MAGIC OF THE JUNIPER

Juniper can be used in rites of passage & as a protector on shamanic journeys to the Otherworld & as a spirit guide.
It is an excellent herb for getting in touch with the deities & spirits of nature.
Juniper is considered a guardian of the threshold between this world & the next. Like Yew, it is thought to nurture the spirits of the dead until they are ready to reincarnate. For this reason they are often planted on graves.

Juniper Berries can be used for protection, mental health, love, increasing psychic powers & breaking hexes. It is strongly protective & dispels negative energies & entities.
It has also been associated with prophecy & divination. The drink made from Juniper berries helps to show the clairvoyant abilities & get to know one's hidden talents.

Juniper has long been associated with ritual cleansing. It is burned in temples as a part of the regular purification rites.
It can be used to cleanse ritual spaces or magical tools.To cleanse jewellery of negative energy, keep it in Juniper tea for up to the day, depending of type & material of your jewellery.

Juniper, placed inside the walls in the home, grown by your doorstep or hung at your door, will protect you & your home from evil forces, evil people, ghosts & sickness.
Juniper has the power to ward off bad spirits & evil. No demons or devils can withstand its power, not even the demons of disease: fumigating a space with Juniper will kill off germs & purify the air in a sick room.

If you don't have Juniper growing near your home, you can use Juniper branches.
For cleansing, cut 7-9 cm long branches, must be an odd number of shoots.
Place in a water for a minute before cleansing the space. Lay the branches where negative energy can accumulate. The cleansing ritual is best done on Friday just before midnight. At the morning, pick up the Juniper branches without touching them with your bare hands & take them out of your home to a river, or burn or bury them.

Juniper branches or wreaths attract to your home peace & happiness. Place them in all corners of your space. Juniper branches above the doors will keep away unwanted guests.

Juniper protects also your animals. Place the branches in stables to protect them from all sorts of negativity, evil, illnesses & the loss of livestock.

Juniper is excellent for making amulets to protect home from negative energies, as well as for the leakage of positive energy.
Carry an odd number of Juniper berries always with you to attract love & increase strength.

Talisman for Love: string a bracelet using Juniper berries, say the name of a loved one when making, wear it to attract his/her love.

Juniper smoke can be used to move around the home if there is a fear of a curse or disease after the strangers left. It is often used as incense in healing rites & to purify the sick room.
Juniper has been used as incense for a very long time & used in exorcisms, to help psychic powers, to break hexes & curses to attract good, healthy energies & love. 

The cleansing effect of Juniper extends to the aura & fine body, helps to destroy bacteria as well as negative astral effects, clarifies thought & protects from negativity.
The berries can be added to purify drinking water & given to the sick.
'If someone has warts, one smooth Juniper stick must be taken, warts must be counted & as many warts are there, as so many cuts should be made on the stick. The stick must be thrown onto the crossing of three roads. Who picks up the stick from the roads shall get all the warts upon him & the maker thereof shall be free from the warts.'
In aromatherapy, Juniper berry is used against anxiety, to improve memory & mental clarity & for sedation.
During meditation it helps focusing & concentration.
It is also believed that eating one juniper berry every day will prevent both diseases and old age.
The berries of this herb, if added to sachets, will protect the wearer from accidents & theft, as well as from attacks from wild animals & snakes & to increase male potency.
Juniper steam is good for inhalation in lung diseases & asthma.

If you add the wine or vinegar soaked berries to your bath & then sprinkle the used bath water & berries in your yard, you will soon meet someone who will become close to you.

In Europe the berries were burned for the last 3 days in April as a cleansing ritual & protection against sorcery.
It was also believed that if Juniper was planted beside the main door it would prevent a witch to enter if she could not count all the needles correctly.
In Iceland it was traditionally believed that Juniper & Rowan could not grow together because each creates so much heat that one or other of the trees would be burn up. For the same reason it was considered not a good idea to bring sprigs of both woods into the house together unless you particularly wanted your house to burn down.
Another Icelandic belief has it that if you are building a boat, you must either use both Juniper & Rowan wood or use neither of them in the boat, otherwise it will sink.
All sorts of magical powers were ascribed to it in Egypt: It was said to retrieve lost objects, protect against venomous beasts & guard against spells of faintness & weakness.
The Juniper berries were pierced by the Native Americans & used as beads. They placed the ripe berries over ant hills, scattered about, the ants ate out the sweet streak near the seed, leaving the desired perforation by which to string the beads.

Be careful when gifting the Juniper, it brings quarrel to the house or takes your own peace. You can buy them for yourself.