====== Saffron ======
---- dataentry herbs----
latin_names: Crocus sativus
folk_names: Autumn Crocus, Crocus, Karcom, Krokos, Kunkuma (Sanskrit), Saffer (Arabic), Spanish Saffron
gender_tags: Masculine
planet_tags: Sun
element_tags: Fire
deity_tags: Eros, Ashtoreth
effect_tags: Love, Healing, Happiness, Wind Raising, Lust, Strength, Psychic Powers, Conscious Mind, Physical Energy, Magical Energy, Money
part_tags: dried stigmas
----
===== Ritual Uses =====
The Phoenecians baked saffron into crescent-shaped cakes, which they ate in honor of the Moon and fertility Goddess, Ashtoreth.
===== Magical Uses =====
Saffron is added to love sachets as well as those aimed at raising lustful feelings. It is used in healing spells, and the infusion is used as wash water for the hands prior to healing rituals.
At one time in Persia (Iran) pregnant women wore a ball of saffron at the pit of the stomach to ensure a speedy delivery.
The infusion, drunk, enables you to foresee the future, and simply ingesting saffron dispels melancholy. In fact, one early author warns against eating too much saffron lest one should "die of excessive joy"!
Saffron in the home keeps lizards from venturing in, and wearing a chaplet of saffron will protect you from inebriation (and will probably be the subject of a few comments from your friends).
Sheets were rinsed with a saffron infusion in Ireland so that the arms and legs would be strengthened during sleep, and the ancient Persians utilized saffron to raise the wind.
===== Aromatherapy =====
==== Lore ====
A sacred flower in ancient Crete, saffron has a tong history of religious and magical use. Greek goddesses and gods wore robes dyed with saffron, as did Buddhist monks. At one point in ancient Greece, saffron-colored clothing was a distinctive badge of the nobility as well as of prostitutes.
Robert Tisserand writes in //Aromatherapy for Everyone// that saffron may have been an ingredient in the famous Egyptian incense //kyphi// (see Chapter 2 of this book). In Rome, saffron was burned with frankincense, myrrh and other costly rarities in honor of the deities. The Phoenicians baked it into cakes which were offered to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Moon. They also ate them to induce human fertility.
Early Persian women called upon saffron to ensure speedy childbirth. The men used it to raise the winds. Around 1600, saffron oil was rubbed onto the forehead to prevent drunkenness. And lizards are said to detest the scent so much that they stay away from any place that contains saffron.
It is an ancient symbol of the Sun and has long been used to give certain foods (such as rice and bread) a distinctive yellow color which is connected with solar worship.
Don’t confuse this with the Mexican culinary spice //Azafran//. Genuine saffron is currently the most expensive spice still being traded. I recently purchased two small samples of saffron. The first, weighing in at 0.008 oz. (eight hundredths of an ounce) set me back only S2.95, while 0.06 oz. (1.7 grams) of saffron cost about 11 dollars. It is available at some herb and gourmet cooking shops.
Saffron has a long, gilded history. During the Middle Ages, a pound or so of the bulbs from which the flowers sprout were accepted as security for loans just as were gold and jewelry. In Nuremburg in 1444 and 1456, people were burned alive for adulterating saffron.
A curious fact: the English town of Saffron-Walden was once known for growing the flower there. The fields are long gone but the C. W. Daniel publishing company, which produces books on aromatherapy, is located in Saffron-Walden.
But what is saffron? The spice consists of the dried red and yellow stigmas of the flowers. They’re so light that about 4,320 flowers (figures vary) yield only one ounce of saffron.
All this background information should put us in the proper frame of mind to utilize the evocative scent of saffron in magical aromatherapy.
==== Magical Uses ====
It possesses a warm, stimulating aroma unlike any other. Smell it first thing in the morning to kickstart your body, to energize yourself. Saffron makes a wonderful prep for the day’s activities.
The scent awakens the conscious mind and sharpens mental alertness. Inhale the fragrance prior to magical ritual for expanded bioelectrical energy. Visualize as you do this, perhaps seeing the scent as threads of burnished, golden light pouring into your body.
Saffron has long been associated with gold. Its high price and scarcity also account for its use in manifesting increased money. Sniff and visualize prosperity coming into your life.
The ancient writers rhapsodized about the scent of saffron which, to be truthful, is distinctive but rather scant. It is odd that the British herbalist Culpeper warned that overindulgence of this fragrance had led to “immoderate convulsive laughter, which ended in death.” Perhaps this was a reaction to the outrageous price of this beautiful spice.