Banishing Evil With Plants
Atlas Obscura offers some insights into how to best banish evil using what they term as edible plants. I would say that of the three, I would only ingest garlic. The other two could seem to have poisonous properties. But it seems from the article that you needn't actually eat any of these - just wear or hang them around. Check out other options here.
GARLIC
Garlic is a vampire repellent as tried-and-true as silver bullets and sunlight. It’s even used in the American tropics to ward off vampire bats. But why do vampires hate garlic so much? One theory claims that the blood disease porphyria inspired the original European vampire tales. Porphyria’s symptoms are worsened by both garlic and sunlight, which might cause sufferers to avoid them. However, this fails to take into account that garlic has widely been viewed as effective against the supernatural in general, and even non-supernatural misfortune like robbery or wild animal attacks.
The plant’s medicinal properties might explain why garlic was considered protective, and may also explain the vampire connection. Garlic contains the antibiotic compound allicin, and its positive effects on the immune system have long been recognized. Before modern literature like Dracula established the trope of the genteel, aristocratic vampire, the creatures were more associated with filth and disease than glamor. Outbreaks of tuberculosis and other illnesses were sometimes blamed on vampires, as occurred in the “New England vampire panic” of the late 19th century. An ingredient that helps cure sickness is a logical choice to keep away the beings that were believed to cause it. Another reason for garlic’s evil-averting reputation might be its overpowering smell, a feature it shares with other protective herbs like rue.
How to Use It: Wear it around your neck, carry a clove in your pocket, or hang strings or wreaths of bulbs near doorways or windows
Where to Find It: Your local grocery store
RUE
Rue’s complex, citrusy bitterness, reminiscent of blood orange, made it a popular ingredient in Medieval Europe, and the Ancient Romans were positively obsessed with rue-laced sauces, salads, and marinades. But today, the herb has largely fallen out of favor because it’s toxic in large quantities. This applies to medicinal more than culinary use; in dishes, a little rue goes a very long way due to its intense flavor. In modern Ethiopia, rue is still used to aromatize coffee, and may be included in the spice mixture berbere.
Fortunately, there’s no medical warning against rue’s other major historical use: magical protection. In Early Modern England, rue had such positive associations that it was used to sprinkle holy water at Christian masses and known as the “herb of grace,” as Ophelia states in Hamlet. A sprig of rue could be carried on one’s person or hung over a bed or doorway, and the plant itself could be grown by the door to prevent evil witches from passing. Rue could also be included in a “witch bottle.” These protective charms were made by sealing a tiny bottle filled with one’s own urine, along with items meant to symbolically hurt any witch who tried to harm the bottle’s maker, such as a piece of rue or sharp pins.
How to Use It: Place a live rue plant near a doorway, carry a pinch of it in your pocket, or make a witch bottle or a protective wand. Rue may be burned as incense in rituals of purification, which is also the most common use for “Syrian rue.”
Where to Find It: Specialty herbal medicine shops or online vendors. It’s easier to find dried rue than fresh nowadays due to its use in traditional medicine. However, I have seen live rue plants for sale at flower shops in New York City’s Flushing Chinatown.
HAWTHORN
Along with rowan, hawthorn was regarded as one of the most magical trees in European folklore. Haw comes from the Old English word for “hedge,” and because the tree was grown for boundary-marking hedges, it was believed to form a barrier against evil. In the Balkans, the stakes driven into the hearts of corpses to prevent them from becoming vampires were traditionally carved from hawthorn wood. ABC News reported that the inhabitants of one Serbian village were sharpening hawthorn stakes for this purpose as recently as 2012.
In Central Europe and Britain, hawthorn branches were hung over doorways for protection well into the 19th century. However, the flowers of hawthorn were also associated with death in British folklore because they smell like rotting flesh, thanks to the chemical trimethylamine, which is found in both. It was believed that bringing hawthorn flowers inside a home would bring tragedy to the family, and hawthorn was even known as “mother-die,” a name also used for several poisonous plants.
But far from being poisonous, hawthorn’s crunchy, apple-like fruits have a tart flavor and a high vitamin content. Eaten throughout the Northern Hemisphere, hawthorn fruit was so important to early settlers of Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada that locals are still known as “haw-eaters.” In Mexico, whole hawthorn fruits (tejocotes) are a key ingredient in Christmas punch, while in China, they are skewered and dipped in crunchy sugar to make the street snack tanghulu.
How to Use It: Stake vampires with hawthorn wood, or hang branches or wreaths of hawthorn above the doorway (but don’t bring the flowers inside)
Where to Find It: Various species of hawthorn grow wild in North America, Europe, and Asia. Assuming that the powers of the tree extend to its fruit, a Chinese grocery store might be your best bet to find commercial products made with hawthorn. These include soft drinks and filled pastries as well as candies like “Haw Flakes:” crumbly, coin-shaped discs of dried hawthorn often regarded as a nostalgic classic. But can a roll of Haw Flakes hung over your door keep away evil spirits in the same way as a wreath of fresh hawthorn boughs? It can’t hurt to try.