Mastic

Mastic – pistachia lentiscus – Also known as Gum Mastic. This aromatic, evergreen shrubby tree has scented pale green spring flowers in clusters and red to black berries. The bark is tapped for mastic, its resin, which chewed in the eastern Mediterranean as a breath freshener and employed as a flavoring for bread, pastries, and the liqueur Mastiche. This resin can be difficult to find, if unavailable try substituting a combination, equal parts of gum arabic and frankincense.

Other Uses: Love; Magical Power; Psychic Awareness; Adds potency and power to any incense.

Meadowsweet

Meadowsweet – filipendula ulnaria – Also known as Queen of the Meadow, Gravel Root, and Meadowwort. One of the three most sacred Druid herbs, the others being Mint and Vervain, this herb has upright stems of wintergreen-scented, divided leaves, topped by frothy umbels of almond-scented cream flowers. The stems grow up to four feet tall and are sometimes purple. The leaves smell like almonds and the flowers give an almond flavor to mead, herb wines, jam and stewed fruit. Dried flowers scent linen and yield an astringent skin tonic. Flower buds contain salicylic aced, a chemical from which aspirin was synthesized, not from Filipendula but from Spirea, a related herb, but the herb as a whole is gentler on the stomach. Herbalists use flower tea for stomach ulcers and headaches, as an antiseptic diuretic, and for feverish colds, diarrhea, and heartburn. Meadowsweet was a favorite strewing herb of Elizabeth I.
Traditional herbalists simmered the flowers in wine to treat fevers and to cure depression. The fresh flower tops, taken in tea, promote sweating. Steep two teaspoons of the herb in one cup boiled water for twenty minutes. Take one-quarter cup four times a day. A distilled water of the flowers makes an eyewash to treat burning and itching. Meadowsweet is a classic for diarrhea, especially valued for children. The leaf is added to wine to bring a “merry heart”, that is, to treat depression. Meadowsweet contains methyl salicylate, making it a good herb for rheumatic compaints and flus. It is astringent and helps with indigestion. It has diuretic properties, which make it helpful in edema. The tea hads been used for respiratory tract infections, gout, and arthritis. It can help bladder and kidney problems, epilepsy, and rabies.
The whole plant is used – roots, flowers, and leaves – with the root being more useful for fevers. To prepare the root, simmer two tablespoons of the dried root in one cup of water for twenty minutes. Take one cup a day. The leaf is placed in claret wine to enhance the tast, and it was at one time added to mead.

Aromatherapy & Health Uses: Herbalists use flower tea for stomach ulcers and headaches, as an antiseptic diuretic, and for feverish colds, diarrhea, and heartburn. Meadowsweet contains methyl salicylate, making it a good herb for rheumatic compaints and flus. It is an astringent.

Other Uses: According to Grieve, meadowsweet, water mint, and vervain were the three most sacred herbs of the Druids. Fresh flowers should be included in the bridal bouquet. Use for: Love; Happiness; Divination; Peace.

Mexican Coriander

Mexican Coriander – eryngium foetidum

Mexican Tarragon

Mexican Tarragon – tagetes lucida

Mexican Tea

Mexican Tea – chenopodium ambrosioides – This plant was used by Native American Indians to cure their children of round worms and hook worms. It has been a much used herb but is no longer recommended due to severe side effects – it has been known to cause death.

Aromatherapy & Health Uses: Has been cure for round worm and hook worm, no longer considered safe

Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle – silybum marianum – an annual or biennial plant. Grows to 2-3 foot with prickly leaves and milky sap. This herb is mostly used in the form of a concentrated botanical capsule or by injection as it is not soluable in water. This herb is a liver tonic – it protects the liver and it’s functions, helping it renew cells. It can be used to treat hepatitis, jaundice, cirrhosis, alcohol poisoning and even aid the protection of the liver during chemotherapy.

Aromatherapy & Health Uses: A liver tonic – renews the cells. Treats hepatitis, jaundice, cirrhosis, alcohol damage.

Mimosa

Forms Available: absolute

Mimosa – acacia mirensi

Other Uses: Used for protection, prophetic dreams and purification.

Mint

Mint – mentha spicata, sativa, aquatica, and others – A Druid sacred herb, most mints are creeping plants that hybridize easily, producing infinite variations. The have erect, square branching stems, aromatic foliage and flowers in leaf axils. Mints are stimulant, aid digestion, and reduce flatulence. They flavor candy, drinks, cigarettes, toothpastes, and medicines.
The infuseion of the herb has been used for diarrhea and as an emmenagogue -it brings down the menses. It is a classic for colds and influenza, especially when mixed with elder flower-but be careful, as this remedy will make you sweat, and you must take care to keep well covered with blankets and woolens. Stomach flu is helped by a mint, elderflower, and yarrow combination in a standard infusion of two teaspoons per cup steeped for twenty minutes and taken in quarter-cup doses.
Mint is helpful in stomach complaints, but a strong infusion will be emetic -it makes one throw up. Mint tea eases colic and eases depression. It relieves earaches when the fresh juice of a few drops of the essential oil are placed in the ear. A few drops of the oil in water, applied with a cloth, help burning and itching, heat prostration, and sunburn. Apply it directly to an itchy skin condition or sunburn. For heat prostration place the cool fomentation on the forehead and wrists.
Mint tea with honey soothes a sore throat. A classic cold remedy that will unblock the sinuses is two drops of mint essential oil, two drop eucalyptus essential oil and the juice of half a lemon in a cup of hot water. The mix is first inhaled and then drunk when warm. CAUTION: No more than two drops of the essential oils should be taken at any time, and no more that two cups a day of the above mixture. Larger doses can be toxic to the kidneys.

Aromatherapy & Health Uses: Peppermint – Acne; Dermatitis; Ringworm; Scabies; Toothache; Neuralgia; Muscular Pain; Palpitations; Asthma. Key Qualities: Refreshing; Restorative; Nerve Tonic; Cephalic; Aphrodisiac; Mental Stimulant.

Other Uses: Mint is placed in the home as a protective herb. It belongs to the sphere of Venus and has long been used in healing potions and mixtures.Use for: Protection; Healing; Prosperity; Good Luck; Fortune; Justice; Travel; Exorcism.

Mistletoe

Mistletoe – viscum album – Also known as Birdlime, All-Heal, Druid’s Herb, and Golden Bough. It is the most sacred “tree” of the Druids and rules over Winter Solstice. The berries are poisonous. Mistletoe is thought to be most powerful if growing on an oak tree. The leafy twigs, toxic in volume, are a heart tonic, reduce blood pressure, slow heart rate, strengthen capillary walls, stimulate the immune system and inhibit tumors.
Mistletoe grows from northern Europe to northwest Africa and east to Asia and Japan. Different varieties are found on hard-wood and softwood trees, which include apple, elm, oak, spruce, pine, and poplar. Druids considered that the mistletoe found on oak was the most potent and sacred. The berries ripen in midwinter and have a further peculiarity in that the ripe berries, open flowers, green berries, and immature leaves can all be found on the same plant. Mistletoe does not adhere to the linear logic of most plants, with their budding, flowering, and seed production sequence. It also seems to ignore heilotropism and geotropism, it will grow upside down, sideways, or in any direction it “chooses”. Another unique feature is that it germinates only in the light, unlike most plants, which require darkness to germinate. The flower buds form in May but do not open until February. The berries ripen the following winter. The entire process, from flower to fruit, can take almost two years!
Mistletoe is a semi-parasitic plant, generally spread by bird droppings. It forms a globular mass that can reach up to three feet in diameter. There are male plants and female plants, and both derive thair water and minerals from the host tree and produce their own carbohydrates via photosynthesis.
Mistletoe seems to hold itself aloof form the rhythms and laws of the earthly seasone, and in this way parrallels the illogical and uncontrolled growth of cancerous cells in the body. As early as 1961, laboratory studies demonstrated that mistletoe, along with other immunostimulant plants such as -eupatorium, astragalus, echinacea, acathopanax, chamomilla, and sabal- inhibited tumors in mice. Fermented mistletoe taken from oak trees was shown to stimulate the activity of killer cells and showed an especially stron effect on rat hepatomas -liver cancers. Unfermented mistletoe showed a strong effect on human leukemia -Molt 4- cells. Korean mistletoe -Viscum coloratum- was found to be more active in inhibiting the growth of leukemia L1210, especially when used fresh.
Mistletoe extracts have been shown to possess significant antitumor activity, not only against murine tumore but also in cases of Lewis’ lung carcinome, a colon adenocarcinoma 38 and C3H adenocarcinomas of the breast. The extracts are not toxic and may be administered in high doses. Twenty drops four times a day is the average dose.
Many nervous conditions such as convulsions, delirium, hysteria, neuralgia, urinary disorders, and heart conditions have benefitted from the activity of mistletoe. It has also been used to temper the spasms of epilepsy. Mistletoe strengthens the heart and has been used as a heart tonic in cases of typhoid fever. It strengthens the glandular system and has helped with inflammation of the pancreas. It promotes hormonal balance when taken daily for six months.
Mistletoe is recommended for use after a stroke or when hardening of the arteries is suspected. It will stop pulmonary and intestinal bleeding caused by dysentary and typhoid. It helps to lower high blood pressure and raise low blood pressure, and it has been used to ease heavy menstrual flow, heart palpitations, hot flashes, and the anxiety associated with menopause. The fresh juice has been said to increase fertility in barren women.
The green plant can be simmered using a standard concoction of two teaspoons of the herb per cup of water and taken in tablespoon doses several times a day.
CAUTION: Large doses have been known to induce convulsions in children. The berries should not be used for internal consumption. They are used in salves and washes for wounds.

Aromatherapy & Health Uses: The leafy twigs, toxic in volume, are a heart tonic, reduce blood pressure, slow heart rate, strengthen capillary walls, stimulate the immune system and inhibit tumors.

Other Uses: Kiss your love beneath mistletoe and you’ll stay in love. Burned, Mistletoe banishes evil. Its wood is a good choice for wands and ritual inplements. Mistletoe is an excelllent all-purpose herb. Spell Use: Protection; Love; Hunting; Fertility; Health.