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Northern Tradition Shamanism - The Nine Sacred Herbs
Northern Tradition Shamanism - The Nine Sacred Herbs
The Disclaimer: First, I do not practice any form of Native American spirituality. My practice is derived from my
understanding of ancient northern Eurasian practices. Second, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of any
Asatru or Heathen group. I do not identify as Asatru or Heathen. I am a northerntradition Pagan, which is a religious
tradition that is reconstructionistderived, rather than a reconstructionist religious tradition such as Asatru and/or
Heathenry. The views espoused in these pages may or may not reflect the views of most Asatru and/or Heathen people or
religious groups. They are derived from the personal gnosis of myself and other people whom I trust and respect. I do not
claim that they are provable by academic sources, nor that they are anything other than what I say they are. Read at your
own risk.
GENERAL INFORMATION
NT SHAMANISM BOOKS SHAMANIC TECHNIQUES HERBALISM ABOUT RAVEN
General Information
Welcome The Nine Sacred Herbs
Frequently Asked Questions I. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
About Shamanism
Names: Mugwort (from AS moughtewort or
Русский перевод
"mothplant"), felon weed, sailor's tobacco,
The Northern Shamanism Guild Artemis herb, Muggons, Naughty Man, Old Man,
Northern Tradition Shamanism Old Uncle Henry.
Guild Statement of Values
Medicinal uses: Leaf tea diuretic, induces
NT Shamanism Books sweating. Regulates erratic menstruation, brings
on delayed periods, expels afterbirth, helps with
Neolithic Shamanism menopausal symptoms. Promotes appetite and
The Jotunbok bile production, tonic for digestion. Tonic for
The Pathwalker's Guide nerves; mild sedative. Used for bronchitis, colds,
colic, kidney ailments, fevers. Bath additive for
Wyrdwalkers (Techniques)
rheumatism and tired legs. Juice relieves itching
Wightridden (Altered States) of poison oak. Disinfectant and antiseptic. Used
NorthernTradition Herbal for moxibustion.
Nine Sea Songs CD Household uses: Powder for a moth repellent.
The Giants' Tarot Lay branches between onion and carrot rows to
deter them.
Shamanic Techniques
Altered States Traditional Magical Uses: In the Middle Ages,
mugwort was connected with St. John the
Elemental Spirits Baptist, who was said to have worn a belt of the
Journeying & Pathwalking herb during his time in the wilderness. St. John's
Rune Work Herb, as the plant became known, had the
power to drive out demons, and sprays of the
Shamanic Healing herbs were worn around the head on St. John's
Spirit Possession Eve as a protection against possession by evil
Gender & Sexuality forces. In China, bunches of mugwort were
hung in the home during the Dragon Festival to
Ordeal Work keep away evil spirits. The Ainus of Japan burn bunches to exorcise spirits of disease, who are thought to
Herbalism hate the odor. Planted along roadsides by the Romans, who put sprigs in their shoes to prevent aching
feet on long journeys. Carry to ward against wild beasts, poison, and stroke. Prevents elves and other evil
The Shamanic Herbal things from entering houses. Said to cure madness and aid in astral projection.
The Nine Sacred Herbs
A pillow stuffed with mugwort and slept upon will produce prophetic dreams. Mugwort is burned during
Herbal Treatments scrying rituals, and a mugwortandhoney infusion is drunk before divination. The infusion is also used to
About Raven Kaldera wash crystal balls and magic mirrors, and mugwort leaves are placed around the base of the ball, or
beneath it, to aid in psychic workings. Pick just before sunrise on the waxing moon, preferably from a
About & Contact plant that leans north. A Roman invocation to be used when picking mugwort is: Tollam te artemisia, ne
Workshops & Classes lassus sim in via.
Shamanic Readings Shamanic Magical Use: This is the plant of Midgard, burned at the start of a ritual. One starts and ends
Sign up for Email Notifications with Mugwort, as one starts and ends with Midgard. Its shamanic purpose is purification. We tend to think
of purification, in these days of advanced medical antisepsis, as being sterile. To us, "pure" has come to
mean "without life". When we use something whose basic power is purification, we expect, on some level,
for it to clean everything and leave it a blank slate. However, that's not what magical purification actually
does.
Perhaps a better term for it would be "sanctification". Purifying magics create that aura of sacred space,
which is so clear when you're in it but so elusive to describe. In order to create that energy, they do push
out other sorts of energy, including the busy, wellworn, "messy" energy of the everyday. After the
purification energy fades, the other stuff may drift back, or it might not, so it can have a cleaning effect in
some cases.
Mugwort is the herb that is most often burned as recels, the Old English word for incense; pronounced
raykels. The act of burning it is referred to as recaning, which can be pronounced various ways, but the
most graceful seems to be reekening; the verb recan is cognate to our work "reek". Celtictradition
people use the term saining. It's an alternative to the Native Americanderived term "smudging", and it
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can be bound in lashed bundles and burned in the same way as white sagebrush. It also has a clearing
effect on the mind, and a heightening of the extra senses, so it is a good thing to start any working that is
going to involve an altered or trance state at some point.
II. Plantain
(Plantago major)
Names: Waybread,
cuckoo's bread, St.
Patrick's Dock,
snakeweed,
snakebite, rat's tail,
white man's
footprint.
Medicinal Uses:
Rub fresh juice on
nettle stings and
insect bites. Roots
and leaves help
urinary tract,
kidneys, and
bladder. Heals
gastrointestinal
ulcers. Used in
ointment for
hemorrhoids. Use in
external wash for
sores, boils,
inflammations, and
ringworm
infestations.
Decoction used for
thrush in children.
Seeds are edible
and can be ground
into flour, their
mucilage lowers cholesterol. Confirmed antimicrobial; stimulates healing processes.
Traditional Magical Uses: Bind with red wool to the head to cure headaches. Like mugwort, place in
shoes to cure weariness on long trips. Hang it in your car to prevent evil from entering. Carrying the root
protects from snakebite. Said to cause regeneration Pliny claimed that if several pieces of flesh are boiled
in a pot with plantain, it will join them again.
Shamanic Magical Use: This is the plant of Helheim, the land of the Dead. Its shamanic uses are many
and varied and rather subtle. First, it can create a certain amount of invisibility for a short period of time.
Notice how the weedy plantain manages to make itself so inconspicuous? That's a power that you can
harness, especially if you are journeying or pathwalking. Second, it can be used in recels to speak to the
ancestors, or to find your way to the Helvegr. Its name "waybread" echoes this usage waybread will help
you find the way.
If you actually manage to get yourself astrally wounded, plantain is the plant to resort to. In some cases,
it can even save you from astral death, if your body is still healthy. Its regenerative gift of bringing flesh
back to life doesn't work on the physical plane, but I have good reason to suspect that it works on other
planes. Since I've not ever been astrally killed by enemies, I've never been in a position to experiment.
Those who find the need to implement it should let me know how it goes.
III. Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)
Names: Scurvy grass
Traditional Magical Uses: None that we
know of at the moment.
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If you place it under your tongue, you'll notice that it is peppery, even burns a little. Stay with the
sensation. Breathe through it. See your breath come out as mist. Keep breathing, and working with the
spirit of the plant, until reality starts to blur a little. This will not happen due to some psychedelic
experience Watercress is certainly not psychoactive but only due to the work of the plant spirit. Conjure
the problem that needs to be changed as if it was a solid object in front of you. Reach out and touch it. If
your fingers slip off it, it is still ice Isa, a blockage and cannot be changed. Breath and work at it longer.
Sometimes it won't change you aren't a god, some things are beyond your power but sometimes it will
start to become more malleable. Shape it quickly, and accurately, with a clear idea in your mind of what it
should look like. Sometimes it shifts back on you, and you have to do it again. If three tries fail, give up.
IV. Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare)
Names: No others we can find.
Medicinal Uses: Breaks fevers, diuretic, expectorant, use for pain from inflammations. Used for
snakebite. Seeds were decocted and mixed in wine "to comfort the heart and drive away melancholy"; i.e.
as an antidepressant.
Household Uses: Add flowers to salads, or make into a cordial, or crystallize them.
Traditional Magical Uses: Keeps away snakes. Culpeper's Complete Herbal describes Viper's Bugloss as
follows: "It is a most gallant herb of the Sun; it is a pity it is not more in use than it is. It is an especial
remedy against the biting of the Viper, and all other venomous beasts, or serpents; as also against poison,
or poisonous herbs. Discorides and others say, That whosoever shall take of the herb or root before they
be bitten, they shall not be hurt by the poison of any serpent."
Shamanic Magical Use: This is the plant of Jotunheim, the land of giants and trolls. It is a land of great
mountains, great storms, great beasts, and great hunters, and this is the herb that hunts down sickness.
To use, charge the plant with a spell of seekanddestroy. I find that this is best done with a song (you
don't have to be a great singer or carry a tune, Atterlothe doesn't care) which describes to the plant the
nature of the prey, why this prey is its natural enemy and deserves to die, and gives it praise and thanks
for its great hunting ability. Then you eat the herb, whole or in tea, and let it do its work.
V. Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)
Traditional Magical Uses: A solar plant, associated with the sun
and the god Baldur. It is used to attract money, and a handwash is
used by gamblers. Use in sleep incenses (and tea!); makes the best sleep potion. Removes curses and
hexes when sprinkled around the property.
Shamanic Magical Uses: This is the plant of Asgard, the land of the Aesir. Its English name Maythen
was originally pronounced Maegthen, as can be seen from the Lacnunga poem, and maeg is cognate to
mage, meaning powerful. Note: There are two kinds of chamomile, related and similar, with the same
usages. One is a lowgrowing perennial, Anthemis nobilis, also known as Roman chamomile. The other is a
tall annual, German chamomile. Although there is no proof exactly which is Maegthen, my bet is on for the
more northerly German chamomile.
Chamomile is a solar plant, and it harnesses the power of the Sun. As the plant of golden Asgard, it can be
burned in recels or scattered as a way to send your words straight to the Aesir and have them hear you. I
suspect few of them would ignore you if you were holding Maegthen in your hand. It burns away the
darkness and the creeping negativity, as its medicinal nature as an antifungal demonstrates. Used
magically, it can be a powerful antidepressant. Why, then, does it cause sleep? One of the symptoms of
depression is actually a lack of good, solid, peaceful sleep, and Chamomile is the best plant for this
purpose.
There is also that finding a way out of depression is a long, slow journey that may require changes in brain
chemistry, a finicky business at best. This sort of thing is best done slowly and quietly, over time,
preferably on a sleeping person. To bring the Sun into someone's life, give them tea made from charged
and hallowed Chamomile that has been asked to slowly purge the depressing chemicals from their brain,
every night when they go to sleep, for a long time, perhaps months. One day they may find that they no
longer need it, but if it does nothing after three turns of the moon, there is something going on that even
this herb cannot cure, and you can discontinue it.
VI. Nettle (Urtica dioica)
Names: Nessel, Noedl (needle), Wergulu, Ortiga ancha
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Medicinal Uses: High Vitamin C and iron
content; eaten as a spring tonic. Used to
promote circulation in frostbitten skin. It
was brought to the British Isles by the
Roman Legions, who would rub their arms
with the leaves to keep their blood flowing
in the cold, damp weather. Nettle juice is
used to treat skin conditions; it is an
antidote to the sting of the needles. It is
given as a tonic for anemia and diabetes.
Tea is drunk for urinary problems and
hemorrhoids. Nursing mothers can take it to
keep their milk flowing. Tea is used for
arthritis and rheumatism, as it clears uric
acid from the system. Compresses used on
sore joints. Powdered leaves are inhaled for
nosebleeds.
Traditional Magical Uses: Associated with Thor, nettles send curses back to their owner. Sprinkled
around the house, it keeps evil away; thrown onto a fire, it averts danger; held in the hand, it keeps away
ghosts. It is considered a "carnivorous" herb, and is used in purification baths. Burn for exorcisms.
Shamanic Magical Uses: This is the herb of Muspellheim, the burning land, and its power is aggressive
defense. About a year before I discovered that Lacnunga and the Nine Herbs, a great stand of nettles
grew up by my door. Some people got brushed by them, and complained; I was told that I should cut
them all down, that they were a hazard. Others shrugged and said that they had walked right by them and
were never bothered.
I went out with clippers, ready to hack them down, but I couldn't seem to do it. Something stayed my
hand, giving me a strong feeling that I shouldn't touch them, so I gave up and went back inside. After a
while I began to notice that the people who got "attacked" by the nettles were folks who later gave me
trouble, or turned out only to want to use my resources and give back as little as possible. My old friends
were never touched by them, nor were the members of my household.
Nettle is an aggressive defender, in the sense that it will not only absorb any harmful magic that is thrown
at you or the space, it will strike back if you let it. Due to its difficult nature, it's nearly impossible to
handle fresh in ritual, but dried or cooked nettle will lose its sting physically, anyway. Nettle keeps its
rabidguarddog energy when burned, or sprinkled dry around an area. You can drink it in tea in
preparation for any kind of guardian duty. Sometimes Nettle's aggressive defensiveness will slip over into
offensiveness, so it's not a bad herb to use before any duty where you're going to be armed and going
into danger.
Because of its association with Muspellheim, Nettle likes being burned, but throwing it into a fire may
make the fire burn longer and hotter, perhaps dangerously so. Take care that you have plenty of water
around before infusing your little campfire with the power of the Fire World. On the other hand, it can be a
symbolic substitute for fire in a place where you aren't allowed to actually light a flame.
VII. Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis Odorata)
Names: British myrrh, garden myrrh, sweet fern, sweet chervil, British chervil
Medicinal Uses: Infusion used for flatulence and coughs. Roots have antiseptic action and were used to
cure the bites of mad dogs and snakes. Steeped in wine, they were a remedy for consumption. Eat as a
general tonic.
Household Uses: The entire plant is edible. John Gerard, garden keeper to Queen Elizabeth, reports its
leaves and roots were commonly eaten in salads in his day. The fresh leaves can be used as a sweetener
for diabetics, and can be cooked with tarttasting fruits....such as crabapple. The seeds can be cooked into
cakes and biscuits, and make an aromatic furniture polish. Used to flavor chartreuse liqueur.
Traditional Magical Uses: It is said that this plant "comforts the heart and increases a lust for life."
Shamanic Magical Use: This is the herb of Alfheim, used to honor the alfar and the fey. It is a pair with
Fennel "felamihtigu twa", the mighty two, and they are most often used in conjunction. Tea of Sweet
Cicely and Fennel protects against elfshot; tea to drink or salve rubbed on the afflicted area treats cases
of it. Sweet Cicely also aids in the Gift of Sight, in this case the ability to see beauty beneath ugliness,
power beneath simplicity, and possibility beneath limitation. It is a useful plant when faced with clients
who are living in a swamp of negativity, and you have to find them some hope. Drink in tea or smoke it or
eat the seeds (preferably six of them).
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VIII: Fennel (Foeniculum
vulgare)
Household Uses: Cook in any kind of meat dish, or put in
salad. Use in baths for deep cleansing. Chew to sweeten
breath.
Shamanic Magical Use: This is the herb of Svartalfheim and
Nidavellir. Together with Sweet Cicely, it is used to protect
against elfshot, and to treat cases of that remedy. Also like
Sweet Cicely, Fennel aids in the Gift of Sight, but it gives the
ability to see the darknesses in life the hidden anger and pain,
the inner rot, the creeping deaths. This makes it useful in
shamanic clientwork when one must discern hard truths about
someone's behavior, or find hidden disease or poisoning. Drink
in tea or smoke it or eat the seeds (preferably seven of them).
IX. Crabapple (Malus spp.)
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Names: Crab, Sour Apple
Medicinal Uses: Cleansing for the system, especially in the morning. Diuretic for urinary tract problems.
Antiseptic and a tonic. A rich source of various vitamins, trace elements, amino acids and flavonoids. Malic
acid is the principal acid of the fruit, hence its Latin name. It is useful in the management of
immunomediated diseases, and contains an antifungal constituent. It reduces skin inflammation and helps
in removing dead skin fragments.
Household Uses: Used for its pectin, to set jams and jellies. Used to flavor mead, and make melomel.
Traditional Magical Uses: Used for anything an apple can be used for, which is tons of things.
Shamanic Magical Use: This is the plant associated with Vanaheim, the land of the Vanir. It can be used
for any fertility charm, whether for people, animals, or the fields, as it carries all the fertility of Vanaheim
behind it. It is also a powerful healer, and rubbing crabapple slices on an afflicted body and then burying
them in the Earth is a useful healing technique, as the clean, sharp energy of the crabapple absorbs
disease energy. It can also be charged with healing energy and eaten. Its wholesomeness makes it an
inappropriate carrier for seekanddestroy spells; use Crabapple as a followup after using other plants in
this way, in order to strengthen the body's defenses.
Copyright © 2010 Raven Kaldera. Contact Raven: cauldronfarm@hotmail.com.
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