Comfrey Leaf (Symphytum officinale)

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Safe travel: slip a little leaf into a pocket of your bag or suitcase before a journey.
• Money that returns: wrap money in a comfrey leaf or keep the leaf in your purse so spent money comes back.
• Steadying charm: add it to Saturnian protection work for endurance and keeping things whole.

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Travel protection: comfrey is carried or packed in luggage to keep a traveller safe and to keep belongings from being lost or stolen.
• Travel mojo: it is added to mojo bags made for safe journeys.

A Simple Working

• Set out a teaspoon of comfrey leaf, a pinch of mugwort and a small white cloth bag.
• Light a white candle.
• Write your destination and the date you leave on a slip of paper.
• Place the paper in the bag with the herbs.
• Pass the bag over the candle flame three times, naming a safe journey and safe return.
• Tie the bag closed and pack it in your luggage, keeping it there until you are home.

Pairs Well With

• Mugwort, the traditional traveller’s herb.
• Comfrey root, for a stronger travel charm.
• A small cloth bag, for packing in luggage.
• Cinnamon, when using comfrey in money work.

What You Receive

Cut and dried comfrey leaf, available in 1 oz, 2 oz and 1 lb.

Origin & Lore

Symphytum officinale is a tall, hairy perennial of damp ground across Europe. Its broad leaves were traditionally laid on sprains and bruises as a poultice, fed to livestock and grown in cottage gardens, and gardeners still cut it several times a year to rot down as plant food.

Knitbone, the oldest English name for comfrey, tells you exactly what generations of country people believed it was for.

Its medieval names consound and comfrey both come from Latin words meaning to grow together, from the plant’s reputation for joining broken things. The hoodoo use of comfrey for travel and luggage is recorded in twentieth-century African American practice.