The superstitions about magickal flowers and plants are actually very important to our studies and applications today. Underneath the leafy layers of lore are some notable historical roots and extremely useful correspondences that shouldn't be tossed away because they're quaint by our standards.
The human fascination with flowers and plants dates back to antiquity, but its long-reaching effects on humanity are still being felt today. In both the metaphysical community and the public-at-large, the interest in natural medicine, non-chemical gardening methods, flowers as a food group, home herbalism, and other related fields has been growing steadily over the last few decades. Superficially one might say that this has nothing to do with magick or witches. Yet, since the village wise person, shaman, and witch of old was often given the task of remembering and passing along our herbal heritage and traditional plant lore, it certainly does, as this is how we have our naturopathic information of today!
The oldest written records of plant lore come to us from Egypt, dating back from 2000-1000B.C.E
Similarly, in India, plant lore and religion mingled freely in a system known as Ayurveda (1500 B.C.E.), which meant the science of life.
Around the seventh century B.C., we find the Greeks still observing nature's magick with awe and respect, as did the Syrians, Mesopotamians, and Persians (to name just a few).
In the early centuries A.D., natural magick and Church ritual still mingled pretty liberally at this point, most likely fueled by respected Greek philosopher Aristotle's declaration that plants possessed a powerful psyche, albeit less than that of humans.
Sometime between A.D. 100 and A.D. 500 the Gnostic and Hermetic traditions began to mingle. This resulted in long incantations that exhibited the blend of Jewish, Christian, Hellenistic, Persian, Greek, and Babylonian influences. In the early herbal writings of Hermetica (a book sometimes historically attributed to Hermes Trismegistus) we find plants categorized by their planetary, divine, and sympathetic associations.
During this same time, Cassiodorus, a Roman senator and monk (490-58 B.C.), created a monk's curriculum complete with herbal studies.
Graeco-Arabic tradition, between A.D. 641 and A.D. 1096, monasteries were often the centers where plant lore and herbal arts were dutifully attended.
Meanwhile, across the seas in Japan we find still more evidence of the global reverence towards flowers, specifically chrysanthemums.
Also during this time, the Arabic people were busily developing the profession of pharmacist (c.A.D. 900)
After the Crusades (1096-1271), Arabic beliefs were brought back to Europe and added to the wealth of herbal treatments already applied.
At the start of the second millennium, the continuous mingling of magick with more scientific approaches for using flowers and plants makes it difficult to sort out one from the other.
During the 1200s appeared a book entitled Lacnunga, whose author is unknown. It was an important compilation of prescriptions from European folk magick, including bits from Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, and Norse traditions that helped document many commonly used healing methods. It also described the flowers and plants called for in various spells, potions, and amulets along with suitable accompanying incantations and ritualistic preparation processes.
During the 1300s the herbal tradition continued with other topical tomes.
Come the early 1400s, we discover an interesting woman in Todi, Italy, known as Matteuccia Francisci. This woman was truly a professional witch, and could often be found mixing over thirty plant parts into wine for love, fertility, or other curatives.
At the same time in England, well-known herbalist were proving themselves almost as spicy as their subject matter. John Gerald, an herbalist in the sixteenth century, first published his herbal work in 1597, which actually was a rewrite of Dodens Latin herbal in part! To his credit, Gerald also included information on exotic plants, of which he personally grew over 1,000 species, and added the rich flora, fauna, and associated plant lore of England.
In the mid-1600s, Nicholas Culpeper, an herbalist and astrologer, listed planetary associations in his writings, and whether a plant was "hot" or "cold" (which affected its applications).
Alongside Culpeper, the German alchemist, Albertus Magnus's (c. 1193-1280) work entitled The Boke of Secrets had become very popular by this time (originally appearing in the 1500s).
The seventeenth century finds some rather famous people ascribing to the magick of flowers and plants, so it's not surprising that everyday people followed their lead. King Louis XIV's mistress, for example (mid- to late-1600s) employed a popular witch, Catherine la Voisin, to create love potions, passion mixtures, and beauty preparations.
By the 1700s the demand for magicians still existed, but humans as a whole were undergoing a kind of mental awakening to the wonders of science. Alchemy became more appealing and witchery is not read about too much during this time (possibly due to the witch hunts in Europe and America).
A strong interest in the occult arts appeared once more in the nineteenth century. Cabalism, gnosticism, heretics, alchemy, and Pythagoreanism all found themselves experiencing a renaissance. Eliphas Levi, a mystic from the 1800s and revered as the "father of modern magick," wrote during this era for ritual magicians, while other people were compiling magickal almanacs for everyday folks, not simply researchers or historians.
No matter the era or culture, the magickal arts have always worked hand in hand with the natural world, and still do.
(Information from A Floral Grimoire by Patricia Telesco)
