Garden Witchery (14 page)

Moon Goddesses and Gardening

It is a Wiccan principal that the phases of the moon correspond with the three faces of the Goddess. The Triple Moon Goddess is a foundation of the Wiccan belief system. Moon gardening can be enhanced by aligning yourself with the Moon Goddess in all her aspects.

Each moon phase has its own magickal correlation. You will need to learn for yourself how you, your magick, and your garden react to all three phases.

Work in the increasing moon to pull positive things toward you, such as new projects and health, love, and prosperity. It is a favorable time for blessings and new beginnings, such as a baby, starting a job, or a new house.

The full moon is the time of celebration and attuning with the Goddess. This seven-day phase covers the three days before the full moon, the day of the full moon, and three days following. It is a time of great power that covers all magickal endeavors.

The decreasing moon is to push unwanted things and situations away from you. Removing obstacles are best done in the wane of the moon.

Banishings and bindings should be worked in the dark of the moon. On those three days, the moon is not visible in the sky—the day before, the day of the new moon, and the day afterward.

I have read plenty of magickal books that warn you from working magick in those days of the dark moon. Dangerous, some would say. I disagree. If you work the appropriate magicks during those three days wisely and responsibly, you'll be amazed at the results you achieve.

The pre-Hellenic goddess trinity of Artemis, Selene, and Hecate is a classic pantheon for your moon gardening. Most witches and natural magicians are familiar with these ladies, but don't think about calling on them for gardening. Try working with all three of them. These Greek goddesses were the first I ever worked with as a teen. I discovered them while studying mythology, and was fascinated by their tales. As a trinity of goddesses they are an unbeatable combination. Here are their magickal correspondences, candle colors, and sacred plants.

Artemis, the Maiden

Goddess of the hunt; the guardian of wild places and animals; protector of children and women in childbirth. Artemis despises violence against all women and is the one to call on if you are being hassled or abused by men. After you've removed yourself from the situation, then call on Artemis to help you start a safer, happier, and healthier life.

If you are male, you may want to be cautious and very respectful while working with Artemis. She tended to get a little nasty if she felt she wasn't getting the respect she deserved. There is the story of one poor fellow who accidentally stumbled across Artemis and her companions while they were bathing. Artemis didn't take this very well; she had her dogs and bears tear the man to pieces.

Artemis' candle colors are white and silver. Her plants are the daisy, the herb mugwort (botanical name
Artemesia
), the willow, and the cypress tree. Her influence in the garden will be mostly felt in the early spring and through the month of May. Artemis is often represented as an athletic young woman in a tunic, hunting with a bow. Her crescent moon is to be seen right after sunset in the western sky.

Selene, the Mother

Bride and lover, Selene is the goddess of the full moon. She is the sister of the Sun God Helios. Her sacred day is February 7. Selene's candle colors are white, silver, and gold. Selene specializes in magick . . . all magick. Her trademark talent lies in helping you to find simple solutions to your problems. She will help your garden to grow, your flowers to be prolific, and their blooms to be more sumptuous. Spells for love and romance will also gain special attention from Selene.

Her sacred plants include bluebells, white roses, and moonflowers. Any white- or night-time blooming flower would fall under Selene's influence as well. Her presence in the garden will be felt on every full moon, and in the growing season of mid-May through September.

Placing a silver gazing globe in the garden would be a great way to acknowledge Selene's presence in your life. Both the silver color and round moon shape would be the perfect accessory. Selene is pictured as a winged, beautiful, gold-crowned woman within the face of the full moon.

Hecate, the Crone

In mythology she is the only Titan who retained her powers after Zeus took over. When other goddess worship declined, the worship of Hecate continued. Also known as Hecate Trevia, Great Goddess of Nature, Queen of the Crossroads, and the Queen of the Witches, she has no comparison in the art of sorcery. An extremely protective goddess, Hecate is mighty and imposing. She watches out for her own.

Festival days include the Festival of Flowers on March 4, which she shares with the goddess Flora. Another is the Night of Hecate on November 16. Hecate's influence is felt in the days of the waning moon, and in the garden season of October through late November.

The garden is gearing down at this time. The crops should all be in. The mums are still blooming, but the roses are fading. Plants start to go dormant and die back as the garden prepares for winter. We are thankful for another good growing season and look forward to our time of rest from the physical side of gardening.

Hecate's candle colors are black and silver. Her sacred plants include mint, the blooming cyclamen, the willow tree (the tree of death), and many poisonous plants. Often pictured as a three-faced goddess bearing a torch or as the quintessential crone in the black cape, her symbols include keys, cauldrons, black dogs, and three-way crossroads.

Interested in more moon goddess information? Do your own research. Go to the library and look through older books on mythology and ancient cultures. Read. Study and learn. You'll be a better witch or natural magician for it.

Magickal Days of the Week and
Their Planetary Correspondences

As long as you are studying and learning, the one set of correspondences that I feel
every
witch or magick user should memorize is the daily planetary associations, the coordinating colors assigned to each planet and their magickal uses.

No whining. If I can memorize the basics, I know you can. Committing these planetary correspondences to memory is a promotional step that helps to move you up in the rankings from a newbie witch to an intermediate or advanced practitioner.

Memorize these correspondences:

Sunday:
Sun, yellow and gold = Success, strength, protection, power

Monday:
Moon, white and silver = Peace, fertility, love, healing, psychic endeavors

Tuesday:
Mars, red = Passion, sex, power, courage, protection, overthrowing enemies

Wednesday:
Mercury, orange = Communication, study, business, wisdom

Thursday:
Jupiter, purple and blue = Prosperity, money, health, good luck

Friday:
Venus, green and pink = Love, romance, beauty, happiness, friendship

Saturday:
Saturn, black = Banishing, bindings

On to our list of common magickal plants. Remember we are going for the theme of “backyard magick” here, with plants that are both easy to attain and cultivate in your own yards. Match up the planetary correspondences with your magickal intent. Try to memorize as many of the easy plant/planet correspondences as possible, like sunflowers and marigolds for the sun, moonflowers and nicotiana for the moon. Without further ado, here you go. You shouldn't have any problems locating these common plants and flowers. Have fun!

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.

Iris Murdoch

Planetary Correspondences for Backyard Magick

Sun:
Chamomile, sunflower, marigold, rosemary, daylily, peony, heliotrope, St. John's wort, mums, carnations, rowan tree

Moon:
Gardenia, jasmine, mallow, poppy, wintergreen, moonflower, nicotiana, pumpkin, turnip, potato, cabbage, grape, willow tree

Mercury:
Marjoram, parsley, fennel, fern, clover, bergamot, bittersweet, lavender, lily of the valley, dill, aspen tree

Mars:
Basil, tarragon, coriander, cilantro, nettle, gentian, snapdragons, radish, holly, hawthorn tree, pine

Jupiter:
Hens and chicks, dandelion, meadowsweet, sage, cinquefoil, hyssop, honeysuckle, maple, oak

Venus:
Morning glory, primrose, violet, rose, geranium, tulip, hyacinth, daffodil, daisy, feverfew, foxglove, tansy, strawberry, raspberry, lilac shrubs, birch tree

Saturn:
Mullein, ivy, lobelia, morning glory, pansy, Solomon's seal, cypress, elm, mimosa, pine, yew

The idea behind listing all of these correspondences is to help you fine-tune your garden witchery. Let's say that you really needed help in the financial department. Money is tight, some unexpected bill hits, and suddenly you find yourself five days away from payday with twenty dollars in your checking account. (I hate weeks like that.) If you wanted to work for prosperity, your most opportune time would be on a Thursday (that's a Jupiter day) in a waxing moon phase to increase your cash flow or help you stretch things until payday.

Then you would take a peek at the backyard magickal plant list and find those plants that are under Jupiter's influence. Okay, so now you've identified the herbal ingredients that you can easily get your hands on, and you then gather and assemble the components for your spell. Get it?

Now let's talk realistically for a moment. The moon is not always in the phase that we need her to be in for our spells. Sometimes in a pinch you can't sit around and wait for a Jupiter day or a Venus day or even for a whole week for the correct phase of the moon. Sometimes you've gotta go with what you've got.

Back to our prosperity spell, to take another look at how we can work this out. Let's imagine that the moon is on the wane, and it's a Tuesday. Being the clever garden witch that you are, you will check to see how many other elements you could find in sympathy with what you are casting toward.

The moon is waning, so you could banish poverty and your anxiety over the money situation. It's Tuesday, and that's a Mars day. Mars has the attributes of power and courage (we could use some of that). Now you're going to burn a green votive candle for prosperity and a red candle because it's a Mars day. You want those qualities of power and courage for this situation. Assemble as many Jupiter plants together as possible, and go ahead and work the spell anyway. Keep your notes and see how things develop.

I would plan to follow up this prosperity spell with a backup spell on the day and moon phase that would be your most opportune for success. It certainly doesn't hurt to have a backup plan. However, in magick, intent is everything. If you really need to work your magick right away, go for it! Use your brains. Adapt, improvise, and overcome! Take a look at what you have handy at home. There is always a way to magickally work things out.

Garden and Moon Lore

In closing this chapter on all things astrological and lunar, I want to share with you some of my favorite moon and garden lore. Add these to your notebook or Book of Shadows and enjoy!

• A ring around the moon is a warning.

• If a star is caught in soft clouds around the moon, rain will appear and bless the earth.

• When the moon wears a crimson cap, there will be rain, clouds, and unpredictable weather.

• Transplant in the full moon and your flowers are believed to double their usual bloom amounts.

• The full moon in May is a sacred time for gardens and magickal gardening.

• Plant in the first day of the sun sign Virgo, August 22. This is said to have the strongest influence on your plants for bountiful growth.

• The gemstone moonstone is a beneficial one to wear while gardening.

• The gemstone green tourmaline is another stone in harmony with gardening.

• A garden full of lightning bugs is said to be a sign of being blessed by the faeries.

• Ladybugs, a beneficial insect, are sacred to the Fae. A ladybug with seven spots on it is supposed to be a faery pet.

• Leave a few tumbling stones, such as amethyst, tourmaline, quartz crystal, and moonstone, in the garden as a gift to the earth elementals, specifically the gnomes, brownies, and flower faeries. This will ensure a healthy, happy garden.

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And on the tawny sands and shelves,

Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves.

John Milton

7

Faery Magick

I
have met many witches, frustrated with a lack of advanced or intermediate techniques and materials, who turn to faery magick out of the desire to learn something, anything new. There is a certain sense of historical romance about it. Faeries were thought to have whispered herbal remedies to the wisewomen of old.

Nevertheless, faery magick is not to be taken lightly. The realm of the Tuatha de Dannan, the Sidhe, and the Fae is to be approached with respect, courtesy, and caution. It's time for you to do a little research and be specific before you go banging at the doorway to the Faery realm.

Why? Because you are dealing with a whole different realm. Faeries are considered by some to be from the kingdom of the elementals. Others consider them a separate race, known as the Tuatha de Dannan. There are tales that faeries are actually angels who refused to choose sides when Lucifer was rebelling, and so in punishment they were sent forever to the Earth. You will have to decide for yourself who and what you believe them to be.

If you are interested in working with these energies, your best bet would be the garden-friendly gnomes, brownies, and sylphs. Gnomes and brownies are earth elementals. Gnomes are the guardians of the treasures of the earth. They help create plant colors and facilitate the growth of flowers and trees. Gnomes are often perceived to be gnarled, diminutive old men.

Brownies are household fairies. They are said to appear as small, brown, and furry little men. They protect the home, guard your property, and look out for your children and animals. Brownies will also help keep your house clean . . . if you show them kindness.

The sylphs, air elementals, have their own energies and powers. They represent the creative force of the air element: inspiration, intuition, and knowledge. Sylphs appear to us as a classic storybook-type of faery or angel. There are some gentle sylphs and even plant spirits that could pass as a Tinkerbell type of faery—you know, the ones that you've pictured as little air sprites, fluttering about with gossamer wings. Those are the safe sort you'd like to have working with you in the garden. I like to think of them as flower faeries.

Rarely physically seen, these flower faeries make their presence known by walking through your hair or making the leaves on the plants bounce and the petals on the flowers quiver for no apparent reason. They help care for the garden and also enjoy families, pets, and children.

But we must remember that Nature is an entity unto herself. She has many faces, some gentle and others not. The spring breeze that refreshes you can turn into damaging winds during severe thunderstorms. The same creek that babbles by your backyard may do monstrous damage in a flash flood situation. Nature is a paradox. So, too, is the faery realm.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Tuatha de Dannan once were treated as gods in pagan Ireland. For instance, these old gods of the earth were at one time so feared it was forbidden to say the word “faery.” They were referred to instead as the Gentry or the Good People. The Irish faery beliefs are the most detailed and generally held, and include many types and varieties of faeries. Some are grotesque and almost all are formidable, but what strikes me most of all are the tales of the great beauty of most of the faeries. Over and over we hear legends about their love of music and poetry, faery feasts and rides (or raids), and the beauty of faery women and the faery horses. The Welsh tale of Rhiannon would be a prime example.

Rhiannon's story goes like this. A prince named Pwyll decided to challenge himself by sitting on a hill (faery mound) and tempting fate. Legend stated that any man who sat upon this hill would either receive a “great blow” or see something amazing.

What Pwyll saw was Rhiannon: a beautiful woman in gold, slowly trotting around the hill on a white horse. Captivated, the prince called for his fastest rider to go and fetch the fair maiden, but no matter how fast he went, she was always just ahead and out of reach. Pwyll tried it himself, wearing himself and his horse almost to the point of exhaustion. Still Rhiannon's pace never changed and she remained just ahead of the prince.

Finally, in frustration, the prince called out to Rhiannon and asked the lady to please stop. She did so immediately, and turned to look at Pwyll with amusement. She then told the prince that it would have been better for the horse if he would have but asked her earlier.

For Pwyll it was love at first sight, and he asked Rhiannon to marry him. Rhiannon accepted.

There is thought to be a connection between the realm of the Faery and the dead, but the grandeur of faeries seems to derive from their godlike qualities. In Ireland, more than anywhere else, the faeries are often thought to be shadows of the old gods of the country. In other magickal places, such as Scotland, beliefs are different.

Here the emphasis is placed on the good and the bad among the faeries. Sometimes you will see this referred to as the Seelie and Unseelie courts. I suggest caution. There are many monsters in Scottish faery legend, the kind that come slithering or crawling out of the mist—not to mention the Cailleach Bheur. An aspect of the Crone goddess, the Cailleach is the personification of the typical hunchbacked old crone stirring the smoking cauldron. What does she look like? The Halloween-type, hook-nosed old witch—wise, all-seeing, and a little frightening . . . be careful, my little pretty, or she just might get you too! Some modern authors have described her as being blue-faced and sporting fangs. Now that's downright creepy.

The Cailleach is from the Highlands and she is a more elemental and imposing faery character. The key word here is
elemental
. Do I detect a hint of the old earth gods? It is fascinating how the Cailleach ties into the faery mythology. This is a goddess of the land; the Highlands, to be precise. Today, the Cailleach is a powerful representation of the Crone. Sure, she may be a little scary, but if you approach her wisely and cautiously, you just might learn something.

You need to acknowledge and understand just who and what you are dealing with. The faeries are considered to be good-hearted and merry. Conversely, they are fickle, easily offended, obstinate, and quick to anger. The old beliefs about the dangers surrounding the shifting glamour of Faeryland are ones to take into consideration.

Yes, there are many tales of elven heroism and faery beauty. These fantastic beings are often imagined as suitable for a child's bedtime story, with the traditional tales of enchanting music and their love of sports and revelry. There are also just as many dark legends as well. In reality, try thinking of the Faery kingdom as the good, the bad, and the ugly. You better believe they can still make their presence felt and known.

When I first approached writing this chapter I started to include as much information on the Faery realm as I could find . . . started to, anyway. After a few nights of vivid nightmares, I got the message. A friend pointed out to me that he had heard a story about the poet W. B. Yeats and his search for faery knowledge. Yeats was fascinated by the faery realm, but he was warned by an Irish medium to be careful, and not to seek to know
too
much about the Fae. That's good advice.

Some witches make the mistake of working with the faeries without realizing exactly what they are getting into. Be very particular. If you call them, they will come. I know about this from personal experience.

Faery Mischief and Graveyard Dirt

When I was a young witch and my children were small, I invited in the faeries—specifically, the brownies (house spirits)—to guard the house and yard. I thought the children would love it and I was charmed with the idea. At first, we had a few months of harmless, mischievous pranks. Jewelry started to disappear, car keys went missing, you could leave a room only to walk back a moment later and discover everyday things missing or moved around.

One night I was folding laundry in the living room and I stopped to put the kids to bed. It was one of those wild nights only a parent of several small children could appreciate. Children, toys, and clean laundry scattered all over the floor. The kids were trying to “help,” which of course only made it twice as much work.

I hustled the kids into bed and with the three of them safely tucked in, and our old orange tabby cat to keep me company, I started to put away the laundry.

As I walked back into the living room, the laundry basket was gone. I turned around to find it on top of the television. I can honestly say that I had never put the basket up there before. It had been on the rug in the middle of the floor. My heart thudded hard in my throat. I looked down at the cat, who looked up at me as if to say, “Don't look at me.”

I scooped up the cat, left the basket untouched and backed out of the room. I walked down the hall to find the kids all still in bed. That was weird, it couldn't have been the kids. I would have seen or heard the kids if they had gotten up. They couldn't have reached the top of the TV at that age, let alone put a full basket up there. My husband worked nights so that left him out, and obviously the cat hadn't done it . . .

Why was the basket on top of the TV? When I walked back into the room to double-check, the basket had moved; it was now on the floor, centered in front of the TV.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned in time to see something brown and small dart across the floor. The cat in my arms tracked the movement and swung her tail lazily around, but showed no signs of distress. I could feel waves of mischief and fun in the living room. And I knew . . . we had brownies.

During this time we were in the process of building a garden on the side of the house and were besieged with bad luck during our project. We hired someone to remove one hundred feet of old driveway and put in a new, smaller one, a new back porch, and a sidewalk. The kids thought it was great and we were excited . . . I guess the brownies were as well.

The first crew we hired crushed our shed in the backyard and then got mad when we asked them to either pay for a replacement or deduct the cost of the shed from our bill. With hurled obscenities, they walked off the job, leaving the concrete half torn out and our yard looking like a war zone, or a miniature of the Grand Canyon.

After reporting them to the Better Business Bureau, I had to go hire a new, reliable contractor. We found one but had to wait three weeks until he was able to work us in. After he arrived and surveyed the site, he told us we would also have to bring in three dump trucks full of soil for the new side yard, an expense we hadn't planned on.

On the first day the new concrete workers arrived to finish the tear out, they pulled up to get started, only to have to stop an hour later as they mysteriously had two flat tires on their equipment truck. Not one flat tire, but two.

They were embarrassed and had to call a special tow truck to haul away their truck. They left with the promise to return the next day as soon as possible. The owner apologized again for the delay, and repeated how he had never in all his years seen anything like it. Was I cursed or something? he asked.

No, I assured him. But I was beginning to get really suspicious of our “guests.” Disappointed and frustrated, I herded the kids back into the house. As the kids and I went back inside, I saw the cat fly down the hall in hot pursuit of something. The kids took off happily after the cat. I sat down and cried.

That night after I put the kids to bed, I looked up ways to counteract faery mischief. There was the theory that they were repelled by iron, and that they disliked cats. I dismissed the latter one, as the brownies didn't seem to mind the cat so far . . . in fact, some texts claimed that cats were faery creatures. Faeries and brownies supposedly love kids and action. We had plenty of that.

I read up on banishing unwanted entities, but that seemed like overkill . . . after all, I had invited them in. So I followed my instincts and sat down to have a little heart-to-heart talk with our brownies. I left them some small crystals by the hearth as a thank-you gift for all their hard work in guarding the house and yard. Then I told them all about the great garden I was planning for them. (Should have done that in the first place.)

I believe that they were only trying to do what I had asked them to do: protect the house and yard. Even though we were in the middle of a landscaping job, the early stages involved a lot of tear-out work. I'm sure to the brownies it seemed like the destruction of our and their home. They probably weren't too thrilled with all that noise and equipment on their turf.

I also did a spell to counteract any bad luck, and then went outside and blessed the yard. To avoid any more equipment problems, I doused any equipment the concrete crew had left behind with sea salt. It worked. The concrete guys finished their work without incident, except they kept accusing each other of eating crackers or pretzels on the truck. The only problem left was to find the dirt for the yard.