Warded

Linoleum Block Print

2024

Ward has a broad variety of applications and definitions, all of which have something to do with protection by separation. To ward something away is to put something between you and the thing you want to be separated from.

Wormwood and Wolfsbane are two traditional wards against werewolves. The forget-me-nots along the bottom are a ward against memory loss; though they have no medicinal properties, there is an archaic symbolism to flowers and herbs that invited the perception that they were lucky, and somehow would lend some of that luck toward warding off (or attracting) whatever they represented. Usually this flower represents this in regards to love and relationships.

Wolfsbane and wormwood are both toxic; Wolfsbane being toxic enough to poison a person or a predator in relatively small doses.