Friday, February 15, 2013

Pagan Blog Project: D is for Dragon’s Blood



One of my earliest memories of witchcraft was of a spell that I overheard on TV, I was very young and it was a typical or shall I say a stereotypical list of ingredients that of course all witches must have on hand (at least in the pop culture of the late 60’s), anyway, the list went something like this:

Eye of newt (of course – that is in all the good spells- right?)
Wing of bat
Graveyard dust
Coffin nails
Dragon’s blood
And a hair from a werewolf plucked at the stroke of midnight on a full moon (that sounds downright dangerous to me!)

Now, unlike many of my young friends, I was not afraid of witches, I was intrigued. Was this real? Did these types of ingredients actually go into a magical spell? Why? What did they do? Where could I get a real dragon and how much blood was called for? Fortunately, I soon realized that Dragon's Blood didn't come from a real dragon - much to my relief!

During the first 10 years of my life we moved a lot, we were gypsies, moving at least once and sometimes twice a year and the people my mother associated with were amazing. There were all gypsies as well as artists, musicians and magical people.  It was during this time that I was first introduced to magic, the Tarot, and herbalism, though I had no idea what I was learning then.

As I got older I learned more about magic, witchcraft and my own gifts and I also became more familiar with some of the more interesting magical ingredients. This week I thought I would write about Dragon’s Blood, one of the more romanticized ingredients in a witch’s cupboard.

Gender: Masculine
Planet: Mars
Elementary Ruler: Fire


The Dragon’s Blood we buy today is typically a red resin from the Daemonorops Draco tree which is a type of palm tree native to Indonesian islands as well as from the Dracaena Cinnabari  tree native to Socotra. It is found in resin and powder forms as well as in incense and added to red ink to make Dragon’s Blood ink.

Some of the many uses attributed to Dragon’s Blood are: curing diarrhea, lowering fevers, helping to heal ulcers in the mouth, throat and intestines, as well as for treating eczema. It was even thought to have astringent properties and used to treat wounds.

Magically, Dragon’s Blood is used to cleanse a space of negativity, for banishing spells, protection, to add a little extra power to a spell, for love and when mixed with red ink it can be used to create magical seals and to ink talismans.

Dragon’s Blood resin was used to create a varnish that violin used to give their violins their signature color, and it is still used in this way today.

In Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs he relates that a stick of Dragon’s Blood tree placed under the pillow will cure impotency.  A woman can burn Dragon’s Blood resin while seated in an open window to entice an errant lover to return. He also states that Dragon’s Blood is a “powerful protectant when carried, sprinkled around the house, or shouldered as incense.”

I like to keep Dragon’s Blood on hand, you never know when you are going to need to add a little extra oomph to a spell!

Here is a great recipe for a Dragon’s Blood Witch’s Ink that I found at www.mdidea.com: right here 

 Witches Ink:

 4 oz. Transparent Alcohol (vodka works well)
 2 tsp. Dragons Blood (powdered resin)
 1 tsp. Pure Vanilla (tincture)
 1 tsp. Lavender (tincture)
 1 cinnamon stick
 2 cloves (optional)

Mix all together in a tightly sealed jar. Shake until mixed well. Place in dark cool cabinet. Bring out once a day and shake up to stir for seven days. Test the ink by placing your pen, needle or toothpick in the ink, then test on paper. If color is dark enough for you it's ready to use. If you would like it even darker then add more resin and repeat the shaking. Test every day until you have the desired color hue.

Sources:
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham

3 comments:

  1. Very informative post. My DD was asking about where dragons blood comes from and I didn't have an answer for her. Sharing on my blogs FB page. :)

    BB
    SWC

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely post, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you! I really enjoyed writing it :)

    ReplyDelete