Barley

Origin: Western Asia

Family: Poaceae
Scientific Name: Hordeum vulgare L.

Folk Names: Bar, Barley (Bare, Cereal, Common, Naked, Six-rowed, Sprat, Two-rowed, Wheat), Barley Big, Barley-grass, Bear, Beer-plant, Begg, Bigg, Hauels, Hoils, Pillerds

Magical

Element: Earth
Day: Saturday
Planet: Pluto
Zodiac: Libra
Deities: Ceres, Demeter

Parts used: Grain

Magical Properties: Aphrodisiac, fertility, prosperity, lust, healing, consecration, spirituality, love, protection

Substitutions: Wheat

Lore

• Ancient Greece:
  • “When Demeter was searching for Persephone, she stopped to rest at a farmer’s cottage and quenched her thirst with a sweet barley-drink. A boy name Askalabos mocked her hunger and in anger the goddess cast the drink upon him, transforming him into a lizard. The flecks of barley became the creature’s spots.” (Theoi.com)
  • The sacred drink associated with Demeter in the Eleusian mysteries was made from barley, honey, and mint.
• Nicholas Culpeper associates barley with Saturn, and lists it for a number of medical uses, including the treatment of leprosy.

Magical Uses

• Use barley (or barley water) in love spells.
• Scatter barley on the ground to help keep evil and negativity away.
• To help sure a toothache, wind a piece of barley straw around a stone, and visualise transferring your pain to the stone, then throw the stone into running water to wash the pain away (to be used in conjunction with appropriate dental/medical care).