves in your hand.

ARTEMESIA - Artemisia vulgaris + absinthium

"There were many superstitions connected with it: it was believed to preserve the wayfarer from fatigue, sunstroke, wild beasts and evil spirits generally: a crown made from its sprays was worn on St. John's Eve to gain security from evil possession, and in Holland and Germany one of its names is St. John's Plant, because of the belief, that if gathered on St. John's Eve it gave protection against diseases and misfortunes." - M. Grieve, on Mugwort

Plants in the genus Artemesia as well have extensive folklore pertaining to protection, divination, and trance work. One of the debated origins of the name mugwort, “mug” is connected to old Anglo-Saxon words like “mucg” or “moughte”, meaning midges or moths, “wort” of course being the old english for herb. Both mugwort and wormwood and many other plants in the genus Artemesia have been and are still used to repel irritating bugs and insects, and to as well ward away malevolent spirits.

Many are familiar with the psychedelic fear mongering around wormwood as an ingredient in absinthe. I could write an entire article on this single subject. The natural presence of the chemical thujone in this most bitter of herbs was the point of blame in the calculated victorian era smear campaign against this herbal spirit. Thujone is found in higher levels in other medicinal culinary herbs such as sage, and is mostly harmless but for ingesting excessive quantities that could not be achieved by a simple tea, distillation, or topical of Wormwood. Even so, there is a romanticism to the perceived danger of wormwood as well as a real and felt spiritual potency to this plant. I think of wormwood as mugwort’s darker sister.

On midsummer eve, if the flames of the fires were peered at through a circlet of mugwort it would bring visions to the beholder. On Saint John’s eve, girdles of mugwort were worn to protect against misfortune. Mugwort is associated with dreaming and the moon in modern magical practices, likely due to the shining silvery appearance of the leaf, and its history as an ingredient in witches flying ointment. Mugwort was of particular importance to the Germanic practitioner. It is said that women would kill a goose in honor of Frau Holle and mix the goose fat and “flying herbs” together for a nocturnal flight.

YARROW - Achillea millefolium

In Suffolk the following charm was recited:

“Green ‘arrow, green ‘arrow, you wears a white blow,

If my love love me, my nose will bleed now;

If my love don’t love me, it on’t bleed a drop;

If my love do love me, ’twill bleed every drop”

Yarrow was used by the Saxons as an amulet. Yarrow was said to protect the wearer from ailments, thieves and evil spirits. The famous Lancashire Witches of Pendle Hill were said to use Yarrow for their divination. It is said that when Yarrow was placed in their hats it gave them the ability to fly.

There are many recorded uses for yarrow in divining one’s future spouse, or determining if one’s love was true for the diviner. In County Donegal, on May Eve one was to cut a square sod in which grows yarrow… and put it under their pillow. If they had not spoken between the time of cutting the sod and going to sleep, they would dream of their sweetheart.

In south Devon, a girl would pluck yarrow off a young man’s grave at midnight, saying:

Yarra, yarra, I seeks thee yarra,

And now I have thee found

I prays to the gude Lord Jesus

As I plucked ‘ee from the ground.

When she reached home she would ‘put the yarra in her right stocking, and ‘un to her left leg’ and get into bed backwards, saying ‘Good night to thee yarra’ three times, and ‘again three times:

Gude night, purty yarra,

I pray thee sweet yarra,

Tell me by the marra

Who shall my true love be.”

Some lesser known folknames for yarrow: Deadman’s daisies, Devil’s nettle, Bad man’s plaything. These darker names may be in some reference to yarrow in association with the devil, for the use in nocturnal spirit flight, or divining one’s future.

BREADSEED POPPY - Papaver somniferum

This plant I refer to particularly when it comes to communing with spirits of the human dead. Breadseed poppy is very much associated with sleeping and dreaming due to the sedating, pain relieving, and psychedelic effects of this narcotic flower.

In ancient Greece, poppies were depicted with deities of night, death, sleep, and dreams. During funeral processions, a fumigation of the seeds was used to open the road to the underworld so the spirit of the deceased might have an easier time finding their way. To ensure a spirit of the dead did not follow you home after a funeral, one could scatter poppy seeds in their wake. A mentor of mine, Corinne Boyer, once said that poppy seeds were seen as being food for witches and the dead. This leads to another connection for breadseed poppy for its use in attracting wealth, or use for divining the location of stolen belongings. Think of “bread” in terms of money or possessions, with poppyseed being common in baked treats.

When Hades abducted Persephone, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and harvest, was heartbroken and inconsolable. Overwhelmed with grief, she was unable to fulfill her duties, causing the earth to wither and crops to die.

To help her sleep and find some solace from her pain, the other gods offered her poppies. After consuming the poppies, Demeter found a temporary respite from her sorrow in sleep, and as she journeyed, poppies sprung up from her footsteps. This myth connects the poppy with both grief and the soothing power of sleep, as well as the cycle of life and death, given Demeter's role as goddess of agriculture and fertility.

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We’re always happy to chat herbs, make custom blends, or help you figure out what your nervous system needs. Stop by the shop or drop us a message—we’re here to help you feel calm, grounded, and nourished through all the seasons.

With heart,

Teresa