Mint in Magical Work
Three simple and easy ways to incorporate mint into routine magical work for daily life.
Mint is an herb with many properties. I really do love this herb, and it’s lovely in the garden around the home. Generally, mint is considered an herb with stimulating properties. Rejuvenation is a common theme often attached to Mint. It is often seen as a calming yet restorative herb that allows the body to wake up its senses with a slow, easy progression.
Mint is a fragrant and uplifting herb that opens up the body as soon as its scent hits the nose. The sinuses open up, and the body tends to take in a deep breath when we come in contact with it. The scent brings joy and peace. The mind settles, and clears from the aroma. It instantly cues the body into a relaxed and harmonious state. The odd stray whiff of the peppermint gum and tobacco of so many mom purses in the 90’s that sends you straight back to blasting the radio while your mom cleans the house on a Sunday. Mint is a fragrance that is unmistakable. It is also capable of blending with almost any other scent with melodic indifference. Yet the mind and body remember each encounter and its transformative effects.
Tea is also one of the main things mint is known for, beyond its use in gums and candies. I think we’ve all had that craving for a nice cup of peppermint tea in the summertime. Something soothing and cooling that goes down easily on cool evenings. I have yet to find a person who doesn’t like mint tea. Even if they aren’t avid consumers, they all have a box of it in their cupboards.
When it comes to magic, we use it in these ways:
Consumable magic, magic worked into drinks and food for the act of consumption.
This magic is often done with tea. Mint tea can be brewed loosely, and the leaves left to settle into the bottom of the cup. When the tea is finished, read the teas at the bottom for a message. This is divination, and it’s a very old form of magic, also. Reading tea leaves has been around for many, many years.
Yet it isn’t just tea; mint can be baked into cookies, cakes, and hard candies. Each of these can also be blended with magical intent. Baked or brewed with intention and magical power in order to be consumed as an act of activation. Chocolate chip, mint cookies baked at the witching hour with the intention of awakening the physical senses are an example of how to utilize different forms of magical casting without the need to set an offering on the altar, which must be cleaned away and disposed of later with proper care and respect. The cookies can be made with the intention of awakening the body and senses, made all at once, and then saved and consumed at an as-needed pace for instant magic that’s only a bite away.
Cleansing magic, magic used to cleanse away stagnant or negatively charged energy and emotions.
Cleansing with mint is both effective and enjoyable. As long as you enjoy the scent of mint, I suppose. This is a great way to effectively reset the stage of your aura. The act of mixing the mint with water combines the sharp, crisp nature of the mint, which is pungent and naturally clean, with the water’s pure, calming properties. This duo is great for releasing tension in the body and mind.
For example, say you have had a long and mentally draining day. When you come home, you could throw some dried mint leaves into a pot of water and let them simmer for 5 minutes. Then take the water and mint with you into the shower. Use a washcloth to dab the mint-infused water onto your skin as the warm shower washes away tension and the mint penetrates the skin barrier, stimulating circulation and relaxing muscle tissue and tendons.
Wakening the senses, intentionally overwhelming one or multiple senses within the body in order to startle them into action or function.
Even outside of magic, we use mint for this purpose. Vic’s VapoRub is probably the easiest reference for using mentholated substances to overwhelm and shock the senses back into functional order. Shower tablets that create a pleasant aroma while you get clean, again, the incorporation of scent and the mind-body connection.
When it comes to mint and magic, typically, I see mint as a restorative, meaning it should start motion, create energy, relieve tension, and generally support the spirit. In my magic, I usually have something mint-flavored or a cup of peppermint tea on the mug warmer, waiting for me after ritual.
The sharp flavor and scent of mint are a perfect way for me to wake my body back up after being in an extended meditative state of ritual awareness. It sends clear signals throughout the physiological system that the work is over, I can stop pushing and pulling energetic threads to weave my tapestry with, and come back into the waking world of simplicity and duality. The mint is restoring my system to normal functions, but ending the working with finality and a clear break.
Both grounding and restorative.
