Hi, my loves and welcome to WiccaNow. I’ve been sharing a lot of magkical herb and plant guides recently, like this post about the magickal properties of lemongrass, another about jasmine, one about roses and one about the magickal properties of mugwort. I’ve also shared a botanical witchepedia for those of you who want an overview of a large array of plants and herbs. Today I want to continue down this road by sharing my guide to the magickal properties of vanilla.
Vanilla is an interesting tropical plant that has a long, and sometimes brutal history. It’s a favourite among bakers. It helps to promote inner peace and some of its other magickal properties include love, happiness, and luck. Medicinally, it can help fight acne and will improve the health and vitality of hair as well as being rich in antioxidants among other things.
Disclaimer: Any medicinal benefits given here are a product of my own research and as such should not be taken over the advice of trained medical professionals. If you are ill, please go and see a doctor. Always make sure that anything you consume is 100% safe. If you are pregnant, consult your doctor or midwife before consuming something you haven’t tried before.
Did you know that we make beautiful grimoire pages for you? Below is our Plant Magick Grimoire; check it out before you keep reading about the magickal properties of vanilla!
The History of Vanilla
It’s believed that vanilla has been cultivated since the 15th century. The flowering, flat-leafed orchid was first cultivated by the Totonac-Aztec people, who lived in what is currently known as Veracruz. They were invaded and conquered by a neighbouring Aztec tribe from central Mexico who fell in love with the taste of vanilla and named it “Tlilxochitl” meaning “black flower”. They named it after the fact that the mature fruit will shrivel and darken shortly after being harvested.
When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Aztecs in the 1520s, conquistador Hernán Cortés introduced vanilla to Europe and until the mid 19th century Mexico remained the main vanilla producers and suppliers for the rest of the world.
In 1819, vanilla plants were shipped to a few islands off the Indian coast by French businessmen in the hopes that they could cultivate their own vanilla supply rather than relying on the Mexican supply chain. The main island they were cultivated on was Réunion.
While vanilla did grow, the crops didn’t produce any fruit as there were no insects capable of pollinating the flowers. While the flowers carry both male and female sex organs and don’t need another flower for cross-pollination, they have a membrane separating the two organs meaning that only specific insects are capable of pollinating them.
In 1837 a Belgian botanist, Charles Morren, discovered that the flowers weren’t being pollinated and came up with a method of artificially pollinating them. This method turned out to be completely financially unviable and as such could not be used commercially.
In 1841, a 12-year-old slave named Edmond Albius figured out how to hand pollinate the vanilla flowers in a cost-effective and fast way using a blade of grass and his thumb. This revolutionised the way vanilla was grown and made it possible to commercially cultivate the pods outside of their native Mexico. The method of pollination that he pioneered is still used today. While Edmonds discovery changed the way vanilla was produced and enabled Réunion to become the world’s largest supplier of vanilla, he died in poverty. Pretty outrageous isn’t it? Yeah, I think so too…
After methods of cultivation had been achieved and were commercially viable, vanilla plants were sent to other Islands in the area along with pollination instructions so that commercial production could begin.
During the late 1970s, a tropical cyclone ravaged the areas where the main vanilla crops were produced. This caused a massive price increase which continued until the mid 1980s. In the 1980s, the cartel who had been in charge of the vanilla prices and distribution since the 1930s disbanded which caused a drop in price of around 70%, lowering the price per kg to around $20USD.
In 2000, another massive cyclone hit Madagascar. This, combined with political unrest and a poor vanilla crop for the previous 3 years increased the prices exponentially and drove them up to $500USD per kg by 2004. However, by 2005 prices had dropped down to $40/kg due to the increased production of imitation vanilla and new countries who had started to cultivate their own crops. This meant that there was an increased supply…
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