Garlic

What this is

Garlic (Allium sativum). The stinking rose, the Mars-and-fire bulb of Aries and Scorpio that the pyramid-builders ate by the basket and the vampire fears at the door. Strung in braids, it has guarded the threshold of half the world.

What it governs

Garlic answers to Mars and the element of Fire. Its seat in the zodiac is Aries and Scorpio, and its day is Tuesday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with the waning moon. In the old practice its office is plain: One clove raw with the first meal — the body's oldest shield against winter's ills.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning garlic is hot and dry, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the bulb. Its working colour follows Mars, scarlet red; its metal is iron, its stones are hematite, bloodstone, its number 5, and on the Tree of Life it threads up to Geburah. It carries well on the body, kept in a pocket or a small sachet and it is gentle, safe to use as the practice describes.

Where else it appears

The great protector everywhere: hung at the door against the evil eye, the vampire, and the plague from the Mediterranean to the Balkans; rubbed on the body against contagion; buried at the crossroads to soak up a curse. To repel all harm, one humble bulb at every doorway.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Garlic on Today's Herb, Angelic Herb, Today's Gathering, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its one office: one clove raw with the first meal — the body's oldest shield against winter's ills. As the Angelic Herb it stands under Samael; read its rising as that intelligence laying a hand on your day, with martial heat and decisive force. As Today's Gathering it marks a plant to take up now, while the waning moon and the day are with it.

Why it matters

Garlic repels. It is the plainest, strongest guard there is, against sickness, envy, and the unclean alike. It asks nothing clever of you, only that you set it where harm would try to enter.

Correspondences

planet

Mars

element

Fire

zodiac

Aries, Scorpio

number

5

sephirah

Geburah

day

Tuesday

colour

scarlet red

metal

iron

stone

hematite, bloodstone

tarot

The Tower