Plant & Crystal Magic 22: Fern & Labradorite
Happy Summer Solstice Season, and St.John’s Eve! We are now in the full expression of summer and its green world magic! The veil between us and the Faerie realm is at its thinnest, and the flowers and plants are blooming in expansive celebration of the life force. There may be many troubling things in our world, but each year we are brought back to this moment, where we are reminded to be grateful for our aliveness, and for what we have been able to manifest in beauty, as the light of the sun shines brightly on us. We are reminded, as well, of the magic that surrounds us in the natural world, hiding often in plain sight. Engaging with the sight that allows us to peer beyond the facade is one of the many gifts offered by this month’s plant and crystal allies, Fern and Labradorite.
Fern
“We help you to see in the dark, without being seen. That is the meaning of Fern protection magic.”
Solstice morning I sat outside with the wild Ferns that surround my home. Native to California and abundant in the forests of West Marin, it is easy to take them for granted, despite their unique beauty. Yet, anyone who takes a close look at their spiraled fronds, and watches them slowly unfurl, spreading out to gradually transform a landscape into an ancient looking place, will be able to sense their magical nature. I touched the spores, which look like tiny seeds along the underside of their feathery leaves, placed the spores that stuck to my finger on my heart, and asked what they wanted me to say about their nature and their magic. The words above are what instantly came to me. These are plants very much worthy of our respect and reverence. Plants are our elders, on this planet, and so it is always a good idea to attempt to listen to their wisdom for us directly, but Ferns are elders, even among the plants and stones. They are prehistoric, even called living fossils, from a lineage that extends back perhaps more than 380 million years. Recent fossil discoveries place them at the middle of the Devonian period, as part of the grouping of primitive plants called Pteridophytes, which held dominion over the land before the flowering plants, and even before the existence of some well known species of dinosaur. It is an amazingly long time for anything to survive and continue to thrive. I can hardly imagine the amount of change they have witnessed and weathered. They quietly surround us, holding their knowledge and secrets of survival and adaptation. Held as sacred to the Druid’s, and with a folk history of magic, medicine, and and sometimes fearful regard, I wonder if part of their power is in blending into their environment, augmenting beauty without calling attention to themselves.
What does it mean to see in the dark? Though fear of the unknown often creates a bad connotation when we hear the word “dark,” its true meaning is simply that which is covered by night, hidden to the light of day. This can be literal, as the landscape and our own ability to move within it, changes dramatically at night. It can also hold the more metaphoric meaning of that which belongs to the night and the hidden, including dreams, intuition, the unconscious, magic, the ancestral, the Akashic records, and other elements of the mysterious. Ferns were once regarded as a plant with many magical applications, and the “seeds” were an ingredient in the famous flying ointment, used by witches for spiritual flight, aiding the dreaming body in astral travel by inducing a very deep state of dreaming awake.
But, what does it mean to not be seen in the dark? We live in a time when the arts of the mysterious are often sought with the spirit of adventure. With the partial knowledge left to us from times when human culture made it unsafe to practice or teach mystery traditions, we may find ourselves trying things we half believe in, just to see what will happen. This is part of the retrieval of psychic knowledge in our age, but there is also a down side to this. The realms beyond our conscious awareness are sometimes dangerous. If we find ourselves in the dreamtime, or in deeply psychic states that allow us access to places just next to our reality, or if we engage in the practices and plant medicines known to us from more mysticism-centered cultures, without the training and preparation that they had undergone to become ready for those levels of awareness, we might find more than the healing or learning we seek. It’s possible that within unknown territories, as we look deeply and travel innocently, there are other elements that look back and have their own purposes. To be able to see in the dark, without being seen, is a very sacred gift. Invisibility is an old form of psychic protection, that is not perhaps as dramatic as in the movies, but relates to how much you are or are not noticed, as you engage the arts of dreaming, seeing, healing, and the cultivation of knowledge. The first time I was made aware of this principle, I was at Mictla, the temple of the dead and the ancestral in Oaxaca, Mexico. It happened in a vision, as I gazed at the ancient stone carving of the jaguar glyph, the guide through the underworlds, and at that time as well it was suggested to me to carry a seed of a particular kind to make myself more invisible. There are many references in books and articles on the folklore of the Fern to the use of its “seeds” for protection by way of invisibility, particularly when they are harvested on Midsummer’s Eve, or at least by moonlight, though often that is all that is said. The nuance of providing this ability to see, without being seen, is a nuance that I hadn’t heard before, and I believe it sheds light on the particular nature of this plants protective and magical gifts.
There are other references to protection magic, as well as to other enchantments, to be found in folklore, in relation to the Fern. People once carried ferns as a charm to ward off evil spirits or sorcery, as well as to attract luck, love, and to find wealth. A particularly interesting talisman was made from the curled fronds of a Male Fern and sometimes called “Lucky Hands.” It was made by picking a Male Fern on Midsummer’s Eve, stripping it to have only five unfurled fronds, which strongly resemble curled fingers, and then smoking it over a bonfire until it hardened. In researching Litha, I learned that a bonfire once referred to a fire made entirely of bones, and I can’t say if that is an important element in the creation of this charm, but it was said that once made it could provide immunity from the threat of harmful sorcery and maleficent spirits, for the one who carried it. Ferns were planted at the doorway to a home for protection, as well as brought inside, and when dried they were burned over hot coals to banish spirits and create a protective aura. When added to a flower arrangement, they are said to not only add a protective element, but to enhance the properties of the flowers therein.
In Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, there is a particularly fun bit of lore that says if you are in a fern covered spot in the forest, at midnight, with no sound at all around you, Puck will appear and give you a purse full of gold. Doing this as an intentional practice was called “watching the Fern.” It also says that Fern sap, if it can be harvested, provides eternal youth. In A Druid’s Herbal, For The Sacred Earth Year, the reference to Fern as a plant of immortality is also made. Perhaps that is a logical gift from a plant so old and ever-renewing. Yet, as with invisibility, sometimes the meaning of these teachings hidden in folk story form are less literal than metaphoric. Just as we have looked deeper into invisibility, it is possible to engage in inquiry about the true meaning of eternal youth.
There are many varieties of Fern, each with nuance. For example, one variety known to the Druid’s as Moonwort, has the specialty of opening locks and breaking charms when it has been gathered by moonlight, and was also used in love spells and alchemy to convert quicksilver in to silver. Because of this history, it is a good choice if one is looking to conjure financial wealth. In general, Ferns like to grow in more shady areas and forests. They are associated with Mercury and Saturn. The Druids used the root of the male Fern and the root and leaves of the female plant for the treatment of many medical conditions, including issues of the lungs, coughs, jaundice, depression, rheumatism, diarrhea, ulcers, wounds, edema, internal injuries, intestinal worms, burns, and more, though these medicines must be precisely made and administered to avoid potentially harmful effects.
Suggestions for working with Fern:
We are at Midsummer, and can now take advantage of some of the above ritual suggestions for protective and luck increasing magic. But, before beginning, find a wild place or garden close to where you live or often venture and commune with this supremely magical elder. Ask it what you can offer it in order to make a deeper relationship. Ask it what it can teach you. Then ask to be shown which tradition or what alternate ritual may be of most help to you right now. Listen quietly. Sometimes plants speak subtly by bringing up memories and emotions, as well as direct transmission.
Scrape the seeds, respectfully, from the bottom of the leaves of the Fern. Make an offering in return, and then place the seeds in a pouch to carry as an invisibility charm. Or, if you’re feeling especially adventurous, follow this older version of the spell on St. John’s Eve, June 23rd, the Summer Solstice eve within the Julian calendar count. The following text comes from The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells:
“The Fern Seed Spall above has entered the general magical lexicon but actually derives from a more complex magical tradition. The original spell demanded fern seen gathered on Saint John’s Eve, and not just any fern seed either. John the Baptist is unusual, as a saint with two feast days–not only the anniversary of his death, but also his birthday. Allegedly John was born at midnight on the Summer Solstice. According to legend, on the eve of his birth, at the very moment of his birth, ferns bloom and seed. If you can obtain that seed, this will work as a charm to render you truly invisible.
On the night of Saint John’s Eve, search out growing ferns.
Watch them closely.
At midnight, if seeds appear, gather them and carry as needed.
Russian magic suggests that the most powerful fern seed, for purposes of invisibility or otherwise, is picked on Bald Mountain on Saint John’s Eve. The Synod of Ferrara in1612 forbade the gathering of fern seeds on Saint John’s Eve.”
Labradorite
Labradorite is a stone of magic, one that helps to awaken our inner knowledge and to direct it consciously. When holding and gazing into this green, blue, sometimes dark, sometimes brilliant stone, it is hard not to think about the earth as it must look from space. Especially when looking at a sphere of Labradorite, its relationship to the ever changing presence and mystery of the earth is called to mind. When I was younger, this is the stone that spoke to me most, and I recall reading somewhere that it helps to “make a warrior feel like a warrior,” particularly in times of transition. That phrase always comes to mind now when I consider Labradorite, and gazing into it I think I can understand why, in a larger sense than before.
At a first glance, Labradorite can seem very blue or a deep green, even a muddy brown with some green, blue, gold and black flecks. If you don’t look any further, you might miss how brilliant and deep it actually is. But, if the light hits it just right, or if you hold it beneath water perhaps, you will see worlds within worlds, made of shimmering blue and deep green, the images hidden within only limited by your imaginative capacity. This has always conjured the image of the Faerie realm for me, but I can also think about it in another way. It is a kind of mirror for the mystery that encompasses both the earth and us, as humans.
On the surface, what we are and what we see around us may seem very fixed in mundane reality. We wear this concrete identity like a kind of cloak. It takes a desire to see beyond, and the discipline to pay attention in more subtle ways, to see the true layers within the fabric of reality. When we are moving too fast, or too mired in our troubles and transitions, we easily forget. At this time, it is very helpful to have an ally that can remind us of who and what we truly are, while helping us to open to receive more intuitive information, and to direct our larger energetic resources with purpose and power. That orientation towards life, and the inner discipline it takes to cultivate and maintain it, is the true meaning of warrior-ship. This is spiritual warrior-ship. And there we have it: Labradorite helps to make a warrior feel like a warrior. It serves to wake up and focus the subtle magic that is inside and outside of us, here on our beloved earth.
In the service of this, it may help in reach beyond the veil of our waking consciousness and into the dreaming realms and altered states of consciousness where we can access the gifts of psychic knowledge, divination, communication with guides, prophetic knowledge and glimpses into the Akashic records, manifestation magic, and increased serendipity, wherein we unconsciously draw favorable circumstances and connections towards us. At the same time, according to the The Book of Stones, by Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian, it offers tremendous help on the path of knowledge and enhanced awareness. It helps us to avoid the temptation to use such forces for control over others, an inappropriate use of magic. Instead, it aligns us with our divine soul purpose, and helps us to connect with our quest for knowledge and self development throughout lifetimes, even to recall what we have glimpsed or cultivated therein. We are purified by its hidden rainbow light, as we take the adventurous journey into the unknown realms and mysterious territories of the Nahual, or dreaming side of life.
This purification element is tied to its protective nature. Moving between worlds can hold unseen dangers for practitioners. Labradorite can help to strengthen the auric field around us, so that we travel with more psychic protection and less permeability, thwarting those who would harm us or or intrude upon our energetic system, leaving us depleted. We need this kind of bright and shielded aura in everyday life as well, so that we are not permeated by the emotions and psychic influences of those around us. Labradorite can also help us journey more deeply within, uncovering the unconscious influences beneath our self limiting beliefs, problematic patterns of behavior, and emotional or physical dis-ease, so that we can heal and thereby recover our innate empowerment and sense of purpose.
Suggestions for working with Labradorite:
Meditate with, or bath with Labradorite to infuse yourself with its energies. Make sure to spend time with it in the sunlight, to empower it and to see its true depths. Take your meditations into the green world of the Summer Solstice season.
For those who work consistently with the unseen realms and psychic arts, it is a good idea to wear Labradorite. Rings are ideal, because you can place them on your left hand to increase your ability to see, hear, and otherwise receive psychic messages and impressions, or place them on your right to help empower your will, and directed magical intentions.
Suggestion for working with Fern and Labradorite together:
Tonight is St. John’s Eve, and Midsummer’s Eve in the Julian Calendar. This evening (or the next full moon perhaps) would be an ideal time to take your Labradorite stone out to a wild or garden place surrounded by Ferns. Sit there quietly and with a clear intention, and see if you can pierce the veil. Maybe you will glimpse the Faerie realm, or some other hidden aspect of the natural world beyond you, or the layers of inheritance and knowledge hidden within. You will be in the right kind of company for a protected, inspired, and very magical vigil. Make sure to give an offering, perhaps even a song, and most of all your respectful attention and belief in hidden possibilities. Perhaps when we look for magic this way, it will show us that which we normally miss and remind us of the vastness of our reality. Don’t forget to ask for a few of the Fern seeds, so that you can place them in a pouch with some Labradorite. This would make a supreme charm for protection, uncanny luck, deep psychic awareness.
Ometeotl.
May you grow up without losing your belief in magic. May your subtle knowledge deepen and ultimately awaken your truest soul self, protected and illuminated in the expansive light of Summer.
With radiant enchantment,
the eleventh house
-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez, originally for publication with the eleventh house.