Does anyone have any experiences [Archive] - MysticWicks Online Pagan Community and Spiritual Sanctuary

Hunger

May 30th, 2008, 10:56 AM

Well with belladonna you have to be extremely careful in preparation and dosage, but in concert with a few other herbs it's extract forms one of the best cold/flu medicines I've ever made, clears up the stuffy runny nose in a flash, also helps ease congestion.

In combination with other herbs it also helps to make a decent sedative, but preparing it safely for that use is even more of a hassle than for cold medicines.

After using several chemical processes to isolate certain compounds from the plant and in concert with a few others as well it is one of the most effective things I have ever seen in stopping a heart attack and minimalizing damage. I got lucky, and soon after attempting that for the first time my father had a heart attack, and it was very quickly stopped with minimal damage. The hospital was amazed at how well he had weathered the attack, as the damage was so small that it was only barely noticeable that an attack had occurred.

The big problem with belladonna is that it requires a decent level of experience with chemical processes to render the vital properties of the plant into a safe form for use
(well except for the cold medicine use, a very experienced herbalist could get that to work as long as they were very careful.)

Personally unless you have a very large amount of experience and pay very careful attention to the details I wouldn't even try messing with it. It's a good way to kill yourself or someone else.

I find that it's very helpful and traditional to offer some form of appeasement to the christian 'devil' while working with the plant, or to Atropos, the Fate who cuts the thread of life.

Any plant whose official name is Atropa, a reference to said Fate, or commonly known as the 'devil's plant' should be handled with the most extreme care.

As an even greater cautionary note it's possible to feed it to an animal, have the animal suffer no ill effects, but if the animal is consumed by humans they can become very seriously ill or even die. Though there is scientific explanation for this, I think that the story my grandfather told me when teaching me herblore is very poignant and apt in this case.

"Boy, the devil's weed is cursed. The devil himself made it to hunt mankind, and it's especially dangerous to us. He made it to tempt children, which is why it's sweet to the taste, but like all the devil's creations it bears his mark. The devil talks to the deer and rabbits and tells them that if they eat it, they will get their revenge against the man who hunts them in death, cause if you get a critter who's taken a liking to the stuff, I've seen a man get so sick from eating them he's died."

At this point he told me to always be sure to cut open the stomach of any animal living near where the plant grows in large quantities to make sure that it wasn't a 'devil touched' animal.

"If you want to work with the devil's weed you have to sell your soul. Old man River (River Bob, a local at one time living legend) sold his soul for the herb's power, either that or you have to trick the devil to get his permission to use it. Even then you've got to only use the smallest amounts, because even the devil's blessings will kill you if you indulge too much. River says that
the weed can open your eyes and show you the devil's secrets, but I don't truck with that. Just don't touch it unless you run into the devil and can trick him inta lettin you use it."

Granted that was a paraphrase of the conversation, though it was one of the more poignant lessons he taught.

Edit: Personally I'd avoid the stuff as much as possible. I've had two hospital visits because of working with the crap, only one other herb has ever caused me such trouble and I've had a lot of experience.