Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale)

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Divination brew: roast the root and brew it dark before scrying or card reading.
• Spirit tea: set a steaming cup on the altar to call spirits and ancestors close.
• Persistence: carry a piece of root in a charm for work that must survive setbacks and keep coming back.

A Simple Working

• Dry-roast a tablespoon of dandelion root in a pan until dark and fragrant.
• Simmer it in a cup of water for ten minutes and strain.
• Light a purple or white candle and set out your cards or scrying bowl.
• Sip half the brew slowly, focusing on the question you want answered.
• Do your reading while the scent is still in the room.
• Leave the rest of the cup on the altar overnight as an offering, then pour it outside.

Pairs Well With

• Mugwort, for deepening divination.
• Dandelion leaf, for a lighter psychic tea.
• Burdock root, the old partner in brewing.
• A purple candle, for psychic work.

What You Receive

Cut and dried dandelion root, available in 1 oz, 2 oz and 1 lb.

Origin & Lore

The long taproot of Taraxacum officinale was dug in autumn and roasted as a coffee substitute in times of shortage, eaten as a vegetable and used in traditional herbal practice as a bitter tonic. In Britain it went into the old drink dandelion and burdock.

Pull a dandelion and leave even a scrap of root behind, and it grows back: a stubbornness gardeners curse and practitioners admire.

Roasted dandelion root has been used as a coffee stand-in across Europe and North America whenever real coffee was scarce or expensive. In magickal herbals it shares the correspondences of the leaf, used for divination and calling spirits.