Green Folk of Venus in Libra - Dame’s Rocket
Before being a witch, I was an animist, and before that I thought little men lived under the broad leaves of Dock.
Our set of Venus in Libra offerings just dropped (with a few more goodies, too!), and I thought that I would create a series of posts as small profiles for the plant spirits involved in its concoction.
While I base my formulas on nearly a decade of magical practice, trafficking with spirits and herbal studies (including a certificate!), I am by no means a voice of authority on any of this, and I’ll leave it up to the likes of Cornelius Agrippa to dictate the definitive zodiacal and planetary attributions of these multi-faceted individuals. These plant profiles are just my personal understandings, musings, and experiences regarding these plants, and my reasoning for their use in our Venus in Libra magic.
Please feel free to share any thoughts or arguments in the comments, as I love to discuss all things botanical!
Check out the rest of our articles and plant profiles on the blog. I’ll be posting these guys as they come, so if you’d like to keep up make sure to take a look at our Instagram stories!
Dame’s Rocket
Hesperis Matronalis
By Willow - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7780307
Dame’s Rocket is a local, annual invasive known for its peculiar perfume reminiscent of Pinks, although it has a stronger note of Cloves. Its lofty perfume only makes itself known in the evening, the Greek word for which inspired its name, Hesperis. derives. However, the plant has long been appreciated by the likes of European dames such as Marie-Antoinette, who, according to legend, had bouquets of Dame’s Rocket, Pinks, and Tuberoses smuggled to her while she was imprisoned at the time of the French Revolution.
It arrived in America during the 17th century as an ornamental import, but its prolific seeding led to its naturalization soon after. It has reportedly seen some use in medicine as a diuretic and expectorant, as well as to induce sweating. Its leaves are also incredibly good against scurvy! As a wild edible, the buds of Dame’s Rocket make a wonderful, somewhat zingy fritter in the early spring. As a relative of Mustard, its seeds carry a fragrant oil which sometimes finds use in perfumery.
Dame’s Rocket is an obvious Venus plant, being closely related to the planet of love and beauty in more ways than one. Its rapidly-multiplying tendency and abundance of seeds also indicates a Mercurial leaning. To me, the spirit of Dame’s Rocket is a perfect representative of the geomantic figure of Puella; she is quick to please, releasing her perfume seemingly at once, and as a widespread annual with an invasive tendency, like Puella, it seeks to spread beauty and grace far and wide but without ever staying put. Its strong perfume attracts night pollinators, especially moths, and is often used in perfumery, but must be captured at just the right time, or it will fade by morning. It prefers cool, moist places — another Venusian quality.
Dame’s Rocket was an obvious choice when contemplating which botanicals to include in a Venus in Libra formula. It grows everywhere around here, it’s already in-tune with Venus, and it feels incredibly airy, along with its Mercurial accent which makes it a perfect match for Libra. It plays the role of anchor in our formula, both cementing and exemplifying the attributes of Venus in Libra. As such, it both attracts and emanates the pneuma of the Planet and its spirits, potentiating its effects.
Dame’s Rocket is easy to find in plenty in the Spring and early Summer, setting seed in early Autumn. The seed pods can be collected for use in Venusian spells, and the seeds added to love powders and charm bags.
This plant has great potential to become an aid to the witch. The whole body of the plant can be tinctured over the cold months, to which the earliest blooms of Spring should be added. This tincture is then reduced significantly by exposure to open air, during which time the bones of the plant should be separated into two portions — one to dry, one to moisten and leave in a sealed vessel for the span of an alchemical month. The dried portion is powdered and set aside, and after its digestion, the fermented portion is separated into its primary bodies; the liquid is evaporated, and any precipitate calcined. Set this ash aside. The solids are allowed to dry and powdered. Have also a handful of the dried blossoms, picked when their perfume is strongest.
When the Moon is dark, ideally in the day and hour of Venus, the powdered bones and ash are combined and moistened with the reduced tincture, honey, an egg white, and the blood of the practitioner. Keep the yolk as an offering to the soon-to-be-born familiar. From this paste fashion the image of a beautiful woman, and inscribe the name you have chosen to give her along her spine. Let this figure dry beneath a black cloth for a week’s time or more before baptizing her and breathing life into her by any means you prefer.
These plant familiars are incredibly helpful to the witch, being personified entities representing the whole of a plant’s powers and virtues, and can be made from any plant you’d like to have as a spiritual helper. Some lend themselves better to this work, and I find prolific, invasive plants to be the most willing. The power of these beings is somewhat limited to their locale, but the more prolific and widespread they are the more resources they have to draw on. That means plants that have a stronger impact on your landscape will also have much more power to draw on.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to see more, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi, or partaking in the Venus in Libra collection! Your support allows me to produce content and offerings and keep Kitchen Toad going, and I appreciate it more than I can express in writing.
Cheers,
Mahigan