(Phaseolus spp.)
Beans not used for food may be poisonous.
Folk Name: Poor Man’s Meat
Gender: Masculine
Planet: Mercury
Element: Air
Deities: Demeter, Cardea
Powers: Protection, Exorcism, Wart
Charming, Reconciliations, Potency Love
Ritual Uses: Some beans’ flowers are white,
and hence sacred to the Goddesses of old
Europe. Beans are always sacred to harvest
goddesses. According to tradition only
the highest-ranking priestess in Scotland
could either plant or cook the bean. Beans,
along with pork, were offered to Cardea in
Rome on June 1 st. They are also associated
with the Underworld and the dead: and in
ancient Rome they were distributed and
eaten during funerals.
Magical Uses: In general, beans were used
in classical times (and still are) as a charm
against evil sorcerers. Put a bean in your
mouth and spit it out at the person. Dried
beans are carried as an amulet against
negativity and evil magic. They are also
used in rattles to scare away spirits, especially
those who have entered into bodies
and made those people sick. To avert evil
spirits, say very quickly three times in one
breath, Three blue beans in a blue bladder.
Rattle, bladder, rattle.
If a couple is quarreling, the woman
should carry three lima beans strung on
a silk thread for two days. The couple will
quickly smooth over their difficulties.
Beans help cure impotency if they are
carried or eaten. This is due to the fact that
they resemble testicles.
A bean love spell: a woman should
place seven beans of any kind in a circle
on the ground. Next, she must have the
man of her choice step into the circle or
walk over it. If this can be done, he will be
attracted to her. (But this might also be
manipulatory.)
To cure warts, rub a dried bean on each
wart during the waning Moon. As you do
this say:
As this bean decays, So wart, fall away!