August: Bio-Regional Herb of the Month

Grass

No, not that kind.

The lawn kind. And the wild, native kind. The regular kind.

You will rarely find Witch books promoting the use of just plain grass in their spells and rituals. But grass is just as valid a plant to work with as all the other traditional herbs, including all the ones used by folks almost entirely because they 'sound' Witchy.

I get it. Grass isn't sexy. It's not famous among Witches like Mugwort or Nightshade. It doesn't lend itself to the Witch aesthetic. It's overlooked and underappreciated. But it's also powerful, bio-regional and you almost certainly have some in your yard or where you live.

First let me say up front I'm a Food Not Lawns and Permaculture advocate. This post should in no way be construed as an endorsement to invest in or grow more manicured, eco-system polluting, greenhouse-gas proliferating, water-wasting, bio-diversity diminishing, non-native lawns.

In terms of ecosystem and sustainability, there's a big difference between wild native grasses versus Bermudagrass or Kentucky Bluegrass. Using what's available to you is not the same as cultivating it. You can access and interact with the grasses from your lawn and local wild spaces just as they are for the purposes of your Witchcraft. Working with grasses in your magickal practice can also help you understand how these plants benefit our world and how they help keep us alive. It could lead to wild and crazy things like planting more native species around your home and over time creating a natural habitat that's planet-friendly.

The word 'grass' is underwhelmingly plain as a descriptor, though. There's a huge range of different plants that are classified as grass.

Barley, rye, wheat, corn and oats are all grasses. They clearly have important roles in our diets, can be used in spells, and help make products like breads that feature often in rituals.

Some grasses offer seed buffets and advantages for birds like nesting material or a place to duck and hide. Switchgrass, Blue Fescue, Little Bluestem, Indiangrass, Hairgrass and Millet are especially bird-friendly grasses.

We also have grasses like Vetiver, Lemongrass, Couch Grass, and Sweetgrass. These plants have traditional uses in Witchcraft and are recognizable as spell-friendly herbs with their own unique energies.

Magickal Uses

When I look at how grasses have been useful to humans throughout history, I think about it first being a food source. Food for people, yes, but also livestock. If the grasses were plentiful for livestock, the livestock would thrive and become strong for pulling plows or carts, or as food for the people, and the people would prosper. If there wasn't enough grass for the livestock to do well, the people didn't do well.

Grasses in this historical context literally meant life or death. It also meant grasses were life-affirming, lucky, and brought health, prosperity and wealth. If we think about grass showing up in Spring as a good omen, it could also be seen as something that drove away Death or Hunger, which I'm sure probably feels like and gets confused with Evil when you are starving.

There's also the role native grasses play in stabilizing the land. They are especially well-adapted for drought and poor soil, which makes them excellent natural tools for soil erosion control. Native grasses can help stabilize roadsides, disturbed areas, and steep slope sites. This makes us safer and the literal ground under our feet more solid.

We can use these same associations for magickal uses.

So, let's look at this again:

All grass can stand in for these, though ones like Lemongrass or Sweetgrass are so steeped in their own folklore and traditions I would want to honor those separately.

That tall patch of grass that didn't get mowed this past weekend? Take some scissors or a knife, bundle it at the base with your hands and cut it. Then tie a cord or string around it to hang to dry. You can do the same for wild grasses you find on a nature walk, just be sure that plant is actually a grass that you can identify.

Hanging the small bundle of grass near a doorway can offer the magickal properties you seek. You can also hang in any room where you want to attract those energies. Just like Sweetgrass, you can braid other long grass blades in a similar way and hang.

Add a few sprigs to your floor wash or laundry, or fold or weave some blades and tuck into your billfold or pocketbook.

You can also bundle the grass like a smoke stick and once dried, burn to fumigate or smoke cleanse. As an incense or offering, roughly grind some dried blades to burn over charcoal or a ritual fire.

Long blades of grass can be made into a Witch's ladder, or used in knot magick.

Add grass to spell jars, either whole or cut. Or weave a band of grass to encircle a spell or tie around a spell jar or mojo.

I hope this helps you look at grass in a different way. Not just a boring plant that doesn't do anything!

Happy crafting!

Love,

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