Native Mexicans traditionally celebrate the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) on November 2, and many additionally celebrate the day before it, too, which is also the official date of
Samhain. Originally, the festival was held for the duration of a month in the Aztec calendar, falling around our current August. But upon the Christianization of Mexico, it was shifted to All Saints’ Day, thus aligning it to the Celtic Samhain.
For this annual celebration, friends and families gather to adorn their houses, neighborhoods, and themselves with décor representing death and dying. Arts and crafts made throughout the year are paraded on this day and many people dress like corpses or invoke a certain attitude to lend in performance art. Traditional Mexican practices celebrate not only the dead, but small children as well, so that death can be recognized alongside the continuity of life.
On this day, people picnic beside the graves of departed family and friends, including them in a meal (as with the Witch’s Dumb Supper, in which a silent Samhain meal is eaten, with a plate set aside for a deceased relative, friend, or pet). Altars are erected and candles lit to pay
homage to the dead. Homes are spiritually cleansed of vibrations that have gathered over the past year. Parades, entertainment, and festivities aplenty are held at this time, alongside tears and ancestral remembrance. The holiday reminds people who have recently lost a loved one that they are not alone and that working toward acceptance is the key to understanding death.
Many cities worldwide observe the Day of the Dead on or around November 2. My
hometown of Missoula (“ Twin Peaks”), Montana, is one of them. The celebration welcomes everyone and encourages people to be free of pain, accepting the cycle of life and death as a natural part of human existence.
When an herb is used in spellcraft, the practitioner must connect with its energy to bring out its magickal properties. It must be analyzed and meditated upon. The practitioner can focus intent into the herb through the projecting hand until it feels “full” of the intention, as matched with the vibrational properties of the herb. From there, the herb can be used in a spell or magickal working. Beforehand, it’s best to meditate with the herb—while picking it live, or while grinding it with a mortar and pestle
—to get to know its spirit, gaining a direct rapport with the magickal helper.
The magick-worker should also take some time to visualize the herbs radiating with specific energies attuned to the spell. When the enchantment is complete, the herbs will seem to “glow” with an ethereal vibration tailored to the working. There are a number of things one can do to acutely awaken the metaphysical properties in plants, minerals, and other substances.
Keep in mind that a small piece of an herb can be used just as effectively as an enormous amount.
For example, say you wish to add a boost of luck to a spell and are drawn to Lucky Hand Root for this purpose. If you find in your herb cabinet that you only have a grain of the root left, use it in the spell just the same. As long as what you add carries the genetic imprint of the plant (or stone, feather, shell, or whatever), it still constitutes a speckle of the substance, and its energy is added. At the same time, with such a small amount of a spell component, I advise taking more time to “awaken” that specific property in the working.
The longer an herb dries, the less available its magick becomes. Still, magick can be brought out of the herb at any time regardless of its age. It just takes a little more work to fully charge and enchant older herbs than it does fresh.
Herbs can be sprinkled in the ritual space, added to incense, boiled in the cauldron for potions, placed in a medicine bag, and so forth. If the spell or working is designed to banish forces, the spell’s remains, including the herbs, are generally cast to moving waters or winds. If the spell is to manifest, the herbs can be buried or sprinkled about the property, or kept nearby in a spell bag or bottle to continue weaving their magick. Only herbs documented to have positive health benefits are taken internally in the form of teas, tinctures, and gelcaps (or vegicaps).
The Weird Sisters of Shakespeare’s Macbeth
The magickal uses of herbs are famously chanted in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Act IV, Scene I). In this scene, three Witches have gathered ’round a cauldron during a thunderstorm to create a brew of mischief and mayhem. Before crafting the spell, the sisters make mention of their animal familiars who were referenced in Act I. They include Graymalkin (a cat), Paddock (a hedgehog), and Harpier (an owl). Upon Harpier’s cries (“’Tis time, ’tis time”), the Witches begin:
Double, double toil and trouble; overseer of their deeds. The Witches then go on to empower their brew in Hecate’s presence. Upon Hecate’s departure, the second Witch seals the spell with blood: “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes!” (Some believe that Hecate’s scenes were added at a later date by another playwright, while others believe that the part originated entirely with Shakespeare.)
So what does this scene have to do with wortcunning? Most of the ingredients used in this spell are actually the folk names of various herbs and plants. Others, like “liver of a blaspheming Jew” and
“baboon’s blood,” which are used in the second portion of the spell, may have been either associated with other natural ingredients or added for theatrical value. Some obvious herbs were also included in the mix, like hemlock and rue.
In pre-modern times, many herbs were named for their physical characteristics. This simple form of classification allowed for easy identification of local plants. In a literary sense, mentions of obscure and bizarre ingredients maintained the mystique of Witches as being extra-special, having access to all sorts of unfathomable goodies. We still see the practice of naming herbs after body parts carried over today with some common flora having names like cat’s claw (a bark) and dragon’s blood (a resin).
I suspect Shakespeare had a fair amount of information about early European Pagan practices, or at least common charmery, making the task of devising this spell that much easier. Some theorists believe he gathered information, realistic and fantastical, from the numerous people he interacted with, later incorporating portions into his plays. In his life, Shakespeare interacted with a wide array of individuals with radical and blasphemous ideologies for the time, many of which most certainly influenced his writing.
It is also worth noting that the Witches of Macbeth are called the Weird Sisters. The word weird is rooted in the word wyrd, meaning “fate” or “destiny.” The ancient Greeks personified fate and the cycles of life in the form of three sister goddesses called the Fates or the Moirae, who were daughters of Zeus. In the mythology, the Fates oversee and control the lives of both gods and mortals, weaving their destiny moment to moment. Clotho spins the threads of the web of life, beginning its course;
Lachesis weaves the threads, deciding the duration of life; finally, Atropos cuts the threads, ending life.
In Ásatrú and Norse religion, three sisters are also recognized in a nearly identical tale. Called the
“Sisters of Wyrd” or the “Sisters of Fate,” they are the presumed basis of Shakespeare’s tale. The first sister is named Wyrd (or Urd), the second is Verdandi, and the third is Skuld. They have virtually the same life -directing roles as the Greek Fates and are seen as the guardians of Yggdrasil, the Norse Tree of Life. They represent the past, present, and future as well as the stages of existence.
Modern Wicca also recognizes the triple goddess: the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Each represents a phase of life and is further associated with the stages of the lunar and solar cycle, probably having direct links with the Greek idea of the three sisters.