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Blog #7: Mythological Plants



Throughout the semester we have talked about several plants used by witches and seen throughout various films and different books about witchcraft. With this blog I wanted to research two specific plants: the mandrake root and belladonna to discuss their history, features, and appearances in various movies and media over the years. They both have been brought up over and over again many times in class and in the readings which is why I wanted to do more research. 

The mandrake root is described in “A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult,” as a plant with one of the largest reputations for magic. Its humanlike shape was the reason for many of its magical powers due to the ancient Greek idea that plants affected what they resemble.  Research also shows that the mandrake was found drawn inside Egyptian tombs used for good luck on the dead. There also is a myth explaining that the mandrake root had magical powers for witches to fly and that it was inhabited by a demon and would kill whoever picked it as it lets out a scream which kills. 

One of the most popular movies that the mandrake is referenced in is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Mandrakes in this movie model the human body and developmental stages. When fully mature, they are used to restore the health of people from curses or transfiguration but scream so loud that they can kill someone if earmuffs are not worn. The mandrake root was also seen in the film Pan’s Labyrinth, when it was used to heal someone by consuming their blood but ended up killing the person after the mandrake was thrown into a fire. In reality the mandrake root is used as a medicine and can have some hallucinogenic factors. 

The next plant I wanted to discuss was the belladonna plant. It is a member of the Nightshade family and is highly poisonous. It is described in the book, “A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult,” as a plant with deadly properties used by witches to rub on their thighs to help fly. Belladonna was used during the Middle Ages to dilate women’s pupils to make them more beautiful hence the name belladonna meaning beautiful women in Italian. Symptoms of applying belladonna to one's body or ingesting it include rapid heart beat, delirium, vomiting, hallucination, and even death. It is currently used as eye drops by ophthalmologists to dilate pupils. 

Belladonna is seen in many movies and other media forms. In the popular media presentation on Practical Magic, belladonna was used to sedate one of the sister’s boyfriends but then ended up accidentally killing him. It was additionally used in  Shakespeare’s Macbeth as another poison to place an army in a coma. In Romeo and Juliet it was what Juliet consumed to fake her death at the end of the play. Finally, it is seen multiple times throughout Harry Potter to create a potion that makes the students feel like they are flying.

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