"Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble..."



William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I





The traditional image of a cauldron of bubbling and boiling magical

potion being stirred by a witch originates from the large containers in which herb women boiled their ingredients to produce simples. Simpling was the brewing and distilling of herbs, practiced by women in most households in order to keep a very necessary supply of medicinal remedies on hand. Throughout the medieval period, the arts of herbalist, alchemy, and magic were difficult to separate, and the herb women often added the role of spell-caster to their role of dispenser of home-brewed herbal therapies.



The ~tongue of dog~ is referring to Hounds tongue, (Cynoglossom

officinale). This herb supposedly has the power to quiet the barking of dogs. ~Adder's fork~ is Adder's tongue, (Ohioglossum vulgatum), a fern reputed to have healing properties. Witches of the present still use names for herbs and flowers based on things and animals in nature and fantasy realms. Often the names were picked because that's what the herb resembled and was convenient for an old herbalist or teacher to teach and remember. Some sects and separate families, groups, covens or tribes had different names and variations of these names. It is not a specific or tight-lined rule... if you are working with a group or area of training, use the names that your coven or familiar witches use, but if you are a solitary witch, go ahead and name your herbs and ingredients whatever suits your impression of the plant, flower or herb... by appearance, scent, affect etc. So now you know... one more thing that has been terribly misinterpreted about witches...



Here is a small and I'm sure not the only list of witchy names along with it's common names for some herbs, roots and flowers used in witchcraft. It sure is an eye opener to those who may think that to be a true witch one might have to boil up animal parts, blood and maybe even sacrifice human or animal to make potions! A Bone of an Ibis: Buckthorn

Adders Tongue: Dogstooth Violet

A Titan's Blood: Wild Lettuce

A Lion's Hairs: Tongue of a Turnip (the leaves of the taproot)

A Man's Bile: Turnip Sap

A Pig's Tail: Leopard's Bane

A Hawk's Heart: Heart of Wormwood

An Eagle: Wild Garlic

Ass's Foot or Bull's Foot: Coltsfoot

Blood: Elder sap or another tree sap

Blood of Hephaistos: Wormwood

Burning Bush: White Dittany

Bread and Cheese Tree: Hawthorne

Blood from a Head: Lupine

Bird's Eye: Germander Speedwell

Blood of Ares: Purslane

Blood of a Goose: Mulberry Tree's Milk

Bloodwort: Yarrow

Blood of Hestia: Chamomile

Blood of an Eye: Tamarisk Gall

Blood from a Shoulder: Bear's Breach

Bat's Wings: Holly

Black Sampson: Echinacea

Bull's Blood or Seed of Horus: Horehound

Bear's Foot: Lady's Mantle

Calf's Snout: Snapdragon

Cat's Foot: Canada Snake Root and/or Ground Ivy

Candelmas Maiden: Snowdrop

Capon's Tail: Valerian

Christ's Ladder: Centaury

Cheeses: Marsh Mallow

Chocolate Flower: Wild Geranium

Christ's Eye: Vervain Sage

Clear-eye: Clary Sage

Click: Goosegrass

Cucumber Tree: Magnolia

Clot: Great Mullein

Corpse Plant: Indian Pipe

Crowdy Kit: Figwort

Cuddy's Lungs: Great Mullein

Crow Foot: Cranesbill

Cuckoo's Bread: Common Plantain

Clear Eye: Clary Sage

Crow's Foot: Wild Geranium

Devils Dung: Asafoetida

Dragon's Blood: Calamus

Dog's Mouth: Snap Dragon

Daphne: Laurel/Bay

Devil's Plaything: Yarrow

Dove's Foot: Wild Geranium

Dew of the Sea: Rosemary

Dragon Wort: Bistort

Earth Smoke: Fumitory

Eye of Christ: Germander Speedwell

Elf's Wort: Elecampane

Enchanter's Plant: Vervain

Englishman's Foot: Common Plantain

Erba Santa Maria: Spearmint

Everlasting Friendship: Goosegrass

Eye of the Day: Common Daisy

Eye of the Star: Horehound

Eye Root: Goldenseal

Eyes: Aster, Daisy, Eyebright

Frog's Foot: Bulbous Buttercup

From the Loins: Chamomile

Fat from a Head: Spurge

Fairy Smoke: Indian Pipe

Felon Herb: Mugwort

From the Belly: Earth-apple

From the Foot: Houseleek

Five Fingers: Cinquefoil

Fox's Clote: Burdock

Graveyard Dust: Mullein

Goat's Foot: Ash Weed

God's Hair: Hart's Tongue Fern

Golden Star: Avens

Gosling Wing: Goosegrass

Graveyard Dust: Mullein

Great Ox-eye: Ox-eye Daisy

Hairs of a Hamadryas Baboon: Dill Seed

Hair of Venus: Maidenhair Fern

Hag's Taper: Great Mullein

Hagthorn: Hawthorn

Hare's Beard: Great Mullein

Herb of Grace: Vervain

Hind's Tongue: Hart's Tongue Fern

Holy Herb: Yerba Santa

Holy Rope: Hemp Agrimony

Hook and Arn: Yerba Santa

Horse Tongue: Hart's Tongue Fern

Horse Hoof: Coltsfoot

Hundred Eyes: Periwinkle

Innocense: Bluets

Jacob's Staff: Great Mullein

Joy of the Mountain: Marjoram

Jupiter's Staff: Great Mullein

King's Crown: Black Haw

Knight's Milfoil: Yarrow

Kronos' Blood: sap of Cedar

Lady's Glove: Foxglove

Lion's Tooth: Dandelion

Lad's Love: Southernwood

Lamb's Ears: Betony

Little Dragon: Tarragon

Love in Idleness: Pansy

Love Leaves: Burdock

Love Lies Bleeding: Amaranth/Anemone

Love Man: Goosegrass

Love Parsley: Lovage

Love Root: Orris Root

Man's Health: Ginseng

Maiden's Ruin: Southernwood

Master of the Woods: Woodruff

May: Black Haw

May Lily: Lily of the Valley

May Rose: Black Haw

Maypops: Passion Flower

Mistress of the Night: Tuberose

Mutton Chops: Goosegrass

Nose Bleed: Yarrow

Old-Maid's-Nightcap: Wild Geranium

Old Man's Flannel: Great Mullein

Old Man's Pepper: Yarrow

Oliver: Olive

Password: Primrose

Pucha-pat: Patchouli

Peter's Staff: Great Mullein

Priest's Crown: Dandelion leaves

Poor Man's Treacle: Garlic

Queen of the Night: Vanilla Cactus

Queen of the Meadow: Meadowsweet

Queen of the Meadow Root: Gravelroot

Ram's Head: American Valerian

Red Cockscomb: Amaranth

Ring-o-bells: Bluebells

Robin-run-in-the-grass: Goosegrass

Semen of Helios: White Hellebore

Semen of Herakles: Mustard-rocket

Semen of Hermes: Dill

Semen of Hephaistos: Fleabane

Semen of Ammon: Houseleek

Semen of Ares: Clover

Seed of Horus: Horehound

Sparrow's Tongue: Knotweed

Soapwort: Comfrey or Daisy

Shepherd's Heart: Shepherd's Purse

Swine's Snout: Dandelion leaves

Shameface: Wild Geranium

See Bright: Clary Sage

Scaldhead: Blackberry

Seven Year's Love: Yarrow

Silver Bells: Black Haw

Sorcerer's Violet: Periwinkle

St. John's Herb: Hemp Agrimony

St. John's Plant: Mugwort

Star Flower: Borage

Star of the Earth: Avens

Starweed: Chickweed

Sweethearts: Goosegrass

Tarragon: Mugwort

Tartar Root: Ginseng

Thousand Weed: Yarrow

Thunder Plant: House Leek

Tanner's Bark: Toadflax

Torches: Great Mullein

Tongue of dog: Houndstongue

Tears of a Hamadryas Baboon: Dill Juice

Unicorn Root: Ague Root

Unicorn's Horn: False Unicorn

Unicorn Horn: True Unicorn Root

Wax Dolls: Fumitory

Weazel Snout: Yellow Archangel

White: Ox-eye Daisy

White Wood: White Cinnamon

Witch's Asprin: White Willow Bark

Witch's Brier: Brier Hips

Weasel Snout: Yellow Archangel

Wolf Foot: Bugle Weed

Wolf Claw: Club Moss

Wolf's Milk: Euphorbia

Weed: Ox-Eye Daisy

White Man's Foot: Common Plantain







