A Treatise on the Variants of the Blackthorn

In this particular treatise, we will examine two different plants that are both attributed the name “Blackthorn,” and we will evaluate their respective efficacy in magickal use. Although they share a common name in occult and folkloric discourse, they are in fact entirely different species, arising from different continents, biomes, and traditions. It is precisely this distinction that warrants careful examination rather than casual equivalence.

For the sake of clarity and definition, the two Blackthorns we will be comparing are Prunus spinosa, which we will refer to as European Blackthorn, and Senegalia mellifera, which we will refer to as African Blackthorn. European Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is a shrub or small tree belonging to the rose family, native to Europe and parts of Western Asia. African Blackthorn (Senegalia mellifera), by contrast, is a thorn-bearing tree in the bean family, native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Despite the shared common name, they are botanically unrelated, emerging from vastly different ecological and environmental contexts.

Within many magickal practices and paradigms - particularly those rooted in European traditions - the European Blackthorn is regarded and revered as a pinnacle substance for necromantic operations, among several other uses. It is often presented as being definitive in these applications, as though it occupies an unchallenged position as the necromantic tree. We will not state that this attribution is incorrect within its own cultural and historical framework. However, we will state quite clearly that European Blackthorn is neither the “definitive” nor the “singular” tree of Necromancy or Black Magick when viewed beyond a specifically European lens. It is this misconception, and the assumptions underpinning it, that this treatise seeks to address and correct.

To begin, we must point out an obvious yet frequently overlooked fact: magickal practices have always made reference to - and actively employed - plants, trees, roots, resins, and other materia that are native to the particular region, area, or country in which those practitioners lived. This should be self-evident, especially when considering older traditions. Historically, practitioners did not possess global botanical knowledge, nor did they have access to flora from distant continents. They worked with what was available to them, what grew in their lands, what survived in their climates, and what was woven into their mythologies, cosmologies, and daily lives.

This is precisely why every magickal paradigm arising from different countries and cultures possesses its own set of “go-to” plants and trees for various operations. These selections naturally differ from one region to another, even when the intended magickal function - such as necromancy, baneful work, protection, or consecration - appears to be the same. What serves as a primary necromantic plant in one culture will not necessarily be the same in another, nor does it need to be.

Although this principle should be obvious, it is often disregarded. When a certain tree or plant is regarded as the “best” for a particular magickal application, this is rarely because it is objectively or universally superior. Rather, it is because it is the best within that particular region, within that cultural and ecological context. This distinction is critical. Different countries give rise to different variants of magick, and those variants rely upon different plants and trees based on local flora. Nothing more, nothing less. One is not inherently superior to another by default.

With this understanding established, we can address a prevailing modern assumption: many practitioners across the globe continue to regard European Blackthorn as the “true” necromantic tree. This belief, however, is rooted in misconception. Within European magickal traditions, such an attribution may indeed be valid and internally consistent. Outside of those traditions, however, it loses its universality. Other magickal currents - particularly those emerging from non-European environments - possess their own necromantic materia that are equally valid, equally potent, and equally appropriate to their respective paradigms.

Modernity has introduced certain advantages in this regard. Today, practitioners can obtain a vast variety of plants, woods, and ingredients from across the globe - something that was simply not possible for the average practitioner in the past. The world has, in many ways, opened its doors. A practitioner in Asia, as an example,  can obtain ingredients native to the Americas, Europe, or Africa with relative ease (and vice versa), albeit often accompanied by import costs, bureaucracy, and logistical complications.

Even so, this global accessibility can be impractical. For us, importing European Blackthorn for magickal operations is inconvenient and unnecessary, whereas African Blackthorn is far more readily accessible due to its native presence in our region. This practical reality reinforces the very point we are making: there is no singular tree that represents the pinnacle or epiphany of necromancy. Such a notion collapses under scrutiny.

If we conduct a side-by-side comparison between European Blackthorn and African Blackthorn, we can in fact demonstrate how African Blackthorn may even be better suited to necromantic and darker magickal operations. We will now outline why this is so.

Firstly, European Blackthorn is more accurately described as a shrub or small tree rather than a true tree. African Blackthorn, on the other hand, is unequivocally a tree - solid, enduring, and formidable in form.

Secondly, the European climate and biome are moderate and relatively gentle in nature. As a result, European Blackthorn grows in a neutral and comparatively forgiving environment. African Blackthorn, by contrast, thrives in harsh, dry, unforgiving landscapes. This distinction is not trivial. The harsh, arid environments in which African Blackthorn grows echo the symbolic terrain of darker operations and necromancy, resonating with imagery of the underworld, the nether realms, desolation, endurance, and death beyond comfort or fertility.

Thirdly, when considering planetary associations, further differences emerge. European Blackthorn bears lush green leaves and dark berries. It is bushy, tangled, and thorned, with dark bark, often growing in dense thickets. These characteristics, combined with its natural environment, lend it a predominantly venereal nature - that is, an affinity with Venus. African Blackthorn, by contrast, possesses lighter bark covered with literal black thorns, and when the wood is oiled, it turns a deep black. It has small leaves, bears no fruit, and grows into dense, impenetrable thickets. Combined with its natural habitat, these qualities render its nature distinctly saturnine and martial, aligning it with Saturn and Mars. In classical magickal attributions, Saturn and Mars are far more congruent with necromancy and darker operations than Venus.

Taking just these three considerations together, African Blackthorn can be seen to represent darker magickal operations and necromancy more effectively than European Blackthorn. And yet - and this is crucial - neither is inherently better or more powerful than the other. This is the central point we have been articulating throughout this treatise.

As we have discussed in many of our writings, posts, and books, plants, woods, and other materia do not determine the ultimate success or failure of a magickal operation. That responsibility rests entirely with the practitioner: their level of power, their perception, their intent, and their depth of association. While plants and materials certainly introduce specific attributions and energetic imprints into an operation, they do not carry the work itself. The practitioner does.

In closing, it must be understood that magick is not a catalogue of universally superior substances, nor is it governed by rigid hierarchies of “best” and “worst.” It is a living, adaptive art shaped by environment, tradition, and personal mastery. To mistake regional primacy for universal supremacy is to misunderstand the very nature of magick itself.

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