====== Lily ======
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---- dataentry herbs----
latin_names: Lilium spp.
folk_names: 
gender_tags: Feminine
planet_tags: Moon
element_tags: Water
deity_tags: Venus, Juno, Nepthys, Kwan Yin
effect_tags: Protection, Breaking Love Spells, Peace, Easing Breakups
part_tags: fresh flowers
----
</div>

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===== Magical Uses =====

Plant lilies in the garden to keep away ghosts and evil, protect against the evil eye, and to keep unwanted visitors from your home.

Lilies are also good antidotes to love spells; for this purpose a fresh lily should be worn or carried. This breaks love spells which have been cast involving a specific person.

To bring clues in solving a crime committed in the past year, bury an old piece of leather in a bed of lilies.

The first white lily of the season will bring strength to him or her who finds it.

===== Aromatherapy =====

==== Lore ====

I’ve found much lore regarding the noble lily, once dedicated to the Goddess throughout Europe (in Crete, to Britomartis; Greece, to Hera; Rome, to Juno). It was later sanitized and “converted” to symbolize the Virgin Mary.

//The Fragrant Garden// by Wilder (see Bibliography) records many curious ideas concerning lilies. The scent itself, though sweet, was thought to be injurious to the health if inhaled for long periods of time. Even death was thought to have resulted when persons slept in a room filled with fresh lilies.

To foretell the sex of a child, persons once approached a pregnant woman with a Iii~ in one hand and a rose in the other. If she chose the lily, she would have a son. If the rose, a daughter.

The lily is the flower of choice for symbolizing the ancient Pagan Spring festival in its current Christianized form of Easter.

==== Magical Uses ====

The lily’s long association with feminine spirituality seems to make it ideal for those women unshackling themselves from the effects of patriarchal society. Not being a woman, I don’t know what effects the scent of this flower may manifest. A suggestion: sniff, attune with ancient feminine spirituality (the Goddess). See yourself as an active, alive woman, in control of your life. Repeat whenever you feel patriarchy crushing down upon you.

The scent of lilies is also soothing and imbues its admirer with peaceful feelings.

A specific use of the sweet fragrance is to quench the pain of a broken, once loving relationship. Frequently inhale the aroma while visualizing yourself as a happy, well-adjusted individual who can get along just fine without her or him. Once you’ve achieved this state, begin a love ritual utilizing one of the many essential oils or plants useful for this purpose.
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