====== Thyme ======
---- dataentry herbs----
latin_names: Thymus vulgaris
folk_names: Common Thyme, Garden Thyme
gender_tags: Feminine
planet_tags: Venus
element_tags: Water
deity_tags:
effect_tags: Health, Healing, Sleep, Psychic Powers, Love, Purification, Courage, Conscious Mind
----
===== Magical Uses =====
Thyme is burned to attract good health and is also worn for this purpose. It is also used in healing spells.
Placed beneath the pillow, it ensures restful sleep and a pleasant lack of nightmares. Worn, thyme aids in developing psychic powers, and women who wear a sprig of thyme in the hair make themselves irresistible.
Thyme is also a purificatory herb; the Greeks burned it in their temples to purify them and so thyme is often burned prior to magical rituals to cleanse the area. In spring a magical cleansing bath composed of marjoram and thyme is taken to ensure all the sorrows and ills of the past are removed from the person.
Thyme is also carried and smelled to give courage and energy. If you wear it you will be able to see fairies.
===== Aromatherapy =====
Our word thyme was derived from the Greek word for perfuming, //thymos//. This is fitting, for the tiny leaves emit a powerful scent. Thyme was burned in ancient temples. The Roman naturalist Pliny stated that when burned, thyme drove off all venomous creatures.
The fragrance has long been known to promote courage and so can be inhaled with visualization for this purpose.
To stimulate the conscious mind, simply smell its sharp scent. This may explain why placing thyme under the pillow is thought to prevent nightmares. The scent shuts down the psychic mind (which often produces dreams). But by its stimulating action on the conscious mind, thyme may prevent sleep, which certainly prevents all dreams-positive or negative.
Thyme is also called upon to maintain good health. Smell it once a day with visualization, allowing its energies to revitalize your body.
//The Essential Oil Safety Data Manual// states that thyme essential oil is only slightly less toxic than sage. It should not be used, especially by pregnant women.