The lowly Dandelion

According to Cunninghan's "Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs:

  Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Folknames: Blowball, Cankerwort, Lion's Tooth, Piss-a-Bed, Priests Crown, Puffball, Swine Snout, White Endive, Wild Endive,

Gender: Masculine

Planet: Jupitar

Element: Air

Deity:  Hecate

Powers: Divination, Wishes, Calling Spirits

Magical Uses: To find out how long you will live, blow the seeds off the head of a dandelion. You will live as many years as there are seeds left on the head.  To tell the time, blow three times at the seed head. The number left is the hour.  The root, when dried, roasted and ground like coffee, is used to make a tea. This same tea, steaming and placed besidce the bed, will call the spirits.  To send a message to a loved one, below at the seed head in his or her direction and visualize your message.   Dandelion, burried in the northwest ocrner of the house, brings favorable winds. 

I am not so sure of some of these magical uses of the dandelion and I am speaking of the ones about how long you live..... it would seem to me that when you blow the seeds off the head of dandelion, there isn't must left and therefore that would tell me I don't have much longer to live.  And the one about telling the time, well, blowing three times at the seed head, would leave very little time to count.  But the rest of these magickal uses I can accept.  Oh, and one other thing - why is Hecate the selected deity of the dandelion???

  Easily identified by its bright yellow flowers, dandelions may be considered weeds by many a homeowner, but in the old days, dandelions greens offered a much-needed edible source and a spring tonic. The flowers can be made into wine, and the leaves - which have lots of vatimin A and C -may even be tossed into a salad.  The root of the dandelion will yield a magenta dye.

  In the language of flowers, the dandelion is called an oracle of love.  It reminds you that wishes do come true, The magickal properites of this herb include divination, increasing psychic abilities, and granting wishes. Old flower folklore suggests plucking a dandelion's seed head on the night of a full moon, then requesting the aid of the four winds. Make a wish, and blow away the seeds.

    In Maida Silverman's "A City Herbal"  she gives the location of dandelions as: Everywhere, even in the cracks of roads and sidewalks.  

  When people think of 'weeds' Dandelion is the one that most often comes to mind, and this is too bad, because Dandelions are cheerful looking little plants, and especially in city jungles. 

  Dandelions leaves grow in a rosette from a long tap root. They are dark green, long and narrow, with edges that are usually but not necessarily coarsely toothed. Hollow flower stems grow from the center of the rosette and ooze a bitter, milky white juice when picked.

  In the Northeast the bright yellow flower heads appear each in March sometimes. They are most profuse during the months of April and May, but have been seen as late as November.  Dandelion 'flowers' are actually hundreds of individual, tiny strap-shaped florets combined into a single flower head and are important pollen sources for honeybees. Extremely sensitive to sunlight, Dandelions open early on sunny days and close at dusk. They react to weather conditions, too, and will close early in the day if rain threatens.

Dandelions are a perennial and reproduce from seeds. The fluffy round seed heads are especially beloved by small children, who love to blow them off and recite all sorts of rhymes and chants - alluded to in such folknames as Clockflower, Blowball, and Telltime - as they watch the little 'parachutes' sail away on the wind. These very seeds are perhaps the secret of this plant's biological success; the germination of 90 percent of the seeds of a single is not unusual.

  Dandelions have a taproot that is almost impossible to remove from the ground in one piece, and any broken off bits will produce a new plant.

     It is suggested in Hoodoo to use dried dandelion root in this way:

Dried DANDELION ROOT, when chopped up, brewed into tea, and drunk faithfully three times a week, is alleged to help one Dream True and to enhance the gift of Second Sight. To make a Wish-Granting Mojo, write your secret desire on paper and cross it with your Name written three times. Fold the Name-Paper toward you around a small, whole DANDELION root. Dress it with Holy Oil and carry it in a red bag with three Mojo Beans and seven Job's Tears, to aid in wish-fulfillment.
(website: Herb-magick.com)


This taproot grows straight down and has been known to reach a length of three feet or more. It has a purpose as far as nature (if not man) is concerned, for it transports minerals, especially calcium, up to the surface of the soil from deeper levels, enriching it for the benefit of more shallow-rooted plants. After Dandelions die, the root channels left in the soil are helpful to earthworms.

  In the most dreary, inhospitabe places, where cement covers everything and the dingy browns and grays are made even more drab by dust and pollution, a Dandelion will have found a crack to grow in and, covering itself with flowers, pierce the gloom like so many little suns.

   In the past, Dandelion was considered a most valuable medicinal plant. The leaves and roots were supposed to be a powerful diuretic and were specific for treating urinary and liver disorders. William Coles, a seventeenth-century physician-herbalist, stated: "It is very effectual for the obstructions of the liver, gall and sp0leen, and the distempers that arise there from, jaundice and the hypochondriacal passion. It wonderfully opens the urinary tract."  The same writer further observed that 'children given this remedy produced such great quanities of urine that they wet their beds at night." 

  Dandelion was credited with many of the same properties of Chicory, and was often substituted for it. A broth or wine made from with Dandelion was considered excellent for strengthening the system, especially if taken over a long period of time, and produced sleep and rest for persons exhausted by fevers.

  The Chinese are well acquainted with Dandelion. It grows throughout the country, especially in the Yangtze River valley. Some of their more picturesque names for it are Flowering-and-Hoeing Weed, Yellow-Flowered Earth Nail, and Golden Hairpin Weed. The entire plant is believed to have tonic properties, and Chinese herbal doctors prescribe it for the relief of abscesses, swellings, and snakebites. The tender young shoots are eaten as a vegetable.

   The Mohegan Indians of Connecticut used the roots to make a tonic, and a strong infusion of the leaves was administered as a physic. Dandelion juice was once a major ingredient of patent medicines, and until quite recently was listed in the official American and British pharmacopoeias. It is still employed in modern herbal medicine. For this purpose the roots are collected, preferably in the fall, and are used fresh or dried. Dandelion has even been used consmetically. The flowers, picked just as they start to open, made a fine complexion wash, and the milky juice of the stems was supposed to remove freckles. A poultice of the crushed plant was thought to be good for skin rashes. Old herbalists claimed that the juice 'caused new haire to grow' and 'laid down the hairs of the eyebrows.' 

 Dandelion Wine: makes approximately 3 quarts

3 quarts Dandelion flowers, 2 lemons, 1 orange, 3 pounds of white sugar

1 package active dry yeast.

  Remove the green parts of the Dandelion flowrs, and place the flowers in a large, clean crock or jar. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and pour it over the flowers. Let stand three days, stirring once a day. On the fourth day, squeeze the lemons and orange and set the juice aside, then add the sugar and the rinds of the lemons and orange to the flowers and water. Bring all ingredients to a full boil and simmer one hour. Add the citrus juices, let cool and pour all back into the jar. Soften the yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water, spread this paste on a slice of toast, and float it on top of the liquid. Let stand three more days. Now strain the liquid, pour it back into the jar, and let stand overnight. Next day, strain through filter paper and pour into clean, sterilized bottles. Cork lightly until the bubbling (fermentation) stops, then secure tops firmly.  Let the wine mature at least six months before drinking.