Lavender

lavender.gif

 
Folk Names: Elf leaf, Nard, Nardus, Spike
 
Gender: Masculine
 
Planet: Mercury
 
Element: Air
 
Powers: love, protection, sleep, chastity, longevity, purification, happiness, peace

Lavender is a perennial, able to grow to solid strength, even though it has difficulty with winter in the more northern climates. The name is said to come from the Latin, 'lavare', which means "to wash". The flowers grow in small spikes, and are, of course, lavender in color. The herb is grown mainly for the flowers, from which the volatile oils are extracted.

Medicinal Uses:
 
     Lavender flowers are used as a sedative and a tonic to relax the nerves, as well as for reducing allergies. It is also used for "dull pain that doesn't seem to go away". It is an antispasmodic and an antiseptic. According to John Lust lavender was also used to revive a person who had fainted. An earlier formula used lavender with feverfew and peppermint in a tea as a sedative and an anti flammatory to help with constricted blood vessels. Today it is used with tea tree for treating fevers and blisters.
    Lavender tea is used to calm ravaged nerves, tendencies to hysteria and emotional outbursts, and also calms headaches caused from stress and fatigue. Lavender is made into a wash, and used externally, being excellent for acne and troubled skin.
   Lavender is an excellent herb in the treatment of headaches. It may be taken internally, or the oil of the flowers rubbed into the temples. It will calm and relieve pain.
    Large doses of the oil must be strictly avoided, for then lavender may act as a narcotic poison.

Magickal Uses:
 
Lavender is used as a religious herb in the celebration of the beginnign of summer. It is a primary ingredient in the incense used by many on Midsummers Eve. Lavender is also used in rituals of a mystical nature throughout the year, and is capable off invoking the more severe deities of Hecate and Saturn.
    Lavender is used as a magickal tonic to bring a sense of stability into ones life, or to make a magickal work of a permanent nature. It was one of the herbs chosen by Solomon when he was constructing his sacred sprinkler for holy water, and may be used to spurge sacred circles and temples.
    Lavender attracts a high vibrational nature. It is thus brought into meditation where increased awareness is sought. It is said to bring great inner calm, peace of mind, and freedom from emotional and mental stress. In magickal spells it is used to attract money, to bless homes, and to attract possessions.
   Interesting practices involving lavender include its being burnt in birthing rooms, the scent of its smoke filling the room, keeping it pure, and welcoming the new life into the world. It has also been woven into wreaths to crown a newly married couple, and is often used in handfasting rituals.
    Lavender has long been used in love spells and sachets. Clothing perfumed with the fragrant flowers ( or lavender placed in a drawer with clothes) attracts love. A piece of paper on which you've rubbed lavender is excellent for writing love letters. The scent of lavender particularly attracts men, and lavender water or the essential oil was worn by prostitutes several centuies ago to both advertise their profession as well as to attract ( through Magick) customers. Lavender also protects against cruel treatment at the hands of a spouse if worn next to the skin.

Feedback, submissions, ideas? Email Khalin_ElvenStone@hotmail.com.