An investigation of the various accounts of ceremonial ointments used by witches at their Sabbaths, reveal a number of plants which have extreme physical and psychological effects when taken internally or rubbed on the skin. It should be noted the internal administration of most of these plants is extremely poisonous and the reports of their use by rubbing into specific areas of the body or all over, demonstrates a recognition of the lethal properties of these plants if taken internally.

The use of plants to promote a sense of flying, "out of body experience" and the ability to convene with the Spiritual World, is a recurrent theme in many ancient religious practices. The Shamans of America and priests and priestesses of religions throughout the world share the Witches use of specific plants to extend the normal boundaries of human experience.

At times there is mention of more exotic elements, for instance the fat of human babies, hanged men and bats blood. Even if it is unlikely that these ingredients play any role in the “powers” of the recipe, the use of a fat, probably from an animal, was employed to provide an oily base for the crushed plants, enable its application on the skin and as a medium to prevent the rapid evaporation of the volatile plant alkaloids.  

Despite many Witches being aware of Mushrooms and Fungi that promote altered states, they have not been mentioned in any of the texts on Flying/Sabbath ointments.

In Artois, a flying potion made from toads was created when the witch put consecrated bread and wine into a pot full of toads. "When the toads had devoured the sacrament, they were killed and burned. Then the ashes of the toads were mixed with the powdered bones of dead Christians, the blood of children, herbs, and the recipe was completed with 'other things'" 

While there are a number of recipes for Flying ointments, there are many difficulties in identifying the plants exactly. There was no universal plant classification system during these times, many plants share common names or are confused with others, finally the chances of mistranslating from these ancient texts are high.

Despite these problems a number of plants were known to be associated with witches and even the common names of some plants provide a clue to their uses. Certain plants occur regularly in recipes of Flying Ointments and Witches Sabbath ointments. These include:

An elaborate ointment is described in the Errores Gazariorum:

 Take a red-haired man known to be a good Catholic, take off his clothes, tie him down on a bench so that he is unable to move, and then let venomous animals loose on him. When he has expired from their bites and stings, hang the body upside down and place a bowl under his head and mouth.

Let the distillations falling from the body be caught in the bowl. Mix these with the fat of a hanged man, the entrails of children, and the bodies of the poisonous creatures that had been used to effect the victim's demise. The uses of the salves and powders so procured are many. By smearing them on sticks or brooms, one renders those objects capable of bearing one aloft, or else one anoints one's own body to the same end.

The flying ointment of Basque witches (according to information obtained by torturing one of them, Maria of Ituren) involved skinning toads alive and mixing the dried, powdered flesh with usainbelar (water plantain).