Banned Herbs in European History

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Perfect. Let’s open a sacred scroll of truth long buried —
🌿📜 Scroll 082: Banned Herbs in European History
Filed under: Apothecary Shadows • Witchcraft Persecution Archives • Sacred Plant Reclamation

⚖️ Why Were Herbs Banned?

From the 13th to 17th centuries, certain plants were labeled as dangerous, heretical, or demonic — not because of their harm, but because of their power. These herbs were often linked to:

Women’s reproductive control (menstruation, abortion, fertility)
Altered states (entheogens and trance work)
Folk healing that bypassed Church-sanctioned authority
Pagan rituals, lunar ceremonies, and midwifery practices

Such herbs became dangerous not to the body, but to the dominant power structure.

🧪🌿 Notable Banned or Feared Herbs

Each herb below was feared, restricted, or associated with witches, midwives, or “heretical” healing.

🟣 1. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Use: Dream enhancement, moon rituals, menstruation regulation
Banned: Associated with lunar deities and prophecy, mugwort was considered a “witch’s plant” in many regions.
Hidden Truth: It may have aided lucid dreaming and cycle regulation — too much knowledge for peasant women.

🖤 2. Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade)

Use: Visionary trance, pain relief, ritual flight ointments
Banned: Its hallucinogenic and toxic properties made it infamous. Witches allegedly used it to “fly.”
Hidden Truth: Used in flying ointments and vision-inducing brews — deeply tied to esoteric initiations.

🟥 3. Rue (Ruta graveolens)

Use: Fertility control, spellbreaking, protection
Banned: Considered a tool of witches for both curses and blessings.
Hidden Truth: Midwives and cunning women used rue to both prevent conception and ward off possession.

🌕 4. Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium)

Use: Menstrual stimulant, abortifacient, sacred women’s herb
Banned: Its use in inducing menstruation/abortion made it a threat to Church control over women's bodies.
Hidden Truth: One of the most powerful and feared plants in women’s herbal traditions.

🌿 5. Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum)

Use: Sedative, aphrodisiac, ritual magic
Banned: Associated with demonic roots and screaming spirits.
Hidden Truth: Said to grow under gallows, harvested with rituals — sacred in both Christian and pre-Christian rites.

🩸 6. Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa)

Use: Labor induction, menopausal relief, menstrual support
Banned: Not outright banned but suppressed and removed from many public pharmacopeias.
Hidden Truth: Sacred to female mystery rites; called “squaw root” by Native peoples, later adopted and silenced.

🧿 7. Datura (Datura stramonium)

Use: Visionary work, spiritual communication
Banned: Labeled as witchcraft and madness-inducing
Hidden Truth: Used to enter trance-states — but dangerous when used without precise ritual knowledge.

🔥 8. Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger)

Use: Pain relief, spirit communication, necromantic rituals
Banned: Feared for its psychoactive properties — especially when used with belladonna or mandrake.
Hidden Truth: Believed to aid in communing with the dead, common in solstice and Samhain rites.

⚔️ The Witch-Herb Connection

During the Inquisitions and Witch Trials, possession of these herbs — even dried or unlabeled — could result in:

Arrest
Torture
Accusation of sorcery
Death

Herbs became evidence of heresy. Many wise women (and some men) were executed simply for possessing plant knowledge.

🕯️ A Prayer for the Silenced Garden

To the herbalists burned for tending the womb,
To the roots once buried under ash,
To the seeds of freedom disguised as weeds,
We name you again.
And with this naming, we reclaim your knowledge.