Category Archives: Herbal Magic

“Happy New Year 2019?!” Annunciation Day

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A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

Lilies are often associated with the celebration of Annunciation. When Eve was driven from Paradise, lilies bloomed wherever her tears fell onto the earth and Gabriel presented lilies to the Virgin Mary when he announced that her Son would re-open Paradise to mankind. Other legends say that lilies blossomed from drops of milk from Hera’s breasts that fell upon the earth and that the lily was therefore the only flower with a soul. Lilies are traditionally considered to drive away ghosts and evil (esp. the Evil Eye) and can break love spells. The first lily of the season strengthens whoever finds it.

Roses are also associated with Annunciation and are used to cast love spells or in healing magic. If you plant roses in your garden, they are said to grow best if you have stolen the seeds from someone else and will then attract the faerie folk.

The Annunciation is celebrated on March 25 (the traditional date of the springtime equinox). Not only was Annunciation — and the equinox — vital to keeping track of time for secular purposes, many ancient and medieval authors claimed that the Annunciation/equinox date were vital at many points of salvation history: the birthday of Adam and the Crucifixion were said to have occurred on March 25 as well. Some also said that March 25 marked the fall of Lucifer, the parting of the Red Sea, as well as the day on which God said, “Let there be light!”

Sometimes called “Lady Day,” the Annunciation was kept as New Year’s Day in many places; the last to give up Annunciation as the New Year’s Day was England and its American colonies in 1752. The correct synchronization of the equinox with the Annunciation is a critical element in the calculation of the date of Easter and the medieval and Renaissance disconnect between the Annunciation and the equinox prompted Pope Gregory XIII to reform the calendar in 1582.

Bloodstone or Aquamarine? The Birthstone of March

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Bloodstone, the birthstone for March, is used as a medicine and an aphrodisiac.

Bloodstone, the birthstone for March, is used as a medicine and an aphrodisiac.

Bloodstone, long considered the birthstone of March, is jasper speckled with iron oxide. (Months were assigned stones and gems from the high-priest’s breastplate of Aaron in the Old Testament or the gems described as the foundations of the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, the “Revelation of St. John.”)

Bloodstone was used to heal blood disorders and stop bleeding noses and wounds in Babylon and was carved into amulets to protect against the Evil Eye. Ancient Greeks thought using it in ritual would hasten changes in fortune. Western European Christians in the Middle Ages thought all bloodstones had been splashed with Christ’s blood at the Crucifixion and used the stones to carve images of either the Crucifixion or scenes of martyrs’ deaths.

These gems would be pulverized and mixed into egg whites with honey and used to remove poison from snakebites. Knights and soldiers would bring bloodstones with them into battle not only to staunch bleeding but to increase courage and physical strength as well. It was also thought to confer invisibility, a useful skill in battle. It was also used as an aphrodisiac (useful after battle).

Some also associate aquamarine gems with March. This gemstone was believed to protect sailors, as well as to guarantee a safe voyage. The serene blue or blue-green color of aquamarine is said to cool the temper, allowing the wearer to remain calm and levelheaded.

In the Middle Ages, many believed that the simple act of wearing aquamarine was a literal antidote to poisoning. The Romans believed that if you carved a frog into a piece of aquamarine jewelry, it would help to reconcile differences between enemies and make new friends.

In some times and places, an aquamarine was given to the bride at her wedding in order to symbolize long unity and love. Some believed it could re-awaken love between two people; maybe that’s why it is also associated with a couple’s 19th anniversary?

The Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrews all admired aquamarine, and many warriors would wear it into battle to bring about victory. Many ancient medicines used powder from aquamarine to help cure all manner of infection, but it was said to be particularly good for eye ailments.

Since early times, aquamarine has been believed to endow the wearer with foresight, courage, and happiness. It is said to increase intelligence and make one youthful. As a healing stone, it is said to be effective as a treatment for anxiety and in the Middle Ages it was thought that aquamarine would reduce the effect of poisons.

Daffodil, the Flower of March

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Associated with Venus and water, daffodil is used to promote love, fertility, and luck.

Associated with Venus and water, daffodil is used to promote love, fertility, and luck.

Daffodil or “lent lily”, one of the early blooming flowers of spring and the flower most associated with the month of March, is a common name for the blossom which is a variety of those called “Narcissus.” It was said by the ancient Greeks to have bloomed where the youth Narcissus withered and died, having become infatuated with his own reflection in a pool. (The goddess Nemesis had cursed him in retaliation for his already self-obsessed and cruel disdain of the mountain nymph Echo. Echo had already been punished by the goddess Hera who had made it impossible for Echo to say anything other than repeat a word or two that someone else had spoken to her. Greek mythology is one big interconnected soap opera, isn’t it?!)

It is associated with the goddess Venus (because of Echo’s love for Narcisscus and Narcissus’ love for himself) and is therefore a “feminine” plant. The alchemists associated daffodil with the element water (perhaps because of its association with Narcissus’ death by a pool, even though the flower itself grows easily in meadows and woods).

If you carry daffodil, it will attract a lover to you. If you place fresh-cut daffodil in your bedroom, fertility will increase. If the bloom is plucked and carried next to your heart, it will attract good luck to you. Good luck and fertility being exactly what Narcissus was himself in short supply of, perhaps his flower is attempting to make amends for him and his bad behavior toward the nymph who wanted nothing more than to be his lover.

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