If you prefer to harvest your own fresh herbs for culinary, healing or ritual magick purposes instead of dried store bought ones or essential oils, here is what you need to know…
As a magick maker some of my favourite ways to connect with the consciousness of everything around me is to;
Walk through a forest, amble next to a river or stroll beside the ocean and commune with the plant spirits and spirits of the land that reside there.
I ask them for guidance and blessings and sometimes to harvest their leaves, twigs, flowers, fruit, seeds, rocks etcetera to incorporate them on my altar or in spells later.
Plants are living and sentient so it is customary when harvesting to firstly ask them to release the life force from the area you wish to cut to minimise injury or shock.
Then, secondly to leave something of yours as an offering of exchange because you are receiving something from it.
An offering could entail:
• A dab of your spit on the area you cut
• A strand of your hair that you loosely wind around a stem
• Feeding the plant with water or compost
• Burying a crystal near it
• Tuning in and asking the land what it may specifically require
Tips for better results:
• Any part of plants used for medicinal purposes are best harvested at full moon as their properties will be more potent, particularly when the zodiac sign the moon is in governs the anatomy to be treated.
• Harvest roots in spring or autumn at full or waning moon in an earth sign
• Gather leaves when the moon is waxing in a water sign
• Cut flowers in spring and summer when the moon is waxing or full in an air sign
• Collect fruit and seeds for storing when the moon is waning in an air or fire sign
✶ Power of Ritual For Beginners: What It Is and How It Works