Plants: Memory, Magic, and Tradition

Abstract

Much has been written about the use of medicinal plants in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
However, the relationship between memory medicine in its herbal aspect and
magical tradition has not been explored. Building on some of the considerations found
in Dioscorides as well as in medieval arts of memory, we will examine the role of some of
these plants in the popular magical tradition of the Iberian Peninsula. In this regard, it is
noteworthy that plants such as rue, whose properties are associated with protection against
poisons and, conversely, with poisoning in Dioscorides, while their astringent properties
are highlighted in the arts of memory, are mentioned in traditional Catalan and Galician
literature as one of the basic ingredients in the preparations of witches/meigas. This paper
aims to analyze the similarities and differences that the magical-popular tradition presents
concerning the arts of memory, in which plants are usually classified by their benefit or
harm to study and memory.