Mandrake plant

A mandrake plant depicted on Tutankhamun's throne could be a mandrake (Hepper 1990) but since this plant is not indigenous to Egypt, it would have had to be cultivated there.

There is also a long tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages, of identifying the mandrake as a plant mentioned in the Bible, under the name of dudaim. Leah, Jacob's first wife, had stopped having children. Reuben, their eldest son, brought his mother some duda'îm. Rachel, Leah's sister, Jacob's second wife and favorite, asked her sister to give them to her. She only accepted in exchange for spending the night with Jacob, to which Rachel agreed.

Leah will conceive that night and will later give birth to Issachar, saying: "God has given me my wages."
In ancient times: Greek doctors prescribed mandrake for melancholy and depression.
Theophrastus in the 4th century BC reports that the root treats skin diseases and gout and that the leaves are effective in healing wounds. Sedative properties were also known to him. Dioscorides cautiously warns against the toxicity of the plant.
Theophrastus tells us that when picking it, one must "draw three circles around the Mandrake with a sword, cut while facing east, dance around the other and say as many dirty words as possible." Thus, the circle drawn around the plant creates a magically enclosed space, enclosing the plant and allowing the magician to master it. As a magical plant, the mandrake is called kirkaia, in reference to the sorceress Circe. Astrologers have attributed the mandrake to the sign of Cancer (karkinos) which governs the human body from the chest to the belly. As a result, it controls the spleen, the organ responsible for bouts of melancholy.

In the Middle Ages, the ritual of pulling out the mandrake changed from the beginning of the Middle Ages. The plant collector must now, in order to free the root, tie it to a dog and lure the animal away, otherwise he will be exposed to certain death. Precautions when picking are also stated. Anyone who pulls out the mandrake without precaution, if he does not go mad when hearing the screams of the plant, will be pursued by its curse... According to the various writings describing the rituals, we know that they took place on nights of the full moon.

The Mandrakes that grew at the foot of the gallows would be fertilized by the sperm of the hanged, bringing them vitality, but those of the places of torture or cremation also did the job perfectly. The root became magical after washing, maceration and maturation in a shroud; it represented the outline of man, "little planted man" or homunculus. Thus pampered, it remained eternally faithful to its master and provided its owner with prodigious prosperity, abundance of goods, and fertility. It was sold very expensively because of the risk of picking, and all the more so because the form was human, preferably sexualized by the presence of judiciously arranged tufts.
A widespread belief in the 16th and 17th centuries was that witches would smear their bodies with an ointment before flying into the air to go to the sabbath. At that time, a Spanish doctor and humanist, Andrés Laguna, came to the conclusion that everything witches believed they were doing was the result of taking narcotic substances. Made with "herbs of the highest degree cold and soporific, such as hemlock, sleeping nightshade, henbane and mandrake." Mandrake is also used in some rituals of the voodoo cult.

It is said that:
- A whole Mandrake root placed on the fireplace in the house will bring protection, fertility and prosperity to it.
- Mandrake is also hung above the headboard to protect the one sleeping there during sleep, it is carried on oneself to attract love, and to protect oneself against illness. Where there is a Mandrake, demons cannot live there, which is why the root is used for exorcisms.
- To "activate" the powers of a dried Mandrake root, place it in a raised area of ​​the house and leave it where it will not be disturbed for 3 days. Then put it in hot water where you
leave it overnight. After that the root is activated and can be used in any magical practice. The water in which the root has bathed can be sprinkled on the doors and windows of the house to protect it, or on people to purify them.
- says that money placed next to a Mandrake root (and especially silver coins) is doubled. Finally, the Mandrake has also long served as a magic doll, but its great rarity and high cost often force mages and witches to use substitutes (bryony root, ash root, apples, etc.).