PBP – F – Foxglove

• Foxglove – One of my personal favorite flowers, the foxglove is said to be one of the flowers that draws the faeries out to play.  It has a variety of nicknames including Witches Bells, Fairy Fingers, and Fairy Weed.  It is a poisonous plant that is something used in faery ointments as an ingredient to cause hallucinations much like a flying ointment.  It is also a plant with protective properties and it’s believed that one of the reasons that Witches grow it around their homes is to create a wall of protection around them.  What do you know about foxglove?  What have your experiences with it been and how can foxglove be used in magick?

PBP – E – Elder

• Elder – Sambucus niger – Elderberry
• Earth

PBP – D – Datura

Datura – a poison plant

PBP – A – Angelica

• Angelica - As a magickal herb angelica has been said to protect against disease and has been used as a cure for poisons.  What are some spells and other uses for angelica?  What are some of it’s other folk names and what cultures have held it as a particularly sacred plant?

walk in the woods

I went for a walk in the woods today. I decided to check out the park near my new house. It was lovely – a heron flew overhead (too quickly for me to capture on camera); ducks played in the creek; further up beavers swam and ate the foliage. I took pictures of lots of flowers: high-bush cranberry, dogwood, anemone, rose, bedstraw, chickweed, violet, and more.

I enjoyed it while I was out walking. On the way back though, I began to feel less recharged, and more reminded of my life. I saw people walking together, people running, people with dogs. All things I want: companionship, healthy system, a dog. I thought I should start my yoga practice again like I have intended. The road to hell….It seems I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t – I feel isolated and hermit like if I stay at home. I feel sad and lonely if I go out where there are people. I’ve got to find a way around this block.

I finished reading the Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold today. It was quite good, gripping in fact. At the end I felt it was a good Grail story. A wounded king, needing to be healed. And good people, god=touched, to help the healing.

More grail thought is necessary…..

Goat’s Beard

This is a Goat’s Beard with it’s seeds ready to fly away. It is an Aster, related to the dandelion of course. I found it in Lethbridge on June 30. I have since seen them all over Edmonton – it is considered a weed I think. But the seeds are beautiful!