Rosemary ~ magickal properties and benefits for winter witch magic!
By Shelly Kay, Magickal Herbalist
I probably say this about every herb, but Rosemary is a favorite. She’s bright, vibrant, and can be quite sassy. In fact, in England, if rosemary flourished outside the house, it meant the wife was the boss of the home. Rosemary is a strong confident evergreen shrub that grew throughout the Mediterranean.
Rosemary is ruled by the Sun and Aries and falls under the element of fire. A true heat-loving plant, she’s an excellent choice to use when you’re burning the midnight oil so to speak -a true go-getter.
She is sacred to Mary as the bluish-white flowers are from when she hung her blue cloak upon the shrub. She is also sacred to Brighid. Even though I am using the She pronoun, I consider rosemary to be androgynous or gender-fluid.
Some texts will list Rosemary as having feminine energy and others as masculine, but she is both. She also has active, yang, masculine in that she improves circulation, is a great restorative, and improves vitality.
She can be a stimulant, but she also works to calm the nervous system, improve memory and recall, improve mental clarity, and reduce fatigue which I find to be more along the lines of receptivity, yin, feminine aspects.
I firmly believe that magickal and scientific properties inform each other as well as symbolism playing its part. You can always look to one methodology to see how it affects the other. Rosemary has been heavily studied in the scientific community and the research points to her being one of the best natural herbs.
Rosemary is one of the best food preservatives as well. The Journal of Agricultural And Food Chemistry published “Antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of rosemary and sage (Rosmarinus officinalis L. and Salvia officinalis L., Lamiaceae) essential oils” in 2007 details the results of their research. 1
Rosemary has antioxidant properties that protect the brain and blood vessels, which improves all brain functions including being a fantastic memory aid. Protecting the blood vessels allows for better circulation which helps invigorate you.
This evergreen is also a known antimicrobial - destructive to or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, algae, fungi (like mold and mildew), and even dust mites. This means rosemary can stop the oogey-boogeys (this is a technical term I promise!) in their tracks. Making this perfect for your midwinter home germ-a-thon.
Let’s face it, we are stuck inside even more than ever and even our germs, cooties, and oogey-boogeys are tired of being kept indoors! So let’s spray those oogey-boogeys away!
And this spray will also help with your studies and memory too.
Oogey-Boogey Wash
2 oz spray bottle
1 oz distilled water
1 oz witch-hazel or alcohol
9 drops Rosemary Essential Oil (EO) (or ½ tsp of fresh or ¼ tsp dried leaves)
9 drops of any lemon or citrus EO (if you do not have EO, you can use the peel with the white part removed)
9 drops Thyme EO (or ½ tsp of fresh or ¼ tsp dried leaves)
9 drops Catnip EO (or ½ tsp of fresh or ¼ tsp dried leaves)
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(http://www.academicjournals.org/app/webroot/article/article1380735155_Issabeagloo%20et%20al.pdf#:~:text=Rosemary%20%28Rosmarinus%20officinalis%20L.%29%20originally%20grows%20in%20southern,and%20Gram-negative%20bacteria.%20High%20percent%20of%20the%20antimicrobial )