====== Geranium ======
---- dataentry herbs----
latin_names: Pelargonium maculatum, P. odoratissimum, P. graveolens, P. spp.
folk_names: Rose Geranium
gender_tags: Feminine
planet_tags: Venus
element_tags: Water
deity_tags:
effect_tags: Fertility, Health, Love, Protection, Happiness
part_tags: essential oil, fresh leaves
----
===== Magical Uses =====
Geraniums of all types are protective when grown in the garden or brought into the home freshly cut and placed into water.
The geranium protects against snakes, for:
Snakes will not go\\
Where geraniums grow
A plot of red geraniums, planted near the Witch's cottage, told of coming visitors by their movements. The flowers were magically charged to point to the direction of the approaching strangers and thus warn the Witch of their impending arrival.
Banks or pots of red geraniums are quite protective, and strengthen health.
Pink-flowered geraniums are used in love spells, while the white varieties increase fertility.
//Curanderos// in contemporary Mexico cleanse and heal patients by brushing them with red geraniums, together with fresh rue and pepper tree branches.
The rose geranium (//Pelargonium graveolens//) with its highly scented leaves, is used in protection sachets, or the fresh leaves are rubbed onto doorknobs and windows to protect them.
All of the scented geraniums have various magical properties, most of which can be deduced from the scent (nutmeg, lemon, peppermint, etc.) Nutmeg-scented geraniums possess much the same powers as nutmeg, and so on.
===== Aromatherapy =====
This essential oil isn’t extracted from geraniums but from an entirely different genus of plants. The Pelargoniums are capable of imitating an amazing number of fragrances. Lemon, lime, nutmeg, peppermint, ginger, apple and apricot species are available. The essential oil labeled “Geranium” is usually made from the plant noted above—*Pelargonium graveolens*, rose geranium.
The fresh leaves or the essential oil can be used. Geranium is a rich, green, rose-like scent. Simply inhaling it calms the body and psyche, and refreshes it at the same time. This may be one of the reasons why it is used for protection.
When do we become ill? When our bodies’ natural defenses have been depleted or subdued due to overwork, depression and a host of other causes. At such times we need to be “protected” against opportunistic viruses.
Similarly, we’re most likely to be physically or “psychically” attacked when we’re at our weakest. To give yourself a boost, put a few drops of geranium oil onto a cotton ball or bruise a fresh leaf and inhale the pleasing aroma. Let its energies wash over and through you, spreading peace and dissolving depression. Visualize the fragrance healing your work- or world-weary soul. See it girding up your defenses against unwanted, outside, negative energy.
Simply getting in control of our lives is one of the most powerful defenses we can achieve, and geranium can help us to manifest this goal. We can’t be sure of ourselves if we’re depleted and feeling blue.
If you wish, put a few drops of the oil in a diffusor (see Chapter 5) and allow it to spread the scent throughout your home to guard it as well. Visualize the desired result, of course.
This is an easy plant to grow if you live in a warm climate, and it does well indoors as well. Buy a plant (see Appendix II), grow it and harvest a leaf or two as needed after the plant has reached a healthy size.