TOXIC BOTANICALS
Toxic plants have been studied, cultivated, and deliberately kept for centuries — by physicians, poisoners, midwives, cunning folk, and anyone who understood that the line between medicine and poison was a matter of dose rather than intent. Many of the most dangerous plants in this archive are also the most pharmacologically significant, their alkaloids still present in modern medicine under different names. Their history belongs not only to the dangerous but to everyone who learned to work carefully with difficult things.
Tansy: The Golden Guardian of Banishing
Tansy, with its bright yellow button-like flowers, is a powerful herb of protection, courage, and banishing. Revered in folklore for its cleansing and warding qualities, it is used in witchcraft as incense, ritual oil, or charms. Toxic if ingested, Tansy’s spirit is best invoked symbolically as a guardian against harm.