The Herbal Alchemist’s Handbook: A Complete Guide to Magickal Herbs and How to Use Them - Karen Harrison 2020
The Herbs of Venus—Love and the Arts
The Herbs and Their Planetary Signatures
Energies: love, friendship, artistry, attraction, music, pleasure, sensual delights, beauty, balance, compassion
Color: green
Number: 3
Metal: copper
Stones/materials: emerald, malachite, apatite, green fluorite
Deities: Aphrodite, Aradia, Persephone, Eros, Cupid, Faunus
Herbs: catnip, cherry, coltsfoot, damiana, feverfew, lemon verbena, lilac, maidenhair, mandrake, myrtle, orchid, passionflower, peach, periwinkle, plumeria, rhubarb, raspberry, rose, spikenard, tansy, tonka bean, vanilla, vervain, violet
As Venus rules the arts, using Her herbs can help to influence and enhance creativity and self-expression in painting, writing, music, dance, and all acts of artistic expression. Love, however, is the arena where these herbs tend to be used the most often—romantic love, to be sure, but also love of family, friends, community, the Planet, and all other beings, as well as love and acceptance of oneself. It is this love, this coming together in empathy, that creates the harmony of Venus. Venus is the Planet of relationships and your capacity for giving and receiving love and emotion in any type of relationship. It is also the Planet that works to bring together opposites in a union of balance. Venusian herbs can be useful in physical beauty, as well, when they are applied to the skin to bring smoothness, moisture, and youthfulness to the face.
Venus rules over the metamorphosis of the cells, the reproduction and enrichment and transformation of cells, the preservation of the body, the complexion, the reproductive system, and the harmony between all the systems of the body. To access these energies through the use of herbs, you may wish to consider the following rose water or rose oil, when applied to the skin, stabilizes, helps clear blemishes, and generally nourishes the skin. Eating strawberries or drinking strawberry juice also heals the skin, and strawberry slices laid on the skin provides a healing facial. For balancing health and enhancing the function of your metabolism and cells, tansy, vervain, and raspberry leaves and berries can be drunk in a tea or taken in capsule form. Reproduction and sexuality are also under the dominion of Venus. Raspberry, cherry, banana, and periwinkle can help to nourish and balance the reproductive system, thus influencing the male and female hormones that are key to sexual interest.
The key concept of Venusian symbology and attributes is harmony. The balancing force represented by one of Venus's rulerships, Libra, the scales, is a good metaphor for harmony on every level. Using the energy of Venus allows the sense of the aesthetic to blend with empathy and love. This sense is thus manifest on all levels and emphasized with the energies of this Planet. Venus is attributed to the Qabbalistic sphere of Netzach—the ecstatic consciousness that is a wellspring of creativity. Venus is the Planet of the arts: dance, music, drawing, and sculpture all express the Venusian energies and can be aided by the use of Venusian herbs in Incense, oil blends, and teas. It is true that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and so it is with the Venusian appreciation of form in harmony. Beauty is found in perfect function, proportion, and balance—not necessarily only in fashion magazines. Utilizing the energies of this Planet doesn't just make you or your artistic creation more physically beautiful. Venus has the power to unite all aspects of a person or a project into a balanced, harmonious whole, which others then respond to with appreciation and affection.
A Ritual Herbal Condenser that attracts the perfect person into your life is the perfect use for Venusian herbs. Use this ritual carefully—it works very well. Before embarking on this work, clear out of your life any extraneous activities that you no longer enjoy in order to free up time for your relationship. I would also suggest that you do some soul-searching to be sure that you are no longer engaging in behavior patterns from the past that have made your love life go sour—no need to bring the perfect person into your life when you're not yet ready.
Soul Mate ritual
First, we need to talk about some ethics. This ritual is designed to help bring a great love to your life. It directly asks the Divine to determine who is best suited to you (and vice versa) and to bring that person into your life—not to break up someone else's relationship so that you can have your whim, or to bind to you a specific individual whom you have in mind. Those types of actions are unethical because they thwart the free will of other people for your personal gain. Besides, you don't really know as clearly as the Divine who will be best suited for you—you are judging on looks, money, sexiness, or whatever mundane quality that has entranced you, and that quality is not the one that necessarily helps to create a relationship that will last for life (or many lifetimes). For this ritual, you must be ready to accept what the Divine brings you, and you must be ready for real love in your life.
To make your Soul Mate Herbal Condenser, you will need the following supplies:
three edible Venusian herbs (banana, catnip, cherry, damiana, lemon verbena, lilac, maidenhair, myrtle, passionflower, peach, plumeria, rhubarb, raspberry, rose, strawberry, tansy, vanilla, vervain, and violet) (see Note)
glass or enamel cooking pot with lid
spring or distilled water
measuring cup
vodka or grain alcohol
gold flake (see Note)
amber- or cobalt-colored glass bottle
Place a handful of each of the three herbs you have chosen into an enamel or glass pot (glass or enamel will not react and seep into your mixture—aluminum or iron pots will react). Cover the herbs with spring or distilled water and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn down the heat, and let them simmer softly together for twenty minutes with the lid on. Allow your mixture to cool to room temperature and strain out the herbs. Now boil again at a medium heat until the liquid has been reduced by half. Cool the extraction again, and when it is room temperature, pour it into a measuring cup so that you can see how much liquid you have. Add an equal amount of vodka or grain alcohol as the amount of liquid extract in your measuring cup. Add a pinch of gold flake. Pour your Condenser into an amber- or cobalt-colored glass bottle (this keeps light from ageing your mixture) and store in a cool, dark place. Be sure to shake it before each use. Now that you have your Condenser, you are ready to perform your Soul Mate Ritual.
Here are the supplies you will need for your rite:
deep green cloth for the altar
three pink candles
vase of beautiful flowers
lovely chalice half full of fruit juice, wine, or spring water
piece of rose quartz
Incense burner
Aphrodite Incense and Oil (see Formulas for Manifestation of Goals in appendix E, Formulas and Recipes)
parchment paper
writing pen
“flame” candle with which to light your pink candles
rose petals
Soul Mate Condenser
On a Friday during the Waxing Moon, at a time when you will not be disturbed or interrupted, gather together your supplies and set them on your altar, which should be covered with a deep green altar cloth. Place the three pink candles in the center of your altar in a triangular pattern, with base of the triangle nearest you. Put the vase of flowers just to the left of the top candle, and your chalice just to the right of the top candle. Now place the rose quartz in the middle of the candle triangle. Place your Incense burner and Incense to your right near the edge closest to you. Your parchment and pen lie directly in front of you on the altar. Place your flame candle to the left top side of your altar and light it. Sprinkle your rose petals randomly all over the altar.
Anoint the candles from the wick down to the bottom with the Aphrodite Oil, then anoint your Third Eye (the spot just above and between your eyebrows) and over your heart with the Aphrodite Oil. Light the pink candles with your flame candle, and then using the top pink candle, light your Incense charcoal and place it in your Incense burner atop some insulating sand. While your charcoal is igniting completely across, draw a heart on your parchment paper and, inside of the heart, a spiral. Place some Incense on the charcoal and bathe the parchment in the Incense smoke, imagining the parchment absorbing the love energy.
Now, charge the parchment by placing it above each candle flame (but not so close you ignite it!) while saying three times:
Aphrodite, Queen of Night,
Bring to me the one who's right
Aphrodite, Morning Star
Whether near or whether far
Bringer of Love, O Aphrodite
Draw my soul mate now to me
Most lovely of Goddesses, O Aphrodite,
And as I will, So Mote It Be.
Then place a drop of your Soul Mate Condenser on your finger and seal the energy you have placed in the parchment by firmly anointing the spiral in the center of the heart with the liquid. Drop three drops of the Condenser into the libation your have prepared in your chalice. Drink the liquid slowly as you concentrate on your heart chakra, opening and strengthening it. Feel it opening like a beautiful red rose. Let the candles burn all the way down, then fold your rose quartz stone inside the parchment and place it inside your pillowcase.
Each Friday evening as you relax, pour some fruit juice, wine, or spring water into your chalice and add three drops of your Condenser. Relax and daydream and continue working on opening your heart chakra.
It can take up to a full twelve months for the Divine to locate your love and bring him or her into your life, although this ritual has also been known to work within a month's time. Drink the Soul Mate Condenser each Friday evening, and keep the parchment-wrapped rose quartz in your pillowcase as you dream of your love!