Author: A Solitary Pagan
Sage Wisdom
Every kitchen witch should grow a pot of sage or a big patch in her garden. Sage is a must to have on hand for clearing energy. It also increases psychic potential. Most kitchen witches are highly imaginative and very inventive folk. Whether your passion is growing an artful garden, throwing pots, cookery, or music, you can stay in better touch with your personal muse. Call her to you anytime, day...
Aloe—Medicine Tree
One of Mother Nature’s most effective healers is aloe. When I lived in colder areas of frost and snow, I grew aloe in a wide pot with good drainage and placed it in the sunniest spot in the kitchen, where it thrived with very little water. I am truly fortunate to live today where it never gets below freezing, so I have a towering aloe in the left garden corner that is growing to tree-like proporti...
Lavender is Love
Lavender is blessedly easy to grow as it is a shrubby plant of Mediterranean origins. It is prized for its lovely scent and is a powerful healing plant with other properties, and can be used for making teas, tisanes, being infused into honey, and has many more practical uses. It can even prosper in dry and droughty areas, so make sure your kitchen garden has at least one of the hardy varieties so...
Rosemary for Remembrance
Rosemary is another of the herbs that thrives best in warm, Mediterranean climes but can also weather the cold. Tough to grow from seed, cuttings are an easier way to start your row of rosemary plants in your garden. Pots of this bushy plant can enjoy spring and summer and come in from the cold to a sheltered porch or by a sunny window when temperatures drop. As a bonus, it requires little water....
Daisy and Echinacea
This faithful flower’s name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon dæges eage, “day’s eye,” since it closes in the evening. The daisy has been used in one of the oldest of love charms. To know if your true love is returned, take a daisy and intone, “He loves me, he loves me not” until the last petal is plucked and the answer will be revealed. This flower is not just a boon for romance, however, it is als...
Basil—Bounty and Beauty
This sweet-tasting herb is excellent in savory dishes. Basil truly grows like a weed and you should cultivate it right on the kitchen windowsill so you can snip and add to your Italian-inspired dishes. Give your basil plants plenty of sun, lots of water, and you will reap a mighty bounty to share with the neighbors. Old wives and hedge witches claim that basil protects your home while it also brin...
Chives for Good Cheer
Allium, also known as chives, is a blessedly easy plant to grow anywhere and everywhere—on the kitchen windowsill or in a garden patch. A member of the onion family, this is a lovely case where the entire plant—bulb, leaves, and flowers—can be eaten. Plant the bulbs 6 inches (15 cm) apart, water, and you can pretty much ignore them after as all they require is water. A plus is that this relative o...
Herbs for Healing and Happiness
Gardening is one of the most creative things you can do and an exercise in mindfulness. It keeps you grounded with a deep connection to the earth. Growing herbs to use in remedies and spellcraft is doubly rewarding; with each passing season, you will grow in your wisdom and skill. Your garden—whether it is a balcony full of blooms or a plot out back—can be a sanctuary, a place where your spirit is...
Thyme—An Herb for the Ages
You could say that thyme is a classic herb, so much so that the venerable Virgil and Pliny sang the praises of this medicinal mint relative over 2,000 years ago. While thyme loves Mediterranean weather, it can grow elsewhere from seeds and cuttings. Good for the stomach and especially effective for respiratory relief, thyme induces sweats to remove toxins and reduce fever. Thyme honey tea is truly...
Other helpful herbs for anxiety, Healing Herbs For Anxiety & Stress
There are also lots of other complementary herbs out there that help us find greater peace and calm during anxiety. Lavender, chamomile, lemon balm and passiflora are all excellent calming herbs that work well in herbal tea combinations. I’ve shared a few ideas above. As with most herbs, something that works for one of us might not have the same effect on all of us. Explore and discover for yourse...
L-theanine, Seven Healing Herbs For Anxiety & Stress
Theanine (of which L-theanine is a part of) is a compound found in green tea, matcha tea and black tea. It has been shown to relieve anxiety and help your body to function better. L-thenanine is thought to boost GABA levels in your brain (GABA is an important neurotransmitter that helps send messages between the brain and the nervous system). This will help to reduce anxiety for many people. Studi...
Holy Basil (Tulsi), Seven Healing Herbs For Anxiety & Stress
Traditionally grown in Asia and sub-tropical regions, holy basil is an adaptogenic herb used for lowering stress levels. It helps to bring cortisol levels back down to neutral so that the body is better able to function and deal with whatever challenges are coming up. An article in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine mentions the following