UNCVLTURED: Volume Three

Following photo and article by Rose @rosa-nitida Mullein: The Silent Witching Plant If you have ever traveled past disused fields, gravely road sides, or sandy hiking trails in the heat of summer, you may have encountered mullein without being aware of it– though once it’s been identified it isn’t a plant you’re likely to forget. While it can be small and unassuming with its silvery, fuzzy leaves in its first year, mullein can grow over six feet tall with a strong central stalk and bright yellow flowers in the second year of its biennial lifespan. A part of the Scrophulariaceae, or ‘figwort’, family, at least five species have naturalized in North America– verbascum thapsus and verbascum densiflorum being the most prolific in New England in particular. Folk names for mullein include flannel leaf, beggar’s blanket, felt-wort, candlewick plant, and hag’s taper. Mullein draws its roots from Europe, North Africa, and Asia, having most likely arrived in North America from seeds that hitched a ride over on colonial vessels. The earliest fossil records of verbascum thapsus seeds were discovered in the Cromer Forest Bed in Norfolk, England, marking that particular species as half a million to two million years old.

Medically speaking, mullein has been used to treat a litany of ailments. The leaves, roots, and flowers can all be used in folk medicine. Mullein is an expectorant, nervous sedative, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and acts as a tonic for the urinary system and connective tissue. When smoked or inhaled as a steam, the leaves (once the hairs are removed so as to not cause further irritation) are used to remove mucus and accumulated gunk in the lungs. The leaves can also be made into a warm tea in order to calm the body before sleep. In Ireland in particular, the leaves were often steeped in milk and drunk as a treatment for tuberculosis. Fresh leaves can be applied to the area of a bone fracture while you’re on the way to the doctor in order to reduce pain and inflammation around the break. A tincture created from the root will treat incontinence and frequent urination, while olive oil infused with the flowers will, when dropped into the ear, soothe the pain of ear aches, aid in clearing infection, and can assist in loosening compacted wax.

Mullein isn’t just limited to its medical uses. It has been used ritualistically and in magic since at least the time of Ancient Rome, where the stalks were dipped in tallow and set alight as funerary torches.

While it was also used as tinder to ignite mundane fires as well, the use in funeral rites is what has earned mullein its lasting association with the dead. In my personal practice I classify mullein as being both solar and saturnine, as it is useful not only for necromantic and apotropaic endeavors, but it also comes in handy as an ingredient in magic that requires illumination such as uncovering information, tracking down thieves, and recovering lost items. Lending to its saturnine aspect, mullein can be used in exorcising demons, an empowering agent for graveyard dirt, and can aid in returning the spirit of one who has been bewitched. The root, when tossed into the water, is known to be used as a folk charm to lure and subsequently stun fish.

In my experience, mullein is fairly easy to woo as far as saturnine plants go. It commands respect but doesn’t require the same level of flattery and courtship as many of the more classical witching plants such as hawthorn, elder, and the nightshades do. Standard offerings of milk, water, alcohol, olive oil, and homemade foodstuffs during the waning or new moon go a long way in establishing a relationship with the spirit of mullein. If you’re lucky, you may end up with a plant which takes on a role similar to that of an alraun.

Once a relationship is established, mullein asserts itself as an indispensable plant ally. Sometimes that which is seen as a weed is worth a second look after all.

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