Everything Under the Moon

I've got this plant all over my backyard, it has heart-shaped leaves and the blooms are these long, white hanging stalks. It's called Hoja Santa, and it's in the same family as Kava, and the plant that peppercorns come from. I know it doesn't have any medicinal properties, but I was wondering about its magical properties. Does anyone know?

Hmm... Don't write off the medical properties yet. If I'm recognizing it right, I found this:

This miraculous heart-shaped herb is nicknamed hoja santa (sacred leaf) and for good reason. Crushed up, it can applied to skin irritations, bug bites, and wounds to relieve discomfort. Infused into a hot tea, it can be used as a pain reliever and help soothe bronchial afflictions.

What to look for: Look out for a large heart-shaped leaf with a velvety texture.


http://www.laparios.com/costa-ricas-mos ... al-plants/
^ the link for confirmation.
I'll do some digging into the magical side as soon as I hunt up my Cunningham's.

Oh wow, I must have been looking in the wrong place for research. Thank you so much!

Alright, i didn't see anything about magical properties either... Hmm... My guess, although it's been years since I've seen it in person, would be try using it for protection, and um... Numbing a situation? I would imagine you could create a space between you and someone/ a situation, but it might fill that space with a kind of dull numbness. Not having any here right now, i can only speculate though.

Hoja Santa is also known as Piper auritum and Yerba Santa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_auritum

It's magical properties according to this site are: Animals, beauty, healing, psychic powers, protection, strength

Hoja Santa I don't recognize but Yerba Santa is a popular one in most Santeria protection, healing spells as well as one for personal strength and increasing psychic powers and mental acuity spells that require herbs

Here's a perfect example of "common name" mix up and the importance of knowing a plants botanical name if you are seriously in gaging in plant lore. Especially if one intends on ingesting the brews or burning them or putting on ones skin.

The plant Yerba Santa is known to me as this...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriodic ... lifornicum
As you can see they are not even of the same species.
Course the name boils down to "sacred leaf" santa= sacred, yerba= herb/plant ...and I would imagine there are many plants around the world considered sacred...right?

Another great mix up is Nightshade. Be careful with that one...one kind is much more toxic than the other!

Be absolutely certain about what you are using.
Bb, Firebird

The term "Yerba Santa" may refer to a wide range of plants considering the definition of the term when translated is "Sacred Plant" This could be any sacred plant. That's probably where the mix up came in.

firebirdflys wrote: "sacred leaf" santa= sacred, yerba= herb/plant ...and I would imagine there are many plants around the world considered sacred...right?

CoNiGMa wrote: considering the definition of the term when translated is "Sacred Plant" This could be "any sacred plant.

Yep.
Except this is Spanish, so translate to whatever your local language is and I wonder how many different sacred plants we would come up with in the world!

I guess it's the season, so near Yule, but every time I read this topic title I see HoHo Santa.

Lol,at first I thought it was somebody's way of saying "hooray!Santa is here" or something like that.

I think we need a topic on the magical properties of Old St. Nick, his sleigh and 8 mysterious reindeer. And what's with the red suit? Ho ho ho.