A green witch learns the language of leaves.
Some plants speak through fragrance, some through thorns and some through the shapes their roots make beneath the soil. Basil gathers prosperity close to the home. Mugwort opens the door of dreams. Rowan watches the threshold, while rose carries the oldest message of love.
This field guide gathers 89 herbs, flowers, trees and spices used in Wiccan magic. Their correspondences reach from protection and purification to divination, passion, healing, sleep and good fortune. Open it when choosing an ingredient for a spell, preparing incense or simply listening for the plant whose nature resembles your intention.
Originally gathered, written and sent to this site by our loyal reader Moriah Williams. This edition preserves her complete collection while arranging it as an A–Z field guide.
How Green Witches Work with Herbs
Herbal magic begins with relationship. A plant is not only an ingredient dropped into a bowl. It has colour, scent, season and character. The sharpness of pepper belongs naturally to protection. Lavender’s quiet fragrance suits peace and sleep. Oak carries the patient strength of something that has watched generations pass beneath its branches.
Herbs may be placed upon the altar, tied into sachets, added to charm bags, scattered around candles or combined as incense. Leaves and flowers can mark the boundary of a magic circle. Seeds may represent beginnings; bark, endurance; roots, hidden foundations; and fruit, the visible fulfilment of a spell.
The four elements offer another way to choose. Fragrant leaves and rising incense answer Air. Fiery spices awaken will. Flowers, fruit and dream herbs move easily with Water. Roots, grains, wood and seeds carry the steady power of Earth.
Choosing Herbs by Magical Intention
| Intention | Herbs traditionally associated with it |
|---|---|
| Love and attraction | Rose, jasmine, apple, lavender, hibiscus, patchouli and vanilla |
| Protection | Angelica, bay, cedar, garlic, juniper, oak, rowan and rue |
| Prosperity and money | Allspice, basil, bayberry, cinnamon, mint, nutmeg and pine |
| Divination and psychic work | Mugwort, eyebright, heliotrope, thyme, yarrow and dandelion |
| Purification | Hyssop, lemon, rosemary, sage, benzoin and birch |
| Peace and sleep | Chamomile, hops, lavender, lime, valerian and gardenia |
These correspondences are not rigid rules. Two plants may share a purpose while carrying it differently. Rose calls love through beauty and longing; apple calls it through sweetness, memory and the hidden pentagram at its centre. Choose the voice that belongs to the spell.
A Simple Herb Consecration
Place the chosen herb at the centre of the altar. Light a candle and a little incense, then hold both hands above the plant. Name the purpose for which it has been chosen and say:
Root below and leaf above,
Carry now the work I name.
Wake your virtue, lend your power,
Green spirit, enter this hour.
Keep a record of the herb, intention and result in your Book of Shadows. With time, a personal herbal tradition will begin to grow beside the correspondences inherited from other witches.
The A–Z Wiccan Herb Field Guide
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · J · L · M · N · O · P · R · S · T · V · W · Y
A
Allspice
Correspondences: prosperity, luck, healing, purification, protection and money.
Almond
Correspondences: love, money, healing and wisdom.
Angelica
Correspondences: protection, hex breaking, healing, psychic abilities, house blessings and purification.
Anise
Correspondences: psychic abilities, lust, luck, purification and love.
Apple
Correspondences: love, healing and peace.
Ash
Correspondences: protection, strength, healing and prosperity.
B
Basil
Correspondences: love, trust, abundance, prosperity, courage, discipline, protection, marriage, purification, luck and mental abilities.
Bay
Correspondences: protection, purification, endurance, fidelity, psychic power, divination, wisdom and strength.
Bayberry
Correspondences: abundance and prosperity.
Benzoin
Correspondences: purification, healing and prosperity.
Birch
Correspondences: protection, purification, new beginnings and children.
C
Catnip
Correspondences: cats, love, beauty, happiness, tranquillity and luck.
Chamomile
Correspondences: purification, healing, soothing anxiety, gently healing bad luck and calming children.
Cedar
Correspondences: healing, purification, protection and prosperity.
Chickweed
Correspondences: animals, love, fidelity, healing and weight loss.
Cinnamon
Correspondences: healing, love, lust, success, purification, protection, money and psychic awareness.
Clove
Correspondences: protection, mental abilities, attraction, purification and comfort.
Cinquefoil
Correspondences: eloquence, cunning, money, protection, sleep, prophetic dreams, purification and love.
Clover
Correspondences: lust, hex breaking, prosperity, purification, love, luck, protection, success, fidelity and comfort.
Comfrey
Correspondences: healing, prosperity, protection and travel.
Coriander
Correspondences: healing, love and lust.
Cumin
Correspondences: protection, anti-theft, love and fidelity.
Cypress
Correspondences: protection, comfort and healing.
D
Daisy
Correspondences: nature spirits, love and children.
Dandelion
Correspondences: longevity, psychic ability, intuition, and spiritual and emotional cleansing.
Dill
Correspondences: protection, love, attraction, money, strength, luck, sleep, mental abilities and weight loss.
E
Echinacea
Correspondence: healing.
Elder and Elderflower
Correspondences: protection from lightning, beauty, divination, prosperity, purification, house blessings, healing and sleep.
Elm
Correspondences: love and protection.
Eucalyptus
Correspondences: protection and healing.
Eyebright
Correspondences: truth, piercing illusion, certainty and psychic ability.
F
Fennel
Correspondences: courage, strength and cleansing.
Feverfew
Correspondences: love, fidelity, protection and healing.
Flax
Correspondences: money, protection, beauty and healing.
G
Gardenia
Correspondences: love, attraction, peace and meditation.
Garlic
Correspondences: healing, house blessings, protection, lust and anti-theft magic.
Geranium
Correspondences: love, healing, protection and fertility.
Ginger
Correspondences: healing, love, money and energy.
H
Hawthorn
Correspondences: protection, fertility and happiness.
Hazel
Correspondences: mental abilities, fertility, protection, wisdom and luck.
Heather
Correspondences: protection, rain and luck.
Heliotrope
Correspondences: clairvoyance, psychic abilities, health and money.
Hibiscus
Correspondences: love, lust, divination, harmony and peace.
Honeysuckle
Correspondences: abundance, luck, prosperity, easing sorrow and enhancing psychic abilities.
Hops
Correspondences: healing and sleep.
Hyacinth
Correspondences: love, comfort and protection.
Hyssop
Correspondences: purification and protection.
J
Jasmine
Correspondences: love, attraction, prosperity and tranquillity.
Juniper
Correspondences: cleansing, purification, protection from accidents and illness, love, anti-theft magic, fertility and psychic abilities.
L
Lavender
Correspondences: healing, love, happiness, grief, guilt, sleep, tranquillity, protection, purification, peace, house blessings, wisdom, children and marriage.
Lemon
Correspondences: purification, love, protection and happiness.
Licorice
Correspondences: love, lust, protection and fertility.
Lilac
Correspondences: protection, beauty, love, psychic abilities, purification and prosperity.
Lily
Correspondences: protection, love antidotes and truth.
Lime
Correspondences: love, purification, luck and sleep.
Lotus
Correspondences: blessings, meditation and protection.
M
Maple
Correspondences: sweetness, prosperity, marriage, love and money.
Marigold
Correspondences: positive energy, protection, easing legal stress, psychic awareness and peace.
Marjoram
Correspondences: protection, love, happiness, health, money, marriage and comfort.
Meadowsweet
Correspondences: peace, love, happiness and psychic awareness.
Mint
Correspondences: purification, health, clarity of mind, protection for travellers, money, love and success.
Mistletoe
Correspondences: healing, protection, love, fertility, sleep and luck.
Mugwort
Correspondences: divination, protection, healing, strength, lust, psychic power, fertility and safe travel.
N
Nettle
Correspondences: cleansing and protection from danger and illness.
Nutmeg
Correspondences: clairvoyance, health, luck and fidelity.
O
Oak
Correspondences: purification, protection, prosperity, health, healing, money, fertility, luck and strength.
Onion
Correspondences: healing, protection and purification.
Orange
Correspondences: love, joy, purification and prosperity.
Oregano
Correspondence: peace.
P
Parsley
Correspondences: healing, lust, fertility, love, passion, protection, hex breaking, prosperity, purification and easing grief.
Patchouli
Correspondences: money, fertility, lust, clairvoyance, divination, love and attraction.
Pepper
Correspondences: protection and purification.
Pine
Correspondences: prosperity, healing, purification and fertility.
Poppy
Correspondences: fertility, abundance, sleep and love.
R
Rose
Correspondences: healing, love, conciliation, restoration, self-love, good fortune, easing trouble and psychic ability.
Rosemary
Correspondences: cleansing, protection, healing, longevity, memory and concentration.
Rowan (Mountain Ash)
Correspondences: purification, house blessings, protection, healing, psychic abilities, wisdom and strengthening spells.
Rue
Correspondences: protection, mental abilities, purification, health and comfort.
S
Sage
Correspondences: healing, longevity, good health, psychic awareness and protection.
St. John’s Wort
Correspondences: courage, the power of the sun, fertility, purification, healing and positive energy.
T
Tarragon
Correspondences: cleansing, regeneration and transformation.
Thyme
Correspondences: purification, psychic cleansing, divination, healing, memory, sleep and courage.
V
Valerian (All-Heal)
Correspondences: purification, protection, healing, love, sleep and attraction.
Vanilla
Correspondences: love, prosperity, lust, energy, mental abilities and creativity.
Verbena (Vervain)
Correspondences: purification, protection, blessings and communication with nature spirits.
Violet
Correspondences: tranquillity, love, luck, protection and healing.
W
Walnut
Correspondences: healing and mental abilities.
Willow
Correspondences: communication, eloquence, protection, healing, love and dreams.
Y
Yarrow
Correspondences: marriage, courage, love, friendship, psychic abilities and hex breaking.
The Herb That Answers
A field guide can name correspondences, but the final choice belongs to the witch. Sometimes the correct herb is not the one first sought. It is the one whose fragrance changes the room, whose image returns in dreams or whose name waits unexpectedly upon the page.
Learn the traditional meanings. Record what happens. Let experience add its own notes in the margins.
The garden is never truly silent.
It is waiting to discover whether we remember how to listen.