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Reference

Compendium

Ingredients for spellwork: their formal and folk names, categories, deities and forms, with the sources behind them.

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    313 ingredients

    313 ingredients

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    Botanical Name
    Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

    Bearberry

    Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, is a low evergreen shrub of the heath family, Ericaceae, standing five to thirty centimetres high, whose long trailing stems root as they spread and knit into thick mats. Its small leathery leaves are glossy dark green above and paler below; in May and June drooping clusters of urn-shaped flowers, white to pink, open at the shoot tips and are followed by shiny red berries that bears and other animals eat. It grows right round the northern world, in the far north and on high ground further south, and in Britain mostly on the Scottish hills. Its Greek genus name and its Latin species name both mean the bear's grape. The astringent leaves, rich in tannin and arbutin, are an old remedy for the bladder and urinary tract: the thirteenth-century Welsh Physicians of Myddfai knew them, and in Sweden and Russia they were used to tan leather. Kinnikinnick, an Algonquian word for a smoking mixture, names both the plant and the blends of its dried leaves smoked in North American ceremonies, sometimes with tobacco, to seal a pact or calm a thunderstorm. In magic the leaves go into sachets to raise psychic power, the plant serves protection, intuition and strength, and in hoodoo it is put into mojo bags and candle work.

    Caution

    AHPA safety class 1, interaction class A: no contraindications, other precautions or drug interactions are known, and the handbook found no evidence behind the older warning against use with kidney disorders. The dried leaf holds up to 12 per cent arbutin and related compounds that give rise to hydroquinone. One case of damage to the retina (maculopathy) followed long-term use, and it can turn the urine brownish green. No studies of its safety in pregnancy were found, and its safety while nursing is not established. Kynes warns that large amounts can be toxic and that it is not for use in pregnancy. Cunningham marks it Poison and codes it against internal use in pregnancy, with kidney problems or acidic urine, and for long periods, as liable to upset digestion, and as a gastrointestinal irritant.

    Forms

    • Berry
    • Leaf

    Correspondences

    Elements
    Earth
    Celestial Bodies
    Mars, Pluto, Venus
    Zodiac Signs
    Scorpio

    Folk Names

    • Arberry
    • Barren Myrtle
    • Bear Whortleberry
    • Bear's Bilberry
    • Bear's Grape
    • Crowberry
    • Fox-Plum
    • Hog-Crawberry
    • Kinnikinnick
    • Mealberry
    • Mountain Box
    • Mountain Cranberry
    • Red Bearberry
    • Sagackhomi
    • Sandberry
    • Upland Cranberry
    • Uva Ursi

    Categories

    • Intuition
    • Protection
    • Psychic Work
    • Strength
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