Collection: Dried Herbs for Witchcraft & Spells

Which Herbs Do I Use for Which Spell?

Traditional correspondence is the most direct guide. These are the herbs used most often for each purpose across European, hoodoo, and Latin American folk practice.

Herbs for protection. Rosemary, rue, angelica root, nettle, black pepper, and St. John's wort. These are assertive plants, hung over doors, carried in pockets, and added to floor washes to keep harm out. More in protection.

Herbs for love spells. Rose petals, damiana, lavender, jasmine, hibiscus, and orris root. Rose for the heart, damiana for passion, lavender for steady devotion, orris for drawing someone toward you. See all herbs for love spells.

Herbs for money and luck. Cinnamon, basil, bay laurel, High John the Conqueror root, five-finger grass, chamomile, and cloves. Carry them in a green bag, dress a candle with them, or sprinkle an infusion at a shop door.

Herbs for cleansing. Hyssop, rosemary, lemon verbena, cedar, and sage. Burned, or steeped for a bath or floor wash, to clear a space and reset it. See cleansing herbs.

Herbs for dreams and divination. Mugwort, lavender, star anise, bay laurel, and wormwood. Used in dream pillows, as incense before a reading, and as a wash for scrying tools.

Herbs for uncrossing and banishing. Rue, agrimony, hyssop, lemon peel, and valerian root. Used to reverse a jinx and clear a crossed condition.

Several of these plants, wormwood, rue, and valerian among them, are not safe to eat or drink. Everything here is for burning, carrying, bathing, and the altar.

If you are new to magical herbs, pick two or three that match what you are working on and use them for a season before adding more.

How Dried Herbs Are Used in Spiritual Practice

Loose incense and smoke work. Burning dried herbs directly on a charcoal disc, in a fireproof dish, or in a fire is one of the oldest forms of ritual and one of the most immediate. Each herb produces a distinct smoke with its own scent, density, and energetic quality. Loose herb smoke is used to cleanse spaces, carry intentions, open ritual, and honor ancestors. Many practitioners burn herbs loose rather than as pre-made incense sticks precisely because they want to work with the plant itself rather than a processed blend.

Spell bags and sachets. Dried herbs are a primary component in mojo bags, gris-gris, charm bags, and sachets across Hoodoo, Wiccan, and folk magic traditions. Combined with other ingredients and carried on the body, placed in a specific location, or buried, these bags are one of the most portable and enduring forms of spell work. The herbs chosen are selected for their traditional correspondences to the intention of the working.

Dressing candles and tools. Herbs are crushed or kept whole and rolled onto anointed candles, used to coat and consecrate ritual tools, or blended with oil and applied to objects that are then used in spellwork. This technique is particularly prominent in Hoodoo candle magic and Wiccan practice, where matching the herb's correspondence to the candle color and working intention is part of the preparation.

Ritual baths and floor washes. Dried herbs are steeped and strained to create herb-infused waters used in spiritual bathing and floor washing. Ritual baths work with both the body and the energetic field simultaneously; floor washes apply plant medicine to the space itself. These preparations are central to Hoodoo, Santería, and folk Catholic practice and have parallels in many other traditions.

Altar placement and offering. Many herbs are kept whole or in small bundles on the altar as an ongoing presence rather than being burned or used in workings. Rose petals for Venus and love work, bay laurel for Apollo and prophetic work, mugwort for lunar and dream work; the plant's presence on the altar maintains an energetic connection to its correspondence throughout a working or season.

Explore Related Collections

Herbs do most of their work in combination. Candles are a natural pairing: spell candles dressed with oils and herbs are a foundation of both Wiccan and Hoodoo candle magic. For practitioners who want pre-formulated herb combinations for a specific intention, our Herbal Blends collection offers ready-to-use mixes. Herbs incorporated into liquid preparations belong in Spiritual Washes for floor and space work. For working with smoke specifically, our Aromatherapy collection carries resins, loose incense, and charcoal for burning. And for complete intention-based workings that bring herbs together with candles, crystals, and other tools, explore our Spell Kits.