Tangible Witchcraft: Resurrection Plant

This past Friday at 9 AM, I put a resurrection plant in a bowl of water and left it near my door.

There are lots of traditions and rituals associated with The Rose of Jericho (or Resurrection Plant) that span several belief systems including Catholicism, Voudou, Hoodoo and Santeria. Fascinating stuff, and since so many attribute this plant with magickal workings, I say- where's there's smoke there's fire.

Background:
Known by many names (Mary's flower, Stone flower, Spike moss, Rosa Mariae, Rose of the Virgin, Dinosaur Plant, Holy Night Rose and Palestinian Tumbleweed are but a few), there are actually two plants that are called a Resurrection Plant (which is an attribute that they both share: actual resurrection). Anastatica hierochuntica is the true Rose of Jericho (growing in the Middle East and Africa) while the Selaginella Lepidophylla is known as the false Rose of Jericho (growing in North America). It is the more commonly available false Rose of Jericho is the one that is widely known and used in magickal workings and spells here in the United States.

Either Rose of Jericho (be the "true" or "false" one) has some amazing powers, whether you look at it from a scientific or a magickal point of view. I tend to look at both, since I am very animistic in my beliefs of how magick works (everything has a distinct energy field that hold certain properties that can be used to affect the worlds and create magickal effect.) The doctrine of signatures also, when extrapolated into a broad magickal world view, tells us that plants, minerals, animals, and beings not only have specific properties but that they can be identified if you are paying attention. This plant deserves some attention.

This is my plant before placing in water.

What properties does this plant have? It performs miracles! It can live in dormancy for up to 50 years, looking like a dried up, dead, old tumbleweed. As soon as it finds stable water, it comes back to life, greening up and even blooming! Is it any wonder so many belief systems have attributed it with power?

Catholics:
According to legends, it is said that the Virgin Mary blessed the eternal plant during her and Joseph's flight to Egypt. In Spain, it is traditionally connected to the Holy Trinity. And hey, it does and is reborn, just like Jesus- who wouldn't like that?

The true Rose of Jericho is sought for in the Holy Land by pilgrims as a holy relic. Some are actually kept in the family and is traditionally passed on, from generation to generation, as an important part of one's inheritance and it is brought out at Christmas or Easter time along with other decorations.

Catholic families sometimes keep a dried Rose of Jericho in a paper bag among their Christmas decorations, at Christmas they will place the rose in a shallow dish of water on the Christmas table allowing it to bloom. When used at Christmas, it is believed to symbolise the opening and closing of Marys womb. Other catholic families follow a similar tradition at Easter, the symbolism of death and resurrection being an obvious parallel with Jesus Christ.

Conjure:

I said a prayer over the plant before placing
in water. Depending on your religion,
you could invoke several powers here.
I called upon the ever-dying and reborn god
of my tradition to bless the plant and imbue
it with blessings, abundance, and prosperity.

In hoodoo, conjure, and obeah the plant is often used as a prosperity charm. It promotes good business (if placed in a place of work) and happiness and abundance in the home (when placed by the front entrance with a few coins added to the water). After you put the Resurrection plant in water, you simply place it near your door to draw in abundance. When you need a little prosperity, you asperge your house and/or yourself with the water in the bowl, or use the water as a floor or door wash. Since you need to replenish the water weekly for the plant (or it will moldy and get slimy), this means you can perform weekly prosperity spells with ease.

You can also "wash" a grave with this water in order to receive messages from them through divination or dream.

It is also thought if you wear the dried plant as an amulet it will promote a long and healthy life. I suspect a charm to help a very ill person that includes this plant could aid in a miraculous" recovery.

Voudou:
The Resurrection Plant is considered a rare magical commodity and is sought after for use in Voodoo and Cuban Santeria love and money spells. In Voodoo spells, it can also be used to conjuring spirits- sometimes causing possessions and then curing one of a possession.

Santeria:
In Santeria and other Yoruba-based traditions the plant is sometimes believed to be sacred to the Orisha Shango (the spirit of lightening), probably because of the story of Shango committing suicide and then coming back to life. The Ressurection Plant is sometimes placed on his altar by his devotees or used as an ingredient in powders, incenses, oils and baths that are made under the patronage of Shango.

Tips on growing:

What it looks like in the first few hours,

Do not swamp the plant with too much water, they can easily grow moldy, the rose should rest on top of a small amount of water, there should be no water on the top side of the plant.

For prosperity, add a few coins, but DO NOT add lodestones to the water, unless you desire a rusty dead mess. Hardly an auspicious spell for prosperity!

Some people recommend adding holy water (I've also seen people add water from sacred pagan sites, like the Chalice Well) to the plant. That is fine if you are sure the water is healthy for living things. Some waters are not.

Change the water at least once a week, don't allow the water to become stagnant.

Don't place them in direct sunlight but do place them somewhere warm.

Allow your plant to dry out occasionally if its just being kept in water. And benefit magickally from another resurrection!

False Rose of Jericho can be planted in soil. If you desire to do this, allow it to bloom in a dish of water for a few weeks until you see small roots appearing, then transplant to a large pot. Don't overwater!

Using Energetics as a Parent

I live by animist principles (every thing is alive in its own way, has a purpose, and a specific energy pattern that can help or hinder the things around it (depending on context and setting)). As a Witch,  I also work on moving and controlling those energy patterns for my own purposes in many ways: herbalism, conjure, reiki, other forms of energy healing, astral projection, and divine possession. All of these things to me are energy work on some level.

How does this benefit me as a parent? How do I use this knowledge and understanding to benefit me and my family, in particular my son?

Herbalism and Diet:

Thyme is one of my favorite herbs.

If all plants and animals have their own energetic resonances, we can use them to tweak our when we are out of whack or maintain a state of health. From chamomile tea (medicinal grade, not the bags from the grocery!) to tinctures for gas, colic, teething, and colds or flu, to herbal baths, my son has benefited from me learning the skills of a green Witch. He gets gentle, effective remedies that help his own body heal itself. His immune system is robust not just from breastfeeding at an early age but also because now that he eats solids I strengthen it with probiotics every morning in his kefir.

When I was in herb school, we learned many ways of working with and relating to the plants. While learning the medicinal properties and making medicines were important, so was communing with the plant (rooted through nature walks and wildcrafting and also harvested), learning what it does in myriad bodies (including our own), and listening to that plant. We were given tinctures each week and told to dose ourselves in ever-increasing frequencies to learn the effects in our bodies first hand. Sometimes effects would increase along similar lines, sometimes completely reverse themselves with increasing doses, and sometimes completely new sensations would arise as I increased the dosage. We were taught that lower doses work on a more energetic level, while larger ones work on a physical level. So the same remedy can do myriad things, depending on the dosage.

Scrappy Manzanita

We were taught traditional medicine as well as how to listen to plant spirits (and unless you work on this gift, it is a hard one to maintain and use!). I remember well the lesson of Manzanita, as I sat under a large bramble of it on Mount Diablo: "I was the first", was what She told me. Then She showed me pictures of a vast red clay and rock desert with little to no life. Manzanita and Madrone were busy moving throughout it, populating it, taking root in hard rock and breaking it down into soil for the plants to follow them. I did research after that experience and found that what She told me was true. Pretty awesome!

My theory is that the first Witches and Shamans (who were the first healers) had the ability to listen to plants and learned about what plants do to our bodies and spirits from the plants themselves. They had the ability to shift their energy patterns down to listen to plants.* I continue to listen to plant spirits for both medicinal and spell work to benefit my family.

Conjure and Spellwork:

Witch bottles

From his conception, to my complicated pregnancy, to his everyday life- he has been impacted and shaped by my making my Will manifest in this world. I carried a specific talisman around with me while trying to conceive. It called to the child who visited me in my dreams and also worked to make my uterus ready to be a home to that child.

When I conceived, I also had several spells going during the pregnancy- as I had a complete placenta previa that was keeping me from delivering naturally. Me and my whole magical community prayed and worked to move move move that placenta- and it did. Rowan was born vaginally.

I regularly do small bits of conjure to benefit my family and friends- if it is done right- with a theological context, conjure (also known as rootwork) acknowledges the spirit in each of the ingredients in your spell: be it an oil, bath, bag, or bottle. Each plant, rock, coin, or curio adds to the mix its own energetic essence that helps to create the outcome you are seeking.

Reiki and Energy Work:

I am a level three Reiki practitioner, and use it when needed. It helps soothe upset tummies, reduces too high a fever, takes away pain, and generally feels good. I recently read this study about the healing effects of touch, specifically kissing an injury on a child and its long lasting effects.while it doesn't surprise me, I am delighted to see the research is finally being done on energy healing, the laying on of hands and other therapeutic touch.

I also work to keep Rowan safe from harm with types of energy work and manipulation. I have protection surrounding my home all the time. When he has bad dreams, I cast circle and call in protectors for him. He is sometimes put to sleep using gentle energy work (when he gets overtired and has trouble getting to sleep himself).

There are so many ways I manipulate energy! What are some of yours in the context of your family?

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*For those unfamiliar, I think of humans operating at a fairly rapid energy frequency. To communicate with non-human animals, you shift down a notch or two, depending on the animal (mammals and birds are higher than reptiles and amphibians, in my experience). For plants, you must shift down more, to become even slower.