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Mint

MYTH and LORE
 In Greek mythology, Persephone metamorphosed the nymph (or naiad, some say) Minthe into the herb mint to save her from being raped by Hades. Alternatively, Persephone was enraged because Hades was having an affair with Minthe so she transformed her into dust. Hades, grieving, brought forth the herb mint from the dust.
 Greeks believed that mint increased sexual activity. Greek soldiers were warned not to eat it because it might diminish their courage or strength for battle.
 Kykyeon (also spelled Kykeion and Cecyon) was the ritual drink of the Eleusine Mysteries. It is thought to have been made of barley water or wheaten gruel mixed with mint (some say pennyroyal). Ancient sources described it as intoxicating, so it may have been fermented or have had a hallucinogenic ingredient such as Amanita muscaria. This was the drink that a woman named Misme served to Demeter during her long search for Persephone. Female initiates of the Eleusine Mysteries carried vessels of it bound to their heads. Kykyeon can be drunk in Demeterís honor, or poured out as a libation to her.

HISTORY
 Mint has been used in Europe since prehistoric times, and in Egypt since at least 1000 B.C. Arabs have drunk mint tea since ancient times. Mint was used, with rosemary and myrtle, to mask the smell of death in ancient Greece. It was strewn about the banquet halls of Greece and Rome, to make them smell pleasant.

CORRESPONDENCES
Venus/Mercury/Jupiter/Air/Male/Tuesday/Wednesday/the first hour after sunrise on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday/the first hour after sunset on Saturday, Sunday or Monday/May/Gemini/Leo/Libra Capricorn/Aquarius
 Color: green, silver, white
 Goddess: Freya, Hecate, Juno, Libera, Nerthus, Persephone, Prosperine
 God: Dis Pater, Freyr, Hades, Liber, Pluto
 Evocation: Minte

MAGICK
 One way to understand and appreciate an herb is to know what it can do. Every type of mint can be used for banishing, blessing, love potions, psychic work, and workings that are related to clarity, concentration, creativity, fortune, healing, joy, justice, love, luck, lust, money, passion, prosperity, protection, purification, release, sexuality, travel, trust, virtue, wealth, wisdom, yang, benevolent spirits, good fortune, good luck, magickal life, mental strength, spiritual guidance (especially in dreams), sense of smell, sharp/quick mind, good luck in business, and relaxation in psychic work. Mint can also be used to bind spells, enhance sexuality, improve memory, restore vigor, protect against lightning, release invited spirits, sharpen the mind, cool off after a quarrel, increase business, concentration, power or sex; attract customers, love, lust, money, or protection; and prepare/care for the bodies of the dead.
 Mint incense takes two forms, mint-scented incense sticks and menthol crystals that can be burned over self-igniting charcoal. The latter is considered more powerful. Either can be used for all the purposes given here, but is specific for attracting money, increasing libido, conjuring benevolent spirits, and banishing or protecting against negative entities. Essential oil of mint can be used for anointing and consecrating, as well as for all the other purposes.
 In the body, use mint for workings that are related to asthma, colic, cough, PMS, arthritis/rheumatism, digestive system, sleep disorders, varicose veins, and skin diseases/disorders (in bath). It can also be used magickally to calm anxiety, increase libido, reduce lactation, relieve toothache, strengthen muscles,  calm the nerves, protect the brain, protect against colds/flu, relieve headache or migraine, and stimulate brain or circulatory system.
 Infuse mint with savory to enhance sexuality, and with caraway seeds to trea colic. Pliny believed that mint was contrary to procreation. He advised scholars to wear crowns of mint to aid their concentration. He wrote that mint exhilarates the mind and stimulates the brain. Some traditions consider sage a magickal substitute for mint.
Other Uses
 Several types of mint are kitchen herbs. They can be used, fresh or dried, to make things such as liqueurs, mint jelly, mint juleps, mint sauce, and mint tea. Culinary mint can also be used as a garnish for desserts, lemonade, iced tea, fruit drinks, fruit salads, and so on.
 All parts of mint plants yield an aromatic essential oil. The oil from several types is used commercially to make things such as candy, gum, mouthwash, perfume, and toilet water. Rodents dislike mint, so it can be used to avert them. Dried mint can be sprinkled as an ant barrier.

WHEEL OF THE YEAR
 Mint is appropriate for the sabbats Midsummer and Samhain. It is one of the traditional offerings to Hecate, especially at crossroads, and on the Night of Hecate in mid-November.

HORSE MINT
 Other names for Horse Mint (also spelled Horsemint) include Biblical Mint, Downy Mint, Rossminz (German), Silver Mint, and Wild Mint. In botany it is Mentha longifolia, a pungent perennial herb with small grayish leaves. It grows to two feet and blooms with purple flowers.
 Color: purple, silver
 Horse mint is specific for workings that are related to earaches and erotic dreams. It can also be used to attract fairies and prevent wet dreams (juice, applied topically). Horse mint is not used as a kitchen herb, but it does provide cut flowers and dried flowers. It can also be used in herbal pillows.

PENNYROYAL
[Caution: pregnant women should avoid contact with pennyroyal]
 The many names for pennyroyal include Calamint, Filayya (Arabic), Organe, Poleiminze (German), Poleo (Spanish), European Pennyroyal, Menthe Pouliot (French), Mosquito Plant, Pudding Grass, Squaw Mint, Herbe aux Puces (French), Lurk-in-the-Ditch, and Run-by-the-Ground. Penyroil and Penirial are old ways of spelling it. Churchwort and Ladyís Flavoring are Christian names for pennyroyal. In the old Language of Flowers it meant 'Flee away' or 'Go away'.
 In botany it is Mentha pulegium, the smallest mint, a strongly aromatic creeping perennial herb. Pennyroyal has oval, grayish-green leaves and blooms in late summer with whorls of lilac flowers. It contains highly volatile essential oils, and produces tiny light brown seeds. Pennyroyal forms carpets that cover the ground, and can be grown between paving stones.
 Pennyroyal is a sacred herb in Strega. It is called pudding grass because Scots used it to flavor haggis.
Myth and Lore
 It was once believed that if pennyroyal were mixed with a stone from the nest of a lapwing or black plover, it would make an animal pregnant with black offspring if it were rubbed on its belly. This mixture was also believed to induce a deathlike state from which an animal would soon recover when it was placed in its nostrils. The mixture was also to keep bees from flying away when placed into a container with them, and to cause bees that had been drowned almost to death to recover when placed among them.
Correspondences
Venus/Mars/Mercury/Air/Earth/Fire/Water/Male/Female/the first hour after sunrise on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday/the first hour after sunset on Monday, Friday or Saturday/October/Libra
 Color: green, orange, pink
 Goddess: Demeter, Mary
Magick
 Pennyroyal is specific for elemental magick and for workings that are related to healing, initiation, love, peace, protection, purification, stimulation, strength, yang, yin, calm mind, conscious mind, mental balance, peaceful home, physical calm, physical energy, Air spells/magick, Earth spells/magick, Fire spells/magick, mental steadiness/stability, and sensitivity to cold. It can also be used to avert negativity, clear evil (sprinkled), ease nervousness, be less easily influenced, create a shield of protection, keep people from bothering you, end/solve family or marital problems, remove evil or hexes from the home (strewn in the house), and to protect against confusion or the negative thoughts of other people.
 In the body, use pennyroyal for workings that are related to bronchitis, cough, healing, intestines, joints, menstruation, nausea, seasickness (carried), ulcers, reproductive system, and stomach disease/problems. It can also be used magickally to stimulate menstruation, reduce fever, treat disease, ease bone pain, stimulate uterine contractions, treat colds/flu, calm hysteria or the nerves, relieve headache or menstrual pain/cramps, strengthen the sacral or solar plexus chakra, and to protect against fatigue (in shoe), hysteria, mental disorientation, seasickness, or Alzheimerís Disease.
 Pennyroyal averts fleas, flies, gnats and mosquitoes. It clears the air in sickrooms, and improves the mood of patients.  Burn incense of dried pennyroyal, peony, and mint with castor oil at bedtime to banish nightmares and visions.
Wheel of the Year
 Pennyroyal is appropriate for the sabbats Imbolc, Mabon, and Midsummer.

PEPPERMINT
 Peppermint is also called American Mint, Brandy Mint, Lamb Mint or Lammint, Menthe Poivrée (French), and Pfefferminze (German). In the old Language of Flowers it meant 'Warm feelings'. In botany it is Mentha piperita, an aromatic perennial herb whose dark green leaves are veined and toothed. It has square erect stems, and grows to 32 inches. There are several varieties of peppermint, which is thought to be a hybrid of spearmint and water mint. It blooms from June to August with spikes of white or purplish flowers.
Correspondences
Mercury/Venus/Mars/Fire/Air/Male/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday/
the first hour after sunrise on Tuesday or Wednesday/the first hour after sunset on Friday or Saturday/Air/Fire/November/Aries/ Gemini/Virgo/Aquarius
 Color: black, dark green
 God: Pluto, Zeus
Magick
 Peppermint is specific for Air spells/magick, banishing, divination, Fire spells/magick, uncrossing, and for workings that are related to alertness, change/s, clarity, creativity, energy, healing, love, luck, lust, mindfulness, money, psychism, purification, relaxation, release, sleep, spells, stimulation, strength, study, success, travel, vigor, visions, yang, calm mind, clear thinking, good luck, mental ability, mental energy, mental power/s, mental stimulation, intellectual ability, prophetic dreams, psychic awareness, psychic power/s, quick wits, the intellect, the Underworld, warm feelings, good/positive vibrations, and sharp/quick mind.
 Peppermint can also be used to activate thinking, balance ego, clear evil, enhance vibrations, improve thinking, lessen anger, perceive cold, awaken the mind, change your life, increase psychic ability, find a job, raise the spirit, reduce/relieve fatigue, balance darkness and light, encourage action or love, increase perception or power, participate fully in life, break/ end/overcome bad habits, cool off after a quarrel, cool angry vibrations after quarrels, stimulate creativity or psychic ability, spice up your life or relationship, and to overcome indecision, laziness, mental fatigue, mental lethargy, or psychic lethargy.
 In the body, use peppermint magickally for workings that are related to anemia, colic, cough, gallbladder, infection, intestines, larynx, liver, nausea, stomach, arthritis/rheumatism, motion sickness, sleep disorders, vertigo/dizziness, bowel diseases/disorders, circulatory system/disorders, gallbladder diseases/disorders, gum disease/infections, menstrual pain/cramps, neurological diseases/disorders, sinus diseases/disorders, stomach diseases/problems, digestive system/disorders/problems, and muscle pain or problems. Peppermint can also be used to improve depression, overcome addiction, reduce fever, protect against colds/flu, relieve headache, migraine, or stomach ache/pain; and stimulate nerves, the brain, or circulatory system.
 Peppermint has many commercial applications, such as to flavor candy, gum, mouthwash, toothpaste, creme de menthe, and so on. Peppermint is also used to scent candles, soaps, and other products. It is appropraite for the sabbat Yule. Spearmint is a magickal substitute for peppermint.

SPEARMINT
 Spearmint is also called Diosmos (Greek), Garden Mint, Green Mint, Grüne Minze (German), Heart Mint, Herba Buena (Spanish), Lamb Mint or Lammint, Mackerel Mint, Menta Romana (Spanish), Menta Verde (Italian), Menthe Verte (French), and Moroccan Green Mint. Maryís Mint, Our Ladyís Mint, and Sage of Bethlehem are Christian names for it. In the old Language of Flowers it meant 'Warm feelings' or 'Warm sentiments'. In botany spearmint is Mentha spicata, an aromatic perennal herb with smooth, lanceolate leaves. It blooms with pale blue flowers.
Correspondences
Venus/Water/Male/Female/the first hour after sunrise on Wednesday or Friday/the first hour after sunset on Monday or Saturday/Libra
 Color: green, light green
 Goddess: Mary
 God: Mercury
Magick
 Spearmint is specific for meditation, binding, trance, Water spells/magick, protection in battle or during sleep, and for workings that are related to healing, innocence, love, money, protection, purification, safety, stimulation, travel, yang, yin, good luck, home security, inner clarity, mental power/s, physical balance, rapid growth, spiritual assistance, and warm feelings. It can also be used to increase power, renew/restore energy, get assistance from fairies, increase/strengthen mental powers, increase emotional security in children, protect against aggression and danger/s, and to protect the home from danger, intruders, and visitors.
 In the body, use spearmint magickally for workings that are related to colic, healing, health, intestines, digestive disorders/problems, and lung diseases/disorders. It can also be used to arouse lust, calm nerves, improve depression, reduce fever, soothe muscles, reduce/relieve fatigue, protect against colds/flu, relieve headache or migraine, and strengthen nerves/ nervous system.
 Add essential oil of spearmint to incense to attract spiritual help. Culpepper wrote that spearmint, ìstirs up venery, or bodily lust.î Peppermint is a magickal substitute for spearmint.
Other Uses
 Spearmint is used to make mint sauce, mint jelly and mint vinegar, all of which are traditionally eaten with lamb, new potatoes, and peas. It is also used commercially to flavor products such as candy, gum, mouthwash, toothpaste, and so on. Spearmint also helps to avert insects.

WATER MINT
 Other names for Water Mint (also spelled Watermint and Water-mint) include Aquatic Mint, Creeping Mint, Fish Mint, Marsh Mint, Menta d'Acqua (Italian), Menthe Blanche (French), Wasserminze or Wasser-Minze (German), Wild Mint, and Wild Water Mint. In botany it is Mentha aquatica, a pungent perennial herb whose veined green leaves are sometimes hairy or tinged with purple. It has purplish stems, grows to three feet, and blooms with spikes of lilac flowers. Water Mint grows wild in ditches, fish pools, and wetlands.
Venus/Water/Friday
 Color: purple
 Animal: fish
 Goddess: Atargatis
 God: Poseidon
 Use water mint for Water spells/magick. It is not a kitchen herb.