Flying ointment is a hallucinogenic

ointment A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large range of classes ...

said to have been used by

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

es in the practice of

European witchcraft European witchcraft can be traced back to classical antiquity, when magic and religion were closely entwined. During the Ancient Roman religion, pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic. After Christianization#Roman Empir ...

from at least as far back as the

Early Modern The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

period, when detailed recipes for such preparations were first recorded and when their usage spread to colonial North America.

Name

The ointment is known by a wide variety of names, including witches' flying ointment, green ointment, magic salve, or lycanthropic ointment. In German it was () or ().

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

names included ), , () or ().

Composition

Poisonous ingredients listed in works on ethnobotany include: belladonna, henbane bell, jimson weed, black henbane,

mandrake A mandrake is the root of a plant, historically derived either from plants of the genus '' Mandragora'' (in the family Solanaceae) found in the Mediterranean region, or from other species, such as '' Bryonia alba'' (the English mandrake, in the ...

, hemlock, and/or wolfsbane, most of which contain

atropine Atropine is a tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate, and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically give ...

hyoscyamine Hyoscyamine (also known as daturine or duboisine) is a naturally occurring tropane alkaloid and plant toxin. It is a secondary metabolite found in certain plants of the family Solanaceae, including Hyoscyamus niger, henbane, Mandragora officina ...

, and/or

scopolamine Scopolamine, also known as hyoscine, or Devil's Breath, is a medication used to treat motion sickness and postoperative nausea and vomiting. It is also sometimes used before surgery to decrease saliva. When used by injection, effects begin a ...

. Scopolamine can cause psychotropic effects when absorbed

transdermal Transdermal is a route of administration wherein active ingredients are delivered across the skin for systemic distribution. Examples include transdermal patches used for medicine delivery. The drug is administered in the form of a patch or ointm ...

ly. These tropane alkaloids are classified as

deliriants Deliriants are a subclass of hallucinogen. The term was coined in the early 1980s to distinguish these drugs from psychedelics such as LSD and dissociatives such as ketamine, due to their primary effect of causing delirium, as opposed to t ...

in regards to their

psychoactive A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, mind-altering drug, consciousness-altering drug, psychoactive substance, or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that alters psychological functioning by modulating central nervous system acti ...

effects.

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

(attributed as "Lord Verulam") listed the ingredients of the witches ointment as " the fat of children digged out of their graves, of juices of smallage, wolfe-bane, and cinque foil, mingled with the meal of fine wheat."

Extreme toxicity of active ingredients

With the exception of ''

Potentilla reptans ''Potentilla reptans'', known as the creeping cinquefoil, European cinquefoil or creeping tormentil, is a flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. Description A creeping perennial plant which can reach heights of up to 20 cm. Its trailing ...

'', the plants most frequently recorded as ingredients in Early Modern recipes for flying ointments are extremely toxic and have caused numerous fatalities when eaten, whether by confusion with edible species or in cases of criminal poisoning or

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. The historian,

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

ist and theosophist of

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 26,000 (2024).

, author of ''Geschichte des Neueren Occultismus'' in 1892 and ''Die Geheimwissenschaften, eine Kulturgeschichte der Esoterik'' in 1895, was one such casualty.

Bodily flight versus flight in spirit

It has been a subject of discussion between clergymen as to whether witches were able physically to fly to the Sabbath on their

broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...

s with help of the ointment, or whether such 'flight' was explicable in other ways: a delusion created by the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

in the minds of the witches; the souls of the witches leaving their bodies to fly in spirit to the Sabbath; or a hallucinatory 'trip' facilitated by the

entheogen Entheogens are psychoactive substances used in spiritual and religious contexts to induce altered states of consciousness. Hallucinogens such as the psilocybin found in so-called "magic" mushrooms have been used in sacred contexts since ancie ...

ic effects of potent drugs absorbed through the skin. An early proponent of the last explanation was

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

scholar and scientist Giambattista della Porta, who not only interviewed users of the flying ointment, but witnessed its effects upon such users at first hand, comparing the deathlike trances he observed in his subjects with their subsequent accounts of the

bacchanalia The Bacchanalia were unofficial, privately funded popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia. They were almost certainly associated with Rome's native cult of Liber, and probably arrived in R ...

n revelry they had 'enjoyed'. (book II, chapter XXVI, "Lamiarum vnguenta,")

Body in coma and riding on beasts

Dominican churchman Bartolommeo Spina of

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

gives two accounts of the power of the flying ointment in his ''Tractatus de strigibus sive maleficis'' ('Treatise on witches or evildoers') of 1525. The first concerns an incident in the life of his acquaintance Augustus de Turre of

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

, a physician. While studying medicine in

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

as a young man, Augustus returned late one night to his lodgings (without a key) to find no one awake to let him in. Climbing up to a balcony, he was able to enter through a window, and at once sought out the maidservant, who should have been awake to admit him. On checking her room, however, he found her lying unconscious – beyond rousing – on the floor. The following morning he tried to question her on the matter, but she would only reply that she had been 'on a journey'. Bartolommeo's second account is more suggestive and points toward another element in the witches' 'flights'. It concerns a certain

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

who, unable to find his wife one morning, searched for her all over their estate and finally discovered her lying deeply unconscious, naked and dirty with her vagina exposed, in a corner of the pigsty. The notary 'immediately understood that she was a witch' (!) and at first wanted to kill her on the spot, but, thinking better of such rashness, waited until she recovered from her stupor, in order to question her. Terrified by his wrath, the poor woman fell to her knees and confessed that during the night she had 'been on a journey'. Light is cast on the tale of the notary's wife by two accounts widely separated in time but revealing a persistent theme in European Witchcraft. The first is that of

Regino of Prüm Regino of Prüm or of Prum (, ; died 915 AD) was a Benedictine Order, Benedictine monk, who served as abbot of Prüm Abbey, Prüm (892–99) and later of St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier, Saint Martin's at Trier, and chronicler, whose ''Chronicon'' is ...

whose ''De synodalibus causis et disciplinis ecclesiasticis libri duo'' (circa 906 C.E.) speaks of women who 'seduced...by demons...insist that they ride at night ''on certain beasts'' talics not originaltogether with Diana, goddess of the pagans, and a great multitude of women; that they cover great distances in the silence of the deepest night...' (See also

Canon Episcopi The title canon ''Episcopi'' (or ''capitulum Episcopi'') is conventionally given to a certain passage found in medieval canon law. The text possibly originates in an early 10th-century penitential, recorded by Regino of Prüm; it was included in ...

). The second account dates from some 800 years later, coming from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in the early 18th century and is the testimony, at the age of thirteen, of one Siri Jørgensdatter. Siri claimed that when she was seven her grandmother had taken her to the witches' sabbath on the mountain meadow Blockula ('blue-hill'): her grandmother led her to a pigsty, where she smeared a sow with some ointment which she took from a

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

, whereupon grandmother and granddaughter mounted the animal and, after a short ride through the air, arrived at a building on the Sabbath mountain.

Alleged sexual element in application

Some sources have claimed that such an ointment would best be absorbed through

mucous membranes A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It is ...

, and that the traditional image of a female witch astride a broomstick implies the application of flying ointment to the

vulva In mammals, the vulva (: vulvas or vulvae) comprises mostly external, visible structures of the female sex organ, genitalia leading into the interior of the female reproductive tract. For humans, it includes the mons pubis, labia majora, lab ...

. The passage from the trial for witchcraft in Ireland of

Hiberno-Norman Norman Irish or Hiberno-Normans (; ) is a modern term for the descendants of Norman settlers who arrived during the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. Most came from England and Wales. They are distinguished from the native ...

noblewoman Alice Kyteler in 1324 quoted above is, while not explicit, certainly open to interpretations both drug-related and sexual. It is also a very early account of such practices, pre-dating by some centuries

witch trials in the early modern period In the early modern period, from about 1400 to 1775, about 100,000 people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and British America. Between 40,000 and 60,000 were executed, almost all in Europe. The witch-hunts were particularly severe in pa ...

. The testimony of Dame Kyteler's maidservant, Petronilla de Meath, while compromised by having been extracted under

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

, contains references not only to her mistress's abilities in the preparation of 'magical' medicines, but also her sexual behaviour, including at least one instance of (alleged) intercourse with a

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

. According to the inquisition ('in which were five knights and numerous nobles') set in motion by Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory, there was in the city of

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

a band of heretical sorcerers, at the head of whom was Dame Alice Kyteler and against whom no fewer than seven charges relating to witchcraft were laid. The fifth charge is of particular interest in the context of the 'greased staffe' mentioned above:

Possible opiate component

One possible key to how individuals dealt with the toxicity of the nightshades usually said to be part of flying ointments is through the supposed antidotal reaction some of the solanaceous alkaloids have with the alkaloids of ''

Papaver somniferum ''Papaver somniferum'', commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable orname ...

'' (opium poppy). This antagonism was claimed to exist by the movement of Eclectic medicine. For instance,

King's American Dispensatory ''King's American Dispensatory'' is a book first published in 1854 that covers the uses of herbs used in American medical practice, especially by those involved in eclectic medicine, which was the botanical school of medicine in the 19th to 20t ...

states in the entry on belladonna: "Belladonna and opium appear to exert antagonistic influences, especially as regards their action on the brain, the spinal cord, and heart; they have consequently been recommended and employed as antidotes to each other in cases of poisoning" going on to make the extravagant claim that "this matter is now positively and satisfactorily settled; hence in all cases of poisoning by belladonna the great remedy is morphine, and its use may be guided by the degree of pupillary contraction it occasions." The synergy between belladonna and poppy alkaloids was made use of in the so-called " twilight sleep" that was provided for women during

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more Fetus, fetuses exits the Womb, internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section and becomes a newborn to ...

beginning in the

Edwardian era In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

. Twilight sleep was a mixture of

, a belladonna alkaloid, and

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

, a ''

Papaver ''Papaver'' is a genus of 70–100 species of frost-tolerant annual plant, annuals, biennial plant, biennials, and perennial plant, perennials native plant, native to temperateness, temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, Africa and North America ...

'' alkaloid, that was injected and which furnished a combination of painkilling and amnesia for a woman in labor. A version is still manufactured for use as the injectable compound '' Omnopon''. There is no definite indication of the proportions of solanaceous herbs vs. poppy used in flying ointments, and most historical recipes for flying ointment do not include poppy. Furthermore, a reputable publication by the former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (now DEFRA) states specifically that, in cases of poisoning by ''Atropa belladonna'' – far from being antidotes – 'Preparations containing morphine or opiates should be ''avoided'' as they have a synergic action with atropine', an appropriate antidote being, by contrast, the

acetylcholinesterase inhibitor Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) also often called cholinesterase inhibitors, inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase from breaking down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine into choline and acetate, thereby increasing both the level an ...

physostigmine Physostigmine (also known as eserine from ''éséré'', the West African name for the Calabar bean) is a highly toxic parasympathomimetic alkaloid, specifically, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor. It occurs naturally in the Calabar bean and ...

salicylate.

Historical documents

The first mention of an unguent in relation to a popular belief of orgiastic flying occurs in Roland of Cremona's theological summa, written in the 1230s. The use by witches of flying ointments was first described, according to known sources, by Johannes Hartlieb in 1456. It was also described by the Spanish theologian Alfonso Tostado (d. 1455) in ''Super Genesis Commentaria'' (printed in Venice, 1507), whose commentary tended to accredit the thesis of the reality of the Witches' Sabbath. In 1477 Antone Rose confessed that the devil gave her a stick 18 inches in length on which she would rub an ointment and with the words "go, in the name of the Devil, go" would fly to the "synagogue" (an alternative name for Sabbath in early witchcraft).

In popular culture

Drama

There is, in the work of the playwright Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla (1607–1648) of Toledo, an exchange concerning the flying ointment, the (following) passage occurring in the play ''Lo que quería el Marqués de Villena'' ('What the Marquis of Villena Wanted').Quoted in : Baroja, Julio Caro The World of the Witches pub. Phoenix 2001 (Original Title Las brujas y su mundo) )

Literature and film

*In

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

's " Young Goodman Brown", Goody Cloyse, after meeting the Devil, says "I was all anointed with the juice of smallage, and cinquefoil, and wolf's bane" to which the Devil replies " ngled with fine wheat and the fat of a new-born babe". *In

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( ; rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel ''The M ...

's ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' () is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published posthumously in ''Moscow (magazine), Moscow'' magazine in ...

'', Margarita, after agreeing to act as hostess at Dr Woland's ball, uses the ointment to become a witch and fly to the estate where the event is being held. *In Clayton Rawson's '' Death from a Top Hat'', two recipes by Johann Weyer, a 16th-century demonologist, are given in a footnote: :1-Water hemlock, sweet flag,

cinquefoil ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 500 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. Potentillas may also be called cinquefoils in English, but they have also been called five fin ...

, bat's blood, deadly nightshade and oil. :2-Baby's fat, juice of cowbane, aconite, cinquefoil, deadly nightshade and

soot Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. Soot is considered a hazardous substance with carcinogenic properties. Most broadly, the term includes all the particulate matter produced b ...

. * In the movie serial ''

Warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver". The term came to apply special ...

'', the villain kills an unbaptised boy to get this "Flying Ointment". *In

Jodi Picoult Jodi Lynn Picoult (; born 1966) is an American writer. Picoult has published 28 novels and short stories, and has also written several issues of ''Wonder Woman''. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide and have been t ...

's '' Salem Falls'', a group of four girls practicing witchcraft ingest a flying ointment made of belladonna. * In the book '' Calling on Dragons'' (Book three of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles), the witch Morwen uses a flying

potion A potion is a liquid "that contains medicine, poison, or something that is supposed to have magic powers." It derives from the Latin word ''potio'' which refers to a drink or the act of drinking. The term philtre is also used, often specifica ...

on a straw basket and a broomstick, not on herself. * In E. L. Konigsburg's '' Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth'', two characters try to make a flying ointment. * In the 2015 horror film '' The Witch'', a witch kills an infant child and makes flying ointment out of his corpse. *In the 2016 movie, ''The Love Witch'', the main character applies a flying ointment to her body. * In the 2019 movie, ''

Portrait of a Lady on Fire ''Portrait of a Lady on Fire'' () is a 2019 French historical romantic drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma, starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. Set in France in the late 18th century, the film tells the story of a brief ...

'', the two main characters apply a flying ointment to their armpits. * In the 2020 movie, '' Gretel & Hansel'', directed by Oz Perkins, the witch, caressing a precious jar filled with ointment, applies it to herself, and then initiates Gretel into witchcraft by inducing her to do the same.

Music

* The

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as the Bonzo Dog Band or the Bonzos) was created by a group of British Art school, art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelic music, psychedelia with sur ...

song '11 Moustachioed Daughters' – a track on the Album '' The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse'' – is a darkly comic and surprisingly detailed evocation of the traditional Witches' Sabbath, featuring the flying-ointment-related lines : * The Swedish

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band Therion has a song called Unguentum Sabbati (Ointment of the Sabbat) on the album '' Sitra Ahra''.

Gallery

File:Illustration Aconitum napellus0.jpg, Wolfsbane or aconite, ''

Aconitum napellus ''Aconitum napellus'', monkshood, aconite, Venus' chariot or wolfsbane, is a species of highly toxic flowering plants in the genus ''Aconitum'' of the family Ranunculaceae, native and endemic to western and central Europe. It is an herbaceous pe ...

'' (virulent poison) File:Illustration Conium maculatum0.jpg, Hemlock, ''

Conium maculatum ''Conium maculatum'', commonly known as hemlock (British English) or poison hemlock (American English), is a highly poisonous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. It is Herbaceous plant, herbaceous, wi ...

'' (virulent poison) File:Illustration Cicuta virosa0.jpg, Cowbane or water hemlock, '' Cicuta virosa'' (virulent poison) File:Herbier de la France (10038460935).jpg, Hemlock water dropwort or water hemlock, ''

Oenanthe crocata ''Oenanthe crocata'', hemlock water-dropwort (sometimes known as dead man's fingers) is a flowering plant in the Apiaceae, carrot family, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia. It grows in damp grassland and wet woodland, often along ri ...

'' (virulent poison) File:Sium latifolium Sturm13.jpg, Greater water parsnip or sium, '' Sium latifolium'' (root poisonous) File:Illustration Berula erecta0.jpg, Lesser water parsnip or sium, '' Berula erecta'' File:Illustration Aethusa cynapium0.jpg, Fool's parsley, '' Aethusa cynapium'' (poison) File:Illustration Apium graveolens0.jpg, Wild celery, ''

Apium graveolens ''Apium graveolens'', known in English as wild celery,Streeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ''Collins Flower Guide''. Harper Collins is an Old World species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. It was first desc ...

'' (wild form of well-known vegetable) File:Illustration Potentilla reptans0.jpg, Creeping cinquefoil, ''

'' File:Acorus calamus - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-006.jpg, Sweet flag or strewing rush, ''

Acorus calamus ''Acorus calamus'' (also called sweet flag, sway or muskrat root, among many other common names) is a species of flowering plant with psychoactive chemicals. It is a tall wetland monocot of the family Acoraceae, in the genus ''Acorus.'' Alth ...

'' (aromatic) File:Koeh-018.jpg, Belladonna or deadly nightshade, ''

Atropa belladonna ''Atropa bella-donna'', commonly known as deadly nightshade or belladonna, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant. It is native to Europe and Western Asia, i ...

'' (virulent poison) File:Henbane flower.jpg, Henbane flower File:Jimsonweed flower.jpg, Jimsonweed flower File:Jimsonweed seed capsule.jpg, Jimsonweed seed capsule File:Opium poppy flower - Isle of Man.jpg, Opium poppy flower File:Opium poppy seed capsule.jpg, Opium poppy seed capsules File:Atropa belladonna 074.jpg, Deadly nightshade flower File:Soot, roet.jpg, Domestic

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

File:Adeps Humanus IMG 1893 edit.jpg, Human fat File:Pipistrellus flight2.jpg, Common pipistrelle in flight (bat's blood)

References

External links

Flying Potions and Getting to the Sabbat

in flying ointments

If Witches No Longer Fly: Today's Pagans and the Solanaceous Plants

Witches' Ointment: Information from the Gale Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology
{{witchcraft European witchcraft Hallucinations Poisons Flight folklore Hyoscyamus Magic substances