Laurel is a plant strongly linked to succes and glory, Romans wore crowns made of it when they came back victorious from a war campaign. Even the Spanish word “laurear” means to honour or present high respect to someone.

All of this is because laurel is associated with Apollo, the Sun God, in the myth of Daphne which tells the story of how the young maiden transformed herself into a laurel tree to run away from him and his obsessive love. The myth concludes with the promise that he will put her leaves over the heads of the heroes but that is only half of the properties of laurel.

Apollo is god of the arts and of inner healing, often identified with Asclepius, whose symbol is the Caduceus with the twin snakes that we usually can find in any modern pharmacy.

Apollo is not God of the Sun in a literal way like Helios, but in a metaphorical way, for he is the inner (or mystic) Sun, being recognized as such in the Oracle of Delphi; the fact that Eros cursed him with being unable to find love (even if he was considered as the most beautiful and talented of the Gods) only proves so, for the live of the mystic is one of love towards knowledge and spiritual grow (this doesn’t mean chaste, by the way, in ancient Greece a “virgin” was an unmarried woman, not a woman who had no sex) and as such laurel is most useful not only for spells in which we want to be victorious or defeat an enemy but also in those more subtle ones to see glimpses of the future.

When using laurel for any spell is possible to use it dried (bayleaf) as it is easier to find it in any supermarket than it is to find the actual plant if it’s not autochthonous on your area.

I wouldn’t recommend burning bayleaves because it smells horrible but we could do so to “burn away” someone’s succes.

Bayleaves can be kept on inside the shoes, or put under a coin as a lucky charm for yourself or to receive constant flow of money.

If you decide to grow the plant in your yard it will become a refugee and home for the Faes and other “small people” (driads, gnomes and fairies in general). Be sure to keep milk, honey and/or cinnamon close by it to make them happy.

Wear it on a crown or hang it on your doorframe just as Romans did to receive the blessing of Apollo and keep you victorious on every part of your life.

Another way of achieving this effect is by creating an essential oil from bayleaf and olive oil and rubbing yourself with it.

Rubbing it against a mirror or putting it on a bowl of water can grant visions of the future, of your future love or of what is the way to find it.

It’s also useful for dreaming about the future if you put it under your pillow, this can be amplified using also lavender, poppy and chamomile.

And of course, pasta boiled with bayleaf and a bit of olive oil is delicious.