actuca virosa Wild Lettuce This European native magic herb was referred to as "Titan's Blood" in ancient Greek manuscripts and many consider it, like regular lettuce, to be a Moon plant on account of its generally watery nature and white (bitter) sap. If you have encountered this plant, you know that it does not have the wateriness of its domesticated cousin, and its chemical relationship to other strongly Saturn plants like henbane indicates a Saturn association, especially when you consider the insignificant flowers. It also is often found growing wild in such Saturn-beloved places as roadsides (Saturn loves edges) and "waste places." This plant provides an incense aid for divination, especially when working with darker deities. For spellwork, it is an anti-aphrodisiac and hypnotic. Gather leaves when the plant is in flower and preferably at full Moon and dry for later use.
This herb contains the tropane hyoscyamine, much as the nightshades do, but Lactucarium, an Eclectic preparation made from the latex harvest from this herb when it is flowering, is a sedating bitter that contains no hyoscyamine. Its dried latex looks, tastes, and smells similar to opium (more Moon here) and so has been used to adulterate opium in the past, which probably partially accounts for one of its common names, lettuce opium. In British herbalism, it is often combined with passionflower and hops in equal parts and made into a tea for insomnia. 1/2-1 teaspoon of the herb mixture per cup is infused 15 minutes and 1/2 cup of the infusion drunk for chronic sleeplessness. Although the very young leaves are edible, it is better to grow regular cultivated lettuce for table use.
Wild lettuce was referred to as "Titan's Blood" in ancient Greek manuscripts on magic and is ruled by Saturn, like most of the tropane-containing plants. It contains hyoscyamine, much as the other nightshades do. However, lactucin, which is a constituent in the plant and in Lactucarium, an Eclectic preparation from Lactuca virosa, is a bitter with sedative properties. Lactucarium does not contain hyoscyamine. Dried wild lettuce sap looks, tastes, and smells similar to opium and so has been used to adulterate opium in the past, which probably partially accounts for its name. This is a good substitute for other more virulent nightshades and also for Moon-work of a darker nature (lettuce is usually considered Moon).
