Thursday's Toolbox-Aconitum

A Baneful Ally

I have tried blogs before, but always kind of failed at it because I never had a clear direction I wanted to go. Being a font of information is no use when your brain runs like a Mobius strip.  Also doing everything at once can make yours truly overwhelmed and burned out.

Anyway, enough of my follies let me introduce a plant in my witchy toolbox, Aconitum.

Aconitum is a genus of over 250 plants native to the Northern Hemisphere. These plants prefer cold/cool wet climate which make them a particular bitch to grow where I live (thank you hot, dry, summers of the Southern USA).

Two particular plants in the genus have charming names that most people will immediately recognize wolfsbane (Aconitum vulparia) and monkshood (Aconitum napellus).

Monkshood is the one used mostly for Medieval flying ointments as wolfsbane is actually much more of a skin irritant than its sister plant.

Aconitum is associated with Saturn, a ponderous and dark associate of the Underworld and illness and destruction. A smart magician or witch knows how to take these associations and use them to both help, harm, and heal in their own life.

Wolfsbane

Sacred to Hekate, the flowers can be left as offerings to her at an appropriate crossroads along with garlic.  She created the plants from the saliva of Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld.

Working with the spirit of this plant can help one make Underworld journeys and connections with past Ancestors. Attempting to grow the plants is a great way to get to know the plant, its quirks and personality. But as I mentioned before, it is a real princess so do not be too disappointed if the seeds fail to germinate.

Aconitum is a highly poisonous plant. I caution working with it without doing research into how to handle the plant.  I believe it goes without saying, but Do Not Ingest at all.  It takes very small doses to kill an adult. If you decide that you want to grow one, wear gloves when handling it as the toxins are transmitted through the skin. 

Addendum 8-5-2014

It was brought to my attention that wolfsbane is a subspecies of A. Lycoctonum. Therefore the full scientific name is Aconitum lycoctonum vulparia; at least this seems to be the case for the yellow colored ones.