Chicory

Chicory is a woody perennial with sky-blue flowers that open and close at the same time each day, and its roasted root is used as a coffee substitute. Cunningham calls it masculine, with the Sun and air, and uses it to remove obstacles: it is carried for the purpose. It was once thought to make its bearer invisible and to open locks, but only if gathered with a gold knife in silence at noon or midnight on Midsummer. Anointing with the juice wins favours from great persons. Kynes adds Aries, Virgo, Mercury and Uranus, and lists abundance, banishing, clarity, divination, prosperity, release and spirit work. Her spells sprinkle dried root on the altar before meditation, or burn a piece with incense to bring clarity to divination.