Ellen Dugan - Garden Witchery: Magick from the Ground Up

About the Author

Ellen Dugan, also known as the Garden Witch, is a psychic-clairvoyant who lives in Missouri with her husband and three teenage children. A practicing witch for over fifteen years, Ellen also has many years of nursery and garden center experience, including landscape and garden design. She received her Master Gardener status through the University of Missouri and her local county extension office. Look for other articles by Ellen in Llewellyns annual Magical Almanac , Wicca Almanac , and Herbal Almanac . Visit her online at www.ellendugan.com.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Garden Witchery: Magick from the Ground Up 2003 by Ellen Dugan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2012

E-book ISBN: 9780738718453

Book design and editing by Rebecca Zins

Cover design and interior zone map by Gavin Dayton Duffy

Cover statue photograph 2002 Jonathan Nutt / gardenImage

Cover ivy photograph 2002 Photodisc

Illustrations Kerigwen

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

This book is dedicated in loving memory to my grandmother,
Dorothy Catherine

1908-2001

She made a wicked pot roast and was a wonderful grandmother.
She taught a young girl the names of all the wildflowers and
encouraged her to walk alone and unafraid through the woods.
She cherished books and poetry and had unfulfilled dreams
of being a writer someday... I hope she knows that
she helped to inspire me to become one instead.

contents

: What Is Garden Witchery?

: Backyard Magick

: Flower Magick

: Florigraphy and Flower Folklore

: Enchanted Specialty Gardens

: Moon Gardening, Magick, and Astrological Timing

: Faery Magick

: Garden Witch Crafts

: Sabbat Celebrations for Families

: Garden Magick from the Ground Up

The murmur of a bee,

A witchcraft yieldeth me...

Emily Dickinson

Acknowledgments

To my friends, who from the beginning encouraged me to write. To Rebecca and Cindy for their insights, listening to me babble and making me howl with laughter. To Colleen, my gardening buddy, who braved it out with me during our Master Gardener classes, and especially to Paula, who always demanded, When are you going to write that book? Thanks for all the support and faith in me. Also a high-tech thanks to Ben, our resident Computer Wizard, for all your assistance.

A special thanks goes to my magickal friends. For Amy, my fellow witch mom, and to her children. To Scott, with appreciation for the use of your library. To Mickie and her girls, and to Nicole, an incredibly talented garden witch. Thanks for your friendship, Nicole, and for your help with the bath salt recipes.

Also, Id like to thank the ladies at Llewellyn: new submissions editor, Megan Atwood; my editor, Becky Zins; and Kerigwen, for the gorgeous artwork.

To my family, for your patience with me as I worked on this book. Im grateful for your bearing with me while I shouted at the old computer and then made myself crazy trying to learn a new one. My loving appreciation goes to my two teenage sons, for always asking how the book was coming along, for the emergency computer lessons, and for unwavering encouragement and enthusiasm. To my magickal daughter Kat, whom I cherish. Thank you for pushing me to write the faerie chapter and for quietly pulling up a chair and offering to help make my spells rhyme.

Finally, to my husband, Ken. Its been a great twenty years. This is for making me laugh at the most inappropriate times of my life and for creating a wonderfully loud, boisterous, and happy family with me. I love you. Thanks for always believing... in both me and the magick.

Everything in nature invites us

constantly to be what we are.

Gretel Ehrlich

Introduction

Picture for a moment the image of the benevolent witch who lives in a flower-surrounded cottage. The witchs gardens are a place where morning glories and moonflowers tumble over privacy fences. Roses climb over handmade arbors, and magickal herbs and flowers thrive together in sunny beds. Around back, tucked under old trees, the shade garden offers a quiet spot and relief from the summer heat.

Ah... a suburban Pagan myth. I have read that this image of the witch is outdated, over-romanticized, and unrealistic. Actually, its very real, and its all true. Im taking a stand. Honestly, my knees are killing me. I am one of those witches who are supposedly a suburban myth. I am a garden witch.

A garden witch? Is this some new, unheard-of tradition? No. The lore of herbs and flowers is ancient, as is the practice of growing a magickal garden. Gardens have always been enchanting places. A garden witch just takes that theory and runs with it. Magickal gardening is an intimate approach to putting the nature back into your earth religion.

How do you know if youre a garden witch? Well, the symptoms are fairly easy to diagnose. Do you experience a sensory rush at the sights and smells of a garden? Are you fascinated by plant lore and legend? Do you enjoy growing your own herbs and plants? To those of you who answered yes, and those of you future gardeners that yearn to try your hand at magickal gardening and herbalism, this will be right up your alley.

Id like to invite you into the world of the garden witchinto my world. In this book you will find ideas, tips, and practical advice for both the magickal and the mundane gardener. There are garden witch spells and recipes, garden lore, seasonal crafts, and suggestions for simple sabbat celebrations that you can enjoy with your family.

Who am I to write on the subject of garden witchery? What are my qualifications? My name is Ellen Dugan. I live in Missouri with my husband and our three teenage children. I have many years of nursery and garden center experience, including contracting out occasionally as a landscape and garden designer. In the spring of 2000, I received Master Gardener status through the University of Missouri and my local county extension office.

I first began to seriously study folk magick in the late 1980s. I was initiated into Wicca standing under a full moon on Samhain/Halloween night. In the past, I have participated in an eclectic training group, and then organized and was a participant of a womens open circle. Currently I am a member of a wonderful circle of adult Wiccans and their families.