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Botanical Name
Nepeta cataria

Catnip

Needs Review

Details

Catnip is a mint-family herb native to southern and eastern Europe, the northern Middle East and Central Asia, and Wikipedia also calls it catmint. Cunningham calls it feminine, with Venus and water, and gives it to the cat goddess Bast. He uses it for cat magic and love, binds a psychic bond with a cat by it, puts it with rose petals in love sachets, and says it hung over the door attracts good spirits. Kynes adds air, Mercury, Sekhmet and Samhain, and lists abundance, courage, dream work, home blessing, fertility, healing, peace, protection, psychic work, spirit work and strength. She records a French tale of chewing the root for courage and a pillow stuffing for sleep.

Caution

The American Herbal Products Association lists catnip as an emmenagogue, and reports an animal study in which a diet of 10 percent catnip during pregnancy led to weight loss in the mothers and the fetuses, with no other effect on the health or survival of the fetuses.

References

#1#2#3#4

Correspondences

Elements
Water, Air
Celestial Bodies
Venus, Mercury
Zodiac Signs
Cancer, Libra, Pisces
Colours
No colours recorded.
Deities
Bastet (Egyptian; also called Bast), Sekhmet (Egyptian; also called Sakhmet)

Folk Names

  • Cat's Fancy
  • Cat's Wort
  • Catmint
  • Catnep
  • Catrup
  • Catwort
  • Field Balm
  • Nepeta
  • Nip

Categories

  • Abundance
  • Awareness
  • Beauty
  • Courage
  • Dream Work
  • Family
  • Fertility
  • Healing
  • Home Blessing
  • Joy
  • Love
  • Luck
  • Peace
  • Protection
  • Psychic Work
  • Sleep
  • Spirit Work
  • Strength

Substitutes

No substitutes recorded.

Forms

Herb

Cunningham uses it in love sachets with rose petals and holds it in the hand until warm to make a friend. Kynes sells the cut dried leaves.

References

#5#6#7

Oil

Kynes sells the essential oil.

References

#8

Seed

Kynes sells the seeds.

References

#9

References

Notes

  1. Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Catnip".
  2. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, p. 596.
  3. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Catnip".
  4. Wikipedia, under "Catnip."
  5. Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Catnip".
  6. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, p. 596.
  7. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Catnip".
  8. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Catnip".
  9. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Catnip".

Bibliography

  • Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. 2nd ed. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2012. (EPUB.)15
  • Gardner, Zoë, and Michael McGuffin, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2013. (PDF.)26
  • Kynes, Sandra. The Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical Plants: History, Folklore, Correspondences, and Spells. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2024. (EPUB.)3789
  • Wikipedia, under "Catnip." Accessed October 23, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catnip&oldid=1381497324. Open the Source4