Magickal Properties of Herbs with Folk Names

[*Gypsy*]

[glow=red,2,300]Merry Meet Members,
I found this site very interesting and helpful in my quest to find all the old Witches Folk names I could.
www.geocities.com/bewitchindesign/herbsmainpage.html

Tongue of Dog?
Blood of Goose?
Do you really think witches cut of tongues of dogs? Or take blood
from geese? Ummm...NO!

They were just pseudonym names for the herbs to keep them secret.

Here are some old time names for herbs:

A Bone of an Ibis: Buckthorn
Adders Tongue: Dogstooth Violet
A Titan's Blood: Wild Lettuce
A Lion's Hairs: Tongue of a Turnip [i.e., the leaves of the taproot]
A Man's Bile: Turnip Sap
A Pig's Tail: Leopard's Bane
A Hawk's Heart: Heart of Wormwood
An Eagle: Wild Garlic
Ass's Foot or Bull's Foot: Coltsfoot
Blood: Elder sap or another tree sap
Blood of Hephaistos: Wormwood
Burning Bush: White Dittany
Bread and Cheese Tree: Hawthorne
Blood from a Head: Lupine
Bird's Eye: Germander Speedwell
Blood of Ares: Purslane
Blood of a Goose: A Mulberry Tree's Milk
Bloodwort: Yarrow
Blood of Hestia: Camomile
Blood of an Eye: Tamarisk Gall
Blood from a Shoulder: Bear's Breach
Bat's Wings: Holly
Black Sampson: Echinacea
Bull's Blood or Seed of Horus: Horehound
Bear's Foot: Lady's Mantle
Calf's Snout: Snapdragon
Cat's Foot: Canada Snake Root and/or Ground Ivy
Candelmas Maiden: Snowdrop.
Capon's Tail: Valerian.
Christ's Ladder: Centaury
Cheeses: Marsh Mallow
Chocolate Flower: Wild Geranium
Christ's Eye: Vervain Sage
Clear-eye: Clary Sage
Click: Goosegrass
Cucumber Tree: Magnolia
Clot: Great Mullein
Corpse Plant: Indian Pipe.
Crowdy Kit: Figwort
Cuddy's Lungs: Great Mullein
Crow Foot: Cranesbill
Cuckoo's Bread: Common Plantain
Clear Eye: Clary Sage
Crow's Foot: Wild Geranium
Devils Dung: Asafoetida
Dragon's Blood: Calamus
Dog's Mouth: Snap Dragon
Daphne: Laurel/Bay
Devil's Plaything: Yarrow
Dove's Foot: Wild Geranium
Dew of the Sea: Rosemary
Dragon Wort: Bistort
Earth Smoke: Fumitory
Eye of Christ: Germander Speedwell
Elf's Wort: Elecampane
Enchanter's Plant: Vervain
Englishman's Foot: Common Plantain
Erba Santa Maria: Spearmint
Everlasting Friendship: Goosegrass
Eye of the Day: Common Daisy
Eye of the Star: Horehound
Eye Root: Goldenseal
Eyes: Aster, Daisy, Eyebright
Frog's Foot: Bulbous Buttercup
From the Loins: Camomile
Fat from a Head: Spurge
Fairy Smoke: Indian Pipe
Felon Herb: Mugwort
From the Belly: Earth-apple
From the Foot: Houseleek
Five Fingers: Cinquefoil
Fox's Clote: Burdock
Graveyard Dust: Mullein
Goat's Foot: Ash Weed
God's Hair: Hart's Tongue Fern
Golden Star: Avens
Gosling Wing: Goosegrass
Graveyard Dust: Mullein
Great Ox-eye: Ox-eye Daisy
Hairs of a Hamadryas Baboon: Dill Seed
Hair of Venus: Maidenhair Fern
Hag's Taper: Great Mullein
Hagthorn: Hawthorn
Hare's Beard: Great Mullein
Herb of Grace: Vervain
Hind's Tongue: Hart's Tongue Fern
Holy Herb: Yerba Santa
Holy Rope: Hemp Agrimony
Hook and Arn: Yerba Santa
Horse Tongue: Hart's Tongue Fern
Horse Hoof: Coltsfoot
Hundred Eyes: Periwinkle
Innocense: Bluets
Jacob's Staff: Great Mullein
Joy of the Mountain: Marjoram
Jupiter's Staff: Great Mullein
King's Crown: Black Haw
Knight's Milfoil: Yarrow
Kronos' Blood: of Cedar
Lady's Glove: Foxglove aka Witches' Gloves
Lion's Tooth: Dandelion aka Priest's Crown
Lad's Love: Southernwood
Lamb's Ears: Betony
Little Dragon: Tarragon
Love in Idleness: Pansy
Love Leaves: Burdock
Love Lies Bleeding: Amaranth or Anemone
Love Man: Goosegrass
Love Parsley: Lovage
Love Root: Orris Root
Man's Health: Ginseng
Maiden's Ruin: Southernwood
Master of the Woods: Woodruff
May: Black Haw
May Lily: Lily of the Valley
May Rose: Black Haw
Maypops: Passion Flower
Mistress of the Night: Tuberose
Mutton Chops: Goosegrass
Nose Bleed: Yarrow
Old-Maid's-Nightcap: Wild Geranium
Old Man's Flannel: Great Mullein
Old Man's Pepper: Yarrow
Oliver: Olive
Password: Primrose
Pucha-pat: Patchouli
Peter's Staff: Great Mullein
Priest's Crown: Dandelion leaves
Poor Man's Treacle: Garlic
Queen of the Night: Vanilla Cactus
Queen of the Meadow: Meadowsweet
Queen of the Meadow Root: Gravelroot
Ram's Head: American Valerian
Red thingyscomb: Amaranth
Ring-o-bells: Bluebells
Robin-run-in-the-grass: Goosegrass
Semen of Helios: White Hellebore
Semen of Herakles: Mustard-rocket
Semen of Hermes: Dill
Semen of Hephaistos: This is Fleabane
Semen of Ammon: Houseleek
Semen of Ares: Clover
Seed of Horus: Horehound
Sparrow's Tongue: Knotweed
Soapwort: Comfrey or Daisy
Shepherd's Heart: Shepherd's Purse
Swine's Snout: Dandelion leaves
Shameface: Wild Geranium
See Bright: Clary Sage
Scaldhead: Blackberry
Seven Year's Love: Yarrow
Silver Bells: Black Haw
Sorcerer's Violet: Periwinkle
St. John's Herb: Hemp Agrimony.(this is not St. John's Wort)
St. John's Plant: Mugwort
Star Flower: Borage
Star of the Earth: Avens
Starweed: Chickweed
Sweethearts: Goosegrass
Tarragon: Mugwort
Tartar Root: Ginseng
Thousand Weed: Yarrow
Thunder Plant: House Leek
Tanner's Bark: Common Oak
Toad: Toadflax
Torches: Great Mullein
Tongue of dog: houndstongue
Tears of a Hamadryas Baboon: Dill Juice
Unicorn Root: Ague Root
Unicorn's Horn: False Unicorn:Helonias Dioica
Unicorn Horn: True Unicorn Root
Wax Dolls: Fumitory
Weazel Snout: Yellow Dead Nettles/Yellow Archangel
White: Ox-eye Daisy
White Wood: White Cinnamon
Witch's Asprin: White Willow/Willow Bark
Witch's Brier: Brier Hips
Weasel Snout: Yellow Archangel
Wolf Foot: Bugle Weed
Wolf Claw: Club Moss
Wolf's Milk: Euphorbia
Weed: Ox-Eye Daisy
White Man's Foot: Common Plantain

what are your thoughts on the names they used?
Can you find me a Spell using some of the old folk names?[/glow]

[aislinstorm]

I found some more names. Some of them may be the same though.

A Bone of an Ibis: Buckthorn

Tears or Sleep Sand of a Hamadryas Baboon Dill Juice

Blood of Hephaistos: Wormwood

Hairs of a Hamadryas Baboon: Dill Seed

Semen of Hermes: Dill

Blood of Ares: Purslane

Blood of an Eye: Tamarisk Gall

Blood from a Shoulder: Bear's Breach

[probably Acanthus mollis or Helleborus foetidus]

From the Loins: Chamomile

A Man's Bile: Turnip Sap

[probably Brassica napus]

A Pig's Tail: Leopard's Bane

Blood of Hestia Chamomile

An Eagle: Wild Garlic

[Trigonella foenumgraecum, but the reading is doubtful]

Blood of a Goose: A Mulberry Tree's Milk

A Lion's Hairs: Tongue of a Turnip

[i.e. the leaves of the taproot]

Kronos' Blood: Cedar

Semen of Helios: White Hellebore

Semen of Herakles: Mustard-rocket

[probably Eruca sativa]

A Titan's Blood: Wild Lettuce

Blood from a Head: Lupine

A Hawk's Heart: Heart of Wormwood

Semen of Hephaistos: Fleabane

Semen of Ammon: Houseleek

Semen of Ares: Clover

Fat from a Head: Spurge

From the Belly: Earth-apple

From the Foot Houseleek



From The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation including the Demotic Spells by Hans Dieter Betz. Translators' notes are in [ ]. Apparently this list is not unique, since similar lists are apparently found in the works of Galen, Paul of Aegineta, and Dioscorides.

Knowing the various folk names of plants can also be useful in attempting to determine the ingredients of a spell.



Some examples which might be helpful:





Ass's Foot or Bull's Foot: Coltsfoot

Bat's Wings: Holly

Bear's Foot: Lady's Mantle

Calf's Snout: Snapdragon

Bull's Blood or Seed of Horus: Horehound

Graveyard Dust: Mullein

Unicorn Root: Ague Root

Wolf Claw: Club Moss

Wolf's Milk: Euphorbia

Sparrow's Tongue: Knotweed