Bay Leaves whole (Laurus nobilis)

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Wish leaf: write a wish on a whole leaf and burn it, or keep it under a candle until the wish is met.
• Seer’s smoke: burn a crumbled leaf before divination, after the Delphic example.
• Window ward: tuck leaves along a window frame or above a door for protection.

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Success mojo: whole leaves go into mojo bags for victory, success and wisdom.
• Written petition: a wish or a name is written directly on the leaf and carried or burned.

Ceremonial & Occult Magick

• Solar work: Renaissance occult philosophy lists laurel among the plants of the Sun, used in solar fumigations and talismans.

A Simple Working

• On a Sunday, light a gold or yellow chime candle.
• Write a single word for the success you want on a whole bay leaf.
• Pass the leaf through the candle’s warmth while you say the word aloud.
• Lay the leaf beneath the candle holder with a pinch of cinnamon.
• Let the candle burn down completely.
• Carry the leaf in your wallet or purse until the goal is reached.

Pairs Well With

• Cinnamon, for speed in success work.
• Frankincense, for solar and consecration incense.
• Mugwort, in divination smoke.
• A gold chime candle, for solar workings.

What You Receive

Whole dried bay leaves, available in 1 oz, 2 oz and 1 lb.

Origin & Lore

Laurus nobilis is an evergreen tree of the Mediterranean whose leaves have seasoned soups and stews for millennia. Laurel wreaths crowned the victors of the Pythian Games and later honoured Roman generals and poets.

Ancient writers describe the priestess at Delphi chewing or burning laurel before she spoke Apollo’s prophecies.

In Greek myth the nymph Daphne fled Apollo and was turned into a laurel, and the god took the tree as his own. Romans believed laurel was never struck by lightning and wore it during storms.