Henbane: History, Magic, and Mystique of a Poisonous Herb
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is one of the most infamous plants of European herbal lore. With its haunting yellow-veined flowers, musky scent, and potent toxicity, it has walked the boundary between medicine and poison, witchcraft and healing, since ancient times. Revered, feared, and wrapped in legend, henbane embodies the shadow side of the herbal world.
Botanical Profile
• Scientific name: Hyoscyamus niger
• Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade family)
• Common names: Black henbane, devil’s-eye, hogbean, stinking nightshade
• Appearance:
• Sticky, hairy leaves
• Pale gold or greenish-yellow flowers with deep purple veins
• A tall, sometimes sprawling growth habit
• Native range: Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, now naturalised widely.
Like belladonna and mandrake, henbane contains tropane alkaloids—hyoscyamine, atropine, and scopolamine—responsible for its potent effects.
Henbane was known to the Greeks and Romans, who used it medicinally in extremely small amounts. Dioscorides described its ability to ease pain, while also warning of hallucinations, delirium, and death in high doses.
Archaeological finds show henbane seeds placed in prehistoric graves, suggesting ritual or shamanic significance long before written records.
During the Middle Ages, henbane appeared in:
Herbal Medicine
• Pain relief
• Treatment of nerves, insomnia, and toothache
• Sedative and antispasmodic uses
Monastic herbals often included it—carefully—among medicinal plants.
According to Mrs Grieve in her book “A Modern Herbal” , “Henbane was much used as a medicine in former times. “ and “that it was so widely used even fairly recently that it was deliberately grown for the medicinal market because collection from the wild could not meet the demand. “.
The active ingredients are extracted from the leaves and flowering tops, both collected during the flowering period, and occasionally from the fruits.
It has a similar effect on the body to that of belladonna which also contains hyoscyamine, although the higher proportion of this alkaloid in henbane produces less of an excitory effect. It also has generally sedative effects on the central nervous system. The results of overdose include dry mouth, dilation of the pupils, restlessness, then hallucinations and delirium leading to coma and ultimately death. (
It was with a pharmaceutical preparation of derived from henbane that the notorious Dr Crippen poisoned his wife Cora in 1910 before attempting to flee to the USA with his mistress, Ethel le Neve. (Green)
As well as being a sedative, its medical uses are (or at least were) largely antispasmodic and anodyne, ie as a pain-killer. Because of its sedative and antispasmodic actions it has been used as an effective treatment of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, particularly for relieving tremor and rigidity in the early stages.
Source: www.whitedragon.org.uk
Culpepper comments that "The whole plant more that the root has a very heavy, ill, soporiferious smell, somewhat offensive." The main active agents are several tropane alkaloids - hyoscyamine and hyoscine, from which the plant takes its Latin name, and atropine.”
Henbane use in Magic and Witchcraft
Henbane is one of the legendary witches’ flying ointment herbs, alongside belladonna, mandrake, and datura. In folklore, it was associated with inducing visions, shapeshifting, and crossing the boundaries between worlds.
Burning henbane seeds was said to summon spirits or induce prophetic dreams.
“Henbane was believed in Germany to attract rain and was once believed to produce sterility in land and livestock” . (Thiselton-Dyer p315). As the raising of storms and the blighting of crops and livestock were amongst the most common charges laid at the feet of accused "witches" by neighbours, it is not impossible that this German folklore may have derived from the plant's association with witches; if witches raised storms and blighted crops, then maybe they did it with henbane or other noxious plants. On the other hand, if livestock was poisoned by fodder containing henbane (and other similar plants) it may have been easier to assume that the sudden and unaccountable death of beasts must have been due to witchcraft than to attempt to find out what really killed them.
The ancient Greeks believed that people under the influence of the herb became prophetic, and the priestesses of the Oracle of Delphi are claimed to have inhaled the smoke from smouldering henbane.
Nigel Pennick associates henbane with the rune Is (representing statis) and says it (the rune) is ruled by "Rinda, goddess of the frozen north" and is connected with "Verdandi, the Norn representing the present, 'that which is eternally becoming'." This seems to imply that he is associating henbane with these Goddesses in terms of northern magic, though he does not actually say so.
Folk Magic and Lore
Connection with the Dead
Henbane’s intoxicating fumes and dreamlike effects led to its association with:
• Necromancy
• Communicating with spirits
• Guidance into altered states
In some regions, it was planted in graveyards to ward off restless dead or malevolent spirits.
Protection and Cursing
Like many baneful herbs, henbane was used both to protect and to harm, depending on intent:
• Hung above doorways to repel witches
• Used in curses due to its toxicity and hallucinogenic properties
• Employed as a powerful ingredient in baneful spells
Henbane corresponds to:
Planetary and Elemental Correspondences
• Planet: Saturn or Mars (traditions vary)
• Element: Water or Earth
• Gender: Feminine
• Deities:
• Hecate (thresholds, magic, spirits)
• Hel or underworld goddesses
• Sometimes associated with Circe and Medea
Henbane is a classic baneful herb used by hedge witches, cunning folk, and poison path practitioners.
Magical Uses (non-ingestive)
WARNING: NOT EAT OR DRINK HENBANE!
Rituals, spells and external use only!
• Divination smoke
• Necromantic rites
• Spirit communication
• Dark moon rituals
• Baneful magic and warding
• Enhancing trance and visionary states (externally only)
If you have ingested Henbane call an ambulance or go to your nearest hospital.
Henbane is highly poisonous. Ingestion or incorrect handling can cause:
• Hallucinations
• Convulsions
• Rapid heartbeat
• Delirium
• Paralysis
• Coma
• Death
Even skin contact with fresh leaves can cause irritation or mild absorption of alkaloids.
Henbane and witches flying ointment
Tales of witches using flying ointment have been around for centuries. Whilst reality is far removed from folklore the effects of using Henbane with other plants to create hallucinogenic and trance like states could explain why these ointments were linked to the folklore of witches flying through the night to dance with the Devil.
See our separate article on flying ointment
Henbane use by witches and occultists
Today, henbane is embraced by:
• Poison path practitioners
• Green witches
• Hedge witches
• Folk magicians
• Occult herbalists
Common uses include:
• Adding dried flowers to necromantic or protective charms
• Using seeds in spirit-communication rituals
• Creating an underworld altar aesthetic
• Studying it as part of the historical “baneful herbs” canon
Some also grow henbane as a ritually potent plant, admired for its eerie beauty and magnetic presence.
In his book, “How Do Witches Fly? “ Alexander Kuklin refers to an experience of Black Henbane had by German scientist Michael Schenck. The Henbane’s first effect was purely physical discomfort. He writes: “My limbs lost certainty, pains hammered in my head, and I began to feel extremely giddy…I went to the mirror and was able to distinguish my face, but more dimly than normal…I had the feeling that my head had increased in size; it seemed to have grown broader, more solid, heavier…I was flung into flaring drunkenness, a witches’ cauldron of madness.” Kukin’s account of ingesting Henbane certainly reminds me of the potion that Alice in Wonderland drank to grow bigger.
The Symbolic Meaning of Henbane
Henbane symbolises:
• Thresholds
• Death and rebirth
• Altered states
• Forbidden knowledge
• Protection through fearsome power
• The shadow self
• Lunar and underworld mysteries
It reminds practitioners that some plants teach through danger and darkness.
References 1.A Modern Herbal - Mrs Grieve
2.Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey, pp300 - 303
3.Culpepper's Complete Herbal, Wordsworth Reference, Ware 1995
4.Green Magic, Lesley Gordon, Webb & Bowen, Exeter 1977
