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 hillside that’s sporting it—there’s a whole stand of it along the side of the road just a few yards from my house.

Mullein (pronounced MULL-in) is part of the snapdragon family, with soft, fuzzy leaves at the base, tapering upward into stalks that can grow several feet high. It’s been popular in herbal medicine for a long time, and used as treatment for everything from coughs and toothaches to constipation. It grows all over the Mediterranean, Europe, and North America, so people have given it all kinds of folkloric titles throughout the ages—beggar’s blanket, candlewick, cowboy toilet paper (did I mention the leaves are really soft?), hag’s taper, Mary’s candle, velvet dock, and witch’s candle are just a few of its dozens of names.

Did you notice a couple of references to tapers and candles in there? That’s because once the stalks dry out and turn brown, they look like candles. But also! Dried mullein stalks were sometimes used as cheap light sources—dip it in tallow, light it up, and you’ve got a handy dandy torch or lamp wick.

From a magical and folkloric standpoint, in addition to being a healing herb, mullein was associated with keeping away demons and sorcerers. Maud Grieve’s A Modern Herbal tells us:

Both in Europe and Asia the power of driving away evil spirits was ascribed to the Mullein. In India it has the reputation among the natives that the St. John’s Wort once had here, being considered a sure safeguard against evil spirits and magic…

Because mullein is such a versatile herb, there are countless ways to use it in magic. Use mullein in a sachet or incense blend for workings that you’ll need extra courage for, or tuck some sprigs under your pillow if you’ve been plagued by nightmares as you sleep. Mullein can be gathered and hung in a sick room to facilitate healing. One thing I’m planning on doing this year is harvesting my hillside/roadside mullein and making a batch of mullein tincture for congestion and winter cruds.

Here’s my usual disclaimer: I am not a trained herbalist and do not give medical advice, as my interest in herbs is strictly folkloric and magical, so if you’re thinking about eating, drinking, or smoking any plants, check with a qualified herbalist before you do.

In some folk practices, mullein is used as a substitute for grave soil, but they are not the same thing (obviously) — however, because of mullein’s association with protection from evil spirits, it is often incorporated into workings that involve spirits, the dead, or necromancy. In many traditions, including some forms of Hoodoo, mullein is not an acceptable substitute for graveyard dirt, so it ain’t universal.

Rebecca Beyer of the absolutely brilliant Blood and Spicebush blog says:

Mullein was a key ingredient in folk magic as well in Appalachia, just as it was in the Old World. If you bent a stick of mullein towards the house of the one you fancied, you could tell if they felt the same way about you by checking in a few days to see if it has grown up straight again. If it was standing tall again, your true-love loved you back, if it was dead, well, you get the picture. In the Ozarks it goes a little different. If the mullein bends towards a person’s house, the one who tends the mullein loves them.

Some other great resources to read about mullein in more detail:

• A Wandering Botanist – Plant Story: Common Mullein and its Folklore
• New England Folklore – Magical Mullein: Witches, Love and Captain Marvel
• Blood and Spicebush – The Hag’s Taper: Mullein