Herbs for Witchcraft: Basil
For this series, I’m going to start with my favorite go-to herb!
Basil is a wonderful herbaceous plant that has been used as a food item for millennia. It’s often considered an annual, but I like to propagate my basil plants and keep them in windowsill pots over the winter. I have successfully propagated and perpetuated the same plant for 6 years. I probably could have kept it going, but that autumn I had a back injury and didn’t get around to propping it for winter.
There are tons of different varieties of basil and while they have different looks and flavors, when it comes to magic, they pretty much all share the same qualities. Let’s break down the top three traits that I use them for along with a bonus use. After that, we can dig into how to use basil to bring out those qualities in your spellwork.
Love
This comes from cooking. Cooking for someone is usually a sign of love. Taking the time to plan out a meal, pull and prepare ingredients, and transforming those ingredients into something delicious? Magic. Basil is a common cooking ingredient in cuisines all over the world. People have been infusing their food with love, magic, and basil for thousands of years.
Protection
Because basil has such a strong smell and taste, it is often added around houses and gardens as a pest deterrent. Hence, it has taken on a protective roll, acting as a shield for people and places.
Strength
While this can also be attributed to the powerful taste and smell of basil, I think the way basil grows is a major factor. When basil is trimmed, the stem that has been cut will branch out making two new stems. Much like the hydra of Greek mythology, the more you cut back basil, the stronger it returns.
Basil also represents good luck in many places, which makes sense given its other major qualities.
Basil combined with clover makes a powerhouse of a good luck charm!
A truly versatile herb, basil can be used fresh or dried.
Fresh basil can be cooked into food or steeped into drink for spells that will be imbibed. It can be added to spells to be buried or set afloat on water.
Fire based spells prefer dried basil as it burns more easily. Adding it to a bonfire is a wonderful tribute to the event the bonfire is celebrating. Whole dried leaves are a nice addition to a smudge stick. Crumbled dried basil works well for candle magic, either stuck to the sides of a pillar or taper candle, or sprinkled on top of a tea light or jar candle.
I like to make dried herb and spice mixes, both for cooking and for spellwork. Basil goes into most of them and pretty much any working (or even just an average weeknight meal) can benefit from love, strength, and protection.
If you’re interested in some of my spice blends, let me know in the comments and I’ll make a post about them!