Celery is a vegetable.

• botanical information
• origin
• part used
• nutritional information
• selection
• storage
• magick correspondences and uses
• Chinese herbology
• cautions and contraindications

botanical information:

    Botanical name: Apium graveolens dulce

    Common name: celery

    Common name: céleri

    Use the botanical name when ordering seeds (bulbs, etc.) or when looking up information in the library. Common names vary by nation, culture, and region, and sometimes the same common name is applied to different plants.

origin:

    Origin: Europe.

part used:

Part Used (celery seed): The fruits or “seeds”, whole or powdered. Information courtesy of Mountain Rose Herbs

nutritional information:

    Celery is a food that helps nourish the kidneys.

    Celery is a food that increases sexual energy and enhances fertility.

nutritional value per 100 grams:

• Calories: 16 calories
• Water: 94%
• Proteins: 0.7 grams
• Fat: 0.1 grams
• Carbohydrates: 3.6 grams
• high in Vitamin A
• high in Vitamin C
• high in magnesium
• high in phosphorus
• high in potassium
• high in sodium chloride (salt)

    See also Chinese herbalism below for Chinese gender and Chinese flavor.

selection:

    Reason to choose organic:
    Celery has the number four (4) highest pesticide load of 45 common fruits and vegetables studied in 2006 by the Environmental Working Group and is therefore a prime candidate for switching to organic. The EWA explains, “While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.”
    According to USDA and FDA tests on commercially grown foods collected between 2000 and 2005, celery has a 94.1% (percentage) of samples tested with detectable pesticides, a 79.8% (percentage) of samples with two or more pesticides, a 3.0 average number of pesticides found in a sample, an average of 0.413 parts per million of all pesticides found, and 30 different pesticides found in use growing celery. These toxic pesticides don’t apply to organic foods.

storage:

    Storage: Celery can safely be stored for more than a week.

    A dash of celery salt or black pepper can also improve the flavor of tomato juice. Fresh lemon juice, celery salt, and black pepper can be stirred into tomato juice with a celery stalk.

magickal correspondences and uses:

    Gender: masculine (traditional western European magickal gender)

    Western element: primarily fire with strong secondary water

    Magickal uses of celery: mental clarity, passion

    Magickal substitutions: Rosemary usually may be safely substituted for any herb in magick spells and rituals. Roses may safely be substituted for any flower.

Magical Uses Mental Powers, Lust, Psychic Powers information courtesy of

Chinese herbalism:

    Chinese gender: yin (cool)

cautions and contraindications:

    Organic Labels: The Bush administration’s USDA has announced that they will help large American food corporations increase their profits by purposely deceiving the American public by putting non-organic foods into foods labelled as being organic. Under U.S. law, for foods to labelled as organic, crops must be grown without chemical fertilizers, sewage sludge, bioengineering, or pesticides and animals must be raised without antibiotics and growth hormones and given access to the outdoors. The USDA has decided that 43 non-organic ingredeients can be added to foods labelled as organic. To protest this decision, go to Organic Consumers Association. One of the non-organic ingredients is celery powder.

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