Blue Vervain

While on a hike with friends yesterday, I came across a few blue vervain plants. They were unusually soft and fuzzy, sensual—much more pliable and yielding than the vervain plants I grew last year (the ones that are currently dreaming under the earth, with just the shiny purple leaves crowning above the ground) and although they did not look identical to the blue vervain I was familiar with, a taste-test confirmed their identity. Blue vervain has a very distinctive slightly sweet (almost narcotic) bitterness that has a way of creeping and sliding around the back of your throat with a very thick potency & astringency—once you've tasted fresh leaves, that particular bitterness is unmistakable.

Anyway, I identified the plant as Verbena Lasiostachys, also called blue vervain & western vervain. It is used along with Verbena Hastata (the blue vervain I have growing in my backyard) in the Herb Pharm blue vervain tincture, so it's got to be good stuff. Finding the plant growing in Ojai jolted me with an intense curiosity, and this curiosity prompted some thorough research and a good amount of leaf-fondling (my way of requesting extra information from the plants themselves).

Medicinally, vervain is one of those plants that provides an unlimited panoply of remedies. Not only that, but every part of the plant has its own particular medicinal use, from seed to root. It was fondly referred to as “The Herb of Enchantment” in many ancient cultures and seems to have been used consistently for both protection and fertility across many geographic locations—used in Greece, Italy, Jamaica, by Druids, by early Christians (who believed it had been used to staunch Jesus' wounds as he was crucified) and by various Native Americans. I'm not sure there is anything this plant couldn't do—it's been used to soothe intestinal complaints, as an analgesic (both internally and topically), to rid the body of parasites/worms, to prevent regular recurring symptoms of a particular disease (from malaria to asthma), as an astringent, to promote sweating & rid the body of toxins, to gently cleanse the liver and kidneys, as an emetic, expectorant, as an emmenagogue & to stimulate blood flow in general (which also explains why it is such a powerful aphrodisiac), to increase the flow of breast-milk, as a vulnerary (again, both topically and internally), to treat fevers & UTI's, and as a powerful nerve tonic/mild sedative, treatment for insomnia, dream-enhancer/lucid-dream enabler. Poultices were also used to treat headaches, sore muscles & rheumatism. The Iroquois used the seeds as a food source, and other tribes also made a type of blue vervain flour (resembling corn-meal) from the ground seeds.

During the summer I had used blue vervain a few times (made a very strong decoction from the leaves of the plants I had growing) and my experience of the plant boiled down to this: fevers and dreams, with a very strong, pervasive sexual energy. Again, there is a conflation of the masculine and the feminine. This plant is sacred to Thor, Mercury, Diana/Artemis, & Isis (and I would suspect Kali has a presence here as well), giving it the following affiliations: thunder, lightning, storms, knowledge, communication/connection, the wild virgin hunter, the moon, love, fertility, magic, motherhood, the protector of “all beginnings” (children and the dead).

The plant has a very strong serpent vibe—it was used as a charm against snakebites, and could make a man “tough as iron” and “hard as steel,” acting as a strong aphrodisiac and transferring the “hardness of iron” to the man while making love. Interestingly, the wild vervain has a much softer, yielding, feminine energy, while the V. Hastata was much stronger, sharper, rougher, more demanding and with a bit of a masculine touch (although still distinctly feminine). It seems to me that using these two varieties of Vervain together could create some serious mojo... both in terms of medicinal use, and otherwise.

Magically, Blue Vervain was used to sanctify altars and amulets, to purify the body and mind, to create lustral water, to help find true love and recover lost love, made into bridal wreaths (gathered by the bride herself) and as a sacred herb in Ancient Roman sacrifices. Vervain was often used with Rue (seems like a perfect combination) and was hung around windows and doors to protect the home, sprinkled around a room/house to bring peace and happiness, scattered in fields to ensure fertility and bountiful crops, added to potions to intensify their effect, used by witches to potentiate their will, used in exorcisms, added to dream pillows to prevent nightmares/intensify positive dreams, in healing ceremonies & to clarify sight and aid in divination (to help one see their path and their word more clearly). According to Thiselton-Dyer's book “The Folk-Lore of Plants,” Blue Vervain is to be harvested when neither the sun nor the moon is in the sky, only gathered “when the dog-star arose, from unsunned spots.” Given Isis' association with Sirius/the Dog-Star, this makes an awful lot of sense. According to Daniel Schulke's Viridarium Umbris, Vervain must always be collected with the Left Hand, and its preferred sacrifices are honey and beeswax (the bees really love this plant). It is quite startling to see the connections with this plant across such a large temporal/geographical/cultural sprawl, and to see how these different cultures identify it similarly in terms of mythology and its strong predilection for fertility/protection.

This plant is fascinating—I am becoming quite enamored... I can't wait until my sleeping crowns of blue vervain re-awaken for the spring, sending up their torches of blue-violet flowers for the bees to suckle, their leaves changing over time from green to deep-violet and blue, veined and tinged with lines and flashes of dark indigo. I imagine that honey made from blue vervain flowers would be something rather special—I'll have to have a chat with the bees, I suppose.