witchcraft Archives - The Cargo Cult Café

Great Angelica: Edible, Medicinal, Cautions & Other Uses

January 27, 2016 by Mike Leave a Comment

Great Angelica, Angelica atropurpurea, or Purple Angelica is an extremely large plant of meadows and stream banks. This plant is edible but don’t misidentify Great Angelica for Poison or Water Hemlock which grow in the same habitat and are deadly poisonous. Medicinally it has ben used by the Cherokee, Delaware, Iroquois and Menominee Indians for a variety of ailments. The Iroquois even used it for witchcraft and to get rid of ghosts. The Delaware mixed Angelica seeds with tobacco and smoked it.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Great Angelica Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software. Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 1. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 265-266

Fernald, Merritt Lyndon & Alfred Charles Kinsey. Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1996. Print. pg. 296-297

Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 70

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 23

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 194-195

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany. Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 74

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 222-223

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 40-41

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

White Snakeroot: Poison & Medicinal

October 2, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

White Snakeroot, Ageratina altissima or Eupatorium rugosum, is a poisonous plant responsible for causing the death of thousands of people in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. The illness was called milk sickness brought on by cattle eating the white snakeroot plant. An un-named Shawnee woman is responsible for explaining the plants properties to Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby who is credited for identifying the cause of this illness. Medicinally, the plant has been used as a stimulant, tonic, diuretic and febrifuge amongst other things including witchcraft leading to a males member “rotting from the inside,” ouch!

White Snakeroot Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software. Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 56

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 232-233

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 54

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 436-437

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Yellow Wood Sorrel: Edible, Medicinal, Cautions & Other Uses

September 8, 2015 by Mike 1 Comment

Yellow Wood Sorrel, Oxalis stricta, is one of my favorite wild edible snacks. The plant is both edible and medicinal. The Kiowa Indians called it “salt weed” and used it for long walks, much in the same way we drink/eat electrolytes when we are out on a hike.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Yellow Wood Sorrel Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1423-1424

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 190

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 374

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 246-247

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 72-73, 104-105

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.