Pumpkins in Magick

• Scientific Name: Cucurbita
• Folk Name: Pumpkin, Winter Squash
• Type: Food
• Ruler: Oshun, Hekate
• Element: Water
• Parts Commonly Used: Seeds, Flesh, Whole Fruit
• Basic Powers – the fruit: Protection, Divination, Banishing, and Prosperity
• Basic Powers – the seeds: Fertility, Abundance, Wealth, Love, Prosperity, Good Luck

Basic Info:

Pumpkins can be used for protection, divination, banishing, and prosperity. Pumpkins and pumpkin seeds represent fertility, abundance, wealth, love, prosperity, good luck, and can attract money. They can also be used for healing, honoring the Moon, and Divination/Contacting the Spirit World.

Pumpkins have a long history of being the one vegetable that can ward off evil spirits on Halloween night. The tradition of carving pumpkins with faces, comes from Celtic traditions where turnips and other bulbous vegetables where cared to keep away evil or mischievous spirits during Samhain. To the Celts the head was the most sacred and important part of the body. So creating faces and turning them into lanterns made perfect sense.

Another legend tells  us that we carve and light pumpkins so that our ancestors can find us and can communicate with us. At Samhain, the veils between the realm of the living and the dead are at their thinnest, and those who have passed on can cross over into our world, albeit for a short time.

Pumpkins are often symbols of the fruitfulness of the earth at this autumn time of year since their round orange bodies also represent the abundance of the Mother Goddess or Mother Earth. Pumpkin seeds, when roasted, dried and eaten, are believed to keep extra pounds away while adding the fruit of the pumpkin itself to delicious delights such as pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie is said to bring money and luck your way as well.

This fruit is also sacred to the Yoruban goddess Oshun and is offered to her in exchange for wishes granted concerning love, money and fertility. Offer whole pumpkins smeared with honey to the river where you wish to conceive a child. Offer whole pumpkins with names carved into them for love spells. Throw a handful of pumpkin seeds into the river and ask for a financial boon. It is important to know that the pumpkin and its seeds are considered the children of Oshun. If you are working with her magick, you must abstain from eating any pumpkin.

Other magickal uses for pumpkins include:

• When doing tarot readings for others, place a small pumpkin near your cards so you can draw upon it’s energies to reveal the unknown.
• Place a pumpkin on your altar and/or light a pumpkin-scented candle when doing any magic that involves discovering and developing your magical skills.
• For protection, carving ghoulish faces into pumpkins and placing them at your doorstep is said to help protect your home from wandering, harmful spirits this time of year.
• Light pumpkin-scented candles near your divination or scrying tools to increase the potency of your readings. Alternatively, keeping a pumpkin in your divination space is said to provide extra insight in your reading.
• Place pumpkin scented sachets around your home to drive away harmful energy and make your home warm and inviting.
• Pumpkins as a symbol of prosperity and can be placed on the altar, hearth, and doorstep to bring prosperity into the home and to those who live in it.
• Some believe the energy from Pumpkin scented candles helps to increase the power of spells.

These are just a few ways to use pumpkins in your magical practice. Remember, pumpkins are linked to the mysterious, the unknown, the dark, and all kinds of magic, so use them often!

A note of warning:

Some say that early American legend maintained that leaving a half of a pumpkin open or exposed in any room, but especially the kitchen, would attract negative energies into your living space. Pumpkins that have begun to spoil were believed by the Romany to suck the life energy from the people around them, and create illness and bad luck.

Related Content:

• Blends and Recipes –  Magickal Apothecary/Pumpkin
• Spells and Magick – Book of Shadows/Pumpkin
• Folklore – Gypsy Magick/Pumpkin

Information in this post was collected from a variety of sources.