Fumitory

• Latin name: Fumaria officinalis
• Folk or Common names: Earth Smoke, Beggary, Fumus, Vapor, Nidor, Fumus Terrae, Fumiterry, Scheiteregi, Taubenkropp, Kaphnos, and Wax Dolls.
• Parts Used: Flower and stem.
• Herbal usage: Fumitory is a weak tonic, slightly diaphoretic, diuretic, and aperient. It is valuable in treating illnesses of the liver. A decoction makes a curative lotion for milk-crust on the scalp of an infant. The Japanese make a tonic from it. Cows and sheep eat it, and the latter are said to derive great benefit from it. The juice of the leaves is said to be excellent for removing freckles and clearing the skin.French and German physicians still prefer Fumitory to most other medicines as a purifier of the blood. Sometimes the dried leaves of Fumitory are smoked in the manner of tobacco, for disorders of the head. Fumitory was a common herbal medicine used in Shakespeare’s England. One of the books from this era (“Dr. John Hall’s Case Studies” written by John A. Hall a renowned 16th century physician-herbalist) tells of using Fumitory to treat many common ailments. Of course he also prescribed such things as bat dung, which BTW is particularly high in vitamin A , webs of spiders, powder of nut shells, excreta, dried windpipes of cocks, etc.
• Magical History & Associations: Fumitory is associated with the planets of Jupiter and Saturn. It is also associated with the element of water.
• Magickal usage: Fumitory can be used in Money and protection spells, but is best known as an herb to use for exorcisms. According to the ancient exorcists, when the plant is burned, its smoke has the power of expelling evil spirits, demons, poltergeists and other evil entities, it having been used for this purpose in the famous geometrical gardens of St. Gall. There is a legend that the plant was produced, not from seed, but from vapors arising out of the earth (hence its common name “Earth Smoke”). Fumitory can also be used in purification baths preceding rituals.