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Turn to these scentful helpmates to help you deal with anxiety, respiratory ailments, headaches and so much more. Sure, they smell good and even feel good on your skin but how do they really work to ameliorate depression, anxiety, lungs, heart rate, skin conditions and so many other issues? A German study conducted by Ruhr University found that “essential oils may affect a number of biological factors, including heart rate, stress levels, blood pressure, breathing, and immune function." Essential oils are unique in that they can be both a stimulant and soothing for us humans. The same oil can have cause a different response based on the application as these oils are adaptogens, as they truly adapt to the your individual needs. If you are feeling down in the dumps, for example, bergamot can be a major pick me up and one I have depended on for years. My clients and I have come to depend on the power of these natural healers for dealing with stress, anxiety, worry and woe.

There is an old saying, “if you can’t love yourself, how the heck can you love somebody else?” This admittedly cheeky statement actually hold a lot of truth but the bottom line is everything starts with self love, your health, yourself esteem, your relationships your success and your happiness. Even if you had a less than ideal childhood, it is never too late to esteem yourself and watch as everything makes a turn for the better, And quickly. Making a daily ritual of this will weave this strand of personal empowerment into your life and make sure it is grows sure and strong.

Sanctifying Salve

Different kinds of tea can combine to make a powerful concoction. A pot of your favorite grocer’s black tea can become a magical potion with the addition of a thin slice of ginger root, a pinch of dried chamomile and the same amount of peppermint tea. This ambrosial brew can calm any storm at home or at work. Herbal tea nourishes the soul, heals the body and calms the mind. Try these:

Blackberry leaf tea reduces mood swings, evens glucose levels aiding in weight management. This miraculous herbal even helps circulation and such issues as inflammation and varicose veins. It is helpful to cancer patients and is believed to be a preventative.

Even if you have the opposite of a green thumb, you can grow aloe. And you should. We have an aloe plant in our kitchen. It is very sturdy and I even left it out n the porch recently and can now attest aloe withstand freezing temperatures all the way to 120 degrees, and it’s pretty hard to over water or under-water, it is the perfect plant for beginners to start growing.

Besides being a great introductory houseplant, aloe contains ample amounts of vitamins and minerals including vitamins A, C, E, B, folic acid and choline. Potassium, calcium, selenium, iron and 8 of the essential amino acids are all richly found within this super plant. We probably all know aloe as a summer necessity, but with all of these nutrients, it is no surprise the aloe plant offers many physical and mental health benefits.

Here are some commonly used herbs and the runes that correspond with them. Reminder: this is gnosis, not lore, and none of this is set in stone. If your gnosis differs, go with that. If this doesn't resonate with you, go with your gut.

Oak and ash and thorn, from the folk song, can be interpreted in many ways. Giving it a heathen interpretation, Oak is Odin's or Thor's, representing the higher worlds. Ash is Askr's. Askr was the first man, according to heathen mythology, along with the first woman Embla. Ash represents midgard, the human world, or could represent the world-tree which connects the worlds to each other. Thorn is one of the names of rune known in the Elder Futhark as Thurisaz. It can represent either the thurses, that is the giants, or Thor, but here it represents the thurses, the lower worlds or lower dimensions.

This is gnosis. Here on Gnosis Diary I post a lot of gnosis, but also stories that happened in my life, and general Asatru info, so to be clear: the following is my personal gnosis about correspondences and with different aspects of working with herbs and runes. This information may be at odds with other peoples' gnosis. When it comes to gnosis, let intuition be your guide. Some things will just feel like they flow easily, or are just right, and other things will feel unapproachable, or warm or cold. If you feel like a different thing will work better for you, or your working group or guides or gods have given you something different, then go with what works for you. When you receive gnosis of your own, you can practice discernment, ask if others have the same gnosis, check with your usual powers which help you, look for omens, etc. None of this is set in stone.

Mention asafetida among a group of pagans, and someone—probably the newbie who's still trying to establish credibility—will be sure to wrinkle up her nose and say: “Ooo, that really stinks!”

She's referencing, of course, asafetida's long-standing reputation as a demonofuge. If you want to get rid of that pesky demon that you've (for whatever reason) conjured up, toss some asafetida on the coals in the censer, and just watch it dematerialize. Or whatever it is that they do.

(Now, to me, this seems counter-intuitive. One would think that demons, of all critters, would like stinky. Just goes to show how much I know about Ceremonial Magic. Or demons, for that matter.)

Even the name is stinky: Latin asa, 'gum,' + fetida, 'smelly' (cp. fetid).

In fact, asafetida is no stinkier than onions or garlic. I know because I eat it all the time.

Like most witches, I have a strong affinity for Indian food. (This makes a roundabout kind of sense; after all, what's the national food of Britain? Curry, of course.) Once used in medieval medicine, asafetida is now primarily a seasoning used in South Asian cooking.

In India, really pure vegetarians avoid—for Ayurvedic reasons—onions and garlic in their cooking, but some preparations really do require that certain foetor: hence asafetida, or hing as it's known in Hindi.

More than 20 years ago, a coven-sib gave me a pound-weight bag of asafetida that he'd bought and realized he had no use for. (Just why he bought it in the first place, I've never thought to ask.) Anyway, these decades later, I'm finally coming to the end of it. Thanks, Robin, why-ever you bought it, for the gift that has kept on giving.

I'm not sure how many grams a year that comes out to, but I suppose this fact goes some way to explaining why I smell the way I do. And—presumably—why I've had so few problems with demons down the years.