Bay laurel: magical uses, folklore and safety

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

Bay laurel is the leaf in your kitchen cupboard and the crown on the heads of ancient victors. It is a lovely herb for wish work, and it comes with one very important safety rule: make sure it really is bay.

At a glance

Folklore and history

Historical In Greek myth, the nymph Daphne escaped the god Apollo by turning into a laurel tree. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book 1), Apollo then claims the laurel as his own tree and makes its leaves a crown of honor. Laurel wreaths were given to the winners at the Pythian Games held for Apollo at Delphi, and in Rome a laurel wreath was worn by generals in a triumph.

Historical The Romans believed laurel was safe from lightning. Pliny the Elder recorded this belief in his Natural History, and the historian Suetonius says that the emperor Tiberius, who was afraid of thunder, wore a laurel wreath during storms.

Later tradition In 1652, Nicholas Culpeper called bay “a tree of the Sun,” and he repeated the old belief that neither witch nor devil, thunder nor lightning, would harm a person where a bay tree grew.

Modern Today, writing a wish on a dried bay leaf is one of the most popular small spells in witchcraft. It is a modern folk gesture built on bay’s ancient link with victory and success.

Uses in practice

These are simple, safe ways to bring bay laurel into your practice. None of them needs special tools.

• Wishes: write one word or a short wish on a dried leaf and keep it in your journal or a pouch.
• Success: a bay leaf in your bag for an interview. See my new job spell.
• Protection: a few leaves in a jar near the front door (see the spell below).
• Kitchen: a leaf in a soup or stew, removed before serving, with an intention for the household.
• Simmer pots: bay with citrus and cinnamon for a warm, welcoming scent.

Safety

Safety first. Herbs in witchcraft are symbols and kitchen ingredients, not medicine. Never eat, drink or burn a plant you cannot identify with confidence. Ordinary recipe amounts are not the same as medicinal teas, tinctures or essential oils. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or living with a health condition, ask a doctor or pharmacist before using any herb beyond normal cooking. If a child or pet may have eaten something harmful, contact a poison center, a doctor or a vet straight away.

• Know your laurel. Only use culinary bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) from a grocery or a labeled plant. Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) are poisonous and look similar to many people.
• People: bay is safe as a whole leaf in cooking. Always remove it before serving; the stiff leaf is a choking hazard and can scratch the throat. Do not chew leaves as medicine, and do not put bay essential oil on skin undiluted.
• Pets: the ASPCA lists bay laurel as toxic to dogs, cats and horses. It can cause vomiting and diarrhea, and large amounts of whole leaves can cause a blockage. Keep leaves, jars and pouches out of reach.
• Burning: if you burn a wish leaf, use a fireproof dish, a small flame and an open window, and never leave it unattended.

A spell to try: a guardian jar for the home

Historical witch bottles, made in England from the 1600s, held things like hair, nail clippings and bent pins, and were buried under hearths and doorways to protect a household from witchcraft. This modern version keeps the idea of a guardian jar and leaves out anything hazardous.

1. Write “This home is guarded with care” on a slip of paper and fold it toward you three times.
2. Put a few dried bay leaves, a pinch of dried rosemary and a pinch of salt in a small jar with a tight lid. Add the paper and an old key you no longer use.
3. Close the lid tightly and seal it with tape.
4. Hold the jar and say: “Guardian jar, keep this home. Hold it safe, and let all within live in peace.”
5. Keep it on a high shelf near the main door, out of reach of children and pets.

When you move, take the jar with you, or empty it: compost the herbs, throw away the salt and recycle the jar. Do not bury glass, which can break in the ground.

Write down what you did and how you felt in your journal or Book of Shadows. Over time, your own notes become the most useful herbal you own.

Growing, drying and storing

If you can, grow a little bay laurel yourself, in a pot on a windowsill or a corner of the garden. A plant you have tended means more than a jar from a shop, and you know exactly what has been sprayed on it. To dry herbs, hang small bundles upside down somewhere warm, dark and airy, or lay leaves on a clean cloth for a week or two, until they crumble. Store dried herbs in clean, labeled jars away from light and heat, and write the date on the label. Replace them after about a year, when the scent fades. Buy from food-grade or cultivated sources rather than wild-harvested ones.

An honest note

The meanings of bay laurel come from people: from myths, herbals, poems, kitchens and, more recently, from modern witchcraft books, which often disagree with each other. I mark each layer on this page so you can see what is old and what is new. None of these meanings is a scientific property of the plant, and no herb will fix a problem on its own. What a familiar herb can do is give your intention a scent, a texture and a moment of attention, and that is where its magic lives.

Related herbs

If you enjoy working with bay laurel, try rosemary, cinnamon or basil next. For the full list of beginner herbs and safety notes, see my guide to herbs, and for pairing herbs with candles, see candle magic.

Where to go next

My book The Novice’s Guide to Witchcraft has an appendix of common herbs with folklore, safe uses and pet notes, and its kitchen witchcraft chapter shows how to bring herbs into everyday cooking. You can also read my page on kitchen witchcraft.