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Deadly Nightshade, Belladonna, Atropa Belladonna, Ancient, Powerful Witching Herb
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Deadly Nightshade, Belladonna, Atropa Belladonna, Ancient, Powerful Witching Herb
By Ina Woolcott
An ancient and powerful witching herb
All continents, apart from Antarctica, have seen Belladonna and similar
alkaloids used by shamans, witches and sorcerers for thousands of years, who
take advantage of the sensations of leaving their bodies, to access
alternate realities to gleam wisdom, to fly through the air or to
shapeshift into an animal by a shift in consciousness. It has been suggested
that this is where the witches riding on brooms legend was started. The
shamans and others who used Belladonna throughout the centuries were not
looking to get high - they wanted to leave their minds and/or bodies and
travel on a different path that few people are able to handle, either
physically or mentally.
The word nightshade stems from the Medieval practice of some Italian women
using eye drops made from this plant to dilate their pupils, and give the
eyes a bright, glistening appearance. Large pupils at this time were
considered a sign of feminine beauty, because dilated pupils were considered
more attractive as pupils usually dilate when a person is aroused, thus
making eye contact much more intense than it already is. This is where the
name bella donna, beautiful woman, comes from. It had the side effect
of making their vision a little blurry and making their heart rates
increase. Prolonged usage was reported to have resulted in blindness. The
juice of the berries was used to stain the skin a dark purplish colour.
This plant species is also named after the Greek word Atropos, the name of
one of the three mythical fates controlling when humans died. She was
considered the most fierce and inflexible of the 3 fates, her sole purpose
being to cut the threads of life with the shears she always carried with
her.
The ancient Greeks knew of the psychoactive and sensory effects of this
plant, and it was believed to have been added to the wine of Bacchanals to
give it a legendary potency. The maenods of the orgies of Dionysus would
take Belladonna, either throwing themselves at male worshippers or tearing
them apart and eating them
It can be deduced, theoretically, from the extensive references to the use
of herbs, belonging to the nightshade family, in medieval texts, that these
were frequently used to induce hallucinations and for recreational purposes.
Belladonna is one of the most important hexing herbs of days long gone. It
was one of the main ingredient in witches brews during the Middle ages,
often being associated with aggressive female sexuality. A flying ointment
was made from Belladonna together with other plants. This was then applied
to women’s bodies causing them to feel erotic sensations and hallucinate. The
'witches' would 'fly' to the Sabbath in this condition to participate in
orgies with demons. It was thought that the ingestion of Belladonna would
give witches the ability to 'fly' to far off places. This was probably in
reference to consciousness going to alternate realities and experiencing
what they found there. Experiments have shown that the sensation of flight,
in the mind, is common with subjects under the influence of solanaceous
compounds, similar to what seems to have been experienced by 'witches'.
Legends tell of Belladonna being cared for by the Devil, that every night
apart from one he spends tending his plants. He has exclusive rights to
planting and harvesting the herb. Yearly on his one night off, Walpurgis
night, he leave his herbs to prepare for the witches' Sabbath.
It has also been suggested that the original witch hunts were brought about
by the increased use of these herbs by those deemed peasants, and the
decline in the churches control over the populace.
Belladonna was used during the middle ages to torture people until they
confessed. The victim would be weakened and confused, not sure of what was
real or fantasy, what they had really done or had simply imagined. Many
false confessions were given because of this, with a lot of innocent people
being convicted of crimes they had not committed.
This plant has a long history of being used as a poison, being called dwale.
This name was either a derivative of the French word deuil, for grief or
sorrow, or from the Scandinavian word dool, for delay or sleep.
During the time of Duncan I of Scotland's reign ( around A.D. 1035 ), a
whole army of invading Danes led by King Sven of Norway were poisoned and
defeated by Belladonna. There are contradictory tales as to whether the
Danes were poisoned by eating a meal that had been laced with Belladonna, or
by drinking a liquor containing its infusion.
In earlier times still, the troops of Marcus Antonius were apparently
poisoned by Belladonna during the Parathion wars.
Roman priests were known to have ingested Belladonna before praying to
Bellona, their Goddess of War, for a victory in battle.
A veneficae, someone who specialises in botanical drugs ) frequently uses
belladonna as an ingredient in poisons giving their black art the name of
veneficium.
Belladonna was listed in several pharmacopoeias, until 1788 when is was
removed. It was added again in 1809. Up until 1860 it was used medicinally
in England as an anodyne liniment, a fluid capable of soothing or
eliminating pain.. During this time it was also used as an antidote for
opium overdose, or for chloroform or Calabar bean poisoning.
A liniment, salve/cream or plaster was used to help ease the effects of gout
and rheumatism and to counter neuralgia. Angina was treated by applying a
plaster to the chest area, as well as being smoked to relieve asthma. It is
reported that children were frequently given large doses to oppose the
effects of whooping cough and false croup without adverse reactions.
Belladonna was also used as a cure-all, before antibiotics were discovered.
It was used to treat pneumonia, sore throat, scarlet fever, typhoid fever,
infection and even cancer. A concoction of lead, Belladonna and salicylic
acid was used to treat sprains, as well as being a cure for bunions and
corns. Atropine is very fat soluble and was frequently used in salves and
plasters applied to the skin.
Related link:
Deadly Nightshade, Belladonna, Atropa Belladonna, Aphrodisiac, Relieves Urinary Tract Irritation
Deadly Nightshade, Belladonna, Atropa Belladonna, Dangerous Hallucinogen
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