Rowan Remedies

Latin:Achillea millefolium

Also Known As: Old Man’s Mustard, Soldier’s Woundwort, Thousand Seal, Milfoil, Arrow Root, Wound Wort, Devil’s Bit, Snake Grass, Death Flower, Seven Year’s Love, Military Herb, Knight’s Milfoil, Field Hops, Devil’s Plaything, Ladies’ Mantle, Nosebleed, Knyghten, Eerie, Devil’s Nettle, Staunch, Stench Grass, Gris, Yarroway, Old Man’s Pepper, Sanguinary, Sneezewort, Bloodwort, Thousand Leaf.

Family:Asteraceae

Habitat and Description: Wasteland, hedges, gardens, fields, meadows and woodland – in short, most places where plants can grow. It likes sun but will grow in shade, and prefers a rich, moist soil. Yarrow is a great example of one of the herbs that really does best medicinally if picked wild – if you grow it at home, the leaves are very soft and luscious green, whereas if you let it grow wild they have a more silvery appearance and are much tougher. Yarrow is a familiar sight throughout Britain and Europe, and is also found widely in America and other countries. The plant usually has a basal rosette of feathery, greatly divided leaves, from which rise tall stems of white or sometimes pale pink flowers, each of which has five small petals. The plant grows up to 3ft tall, and flowers in late summer and early autumn, the preferred time for collecting the plant. It is a distinctive and pleasant sight on the commons and roadsides, forming swathes of white and pale pink flowers. I have to admit I am rather fond of the sight of Yarrow, as we get swathes of it growing on the common close to where I live. For keen gardeners, theres also a wide variety of cultivars in various bright colours, that are well worth getting for the border. These cultivars don’t generally have medicinal uses, but they are still extremely pretty.

Parts Used: The whole plant is used in herbal medicine, and is collected while in flower, particularly during the month of August. Best to gather it just after the dew has dried, but before the sun has really fried it.

Constituents: Volatile oil, including azulenes such as camazulene. Also contains sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids, alkaloids and bases, and salicylic acid. flavonoid

Planetary Influence: Venus

Associated Deities and Heroes: The forest Gods – including Cernunnos, Herne and Pan. It can probably be associated with other hunt deities by extension, and maybe also with Dionysus given that he’s a different incarnation of Pan. Yarrow is really a wild plant and is best left to grow where it wants to grow, instead of where you would like for it to grow – so no surprise it is associated with the Forest Gods, really! I suspect it could possibly also be associated with Artemis and maybe also Diana. Since the herb is used for divination, it could probably also be associated with some of the witch Goddesses – Hecate and Ceridwen, for example.

Constitution: Cold and dry

Actions and Indications: Yarrow has a wide variety of actions and indications, and while it is best known for its vulnerary action, making it a useful remedy for cuts and wounds, it also has a wide variety of other uses.

First off, a bit about the aforementioned wound healing properties. Yarrow has a long standing reputation as a really good wound healer, or vulnerary. It can be used as a spit poultice if you’re out in the countryside and get an injury – simply pick the leaves, chew them up and put them onto the wound. It is great for drawing muck out of the injury, stopping bleeding and encouraging the wound to close.

Good old Culpeper is of the opinion that it is drying and binding, and astringent in nature, used for the ‘flux’, for green wounds, ulcers and fistulas, as well as ‘staying the shedding of hair, the head being bathed with the decoction of it.’ He mentions that its useful for some reproductive disorders such as leucorrhoea and gonorrhoea. Lastly he comments that it makes a useful ointment for wounds.

The general consensus between herbalists seems to be that the herb is a fantastic circulatory tonic, as well as being useful in the treatment of influenza and feverish conditions as its diaphoretic properties bring on a good sweat. The plant is good for high blood pressure as it tones the circulatory system as already mentioned, and is also used to encourage the removal of excess body from the system through its diuretic and diaphoretic properties. I use it in the traditional cold and flu tea mixture, with some ginger added to really promote a good sweat, and find that this is a really great treatment for the more unpleasant, heavy duty colds. It’s best used to treat fevers as a hot tea, whereas the cold tea has more of a diuretic effect. The cold tea is a good appetite stimulant as well as being slightly toning to the mucous membranes.

Yarrow is also a great herb for the digestion, improving the circulation in and around the digestive tract as a whole, and useful for people suffering from diarrhoea, IBS and related digestive problems. I put it in mixtures that I take when my digestion has taken a hammering – just after christmas, for example – usually in combination with dandelion root and other lovely bitters.

It’s worth remembering that the herb can be added to teas to treat urinary infections as it is a really useful urinary antiseptic. I’d probably combine it with corn silk and couch grass for this purpose, and maybe with a small amount of dandelion leaf.

Spiritual and Energetic Uses: Yarrow is a fantastic herb for people who have the bad habit of not enforcing their own boundaries when caring for others – the wounded warrior, wounded healer archetype. It is for those who get cut to the quick while trying to put out metaphorical fires.

It’s also apparently a great herb to increase insight and enhance a person’s ability to see outside the normal bounds of reality. Apparently it is best for this purpose when cut at night, on the full moon (no surprise there, eh!). The plant is used to support and reinforce the aura, providing a protective shield between the soul and any outside unpleasant influences. I have a friend who uses it to keep spirits at bay as she gets plagued by them under normal circumstances. It’s best worn in a small pouch on the person, or keep your obsidian jewellery packed in Yarrow to potentiate its ability to keep ghosts and suchlike at bay.

I tend to use this herb to bolster courage in someone who usually copes well with life’s challenges however is starting to run low on energy, although this is personal feeling only. It combines quite nicely with Rosemary and Borage (other courage boosting plants) for this purpose. I suppose it could be considered a great warrior herb, but in a less lion like way than the other plants traditionally associated with courage – Yarrow has more to do with quiet endurance and protection, whereas Borage and Rosemary (amongst others) tend to give a more overt courage. It’s quite possible that Borage etc give the overall front of courage, whilst Yarrow quietly provides the depth to go with it.

It could also be used to support people who put themselves out a great deal to help other people and fall prey to psychic ‘vampires’ as a result – the protective shield yarrow generates would prove helpful in this case to help the person re-ground themselves and heal their auras as well as helping them distinguish the people who really are not good for them. (new age fluffiness, I know, but we’re all entitled to our insights and opinions!)

Folklore: The name ‘Achillea’ means ‘herb of Achilles’. The centaur Chiron taught Achilles how to use Yarrow to treat his and his soldiers’ wounds in battle (and given just how much trouble that particular hero liked to get into, it was probably knowledge much needed!) The name ‘millefolium’ refers to the feathery leaves – if you look closely at a yarrow leaf, it divides into a multitude of strands. Yarrow has many different folk names, most of which refer to its use to treat wounds and stop bleeding. Yarrow has been used by many different civilizations around the world for similar purposes – the healing of wounds among others. It was a herb used by and against witches during the Medieval ages (but then, show me a herb that wasn’t!), and was used to ward off negativity. It was also used to keep evil spirits away from livestock dwellings. The original I Ching was composed of Yarrow stalks, so it is an excellent divinatory herb.

Dose: 4g dried herb, 4mls liquid extract, 10mls of tincture – these are for one off dosages. Dosage for infusions is 1 heaped teaspoon to one cup of boiling water, three times per day for chronic ailments, or every two hours for acute infections.

Contraindications: This herb should be avoided during pregnancy due to the presence of thujone. Large doses can cause headaches. Probably best used with caution if you suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding – it should be fine used between periods, but use with caution from about three days before you are due to start your period.

Brought to you by Alex English at http://www.eldrumherbs.co.uk