It would make you nauseous and pukey while you were waiting for it to take effect, so the ladies improvised. There was a problem with drinking flying ointment, though: it was gross. Among other readily accessible hallucinogenic plants were henbane, deadly nightshade, mandrake, and, according to Johann Weyer in his 1563 Praestigiis Daemonum, these were all principal ingredients in any witch’s “flying ointment.” With effects on humans similar to LSD, ergot was a powerful hallucinogen. First among these was the rye mold containing ergot fungi. In medieval Europe there were a number of hallucinogenic plants in fairly easy supply. Ingredients vary, but across the board people seemed to be able to agree that witches were making something they dubbed “flying ointment”: Sex, Drugs, and Broomsticks: The Origins of the Iconic WitchĮuropean women have a centuries-long tradition of cultivating home-grown hallucinogens. But according to Atlas Obscura, there was a more practical explanation for the image too: vagina drugs. For ages, we’ve assumed that mythical witches rode broomsticks for all the symbolism-brooms are domestic and phallic, so if a woman can wield the power of both, she must be pretty threatening and cool. Out in the woods, studying up on homeopathic remedies, finding wild things to do with herbs. Take witches for instance, history’s horny crones. And if there was something that they thought was bad, guess what? It was probably good!* Or at least fine. But generally speaking, if the Puritans were about it, it was most likely a bad idea. Since they killed…pretty much everyone out of paranoia and fear, we ended up with a lot more of their literature than we’ll ever need, and our perspective as Americans tends to be skewed. The Puritans were narcs and squares, we all know this. ![]() ![]() ![]() For any ladie who loves her oyntment Flickr
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