Occult lore
Belladonna
Direct answer
Belladonna: Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, is Atropa belladonna, a woodland plant with dull purple bells and shining black berries; every part of it is dangerously poisonous.
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At a glance
- Also called
- deadly nightshade
- Found in
- Spells & Occult Terms
- Related
- Mandrake, Witchcraft, Magical Correspondences, Saturn
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Why is it called belladonna?
Belladonna is a bushy perennial of shaded, chalky ground in Europe and western Asia, standing up to the height of a person. The flowers are drooping brownish-purple bells, and the berries that follow are glossy, black and about the size of a cherry, each sitting on a green star. They look edible and taste faintly sweet, which is the heart of the danger.
The plant contains atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine. These bring a dry mouth, wide pupils, a pounding heart, confusion and visions, and they can kill. In lore it is the witches' plant above all others, named among the ingredients of the ointments that were said to carry them to the sabbath, and it stands in tables of correspondences under Saturn.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Herbs, oils and stones.
What sets Belladonna apart
Belladonna is the one plant in the witch's garden whose danger is not exaggerated by its legend. Its three alkaloids block a chemical messenger of the nerves, and the result is the set of signs medical students still learn as hot, dry, red, blind and mad. The same action, measured and purified, is why atropine is used by eye doctors and in emergency medicine. Its two names record the two faces: the Fate who ends life, and the beautiful lady.
- Botanical name: Atropa belladonna, named by Linnaeus, 1753
- Named for: Atropos, the Fate who cuts the thread of life
- Poisons: atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine, in every part
- Berries: single, shiny, black, on a green five-pointed calyx
- Ointment source: Giambattista della Porta, Magia Naturalis, 1558
- Planet in lore: Saturn, with lead and endings
Often mistaken for something else: Woody nightshade, or bittersweet, is a climbing hedgerow plant with clusters of red berries; deadly nightshade is an upright bush with single black berries and is far more poisonous.
The story behind Belladonna
Linnaeus gave it the name Atropa in 1753, after Atropos, the Fate who cuts the thread of life. Belladonna is Italian for beautiful lady; the usual explanation, current since the sixteenth century, is that women used the juice to widen the pupils of their eyes. A recipe for a witches' ointment printed by Giambattista della Porta in 1558 includes nightshade. Chemists isolated atropine from the plant in the early 1830s, and the purified drug remains in medical use.
Why Belladonna matters
Belladonna ties the folklore of flying witches to real chemistry: the visions reported in the trial era match what its alkaloids do.
How to read Belladonna
In occult writing it serves as a symbol of Saturn, of death and of the witch's craft; responsible practice names it and keeps away from the plant.
Belladonna in practice: an example
A walker who finds a tall plant with single black berries on green stars at a wood's edge has met belladonna and leaves it untouched.
Where readings of Belladonna go wrong
Belladonna is deadly. Eating its berries has killed children and adults, its juice can act through broken skin, and no part belongs in any tea, oil, incense or ointment.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
Recorded here as history and lore. No rite is taught on this page.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Spells & Occult Terms
- Aliases
- deadly nightshade, atropa belladonna, belladonna meaning, belladonna plant folklore, is belladonna poisonous
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
Why is it called belladonna?
The name means beautiful lady in Italian. The traditional account is that women in Renaissance Italy dropped its juice in their eyes to enlarge the pupils, which was thought attractive.
How poisonous is deadly nightshade?
Very. All parts are toxic, the roots and berries especially, and the sweet black berries have caused many of the recorded deaths. Anyone who may have eaten some needs emergency help at once.
Did witches really use belladonna to fly?
Early modern authors printed ointment recipes containing it, and its alkaloids can cause sensations of floating and vivid visions. Whether accused witches actually made such ointments is uncertain, since most of the evidence comes from their accusers.
