Wortcunning: Origins, Collecting & Uses

Wortcunning is the knowledge of healing and magickal properties of plants combined with the practical skills required to make use of this knowledge.

That is, the knowledge of herbal lore and the use of simples as well as the skills for making salves, potions, and other herbal preparations for healing, cosmetic and magickal use as well as the skills and knowledge involved with growing and wild harvesting the necessary herbs.

Brewing beer, wine, and spirits can also fall under the skills implied by the term wortcunning.

Wortcunning comes from the old English “wort” which refers to any useful plant and “cunning” meaning practical knowledge or cleverness. It is considered by many witches to be an essential skill.

Origins of wortcunning

Ancient Origins (1500 BC – 1500 AD): Dating back to 1500 BC, Egyptians extensively utilized medicinal plants, particularly in mummification, while Greeks integrated herbal knowledge with philosophical theories. Arabs furthered this by applying chemical studies, paving the way for botanical science by 1500.

Greece and Rome (5th century BC – 1st century AD): In ancient Greece, herbal knowledge intertwined with medical philosophy, notably in texts by Hippocrates and Dioscorides, shaping the foundation of pharmacological botany. Rome’s Galen introduced dietary therapy alongside herbal treatments.

Middle Ages and Arab Influence (11th – 13th centuries): Arab advancements in alchemy and chemistry, including the invention of the alembic, revolutionized herbal distillation and pharmaceutical development. Their organization of pharmacopoeias laid the groundwork for standardized herbal remedies.

Renaissance and Botanical Science (16th – 18th centuries): The Renaissance saw the birth of modern botanical science, with figures like Pietro Andrea Mattioli and Carl von Linné contributing significantly.

Botany as a science was only understood at the beginning of the sixteenth century, thanks to geographical discoveries and the introduction of printing. The first dry herbaria became widespread in this period. In 1533, the first chair of “experimental botany” was established in Padua.

In 1554, Italian Pietro Andrea Mattioli wrote the most significant medical and botanical text of the time, known as the Discorsi di Pier Andrea Mattioli, on the work of Dioscorides. In addition to translating the work from Greek, he completed it with the results of a series of research on herbs and medicinal plants still unknown at the time, transforming the Discourses into a fundamental text, a true point of reference for scientists and doctors for several centuries.

Modern Pharmacology and Continued Research (19th century – present): The advent of modern pharmacology marked a shift towards synthetic remedies, yet herbal research persists, exploring the therapeutic potential of natural compounds. Botanical and plant chemical studies remain crucial in understanding and harnessing the healing properties of herbs throughout history.

Collection and conservation

For the collection of medicinal species it is necessary to follow simple rules:

• It must be carried out by people who have a good knowledge of the species, so as not to confuse similar plants and avoid unpleasant consequences.
• The best time for harvesting is early in the morning with the sun still warm but the morning dew already dry.
• The plants should be harvested when they have the highest active ingredient content and this moment varies from species to species.
• The leaves must be young, but fully developed, the flowers still in bud and before they open.
• Spring and autumn are usually the best times.
• You can help yourself with a small knife for harvesting if you are not only interested in the leaves.
• After having collected the seedlings, they must be dried and cleaned with a damp cloth and left to dry in the shade and in a dry and ventilated place.
• Glass jars are the perfect containers for herbs

These natural products include herbal teas but also mother tinctures, fluid and soft extracts, dry extracts to be taken in capsules or tablets, essential oils.

Cultivation of medicinal plants

Medicinal plants can be collected wild but, in many cases, they are cultivated. The cultivation of medicinal plants in fact allows you to better control the environmental conditions in which the plant grows and develops and on which the content of active ingredients depends.

Each plant is grown in conditions that lead it to produce the greatest quantity of active ingredients, therefore there is no general rule on how to grow medicinal plants. The duration of cultivation is also variable, as there are perennial, annual or biennial medicinal plants.

Uses of officinal and medicinal plants in herbal medicine

In herbal medicine, officinal and medicinal plants are used to make a large variety of products that are sold as food supplements.

For each herb or medicinal plant, the part that contains the greatest number of active ingredients, called drug, is used. The drug of an medicinal plant can be represented by leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, roots, etc.

The drug does not contain a single active ingredient but a set of components that make up the phytocomplex, which characterizes the properties of the plant, which cannot be reproduced by chemical synthesis.

The active ingredients of medicinal plants include flavonoids, essential oils, resins, mucilages, polysaccharides and numerous other molecules that work in synergy with each other, guaranteeing the remedy a series of simultaneous actions, which the single component does not possess.

Furthermore, the phytocomplex is less toxic than the isolated active ingredient and has fewer contraindications and side effects. This is why in the herbal field we try to maintain the plant in its integrity (in its entirety) for the preparation of natural products.

These natural products include herbal teas but also mother tinctures, fluid and soft extracts, dry extracts to be taken in capsules or tablets, essential oils.

Conclusion

Wortcunning is great to know to make the most of our healing and magickal practices respecting herbs, their origins and properties in the best way possible.