Happy Spring Equinox, and Astrological New Year! In considering what is appropriate to do, ritually speaking, at distinct times of year, or as the daily influences of the cosmos bring energies that support or oppose our purposes, we enter the realm of electional magic. This is the art of aligning one’s purpose and spiritual workings with the movement of the cosmos. It is a strong basis for the practices of Nahualismo, for Astrology predictions, for many ancient magical traditions, and even for the gardening and use of magical plants. This month’s blog is about aligning with the stars, even as we ground and direct that magic with our plant and crystal allies.
Vervain
Spring is the time to plant what we want to flower in Summer and beyond. And, as you are planting this Spring, you might consider growing Vervain, a powerful herb, with a long history of sorcery and multiple planetary associations. Vervain has two primary forms. The first is Verbena Officinalis, an herbaceous, woody perennial with small flowers that may be blue, purple, pink or white, originating from Europe, from which most of the lore about Verbena comes. The second is Verbena Hastata, or Blue Vervain, a native to North America, self-seeding perennial, with bright blue flowers that grow in long-lasting spikes on a reddish plant base. This plant, which is also known as False Vervain, Swamp Vervain or Wild Hyssop, shares many of the attributes of its European relative. Both plants produce hearty flowers that require little care, and bring beauty and magic to the home garden, though neither has a strong fragrance. Bees and butterflies love it too.
Vervain has been so prized in magical heritage that it has many folk names, including Herba Sacra, Enchanter’s Plant, Herb of Enchantment, Holy Herb, and Van Van. It has been traditionallty used by many varieties of sorcerers and magicians for sacred rites, divination, protection, banishment, purification, charging magical tools, lucid dreaming, and healing. Its amazing versatility is at the root of its prized position in magical herbalism. The following is a short list of specific ways in which this sacred flower has been utilized by knowledgeable practitioners and folk medicine makers:
As a folk remedy for kidney stones. Its name may have come from the Celtic word “ferfaen,” which means to drive away stones
As a tonic tea for nerves, stress, menstrual discomfort related to stress, insomnia, gallbladder and liver issues, and general lack of joy or hopefulness in life (This is because of its iridoid components, precursors of alkaloids in the body, in particular the verbenalin in its flowers and leaves that are nervine, tonic, sedating and neuroprotective, however drink the tea in small amounts to avoid nausea, and don’t ever consume in you are pregnant. The tea is also said to ward off vampires! That might sound funny, but perhaps it is also a metaphor for the more energetic variety as well.)
In the initiation rites of daughters in the Druidic tradition
As an herb bundle dipped in water to asperge the ritual area in Hellenistic rituals
As a fresh herb charm, bruised and worn around the neck for protection against harmful magic cast against you, or for uncanny help in escaping a bad situation (It is also said to protect against headaches and snakebites in this manner)
Infused into water for the making of Lustral water (blessed or holy water), which can be sprinkled on an altar, in a home, on food, or on a person for clearing or in exorcism rituals.
Burned as an incense or sprinkled on an altar as an offering, or around the home for protection from intrusive energies
As a crown to wear for energetic protection when invoking spirits
As a wash to rid a home or person of negative energies (The fresh squeezed juice can be rubbed on the body directly for most powerful effect, but an infusion into Brandy or Vodka for a floor wash or into water for a bath also works well.)
As a love spell ingredient to rekindle a dying love, woven into bridal bouquets or wreaths to promote lasting love, or conversely as a 7 year lust suppressant for a when one consumes the fresh juice on the dark moon (something once done by priests and mystics in preparation for certain rites.
As an abundance spell ingredient or attractant for wealth when the leaves are burnt or sprinkled
As a folk protection from lightening, when planted, placed or sprinkled around one’s home or property
As a salt infusion, adding its properties and flavors to food, though the flowers should be strained out of the salt after a few days and before consuming
As a less toxic, but effective, ingredient in flying ointment, and some other very archaic recipes that it’s probably not responsible to describe here.
As a tincture for vivid or lucid dreaming, just place a dab of this on the back of your hands and rub together before bed (Like clary sage, it gives the strong dreaming effects without the next day tiredness that mugwort can cause in some people, however drinking an infusion or the fresh plant juice is said to produce a sleep without dreams or intrusion from negative entities, as a remedy for nightmares and terrors.)
As a charm hung over the bed for youthfulness or recovery from illness
As a divination tool, held in the hand discreetly when touching one who is ill and asking how they feel (It is said that if they are hopeful, they will live, and if not, it may be a different outcome.)
As a magical remedy, or charm, to help one not feel dragged down by life circumstances (With so many sorcery possibilities, I can see why!)
Vervain will flower in midsummer and produces flowers that last long. It is said that Vervain is strongest magically when gathered after sunset on the night of the dark moon, or before dawn on the first day of the new moon. Both leaves and flowers can be used, though leaves should be harvested before the flowers bloom. Its properties are strongest when fresh, though the dried herb also works for most purposes. When harvesting, remember that this is a sacred herb with a long magical history. Leave an offering for the plant spirit, and ask its permission before taking. The best practice is to let the plant know the need you have and ask which flowers and leaves will volunteer to be harvested for it. That gives the plant time to move its needed resources and apply the specific magic to the area it offers you. Vervain will flower in later summer and produces flowers that last long. It is said that Vervain is strongest magically when gathered after sunset or before dawn on the night of the dark moon. Both leaves and flowers can be used, though leaves should be harvested before the flowers bloom. Its properties are strongest when fresh, though the dried herb also works for most purposes. When harvesting, remember that this is a sacred herb with a long magical history. Leave an offering for the plant spirit, and ask its permission before taking. The best practice is to let the plant know the need you have and ask which flowers and leaves will volunteer to be harvested for it. That gives the plant time to move its needed resources and apply the specific magic to the area it offers you. A traditional offering for Vervain is honey, honeycombs, or a fairie offering, such as milk and honey, though you can also offer water, breath with intention, or ask the plant what it would like in return.
Planetary Alignments for Vervain’s Properties:
• Venus: skin ailments, love magic, suppress sexual desire during dark moon, purification rituals involving water such as baths, Lustral water, asperging, and floor washes
• Mars: stanching the blood when healing wounds, fortifying weapons, especially instruments made of iron, and empowering ritual tools, theft protection, lightening protection, spiritual protection, including from sorcerers and demons, home cleansing, banishing bad dreams, exorcisms
• Jupiter: Increase of good luck, intuition, creativity, miraculous intervention, healing and expansion of abundance
• Mercury: the acquisition of magical skills, the increase of luck and creating one’s own luck, which also relates to the empowerment of a magician’s tools for energetic projection
• Sun: the rituals of midsummer, Sirius-the dog star and the dog days of summer, fire purifications and fire rituals, particularly when smeared on the body (as Zoroastrian Priests did when approaching their altars for fire worship.)
Lapis Lazuli
When one gazes into the deep blue of Lapis Lazuli, with its flecks of golden or white light, it is hard not to think of the night sky and the vastness of the cosmos. Lapis Lazuli is a Latin word, which means blue stone, though it is not the first name given to this mineral, as it was once classified as a sapphire. There is a regality to Lapis Lazuli that comes from its history as a prized mystic tool and sacred, or royal, adornment in many ancient cultures, including Egypt, Sumer, China, Afghanistan, India, Peru, Atlantis, Greece, and Rome. Michelangelo ground it to a pigment powder to make the blue of the heavens in his famous work in the Sistine Chapel. Ancient Egyptians used the pigment for a striking eye shadow, and embedded it as jewels in adornments, scarabs, and burial ornaments. Even Catherine the Great decorated a palace room in Lapis Lazuli, including the walls, doors, mirror frames and fireplace. Wearing this stone, even in modern times, can encourage one to stretch into the full regality of what we can embody.
I think the reason for this has to do with its relationship with knowledge, both inner self knowing and recovering the forgotten sacred knowledge of ancient civilizations. Called The Stone of Wisdom, Lapis Lazuli is a strong activation stone for psychic ability and communion with the Akashic realm. It can catalyze our higher and more subtle awareness, activating the Sixth Chakra, or third eye, the area of psychic perceptions. Not only does it help in the ability to see on these levels, but it can initiate the process of retrieving knowledge from past lifetimes, both personal and collective. The stone also has a relationship with truth, not only how we perceive it, but how we speak it, and can increase one’s personal confidence, empowerment, clarity, and the ability to speak what one truly perceives and believes.
Because it invites us to see and understand our full history, our beliefs, and our sense of truth, it enables us to look at our lives in a larger scope, seeing the gifts, potential, limitations, and opportunities of being in human embodiment. It can help us to feel our lineage, from what is present to past cultures of knowledge, to our origin with the stars. Being able to hold this longer perspective and sense of interconnection brings richness and dignity to our short and often humble lives. This can help us in bringing our own cycles of life and death into consciousness, assimilating the lessons and growth of our journeys, while retrieving lost gifts, and in dispelling fear of the unknown.
In addition to the higher consciousness activation and sense of dignity Lapis Lazuli brings, it is also a calming stone that can have an effect on emotional conditions like depression, insomnia, or built up frustrations. It encourages us to stand in the essence of soul and the legacy of history, and gives us courage to choose our paths with awareness, as opposed to our habitual unconscious patterns of self-sabotage and limitation. It can help in seeing, honoring and acting from our more divine nature. As we step into this space of power, Lapis Lazuli can also act as a protection against psychic attack, and support our workings in magic and dreaming.
Suggestion for working with Vervain and Lapis Lazuli together:
1. Both Vervain and Lapis Lazuli have deep relationships with the realm of seeing, dreaming, divination, and magic, and when combined can certainly create a setting for deep spirit communication that calls on our highest selves and creates an atmosphere of cosmic connection and psychic protection. Now that we are at the beginning of a new season and a new Astrological year, perhaps it is a good time to identify what from the last cycle you don’t wish to carry forward, and to choose what element from your Winter dreaming you wish to take into action, and to plant with the budding Springtime.
2. Bring Lapis Lazuli and dried Vervain to your altar and create sacred space. Infuse your Vervain in salt for 3 days ahead of this ritual time, then strain the herbs out and add oil to make a salt scrub.
3. Give yourself a ritual bath or shower to dispel the heavy energies of Winter and of the last year, particularly focusing on your intention for release. Sprinkle a Lustral water or the dried herbs around your home to clear the energies there too, or burn the herb on a charcoal for a clearing incense.
4. Wear or hold your Lapis Lazuli and gaze into its night sky depths. Ask what knowledge you need to retrieve from your soul history. Ask what inner truths and gifts inside you need to be more honored and embodied. From this meditation, create a phrase you will take into your dreaming, asking for a clear vision of the pathway towards what you want to create now, and stating “Show me how I can…” Repeat this as you fall asleep, like a prayer to your dreams and your higher self. In the morning, recall what you have dreamt before you allow yourself to move or think of the day ahead. Write down the images and messages without judgement.
5. Create a magical act for your intention, perhaps including the creation of an amulet bag with both Lapis Lazuli and Vervain. Charge it under the stars with your intention. Or, choose from the many archaic suggestions above to plant what you want to sow in your dreams and in your life.
May you recover the lost knowledge of lifetimes. May you dream yourself with the magic and dignity of the stars. May you flower with the Springtime.
Ometeotl.
Sincerely,
the eleventh house
-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez. For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com