EsoteriaA library of sacred & hidden knowledge
The Spellbook · Prosperity

The Spellbook · Herbal Magick

Basil Money Charm for Wallet, Shop and Doorway

How folk herbalists use basil to draw money: a living plant by the door or till, leaves in the wallet and a basil wash for a shop, with the herb's history.

  • TraditionMediterranean, Latin American and African American folk herbalism; recorded in hoodoo from the early 20th century and in Mexican and Caribbean shop custom
  • ForProsperity, Luck, Success
  • DifficultySimple
  • Time20 minutes, with a living plant kept afterwards
  • WhenOften begun on a Thursday or at the waxing Moon; the basil wash is used before opening a shop or on the first of the month

Sweet basil is one of the most common money herbs in folk magic. In Mexican and Caribbean shops a pot of albahaca by the door or the till is kept for good business; in African American hoodoo a basil-leaf wash is used to draw customers; and in Italy and Greece basil has long been a plant of the household's welfare and of blessing. This simple charm combines the three: a living plant, a leaf carried with money, and a wash for the place where money comes in.

How to do it§

  1. Bring home a plant. Buy or grow a healthy sweet basil in a pot. Place it where money enters: by the front door, beside the till or on the desk where you work. Many say it should be given or bought with intention rather than taken carelessly, and that it must be kept thriving; a wilting plant is replaced.
  2. State your purpose. Touch the plant and say, in your own words, what you hope for, for example: "Green and growing, bring steady custom and fair profit to this place." (This wording is modern.)
  3. Carry a leaf. Pick three healthy leaves. Dry them flat between paper for a few days, or use them fresh and replace them weekly. Fold one into a small envelope or lay it in the notes section of your wallet. Some tie it with a green thread.
  4. Make a basil wash. Steep a handful of fresh leaves in a bowl of warm water for fifteen minutes, then strain. With a clean cloth, wipe the doorstep, threshold and counter of your shop or home, working from the outside in, which in hoodoo signifies drawing good things inward.
  5. Keep it up. Water the plant faithfully and pinch out flower buds so that it stays leafy. Renew the wallet leaf at each new Moon or on the first of each month.
  6. Finish. Old leaves go into the compost or garden soil, not the bin. Give thanks when business improves, and share a cutting or a plant with someone else as a gesture of goodwill.

Origins and history§

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) came to the Mediterranean from South Asia in antiquity, and its Greek name basilikon, "royal", gave it a dignity reflected in later lore. Its reputation was mixed: some ancient writers thought it harmful, while others praised it, and Pliny the Elder records the dispute. In Greek Orthodox practice basil is closely tied to the Cross, because of the legend that it grew where the True Cross was found; priests use sprigs of basil to sprinkle holy water, and women take blessed basil home from church at the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on 14 September. In Italy a pot of basil on the windowsill was associated with love and the household, and it has a darker literary memory in Boccaccio's tale of Lisabetta, who hid her murdered lover's head in a pot of basil (Decameron IV.5).

Nicholas Culpeper, in The English Physitian (1652), gave basil to Mars and noted the old controversy over it. In India its cousin, holy basil or tulasī (Ocimum tenuiflorum), is sacred to Vishnu and grown in a raised pot in the courtyard of many Hindu homes, though for devotional rather than money purposes.

The association of basil with money and trade is best documented in the Americas. Hyatt's interviews of the 1930s include informants who washed floors and steps with basil water to draw customers or kept basil to ensure that a household would never be without money, and catalogues of curio shops sold basil as a luck herb. In Mexican and wider Latin American popular practice, a sprig of albahaca hung in a shop or a plant kept by the door is a familiar charm for buena suerte in business, often alongside an image of a saint. Scholars of hoodoo such as Jeffrey Anderson emphasise that such herbal uses mixed African, European and Native American knowledge in the plantation and post-emancipation South.

Variations§

Some combine basil with cinnamon or a bay leaf in a small sachet. In Caribbean practice basil is added to cleansing baths before starting a new venture. A Greek custom places blessed basil from church above the icon corner for the protection and plenty of the house.

Safety and good sense§

Basil is a culinary herb and safe to handle, though a few people react to plant sap; wash your hands after handling it. Basil essential oil is strong and should not be applied undiluted to the skin. Keep floor washes from making steps slippery. No herb replaces honest work and sound advice; if money troubles are pressing, seek help from a qualified adviser.

Sources and further reading§