Sacred herbs
Encyclopedia
Herb
s are used in many religion
s – such as in Christianity
(myrrh
(Commiphora myrrha), ague root (Aletris farinosa) and frankincense
(Boswellia spp)) and in the partially Christianized Anglo-Saxon pagan Nine Herbs Charm
. In Hinduism
a form of Basil
called Tulsi
is worshipped as a goddess
for its medicinal value since the Vedic
times. Many Hindus have a Tulsi plant in front of their houses.
Drugs and plants with psychoactive substances have been used world wide as entheogen
s to induce spiritual experiences. An example of this are the shamans in Siberia who used herbs and fungi such as the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria).
Herbs were also considered sacred in European pagan beliefs.
The best known example is the mistletoe
. The European mistletoe, Viscum album, figured prominently in Greek mythology
, and is believed to be The Golden Bough
of Aeneas
, ancestor of the Romans
. The Norse god
Baldr was killed with mistletoe.
Mistletoe bears fruit at the time of the Winter Solstice, the birth of the new year, and may have been used in solstitial rites in Druidic Britain as a symbol of immortality. In Celtic mythology
and in druid rituals, it was considered a remedy for barrenness in animals and an antidote to poison
, although the fruits of many mistletoes are actually poisonous if ingested as they contain viscotoxins
.
Verbena
or Vervain has long been associated with divine and other supernatural
forces. It was called "tears of Isis
" in Ancient Egypt
, and later on "Juno
's tears". In Ancient Greece
, it was dedicated to Eos Erigineia. In the early Christian
era, folk legend stated that Common Vervain (V. officinalis) was used to staunch Jesus
' wounds after his removal from the cross
. It was consequently called "Holy Herb" or (e.g. in Wales
) "Devil's bane". The generic name is the Ancient Roman
term for sacrificial herbs considered very powerful. Pliny the Elder
describes verbena presented on Jupiter
altars; it is not entirely clear if this referred to a Verbena rather than the general term for prime sacrificial herbs.
Hazlitt's Faiths and Folklore (1905) quotes Aubrey's Miscellanies (1721), to wit:
, author L. J. Smith
uses vervain to protect humans from vampires, in an extension of vervain's fabled magic-suppression powers against witches. In The Struggle, Volume II, the vampire Stefan instructs the human Elena that vervain can "protect you against bewitchment, and it can keep your mind clear if someone is using Powers against you." He tells her how it is prepared and used, "Once I've extracted the oil from the seeds, you can rub it into your skin, or add it to a bath. And you can make the dried leaves into a sachet and carry it with you, or put it under your pillow at night", but gives her an unprepared sprig for protection in the meantime..
Vervain flowers are engraved on cimaruta
, Italian
anti-stregheria
charm
s. In the 1870 The History and Practice of Magic by "Paul Christian" (Jean Baptiste Pitois
) it is employed in the preparation of a mandragora charm.
Other examples of sacred herbs include yarrow
, and mugwort.
has been used by indigenous peoples
of the Americas as sacramental
rite
in religious and social ceremonies.
Other sacred plants widely used in Native American
ritual include sweetgrass, tobacco
, morning glory seeds
, diviner's sage
and white sage.
, mentioned often in the Vedas
. The active ingredient of Soma is presumed by some to be ephedrine
, an alkaloid with stimulant and (somewhat debatable) entheogenic properties derived from the soma plant, identified as Ephedra pachyclada.) However, there are also arguments to suggest that Soma could have also been fly agaric, Syrian Rue, Cannabis
, Belladonna
or some combination of any of the above plants.
Herb
Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
s are used in many religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
s – such as in Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
(myrrh
Myrrh
Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....
(Commiphora myrrha), ague root (Aletris farinosa) and frankincense
Frankincense
Frankincense, also called olibanum , is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, particularly Boswellia sacra, B. carteri, B. thurifera, B. frereana, and B. bhaw-dajiana...
(Boswellia spp)) and in the partially Christianized Anglo-Saxon pagan Nine Herbs Charm
Nine Herbs Charm
The Nine Herbs Charm is an Old English charm recorded in the 10th century Lacnunga manuscript. The charm is intended for treatment of poison and infection through the preparation of nine herbs. The numbers nine and three are mentioned frequently within the charm and are significant numbers in...
. In Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
a form of Basil
Basil
Basil, or Sweet Basil, is a common name for the culinary herb Ocimum basilicum , of the family Lamiaceae , sometimes known as Saint Joseph's Wort in some English-speaking countries....
called Tulsi
Tulsi
Ocimum tenuiflorum Ocimum tenuiflorum Ocimum tenuiflorum (also tulsi, tulasī, or Holy Basil is an aromatic plant in the family Lamiaceae which is native throughout the Old World tropics and widespread as a cultivated plant and an escaped weed. It is an erect, much branched subshrub 30–60 cm...
is worshipped as a goddess
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
for its medicinal value since the Vedic
Vedic period
The Vedic period was a period in history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. The time span of the period is uncertain. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedas, was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE, also...
times. Many Hindus have a Tulsi plant in front of their houses.
Drugs and plants with psychoactive substances have been used world wide as entheogen
Entheogen
An entheogen , in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Historically, entheogens were mostly derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts...
s to induce spiritual experiences. An example of this are the shamans in Siberia who used herbs and fungi such as the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria).
Europe
The best known example is the mistletoe
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
. The European mistletoe, Viscum album, figured prominently in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, and is believed to be The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough (mythology)
The Golden Bough is one of the episodic tales written in the epic Aeneid, book VI, by ancient Roman poet Vergil , which narrates the adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas after the Trojan War.-Story:...
of Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
, ancestor of the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. The Norse god
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
Baldr was killed with mistletoe.
Mistletoe bears fruit at the time of the Winter Solstice, the birth of the new year, and may have been used in solstitial rites in Druidic Britain as a symbol of immortality. In Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
and in druid rituals, it was considered a remedy for barrenness in animals and an antidote to poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
, although the fruits of many mistletoes are actually poisonous if ingested as they contain viscotoxins
Viscotoxins
Viscotoxins are small proteins that are toxic against a varied number of cell types. They belong to plant thionins, and are produced from the leaves and stems of the European mistletoe ....
.
Verbena
Verbena
Verbena , verbenas or vervains, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the New World from Canada south to southern Chile, but some are also native in the Old...
or Vervain has long been associated with divine and other supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
forces. It was called "tears of Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
" in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, and later on "Juno
Juno (mythology)
Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera...
's tears". In Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, it was dedicated to Eos Erigineia. In the early Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
era, folk legend stated that Common Vervain (V. officinalis) was used to staunch Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
' wounds after his removal from the cross
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
. It was consequently called "Holy Herb" or (e.g. in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
) "Devil's bane". The generic name is the Ancient Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
term for sacrificial herbs considered very powerful. Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
describes verbena presented on Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
altars; it is not entirely clear if this referred to a Verbena rather than the general term for prime sacrificial herbs.
Hazlitt's Faiths and Folklore (1905) quotes Aubrey's Miscellanies (1721), to wit:
"Vervain and Dill / Hinder witches from their will."In the series of young adult novels The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire horror series of novels written by L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991, but pressure from readers led Smith to write a fourth...
, author L. J. Smith
L. J. Smith (author)
Lisa Jane Smith, known professionally as L.J. Smith, is an American author of young-adult literature. Her books, which combine elements of the genres of supernatural, horror, science fiction/fantasy, and romance, are populated with young and apparently young human and supernatural characters...
uses vervain to protect humans from vampires, in an extension of vervain's fabled magic-suppression powers against witches. In The Struggle, Volume II, the vampire Stefan instructs the human Elena that vervain can "protect you against bewitchment, and it can keep your mind clear if someone is using Powers against you." He tells her how it is prepared and used, "Once I've extracted the oil from the seeds, you can rub it into your skin, or add it to a bath. And you can make the dried leaves into a sachet and carry it with you, or put it under your pillow at night", but gives her an unprepared sprig for protection in the meantime..
Vervain flowers are engraved on cimaruta
Cimaruta
Cimaruta : Also called Witch’s Charm, and Cima di Ruta. An old protective charm dating back to the 19th century, depicting a variety of symbols or charms in protection against the Evil Eye....
, Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
anti-stregheria
Stregheria
Stregheria is a form of ethnic Italian form of Wicca originating in the United States, popularized by Raven Grimassi since the 1980s. Stregheria is sometimes referred to as La Vecchia Religione The word stregheria is an archaic Italian word for "witchcraft", the modern Italian word being...
charm
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
s. In the 1870 The History and Practice of Magic by "Paul Christian" (Jean Baptiste Pitois
Jean Baptiste Pitois
Jean Baptiste Pitois, also known as Jean Baptiste or Paul Christian was a French author, known for The History and Practice of Magic, first published in France in 1870.-Life:...
) it is employed in the preparation of a mandragora charm.
Other examples of sacred herbs include yarrow
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium or yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. In New Mexico and southern Colorado, it is called plumajillo, or "little feather", for the shape of the leaves. In antiquity, yarrow was known as herbal militaris, for its use in...
, and mugwort.
Americas
From earliest recorded time, peyotePeyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
has been used by indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
of the Americas as sacramental
Sacramental
Sacramental may refer to:* Sacramental, as an adjective means of or pertaining to sacraments* Sacramentals, in Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, objects whose supernatural effects, unlike those of a sacrament, depend on the belief of the recipient...
rite
Rite
A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories:* rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status, such as marriage, baptism, or graduation....
in religious and social ceremonies.
Other sacred plants widely used in Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
ritual include sweetgrass, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
, morning glory seeds
Morning glory
Morning glory is a common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics is in flux...
, diviner's sage
Salvia divinorum
Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive plant which can induce dissociative effects and is a potent producer of "visions" and other hallucinatory experiences...
and white sage.
Asia
The best known sacred herb used in Asia in ancient times was the inebriant SomaSoma
Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
, mentioned often in the Vedas
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
. The active ingredient of Soma is presumed by some to be ephedrine
Ephedrine
Ephedrine is a sympathomimetic amine commonly used as a stimulant, appetite suppressant, concentration aid, decongestant, and to treat hypotension associated with anaesthesia....
, an alkaloid with stimulant and (somewhat debatable) entheogenic properties derived from the soma plant, identified as Ephedra pachyclada.) However, there are also arguments to suggest that Soma could have also been fly agaric, Syrian Rue, Cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
, Belladonna
Belladonna
Belladonna, from the Italian expression "bella donna" meaning "beautiful lady", may refer to:-Plants:* Atropa belladonna or belladonna or deadly nightshade, a perennial herbaceous plant...
or some combination of any of the above plants.