Witches or pagans who use herbs in their spell work?

I used to have an herb bed and grew more, but now we’ve moved and all I have is a sunny porch, though I plan on planting some frequently used herbs this spring, I will have a much smaller selection.

I personally don’t think there are so many impurities in commercially grown herbs that they are useless. Sure if I can I like to know they are grown organically and where they came from, but in the end, no matter what got sprayed on them or what was fed to them, they are still from the Earth and will do.

No, I don’t grow or buy herbs for spells or rituals. If you are concerned about quality and health, I suggest you look to God’s Word in order to have the best health and highest quality life possible. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Since you are looking for all three, I think this answer will help you.

Question: “What is Wicca? Is Wicca witchcraft?”

Answer: Wicca is a neo-pagan religion that has been growing in popularity and acceptance in the United States and Europe. There are many websites and books claiming to teach “real” Wicca, but the truth is, there is no consensus amongst Wiccans as to what the religion is all about. The reason for this is that Wicca, as it is practiced now, is only about 50 years old. Wicca is a belief system that Briton Gerald Gardner cobbled together in the 1940’s and 1950’s from a variety of religious traditions and beliefs as well as Freemason rituals. Since Gardner published several books espousing his system of worship, many offshoots and variations of Wicca have sprung up. Some Wiccans are polytheistic, worshipping more than one deity, while others worship only the “God” or the “Goddess.” Still other Wiccans worship nature, and call it Gaea, after the Greek earth goddess. Some Wiccans pick and choose parts of Christian doctrine to embrace, while others totally reject Christianity. Most practitioners of Wicca believe in reincarnation.

Most Wiccans will vehemently deny that Satan is part of their pantheon, citing major doctrinal differences between themselves and Satanists. Wiccans generally promote moral relativity, disdaining labels like “good” and “evil” and “right” or “wrong.” Wicca has one law or rule, called the Rede: “Do what ye will, harm ye none.” At first blush, the Rede seems like complete, uninhibited personal license. You can do whatever you want, as long as no one gets hurt; however, Wiccans are quick to point out the ripple effect of one’s actions can carry far-reaching consequences. They articulate this principle in the Three-fold Law, which says: “All good that a person does to another returns three-fold in this life; harm is also returned three-fold.”

One major factor that contributes to the abiding fascination with Wicca is the purported use of spells and Magick (a deliberate misspelling intended to separate Wiccans from magicians and illusionists). Curiosity seekers, as well as spiritual neophytes, are most eager to delve into these mysteries. Not all Wiccans practice witchcraft, but those that do claim Magick is to them what prayer is to a Christian. The difference between the two is that Wiccans claim magick is simply using their minds to control matter, or they are appealing to their favorite deity to do them a favor, while Christians call upon an omnipotent, omnipresent God to heal people and to intervene and work in their lives. Because the Rede disallows witches from hurting others and the Three-fold Law spells out the consequences for Rede-breakers, witches who practice magick prefer to call themselves “nature witches” or “white witches” to further distance themselves from Satanists.

Wicca is basically a religion that is about minding your own business and living peaceably with your neighbors and environment. Wiccans are eager to draw parallels between themselves and biblical Christianity for the sake of earning credibility, but what does the Bible have to say about this religion? You won’t find the word “wicca” in the Bible, so let’s evaluate the beliefs in light of what God says about them.

Wicca spells are idolism—Romans 1:25 says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things, rather than the Creator…” Who wants to settle for second best? In Isaiah 40, God paints a picture of how much greater the Creator is than His creation. If you are worshipping anything besides the Creator, you are not only spinning your wheels, you are guilty of idolatry.

Wiccan spells bring false hope. Hebrews 9:27 says, “…Man is destined to die once, after that, to face judgment.” God says we get one chance at life, and that is it. There are no do-overs. If we don’t accept God’s gift of Jesus in our lifetime, He judges us as unwilling to be in His presence, and we are sent to hell.

Wiccan spells bring disillusionment. Mark 7:8 says, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” God is God, and we are not. We have a decision to make. Are we going to take God at His word and adopt His worldview, or are we not? Knowing God takes a lot of discipline. Wicca is a religion that takes a pack of lies, ties it in a romantic ribbon, and searches out a well-intentioned, but lazy and gullible mark to sell its hollow doctrines.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, “Let no one be found among you who… practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells…Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD…” Wicca witchcraft is a sin and God hates it. Why? Because it is an attempt to cut off our dependence on God and get answers apart from Him.

Sin isn’t just a heinous, socially disagreeable action. Sin is our decision to disagree with God on any topic—to rebel against Him. Sin is saying, “God, I want to live my life my way.” Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” This isn’t bodily death, this is spiritual death: eternal separation from God and all the blessings that His presence brings. This is the definition of hell: the absence of God’s presence. That is what our sin gains for us.

Thankfully, Romans 6:23 doesn’t end there. It goes on to say, “…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God knew that we would all rebel in one way or another, and he provided a way for us to avoid that separation—through faith in Jesus Christ. Wicca witchcraft is nothing more than another lie from Satan, the enemy of our souls, who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

I would love to grow them myself but that hasn’t been possible as of late. I have found that buying bulk herbs from a health food store is fine. You should be able to sense if the herbs aren’t good. Energetically, it will feel *icky* to you. Just hold a bit in your hand and feel it out.

There is nothing better than growing your own though and I don’t think that any store could duplicate that kind of energy for you. When you grow something from a seedling, till the soil and water it etc, you are putting your personal energy into it, your love…you are helping it to live and grow. So when the time comes for you to use the herbs, your personal energy is already in it, making it so much easier for the energy of the herbs to align with your intent. And you have formed a relationship with those herbs by caring for them. I see plants and herbs as living, powerful allies.

Damn, you make me want to move so I can grow an herb garden. I do have a small tree that I rescued from being thrown out though and we are good friends. I have been able to receive healing energies from it at times.

I have some that I grow myself and the rest I get from a store that a friend of mine (she’s a witch too) owns and runs. So I know the herbs I get from her are good.

Blessed Be )0(

Greetings!

We use plants and materials that are local. Exotics are not easily grown in some areas, but the window-box can be the answer. The materials found in stores must be suspect, but consecration will help.

A “Herbal exchange” would be great, as we grow, harvest, and prepare under strict rules and schedules-

The Storm Moon was spent at the grinder, putting together various tid-bits, and Libating, Libating, Libating!

/!\

We grow some, wild-harvest others, and buy a few of them at our local organics store. I know the folks that run the store, and I trust that they vet their suppliers fairly carefully. The Summer and Fall here are always busy gathering and growing times for us. I hunt and fish, as well as pick berries, and visit the local orchards, and the Ladies take wilderness treks to find other sorts of berries, tubers, herbs, bark and the like. We also have friends nearby who keep bee hives, so we purchase local honey, which we sometimes use in spells and workings, as well as mundane foods.

The herbs I use the most in both cooking and spell work are grown in my own garden. Sometimes I have no choice though but to buy them from elsewhere (for example, none of my lavender plants survived this past growing season long enough to produce flowers, due to some odd weather we had early on.)

There is a local organic farm run by trusted friends of the family that I can turn to for stuff I don’t or can’t grow on my own.

If I get something from any other source, than I consecrate the herbs for magical purposes.

gpz: What are you trying to say? Of course spells are for personal gain. But “personal gain” does not always = money, so I don’t know why you emphasize “job” here. If I’ve done a healing spell for a friend, I am gaining some comfort in knowing that my friend feels better. What is it you find so wrong with this? And why are you attempting to speak for all witches? This witch does not believe she is equal to the gods.

Wow – your excessive happiness with life since you’ve decided to give up all “this kind of crap” shines through in your comments here.

One Way! Jesus! – sooooo, everyone who believes in and obeys your God is in the best of health? I find this hard to believe. Nobody forced you to open this question and add your own answer which has nothing to do with it – why couldn’t you just have skipped over it and moved on?

Since you’re okay with unsolicited advice – here’s some for you. Unsolicited proselytizing helps nobody. And if you insist on proselytizing, then focus on the facts and the benefits of your religion instead of giving misinformation about other religions you know little to nothing about. Also, don’t assume that those of us who choose not to be Christian have done so because we haven’t read the Bible, or we haven’t heard what you folks say is “the word of God”, or that we haven’t studied Christianity at all – that is far from the truth for many of us. Really, you only make yourself look stupid here.

I try to grow my own as much as possible.
When you mention pure, do you mean unadulterated? If anything other than the herb were present, it would have to be listed on the container.
Or do you mean pesticide and herbicide free? Have to buy organic.