When Witches Take Flight:Flying Ointment
Few elements of European witchcraft are as evocative, mysterious, or misunderstood as the witches’ flying ointment—a potent salve said to allow witches to traverse the night sky, attend sabbats, commune with spirits, or leave their bodies in ecstatic trance. While flying ointments are wrapped in legend, they also have deep historical roots in herbalism, shamanic practices, and the pharmacology of baneful plants like henbane, belladonna, datura, and mandrake.
This article explores their origins, ingredients, cultural symbolism, and how they are interpreted today.
WARNING:,true flying ointment contains herbs and plants that can be very toxic and cause serious illness or even death. We do not endorse the making of or use of it. Please don’t ask us for the recipe. We will not disclose it.
The Origins of the Flying Ointment Tradition
Pre-Christian Roots
Long before the word witch existed in its later form, European shamans, cunning folk, and seers used plants to enter altered states. Archaeological and ethnobotanical evidence suggests:
• henbane seeds in Iron Age ritual sites
• mandrake in ancient Mediterranean magic
• datura in Indo-European shamanism
These herbs facilitated dream-travel, spirit-flight, and ecstatic visions—experiences later framed as “witch-flight.”
Early Medieval Period
The earliest Christian records condemn women who believed they “rode out at night with Diana or Herodias.” These spirit-rides may reflect:
• ancestral worship
• trance-journeys
• goddess cults
• folk shamanism
Though ointments are not specifically mentioned in these earliest texts, the idea of night flight is already present.
The Emergence of the Ointment Mythos
By the late Middle Ages and early modern period (14th–17th centuries), witchcraft accusations expanded. Scholars, inquisitors, and physicians describe ointments used to:
• fly to sabbats
• shapeshift
• communicate with demons or spirits
• enter trance
These accounts appear in the works of:
• Giovanni Battista Della Porta
While these writers mixed genuine observations with superstition, they consistently mention similar baneful herbs.
Ingredients: The Baneful Plant Allies
Historical records often include a combination of tropane alkaloid–containing plants, all of which are powerful and toxic.
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger)
One of the most universally cited ingredients.
Effects:
• vivid hallucinations
• sensations of flying or floating
• trance
• dreamlike dissociation
• spirit-communication
Henbane’s scopolamine content produces the classic “dream-flight” sensations.
Belladonna (Atropa belladonna)
Known as deadly nightshade.
Effects:
• visions, altered perception
• amnesia
• delirious euphoria
• bodily numbness
Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum)
Surrounded by myth and folklore.
Effects:
• sedation
• dream enhancement
• trance states
Datura (Datura stramonium)
Wildly potent.
Effects:
• out-of-body experiences
• hallucinations
• intense, often dangerous visions
Other herbs sometimes included
• Hemlock (Conium maculatum)
• Aconite (Aconitum napellus)
• Poppy
• Ergot
Animal-fat base
Most ointments were blended into pork or goose fat, which absorbs alkaloids well.
So, How the Ointments Work
Transdermal Absorption
These alkaloids absorb through the skin, producing:
• vivid hallucinations
• dissociation
• tactile illusions
• dream-flight sensations
Application
Historical sources describe application to:
• the temples
• wrists
• underarms
• genitals
• broom handles or staves
The last method connects directly to the broomstick myth, interpreted not as literal flight but as:
• trance
• astral travel
• spirit-journeys
Female witches, according to folklore used to apply flying ointment onto their broomstick ( besom) and then sit astride it to rub their genitalia onto the ointment. The blood filled genitalia allows for a greater amount and faster delivery of the ointment into the bloodstream. This created the folklore of witches flying through the air on broomsticks to meet each other and the devil on Sabbats.
This is why witches still have a besom today although it has many other purposes and it is highly unlikely that a modern witch would use this method of using flying ointment.
A far less dangerous method of metaphysical travel is more often used now such as transcendental meditation.
So that is the Meaning of “Flight” in this case?
Physical vs. Spiritual Flight
Witches were not believed to be physically flying through the sky. Instead, “flight” represented:
• spirit transformation
• altered consciousness
• hedge-crossing (moving between worlds)
• mystical travel in trance
• attending sabbats in dreams
This mirrors shamanic traditions globally.
What’s a Sabbat?
The nocturnal sabbat—feasting, dancing, meeting deities or spirits—may reflect:
• ancestral festivals
• ecstatic rites
• communal dream rituals
Folklore and Demonology
Demonologists believed ointments:
• summoned demons
• allowed witches to shapeshift into animals
• transported them to Devil’s gatherings
Folklore added:
• night-flying hare witches
• women riding wolves or goats
• witches transforming into owls or cats
These motifs often echo ancient goddess traditions (Hecate, Artemis, Holle), who travelled with animal spirit-companions.
More on The Witch, the Broom, and the Ointment
The classic image of a witch astride a broom originates from:
• a staff or broom anointed with ointment
• a ritual object used in trance
• ointment applied to sensitive skin during mounting
• accounts distorted by inquisitors
In folklore, the broom is both:
• a household tool of women
• a liminal magical staff
• a symbolic vehicle of spirit-flight
Modern Interpretations and Practice
Today, witches’ flying ointments fall into several categories:
1. Symbolic or Ritual Ointments
No toxic herbs—used for:
• astral work
• hedge-crossing
• dream magic
Homeopathic-style or external-only preparations
Minimal extracts used for:
• meditation
• liminality
Botanical Devotion
Honouring the spirit of the baneful plants through:
• altar offerings
• dried herbs
• artwork
• incense (non-inhaled, symbolic)
Poison Path Practice
Some occult herbalists study historical flying ointments academically or ritually (without internal use). The poison path focuses on:
• plant spirits
• shadow work
• ancestral witchcraft
• transformational symbolism
Note: Modern practitioners do not ingest or apply toxic flying ointments. They are unsafe and potentially fatal.
Flying Ointments in Culture
Flying ointments have influenced:
• Gothic literature
• fantasy stories
• horror films
• contemporary witchcraft
• botanical folklore
The idea remains powerful because it speaks to:
• liberation
• transcendence
• nighttime mystery
• feminine power
• rebellion against authority
Witches’ flying ointments represent the meeting of magic, medicine, trance, and folklore. Though surrounded by sensationalism, they have deep roots in European herbalism and ecstatic tradition. Henbane, belladonna, and mandrake remind us of the ancient bond between humans and plants—a bond capable of healing, harming, inspiring visions, and transporting the spirit into realms beyond the ordinary.
Flying ointments are not merely potions of old witch-lore; they are symbolic gateways to the mysteries of consciousness, the shadow-self, and the wild, ecstatic side of magical tradition.
