Blue Vervain: The Enchanters Herb

An exploration of the magic, mythos, & medicine of plants found July-August.

The Sirius Summer Series

Blue Vervain

The Enchanters Plant

I was going to include other plants of the series all in one post, but the immense history of blue vervain is too vast and demanded its own page, leading to the creation of a series instead of short panels on each plant in one post.

I am honored to explore the deep mythos and history of this plant with you here.

Personal Relationship with Blue Vervain

including notes on this year’s harvest

I first met Blue Vervain as a teenager while reading “Magical Herbalism” by Scott Cunningham, a book I would recommend to anyone interested in the subject. I remember reading the page on Blue Vervain in awe and excitement. With almost every magical property, from love to protection to healing and purification to peace and psychic connection. I was drawn to this herb by its immense magical and folkloric history.

Mid July 2025

I was walking up to tend to the flock and I had the feeling that someone was staring at me. Then looking over into the field next to me, blue vervain prominently stood in the meadow, slightly wavering to the pulse of a lively and bright midsummers day. When we locked eyes, I knew exactly who it was. I approached in awe and excitement. It has been a long time since I’ve seen Blue Vervain, and I had not thought of her in many years. I studied magical herbalism and I was so infatuated with the plant as a teen. I had memorized exactly what the plant looked like, seeking to meet in the wild, but we never crossed paths in the steamy marshlands of the south where I grew up.

Previously, the only other wild encounter I’ve had with blue vervain was back when I was living on the road and collected some on the side of a rural highway somewhere in Nebraska or Wyoming. I was frequently drifting back then and usually in unfamiliar and remote places, so I collected and stored the plant on the dash and carried some on me in a sachet or amulet for protection and luck.

The thing about plant spirits and allies is that they show up when you are in need, receptive, or ready for their kinship, wisdom, and medicine. I had no idea how much I needed Blue Vervain in my life. I am so glad I heard the call that day in the field to become acquainted and to remember the plant. I have been collecting blue vervain early in the mornings before the heat of the long July days. The vervain almost always wilted just a few minutes after picking. Then, I learned that traditional practices say to collect after dusk and before dawn. One afternoon, I searched the fields in front of my house and found massive patches of Blue Vervain. I was so excited to go collect the next morning. I’m always up before the sun because it is a liminal time full of magic. So, picking up my Adirondack basket and placing it on my back, I walked out with my offering sack into the dew-sodden fields and began collecting vervain along the way.

Honey was traditionally used by the Druids as an offering left in its place after picking. My entire basket, quite large, was full, and there was still more vervain left behind alongside a trail of offerings. I arrived home just before 6am and still had time to have breakfast and see Kyle off to work. The morning was brisk, and the vervain sitting in the basket in my room filled the air with an elegantly spiced green smell. The difference in demeanor was obvious. Proving to me that when picking plants in the corresponding alchemical and astrological time, the energetic properties are strongest. Even after a few days, the plants hardly wilted and kept a strong fragrance weeks after harvesting.

I use the aerial parts fresh in tinctures, dried in teas, and add them to other preparations. The roots can also be used medicinally and collected in the fall. I like to see the vervain come back again the next year, so I cut from the stem and leave lots of plants untouched in the fields to allow the spread of seed.

I drink vervain in tea weekly, and after the move and in the mix of self care, farm care, and work life balance there is so much on my plate! Blue vervain stood out in the field that day to be my ally, she guides me to relax and supports the nervous system and liver, and helps the body regulate anxiety, tension, stress, and anger.

You can find vervain among meadows, grasslands, prairies, forest edges, open woodlands, and wet areas, alongside ponds, gullies, freshwater marshes, and wetlands.

Time of Harvest

It is said that to honor the plant in its most potent state, harvest between dusk and dawn during the dark moon and in conjunction with the Sirius or dog star in the sky. Sirius, the brightest star of the Canis Major constellation, and is most visible during the dog days of summer from early July to early August. Though these are traditional methods of harvest for potency, vervain will still procure substantial medicinal and magical properties when harvested and honored anytime within its season.

Vervain has been used for centuries among many different cultures, and has an immeasurable amounts of information based on its magical properties and uses through history as a holy herb.

Vervain’s Magical Properties

• Banish fevers, win friends, and cure diseases when rubbed on a person.
• Once used by bards to enhance creativity and draw inspiration and to clear writers block
• Effective against witchcraft
• Cleanse and purify homes and altars
• Rub on furnishings to make the entertainment of a function merrier
• Carry and use for protection
• Used for cleansing, clearing, unblocking, and moving stagnant energy
• Releases chords of love or obsession
• Brings calm and peace within the home
• Protects the land on which it grows
• Used as an enchanting wash and holy water
• Opens physic and spiritual connection
• Opens communication and divination of all types
• Brings peace and is used in negotiations
• Used for luck
• Vervain is an inhibitor, meaning it adds strength to any and all formulas
• Known for increasing personal power, confidence, and spiritual strength
• A vervain plant buried in the garden will bring abundant crops.
• The leaves may be burned to attract wealth
• Vervain flowers can be placed in a dish with salt for several days and used to add flavor and magical energy to foods. It is recommended to strain out the flowers before use; however, the flowers are safe and edible.

Medicinal Properties

Materia medica

Family: Verbenaceae

Parts Used: Aerial, Roots

Characteristicts: Cold; Bitter; Drying

Systems Affected: Liver, gallbladder, spleen, nervous system, cardiovascular, urinary

Actions: Emmenagogue, Nervine, Expectorant, emetic, diuretic, antispasmodic, febrifuge, galactagogue, anticatarrhal, vulnerary, tranquilizer

Medicinal uses

Colds, headaches, pain, anxiety, bleeding gums, arthritis Clears up chest congestion, colds, fevers, chronic bronchitis, sore throat, and other respiratory infections.

Muscle relaxant and pain reliever; anti-inflammatory, it helps to relieve stress headaches and swelling and inflammation from gout or arthritis.

Eliminates toxins and helps protect the liver and kidneys, relieving pain from kidney stones and bladder infections.

Used as a relaxing nervine, to reduce stress and anxiety and help with insomnia, as well as for tension in the stomach due to suppression of emotions.

Gentle astringent for soothing inflamed and bleeding gums. Helps teething babies.

Promotes milk production in nursing mothers, balances women’s hormones; good for menstrual pain, PMS, and hot flashes.

Generally a good herb for “Type A” uptight workaholic personalities, who have trouble sitting still.

Communicating With Plants

This relationship of meditative and psychic communication and interpretation has been practiced for thousands of years. Plants have shared their messages and aid to our ancestors, we have evolved alongside these plants and with their medicines and teachings.

These are merely first impressions, the beginning of the relationship, just like any friendship involving commitment and continual connection. Listening to what the plants have to share with you will kindle the fire of an intricate and ancient partnership and practice.

Thank you for reading. I will be honoring the end to the dog days of summer and continuing this Sirius Summer Series. Subscribe to my Fairy Farmer Almanac newsletter and stay tuned to the blog, where I will share the story and medicine of other herbs that I found this summer, featuring:

• self-heal
• boneset
• elecampane
• great stinging nettle
• motherwort

Want to venture deeper into your herbal and botanical practice? In the blog post “Communicating with plants”, I highlight ways to enter the depths of communion and connection with plants. The post can be seen as a dip of the toe into the realm of energetic herbalism, explaining ways to enter a non-ordinary state of consciousness. A state of heart and internal coherence to perceive the messages and visions that plants use to communicate. For more information, follow the link below.

https://thefairyfarmer.com/2025/08/08/communicating-with-plants/

Find your psychic communication style. Link to my quick guide to “The Clairs Of Intuition” below as well!

https://thefairyfarmer.com/2025/08/08/the-clairs-of-intuition-a-quick-guide/

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Mo ❤️

Sources

• Jones, Brenda. Medicinal Herbs of Eastern Canada. Nimbus Publishing (CN), 30 June 2020.
• Pfeifle, Tess. “One of the Most Magical Plants: Vervain.” Astonishing Legends, Astonishing Legends, 2 Nov. 2022, astonishinglegends.com/astonishing-legends/2022/10/28/one-of-the-most-magical-plants-vervain.
• Carolyn. “The Magical Properties of Vervain and How to Use It Spells & Rituals.” Art of the Root, 9 Sept. 2023, artoftheroot.com/blogs/spells-and-rituals/the-magical-properties-of-vervain-in-spells-rituals?srsltid=AfmBOoqR6iBIB2olGe66UOD6imltq8_xOgDtcodhoBke7hmsgoKmyhFJ. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
• ‌Rite of Ritual. “Ritual Herbs – Blue Vervain.” Rite of Ritual, 2022, riteofritual.com/products/ritual-herbs-blue-vervain. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
• ‌
  J. “Vervain Folklore and Magical Uses.” Marble Crow, 26 June 2024, marblecrowblog.com/2024/06/26/vervain-folklore-and-magical-uses/.
• htmlly.com, and admin. “Blue Vervain | Medicinal Plant Index.” Medicinal Plant Index., 15 Nov. 2021, medicinalplantindex.com/bluevervain/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
• ‌https://www.facebook.com/outdoorapothecary. “Blue Vervain: The Hidden Aspects of a Magical Medicinal Herb.” The Outdoor Apothecary, 7 Jan. 2024, http://www.outdoorapothecary.com/blue-vervain/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
• Sajah Popham. Evolutionary Herbalism : Science, Medicine, and Spirituality from the Heart of Nature. Berkeley, California, North Atlantic Books, 2019.
• “The College of Psychic Studies : Enlighten : Clairalience to Clairvoyance Your Psychic Gifts.” The College of Psychic Studies, 7 July 2023, http://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/enlighten/clairalience-to-clairvoyance-your-psychic-gifts/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.

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