CHAPTER V.
PLANTS IN WITCHCRAFT.
The vast proportions which the great witchcraft movement assumed
in bygone years explains the magic properties which we find ascribed to
so many plants in most countries. In the nefarious trade carried on by the
representatives of this cruel system of sorcery certain plants were largely
employed for working marvels, hence the mystic character which they
have ever since retained. It was necessary, however, that these should be
plucked at certain phases of the moon or seasons of the year, or from
some spot where the sun was supposed not to have shone on it.[1] Hence
Shakespeare makes one of his witches speak of "root of hemlock digg'd i'
the dark," and of "slips of yew sliver'd in the moon's eclipse," a practice
which was long kept up. The plants, too, which formed the witches'
pharmacopoeia, were generally selected either from their legendary
associations or by reason of their poisonous and soporific qualities. Thus,
two of those most frequently used as ingredients in the mystic cauldron
were the vervain and the rue, these plants having been specially credited
with supernatural virtues. The former probably derived its notoriety
from the fact of its being sacred to Thor, an honour which marked it out,
like other lightning plants, as peculiarly adapted for occult uses. It was,
moreover, among the sacred plants of the Druids, and was only gathered
by them, "when the dog-star arose, from unsunned spots." At the same
time, it is noteworthy that many of the plants which were in repute with
witches for working their marvels were reckoned as counter-charms, a
fact which is not surprising, as materials used by wizards and others for
magical purposes have generally been regarded as equally efficacious if
employed against their charms and spells.[2] Although vervain,
therefore, as the "enchanters' plant," was gathered by witches to do
mischief in their incantations, yet, as Aubrey says, it "hinders witches
from their will," a circumstance to which Drayton further refers when he
speaks of the vervain as "'gainst witchcraft much avayling." Rue,
likewise, which entered so largely into magic rites, was once much in
request as an antidote against such practices; and nowadays, when worn
on the person in conjunction with agrimony, maiden-hair, broom-straw,
and ground ivy, it is said in the Tyrol to confer fine vision, and to point
out the presence of witches.
It is still an undecided question as to why rue should out of all other
plants have gained its widespread reputation with witches, but M.
Maury supposes that it was on account of its being a narcotic and
causing hallucinations. At any rate, it seems to have acquired at an early