Free Garden Witch's Herbal by Ellen Dugan Page A

available at your local nursery center these days) or with the wildflowers found blossoming outdoors. If there is a variety of wildflower that you have growing at home in your own gardens, then you may certainly gather a bit from your gardens for your spellwork. If, however, the plant is growing wild in nature, then leave the plant as you find it.
    Do not gather, dig up, or cut wildflowers! Some of our native species are protected. In fact, if you are caught gathering flowers from the wild, you may face a hefty fine from your local conservation department. Gathering a single leaf or fallen twig from a common tree is one thing, but please leave the wildflowers that you encounter in the woodlands alone. Think of it this way: if you pick all of the plants blooming in the meadows and woods, then no one else is able to enjoy the wildflowers. In keeping with that theme, none of the spells in this particular chapter require you to harvest the wildflowers, only for you to work with them where you find them—be it in the garden or in the wild.
    As you rediscover the magick of wildflowers, our little jewels of nature, stop and acknowledge their tenacity and beauty. If, for example, you should stumble across a little butterfly weed plant happily growing alongside the woods, then feel free to stop and admire it. Hunker down and take a good look at it. Stroke a finger gently over its orange flowers. Then, while you are there, ask the plant to lend its healing energy to your spellwork. Now, go ahead and be spontaneous: work a quick spell for healing.
    The intuitive spellcrafting of the Natural Magician or Green Witch is an art that is almost forgotten. It requires no tools other than the sound of your voice, your personal magickal energies, and your own two hands. In other words, just do it .
    To seal the spell and to signify that you have performed magick with the plant, take a small twig and trace a circle in a clockwise direction gently around the plant on the ground. The circle does not have to show; this is a symbolic gesture. Leave the area as you found it, with no traces that you were even there. The phrase “walk gently upon the earth” means just that. This is a basic tenant of working magick in the wild. As a Witch, you are a protector of the wild places. All Witches, Pagans, and Green Magicians know better than to disturb, deplete, or harm our natural resources.
    The idea of green magick in the wild places was meant to encourage and inspire you. I want to persuade you, the reader, to work your magick quietly and intuitively in nature—whether this happens to be in the glades, meadows, woods, or in a quiet and secret space that you have created in your own yard is up to you.
    If you think that you’d like to try growing a wildflower garden to add a little “wild” to your backyard Witch’s garden, then check seed catalogs and local nurseries for native plants. You can also check out these websites for wildflowers, native plants, and seeds:
www.mowildflowers.net
www.grownative.org
www.mobot.org/default.asp
    In the following Garden Witch’s dozen of wildflowers, I have given you both the common name and the botanical name (in italics). In this listing, you will find plant descriptions, approximate bloom times, and the folklore and magickal associations of the wildflower. There will also be an accompanying spell with each featured plant. Now, again, you may either work this in the garden or spontaneously, wherever you find the flower growing. Try picking up a local wildflower identification guide to have on hand, and start to appreciate and recognize your own native flora that are indigenous to your area.
    Then write up a few of your own spells and flower fascinations for the wildflowers that grow in your neck of the woods. Dare to embrace the unsung art of the Green Witch. Be spontaneous and intuitive; create your own green witchery and natural magick.
    Bewitching Wildflowers
    First flower of