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The Myth & Magic of Virginia Creeper
One of the things I love so much about my cottage in the woods is that I am surrounded by plants, many of which I never encountered in the wild when I lived in an actual town. I’m taking some time to get to know the flora (and fauna) of my new home, including the seemingly endless array of Joe Pye weed, mullein, chicory, fleabane, and goldenrod. I discovered the stone wall up against the hillside behind my house is covered in a beautiful five-leafed vine, did a bit of digging, and learned it’s Virginia creeper, or Parthenocissus quinquefolia. In some places, it’s considered so invasive that you’re not allowed…
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The Magic of Joe Pye Weed
About two months ago, I bought a little cottage at the bottom of a hill, sitting outside a small village. It’s a super rural area, long-time coal country in the northern foothills of Appalachia, and the biggest excitement around here is when visiting ATV riders go zipping up the road through my holler or my neighbor’s rooster gets loose and refuses to return home. The nearest grocery store is fifteen miles off, and if I want to get super fancy and visit a home improvement store, it’s a good 45 minutes each direction. We have two police officers, a single pizza joint, and a Dollar General, and that’s pretty much…
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The Magic of the Willow Tree
I’ve always loved willow trees — there’s something majestic and powerful about them. Willows are often found on the banks of creeks and rivers, or in other areas where there’s a lot of water. In my last house, we had a low lying area in the back yard that pooled a lot of water when it rained, so we planted a willow there, and it thrived almost immediately, growing from a small sapling to a giant behemoth in just a few short years. Melody Rose over at Dave’s Garden says, Many notable sayings and practices were born around the willow. One of the most common traditions today has its roots…
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The Magic of Mullein
Mullein is one of those herbs I often forget about because I don’t grow it, mostly because it prefers dry soil and I’ve always lived in places that had rich, fertile ground. Recently, however, I moved to the hills of North Appalachia, and while I’ve got a nice dark-soil empty lot available for my planting adventures, behind my house is a steep hillside covered with dry, almost clay-like earth… and all kinds of things are growing wild upon it, including mullein. At first, honestly, I thought it was a random sprig of lamb’s ear, and then its telltale yellow flowers bloomed… yep, it’s mullein. In fact, it’s not just my…
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The Magic of Bamboo
Bamboo is grown in many parts of the world, and because it is both quick to develop and extremely hardy, it has a variety of uses from the mundane to the magical. The bamboo plant lives a long time, and will just continue growing until it is harvested. Because of this, some Pacific Island tribes regard it as a symbol of longevity and life, and include bamboo in some creation stories. In some parts of the Philippines, bamboo crosses are placed in the fields to bring hearty crops in at harvest time. In parts of India, bamboo symbolizes friendship, and in some Eastern religions, bamboo is the only acceptable material…
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Violet Magic and Folklore
I’ve got a ton of violets cropping up in my yard, and I always scamper outside to pick these pretty purple flowers before my son does his weekly scalping of the lawn. They’re small and dry quickly, so I’ve got quite a collection of them in a jar, that I use for a variety of magical purposes. According to Maud Grieve’s Modern Herbal, there are over two hundred species of flower in the violet family. This leaves a lot of room for interpretation when it comes to magical workings. We’ll just take a look at violets in general, without going into details about specific members of the family. In Roman…
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The Magic of Hedge Apples
The Osage orange, also known as a hedge apples (and in some areas, “monkey balls”), is a tree that grows in North America, and gets its name from the Osage Native American tribes who used its hard wood to craft bows for hunting. The “orange” itself is not a true orange (or an apple, for that matter) but a large, sticky fruit that is completely inedible to anyone but the local squirrel population. When the balls – usually about four to five inches in diameter – drop to the ground, it can create a huge mess, so generally it is recommended that if you plant an Osage orange, unless you…
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Bamboo Magic & Folklore
Bamboo is grown in many parts of the world, and because it is both quick to develop and extremely hardy, it has a variety of uses from the mundane to the magical. The bamboo plant lives a long time, and will just continue growing until it is harvested. Because of this, some Pacific Island tribes regard it as a symbol of longevity and life, and include bamboo in some creation stories. In some parts of the Philippines, bamboo crosses are placed in the fields to bring hearty crops in at harvest time. In parts of India, bamboo symbolizes friendship, and in some Eastern religions, bamboo is the only acceptable material…
