Solomon’s Seal Root cut (Polygonatum species)

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Protection: carry a piece of root or place it in the corners of the house to guard against harm.
• Exorcism wash: steep the root and sprinkle the water through a room to drive out what does not belong.
• Offering to the four quarters: some practitioners lay pieces at the four corners of a property as a protective seal.

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Wisdom: carried in a mojo bag for wise decisions and good judgement, after King Solomon.
• Sealing: added to a jar or packet to seal a working closed so it holds.

A Simple Working

• Write your question or the decision before you on a small piece of paper.
• Place a piece of Solomon’s seal root on the paper.
• Add a pinch of sage.
• Fold the paper toward you around them and tie it with white thread.
• Light a white chime candle beside it and sit with your question until the candle burns down.
• Carry the packet until the decision is made.

Pairs Well With

• Sage, for wisdom and clear thinking.
• Angelica root, for protection alongside sealing work.
• A white chime candle, for wisdom and blessing.
• Beeswax, to seal a jar or packet closed.

What You Receive

Cut dried Solomon’s seal root, available in 1 oz and 1 lb.

Origin & Lore

Polygonatum species are woodland plants of Europe, Asia and North America, with arching stems and small bell flowers hanging beneath. In old European herbals the root was traditionally used as a poultice for bruises, and in some regions the young shoots were eaten like asparagus.

Break a Solomon’s seal rhizome along its length and you find round scars where old stems fell away, each one looking like a wax seal pressed into the root.

The herbalist John Gerard wrote in 1597 that the root, applied fresh, took away bruises “gotten by falls or women’s wilfulness in stumbling upon their hasty husbands’ fists”, one of the most quoted lines in English herbal literature.