Shavegrass, Horsetail cut, wildcrafted

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Scrubbing wash: in the spirit of its old work as a scourer, steep it and add it to floor washes and cleansing baths meant to scrub away what clings.
• Endurance charm: carry a piece in a sachet for staying power, drawing on the plant’s ancient, persistent nature.
• Folk use recorded in modern herbals includes whistles made from the hollow stems.

A Simple Working

• Steep two tablespoons of horsetail in a pot of hot water for fifteen minutes.
• Strain and add a spoonful of coarse sea salt.
• Wipe down doorframes, windowsills and the threshold with the wash.
• Work from the back of the house toward the front.
• Pour the remaining water out the front door.

Pairs Well With

• Coarse sea salt, the base of most cleansing washes.
• Hyssop, the traditional herb of purification.
• Rosemary, for a cleansing bath.

What You Receive

Cut dried horsetail (shavegrass), wildcrafted, available in 1 oz, 2 oz and 1 lb.

Origin & Lore

Horsetail is a jointed, leafless plant of damp ground, found across the Northern Hemisphere. Its everyday use was abrasive: the dried stems scoured pans, pewter and wood, which gave it names like scouring rush and pewterwort. It was also traditionally used as a herbal tea.

Before steel wool, kitchens kept bundles of horsetail. Its stems are full of silica, rough enough to scour pots and polish pewter.

Horsetails are living fossils. Their relatives once grew as tall as trees in the swamp forests of the Carboniferous period, and their remains are part of the coal we burn today.