CHAMOMILE

GENERAL INFORMATION
German and Roman chamomile is the most common chamomile flower and herb. It has several medicinal uses. You can eat them or put them in a drink. Use them as incense or as a simple decoration, such as a centerpiece on your dining table, once they are dried out or picked fresh from the garden.

NAMES
Chamomilla (chamomile) means ground apple in Greece. The flower is called manzanilla in Spain, which also means little apple. Te’ de Manzanilla in Mexico spanish for the chamomile tea.

ORIGINS
An English botanist found the chamomile flower growing in the wild and took it back to England, and it is now one of the most common chamomiles cultivated.

HISTORY
Some of the histories of the chamomile herb/flower started in ancient Greece. The Egyptians would grind down the flowers into a powder and use them as makeup/cosmetics. It was added to shampoos by the horsemen to add luster to their hair. In the medieval era, the flower petals were thrown around on the ground during marriage ceremonies to create a beautiful area and make a pleasant aroma. The U.S.A. has been producing chamomile tea since about the 1980s. It comes in tea bags and loose tea forms.

HORTICULTURE
You can plant chamomile in your garden and around other plants that may be ill and droopy. Chamomile will help to make them look better and perk up. Chamomile prefers the sun but will tolerate some shade in hotter climates of the world. In between getting drenched, it likes some dryness. When planting the seeds, do not bury them too deep in the ground. The seeds flourish when the sun can kiss the seeds. Chamomile would do well, being started in a clear container. It would make it easier for the sun to get to it. Once sprouted, place it in the ground root side down. When it is time to harvest, pinch off the flower head just below the shoulder when it is in full bloom. You can harvest chamomile all summer since they bloom fast all summer long. Once you have gathered some flowers, you can rinse the heads under cold water to remove any dust or dirt, let them sit out to dry off and dry out. Once they are dry, put the heads in an air-tight container and store them year-round. Some chamomile can grow up to two feet tall.

CULINARY
Chamomile is found in grocery stores and online in bulk for reasonable prices. You can also purchase this great tea in some metaphysical shops in loose form for an average price of one dollar a teaspoon which is a great price and fair. Metaphysical shops rarely price gouge their clientele. If you grow your chamomile, that is awesome. Once they are dried out and stored, you can use them to make tea. Crumble the flower heads and place them in a filter, and brew in a coffee pot. Or, if you have a tea ball, put it in the ball and drop it in the cup of hot water. You only need about a teaspoon of crumbled chamomile per cup. The chamomile leaves are also used for tea. They are a little bitter, so you may want to use a little sweetener. German chamomile makes many seeds, and they will wind up everywhere if you dont stay up on clipping and cultivating. You could end up with chamomile all over your property.

MEDICINAL
Chamomile helps to alleviate intestinal diseases that are digestive system-related. People have started using it as a natural sleep aid, combined with lavender, and helps you go into a deep sleep, Use chamomile, milk, and honey for an upset stomach. If you add black sage(mugwort) to it, you will have a deep sleep with prophetic dreams. For this tea to be decaffeinated, it has many beneficial properties and holds a solid natural sweetness. Chamomile was used as a cure for a fever, referred to as ague.

Essential oils were made from this herb to preserve the deceased. Similar to what embalming fluid does nowadays. Chamomile also assists in lifting your spirits if you are feeling down or depressed, and also if you are excited or experiencing anxiety, it helps to calm your nervousness. Chamomile brings peace and tranquility. You can use the used tea bags under your eyes to reduce soreness and alleviate the puffiness from them. Or you could pour some tea on a washrag and place the rag on your eyes in place of the tea bags.

MAGICAL
Chamomile, although it helps in magickal training, a lot of witches use it to make essential oils out of it for folk medicine. Ancient witches understood the properties of this herb and knew how to use it to change energies over in the use of magic. There is no limit to the magickal uses of chamomile. One way that is very useful and popular is chamomile teas. Add in some sweetener and start humming a lovely chant for abundance or for a friend’s abdominal area to heal and stop hurting. If you sprinkle a little chamomile over a grave, this will help the spirit of a deceased one to rest and sleep. Have you ever stuffed dream pillows or sachets to solve chronic insomnia? Chamomile is a light, pleasant scent that makes it easy to fall asleep, and you can mix it with mugwort in a pillow or a dream bag to bring prophetic dreams.

If you enjoy making homemade body and hand soaps, add a little chamomile, rosemary, and mint to it. The soap gives a great feminine sweet smell, and the rosemary mint combination gives a magickal cleansing and protection to your life every time you wash your hands or bathe with it. It wards off evil spirits and ill will individuals you cross every day. So why not ward off that evil, hateful neighbor or co-worker that sits across from you.

Are you a kitchen witch? Do you love the thought of making homemade candles where so much more intention and heart go into them, and it maximizes their magical strengths? So why not make that beautiful pink and red candle. Drop some chamomile, cinnamon, and dehydrated green apples into your motor and pestle and grind away, mixing the intention and purpose into the ingredients as your wax is melting down. Once you have your wax and herbs ready to be combined, start adding the powdered herbs into your wax (sing your spell). Pour out the melted wax into a mixing tray on top of the parchment or wax paper. Lay your wick in the wax a few inches from each other. Let the wax cool and become soft; as long as the wax is soft and does not stick to your fingers, you can start cutting the wax into candle strips. The candle is complete.

You can use chamomile mixed with sunflowers and calendula and st johns wort for a sun ritual and charge your magickal tools. Pace the chamomile in a child’s room with some rosemary for protection and happy dreams. Make a cleansing mop wash or an elixir to wash your doors and windows. Just add a little mint and rosemary to it and remove all negativity and ill will left behind by anyone and prevent it from being brought in when they show up again.

When you place them in the jar, if you wish to pour some sand in the bottom to absorb the melted wax or have a lot of witches’ black protection powder, sprinkle that in with the sand and place your candle in it. The sand should be thick enough to hold the candle up. Make sure the jar you are going to use is a tad taller than the candle. Chamomile also holds magical properties associated with prosperity, growth, confidence, good luck, money, praying for love, and avoiding negativity.

NEEDED ITEMS
You will need a yellow candle, dried powdered chamomile, powdered rosemary, powdered mint, and black sage: an old saucepot, a burner for the pot, and water. Fill the pot about halfway with water while the candle is sitting in the pot, tie a string to the wick, tie the other end of the string to a pencil, roll the extra string around the pencil, and lay it on the top candle jar. This step keeps the wick from falling into the jar and keeps the wick centered. Let the candle meltdown, and then add the herbs to it. Take the candle out of the pot and let it sit to harden. Once it has hardened, use a blowdryer to fill in the air pocket that is created from the candle hardening. Once it has dried and become solid, say this spell over the candle.

SPELL
I say this rhyme to bring forth the chime of rhyme and time when the clock strikes two, I call to you, the sight that I hum for me, I rhyme for the time to have a relaxing time, I call to the universe to bring a calm night for the rights I send out tonight for the peace I long to have. As I will this into existence, so mote it be.

ELEMENTS
Sun, masculine, Leo, sun gods, goddesses Helios, Apollo, Amaterasu.