This beautiful plant is native to Europe, but due to its hardy and invasive nature has spread all across the world, including to Australia. It’s jet-black berries form into distinctive clusters, and its five white petals arrange themselves naturally into perfect pentagrams.

Nightshades are associated strongly with Hekate, most especially Hekate Chthonia or “Hekate of the Underworld”. Hekate is a Greek goddess of magick, crossroads, spirits and the restless dead, transitions and changes, the future, necromancy, and many other elements of life, death and everything else. Hekate’s sacred plants are all poisonous plants, such as yew, hellebore, mandrake and mistletoe, but most especially the nightshades.

In Wicca, nightshades and Hekate have both been long associated with the New Moon and with the Crone aspect of the Goddess. Hekate is often depicted as a triple goddess, and her most sacred sites are places where three paths meet at a crossroads. Finding nightshade at these sites is a sure sign of magickal activity at these places, and that these places are blessed by the Crone Goddess of magick and witchcraft, and by Hekate.

Black nightshade is of course poisonous, with most of the toxicity found in the unripe green or grey berries.

Dried and preserved branches were placed around altars to invoke spirits and spirit magick.

Never burn, inhale, ingest, vapourise, apply to your skin or otherwise consume any poisonous nightshades.