The Magic of Flowers: A Guide to Their Metaphysical Uses & Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2013

Geranium
The Flowers

Geranium absolutely sings with positivity and magical power. In addition to being beautiful and (as my dad once put it) “bulletproof” additions to any patio or yard, geranium wields a ton of magical properties, and she expresses all of them with reliability and potency. It’s truly hard to think of a more useful or versatile magical ally.

Magical Uses

Exorcism

Geranium’s bright and cheerful vibration is a powerful deterrent and repellent to negativity of all forms, including unsavory entities. To keep ghosts and other forms of negativity out of your home, place pots of geranium in your yard. (Red ones are best for this purpose.) You can also employ fresh red geranium flowers in exorcism rituals such as the following.

EXORCISM RITUAL

While the moon is waning, during the day (preferably when the sun is out), obtain one white jar candle for each room/area in your home. Place each one on a plate and surround the candle in a circle of sea salt. Place each candle and plate in a central location in each room/area and light. As you light each candle, center your mind and say:

With the lighting of this candle, I now request that any and all earthbound entities and stagnant energy patterns go into the light or out the door.

Then stand in a central location. Visualize a sphere of golden-white light completely surrounding and encompassing your home. Place spring or well water in a glass bowl, hold the bowl in sunlight for thirty seconds to a minute (skip this step if the sun is not out), then go back inside. In any way that feels right to you, say a quick prayer asking for divine assistance to escort any earthbound entities or stagnant energy into the light or out the door. Also ask that your bowl of water be blessed and filled with divine light. Then, using a freshly cut red geranium blossom on a stem, fling a small amount of water throughout each room/area of the home while moving generally in a counterclockwise direction. When this feels complete, say a quick prayer of thanks. Pour any remaining water at the base of a tree, and place the geranium blossom there too. Allow the candles to continue to burn for at least an hour, then flush the sea salt down the toilet, dispose of the remains of the candles, and wash your hands.

Other ways to employ geranium for personal or residential exorcisms include adding geranium essence or essential oil to a mister of water or rose water and misting yourself, a loved one, or your home; diffusing geranium essential oil in your home; or anointing yourself or a loved one with geranium essential oil.

Goddess Energy and Feminine Healing

Considering geranium’s powerful, goddesslike energy, it should come as no surprise that many aromatherapists think of geranium as the essential oil for feminine health challenges. For example, in Aromatherapy for Everyone, authors P. J. Pierson and Mary Shipley suggest the following:

For cellulite, premenstrual syndrome, and menopause, mix twenty drops [geranium essential oil] in one ounce of carrier oil and massage on body. For cellulite, massage on affected areas. For premenstrual syndrome and menopause, massage on abdomen and back, paying extra attention to the lower back region.

Additionally, geranium—in her blossom, oil, or essence form—can help with magical objectives relating to getting in touch with our goddess energy and the feminine aspect of the Divine (a.k.a. the Goddess). The common varieties of geranium relate to the strong, healing, and protective aspects of the Goddess (think Isis), while rose geraniums and some of the other hybrids possess a softer, more receptive, and more Venuslike vibration.

Happy Home

All of geranium’s magical aspects lend themselves to a happy home: her vibration is at once grounding, nurturing, loving, strengthening, protective, morale boosting, and powerfully positive. Try placing potted geraniums in a few locations around the outside of your home to infuse your household with peace, love, health, harmony, and happiness. To strengthen the effect, you might take a moment to commune with each plant, requesting her assistance with this intention.

Health and Healing

Since geranium is brimming with life-force energy, she can help our bodies, minds, and spirits reacquaint themselves with their innate healing wisdom and their natural state of vibrant health. It should come as no surprise, then, that—as author Scott Cunningham writes in his Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs—

Curanderos (shamanic/folk healers) in contemporary Mexico cleanse and heal patients by brushing them with red geraniums, together with fresh rue and pepper tree branches.

As rue and pepper tree branches are not always readily available, you might try this curandero-inspired healing ritual on yourself or a loved one:

AURA BRUSHING FOR HEALTH AND HEALING

On the full moon or when the moon is waning, ideally outdoors in full sunlight (but it’s okay if this isn’t possible), using a small amount of red cotton yarn, tie a few fresh red geranium blossoms together with a few sprigs of fresh rosemary. Stand comfortably on the earth, consciously relaxing your body and mind. Take some deep breaths and then, starting at your head and moving downward, gently brush your aura with the bundle by holding it about six to twelve inches above your skin. Imagine you are sloughing off negativity and stagnation and refreshing yourself with beautiful bright light and life-force energy. If you are doing this for a loved one, follow the same directions but have them relax in a similar way, then brush their aura for them. When this feels complete, visualize yourself (or your loved one) in a sphere of golden-white light. In any way that feels right to you, say a quick prayer or invocation for vibrant health and overall well-being. Express gratitude to the Divine. Finish by releasing the bundle in a moving body of water or at the base of a tree.

Heart Healing

Whenever grief or heartbreak is an issue, geranium can be an invaluable ally. Try planting her in one or more pots or window boxes outside your home and lovingly caring for her. Choose a variety that speaks to your heart. Here is a general guide to the specific heart-healing properties of a few geranium varieties:

White: purifying (for when we feel guilty or unclean)

Red: strengthening, rallying

Pink: a reminder that life is sweet; heart healing related to friendships

Purple/Lavender/Violet: creativity, healing to the spirit and inner child

Multi-Colored Petals: helps soothe grief after the loss of a loved one

Rose: heart-opening, receptive, romantic healing, strengthens self-love and self-esteem

Nutmeg: warming, healing to creativity and inner child

Mint: refreshing, renewing

Once you’ve planted your geraniums, it can be especially helpful to periodically sit in quiet contemplation with them and allow their strength to surround your heart and permeate your spirit. Additionally, you might like to take two to three drops geranium essence under the tongue or in water twice per day or to diffuse or wear geranium or rose geranium essential oil; be sure to dilute these with a carrier oil if you have sensitive skin.

Love

Through healing our spirit and grounding us in a feeling of safety and present-moment awareness, geranium can help us experience romantic love and sensual pleasure. Gabriel Mojay, author of Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit, describes this energetic effect nicely when he writes:

[Geranium] oil’s exotic, floral, and slightly spicy aroma is reflected in its well-known aphrodisiac effect—an effect that relates to its intrinsically sensual, liberating nature. Nourishing the feminine creativity of the Intellect…and the still, receptive aspect of the Will...geranium oil is ideal for the workaholic perfectionist—for the person who has forgotten imagination, intuition, and sensory experience.

All these effects are important prerequisites to harmonious intimacy and romantic love. Additionally, rose geranium—with her soft, heart-opening, love goddess vibration—can help us summon and open ourselves more deeply to romantic love. Try taking the essence, diffusing or wearing the essential oil, placing pots of geranium in your yard, having a heart-to-heart with a geranium, or employing her in rituals related to romantic love.

Positive Energy

Looking at everything in the most positive light possible might be thought of as the strategy to a successful and rewarding life. After all, our thoughts and intentions are our most important magical tools, as they can serve as the pivot points of our energetic momentum. And sometimes, staying positive means taking to heart the phrase Illegitimi non carborundum, or “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”

When not letting the bastards (or any aspect of your life experience) get you down seems to be a concern, geranium can certainly help. Her energy lends itself to rallying the troupes, improving morale, and reminding us of our intrinsic positivity and power. For general positivity, you might try anointing yourself with the essential oil, placing pots of geraniums in your yard, and otherwise magically employing her.

Protection

As noted in the “exorcism” section, geranium is a negativity repellent. Place pots of red geraniums near the outside of your front door or in window boxes and request their help with protecting your home from negativity. You might also employ geranium essential oil to anoint yourself, your children, your loved ones, or any item that you’d like to shield with protective energy.

Purification

To purify your energy field of negativity, entities, or psychic cords of attachment, you might try misting yourself with rose water into which you’ve added ten to twenty drops of geranium or rose geranium essential oil. You might also use this potion to mist your home or any area that you’d like to purify. (Incidentally, this is a great “magical first aid” to carry around in your purse for both protective and purification purposes.) Another way to employ geranium’s purification powers would be to add a few drops of geranium essential oil to your bath water, along with a cup of sea salt, then soak for at least forty minutes. If you go this route, be sure to drink plenty of fresh drinking water as you soak. You might also employ geranium in any ritual performed for the purpose of purification.

Strength, Courage, and Resilience

As you might imagine, geranium’s considerable positivity also lends itself to the qualities of strength, courage, and resilience. If you (or a loved one) have been going through a particularly challenging time, or if you seem to be beset by fear or worry, geranium can help. For this purpose, you can employ any of the usual remedies (essence, essential oil, fresh blossom, ritual), but I highly recommend spending time in quiet contemplation with a blossoming plant—ideally one that you care for personally. Relax, and tell her what you’re going through. Feel all your feelings and offer them up to her, emptying out your mind and becoming as still as you possibly can. Then, from a feeling place (not a thinking one), simply allow yourself to receive her guidance and energetic support, which will arrive quickly and powerfully, literally infusing your mind, body, spirit, and energy field with the energies of strength, courage, and resilience. Added benefits to this technique include immune-system strengthening and a boost to your intuitive faculties, especially with regard to how to proceed with whatever situation may currently seem to be presenting a challenge.

If your entire family or household is going through an especially challenging time, you might place a white quartz crystal point in a pot of red geraniums, and empower both crystal and plant with the intention to help shore up everyone’s resilience and morale. Place the pot outdoors somewhere where the geraniums will thrive (usually in bright sunlight), ideally in a place where each family or household member will see it or be in close proximity to it often.

Support for Children

Few flowers can boast that they can help with just about any challenge a child may be experiencing, but geranium can. These challenges may include (but are not limited to):

✵ health issues

✵ shyness

✵ friendships

✵ moving to a new town or school

✵ problems with bullies

✵ focusing in school

✵ feeling safe

✵ feeling nurtured

✵ going through a parental divorce

✵ the loss of a loved one

If your child or a child you know is going through one or more of these challenges, you might take her to a nursery and ask her to pick out any geranium that she likes (of course, don’t force it if the idea doesn’t appeal to her). Then help her to lovingly care for the plant. Here are some other ways to employ geranium’s magic to support your beloved child:

✵ If she likes the scent, you might diffuse the essential oil in her room or in your home.

✵ You might put a single drop of geranium essence in her breakfast or breakfast beverage and another one in her dinner or dinner beverage.

✵ You might tie a few geranium blossoms and leaves into a piece of muslin, along with a lapis lazuli or rose quartz crystal, and empower it with your healing and supportive intention. Hang it over the head of her bed.

Truth

Because geranium is such a potent representation of life-force energy, which is totally aligned with Truth, she can help us discover and recognize what is true in any given situation. For example, say you are not sure if someone in your household is being truthful with you. To heal this situation, you might begin by releasing your worry and mental chatter as much as possible and consciously cultivating a patient and confident mindset, or a deep inner knowing that everything is perfectly unfolding for everyone’s highest good. Then continually diffuse geranium essential oil in the space until you are naturally able to sniff out the truth. You might, for example, realize that it was actually a trust issue and that you never had any true reason to doubt your loved one’s actions or claims. On the other hand, you may begin to clearly see the discrepancies as the inner workings of the situation are brought out into the open.

You might affect a similar dynamic by daily misting the space with rose water into which you’ve added four to five drops of geranium essence, or by putting geranium essence in everyone’s dinner every day. If there is any situation that you would like to know the truth about, you might simply spend time with a blossoming geranium. Center yourself, relax your mind, and then let her know what you’d like help with. Again relax and receive any guidance she may offer. Even if you don’t get a clear message right away, you will receive an infusion of energy that will allow you to see the truth more clearly in the future.

Magical Correspondences

Element: Earth

Gender: Female

Planets: Saturn, Venus (rose geranium)