Lady’s Mantle, Alchemilla Mollis, Sunday in the garden.

‘The botanical name of Lady’s mantle, Alchemilla mollis, means ‘the little alchemist.’  A hardy perennial, it has soft, fuzzy leaves with pleated edges that collect drops of dew, which explains how it earned the folk name of ‘dewdrop’ and ‘dewcup’.  This plant bears gorgeous yellow-green, loose and frothy-looking clusters of flowers in the summer, making it very popular in bridal bouquets and floral designs.

If you gather the dew that collects on the leaves of this herb, add it to spells and potions for a boost.  Or touch a dewdrop to your forehead for a herbal blessing.  Alchemilla Mollis was originally sacred to the Goddess, but as time went on, it became a popular plant in Monastic gardens and later became connected to the Virgin Mary.  This easy-to-grow herb is a wonderful addition to the magickal garden.  Work the flowers and leaves into spells for women’s magick, the earth goddess, healing and turning up the volume on your own herbal spells.  The elemental correspondence for lady’s mantle is water.  The planetary association is Venus. In the language of flowers, this herb signifies the comfort of protection.

Ellen Dugan

 

When I went into the garden this morning, it had been raining. Raindrops adorned many of the plants and shrubs and dripped from the trees, but the most beautiful were the lady’s mantles.  This year I intend to move some of them to fill up some empty spaces (choke – there aren’t many empty spaces!) but maybe I’ll find a few.

It is midsummer and what better time to work some spells for the good of other people. Alchemilla Mollis is the perfect choice to use at this time of the year.

Who knows,if you look really closely you might even see a fairy taking a shower as the wind disturbs the droplets.