Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) is a plant I’ve been tending for a few years now. They were some of the first to be established in the medicine garden, growing nearly six feet tall and showering the ground with the stardust of tiny purple flowers while the honeybees left with bottoms heavy with pollen.
I lovingly planted each seed, nestled each one of you into the ground once you outgrew your nursery pots, and covered you with a blanket of mulch and compost in the fall. I watered, admired, and doted on you, as a mother does for all her children.
Still, I did not know you. You did not unfurl and open to me the way others had, our minds becoming a single exhaled beat, a melting union of teacher and student. You stood tall and silent in your power. I loved you all the same.
It’s been nearly eight years since I became a student to the plants and to my humble delight, I am still capable of being surprised, still able to fall head over heels in love with the tenderness of a child.
This was not an easy winter for me, there’s no sugarcoating it. My life felt uprooted and I, aimlessly adrift in a vast sea of change. I felt both lost and stuck at the same time, rather I was stuck feeling lost, and none of my strongest allies were lifeboats tenacious enough to pull me out of the waxing and waning tides.
One morning, I awake from a dream with an image of a plant, a glimmer and the instruction that it was time to work with Blue Vervain. It didn’t feel like an ask or an invitation as much as a commandment.
I hunt around the bottom of the apothecary shelves full of dozens of gallon jars filled with all the shades of medicine. I find the Vervain, harvested last August, and pour some into an amber dropper bottle.
I sit cross legged on the floor and find my center. I drop two full dropperfuls into my mouth. Immediately my vision brightens and I have the sensation of sharpened edges and clear sight in a way that borders on psychadelic. My temperature drops, the coolness radiating outward and I feel a shiver building. It reaches a point of almost tension, then the shiver runs down my spine from the bottom of my head to the small of my back in complete and total release. My whole being shakes almost imperceptibly, and I am washed over with relaxation. My belly softens. My shoulders have dropped and I have the desire to move and stretch my neck from side to side, liberating the tense muscles and inviting in movement, inviting in space, inviting in surrender.
The common indication for Blue Vervain would usually be something along the lines of “uptight”.
Perhaps it’s this hostile descriptor that leads so many of us to think certainly WE don’t need Vervain's help. Uptight? Surely not I!
Or…Could it be that we are unwilling to accept that small part of ourselves…? That part that seeks the safety and security that comes with control.
Blue Vervain is a nervine plant, and the thing about nervines is there are as many different nervines as there are types of people. You may have a friend who swears by passionflower or skullcap, but to you there's no hallelujah moment inspiring you to sing from the mountain top or craft altars of devotion.
This is where the art of herbalism comes in, and the work I do - which is matching plants to people.
So who is the Blue Vervain person?
Their motto is “I’ve got it under control”. They are constantly planning for “what ifs” and worst case scenarios, sometimes becoming lost in elaborate situations that have yet to actually occur. They obsess about the future, small details and are hypercritical of themselves and those around them. They may be irritable, quick to anger, and tense with nervous exhaustion. There is a perfectionist “I’ll do it myself” mentality and a tendency to micromanage others in their lives and refuse assistance or help. They are list makers and overachievers with driven personalities who hold themselves to unattainable standards.
Blue Vervain people commonly exhibit a pattern in TCM called Liver Fire Rising, where excessive heat has built up in the body. Here, we see manifestations of this heat as recurring headaches, red eyes, inflammation, neck tension, skin conditions, irritability, a red tipped tongue and a rapid pulse. Beneath this excess heat, we usually find the emotion of Anger. Repressed anger is a common indicator that our liver qi is no longer flowing smoothly, and over time, this anger ‘heats up’ without an outlet of expression. Blue Vervain is especially adept at treating stuck anger and releasing the tension, exasperation, and bitterness that goes along with it.
Blue Vervain supports us in releasing control and surrendering to the flow of life. They tenderly soften our rigid thought loops and patterns of hypervigilance so we might merge deeper with life instead of postulating from the sidelines.
Blue Vervain is like the moment of release when a giggle suddenly erupts out from your mouth. You wonder what you were so concerned with just a moment ago and notice that the tree outside your window is aflame with blossoms.
I don’t find Blue Vervain to be a sedating nervine although they can bring on exceptionally vivid and powerful dreams. They are a liver relaxant, but the sort of relaxant that releases the blocks of tension that are damming the unfettered flow of creative expression, allowing you the full spectrum of movement and experience. After a week of working with Blue Vervain daily, I began dancing again for the first time in months. Everything just felt looser and Vervain tugged my hips into remembering.
Blue Vervain reminds me of the feeling of being tied up, the exhale of relinquished control where my diurnal, independent self, the one who always has to be in control, finally submits and lets go. In my circle of friends, it’s always those who are the most dominant by day that carry the innate desire to be dominated themselves.
The ones who’ve always had to keep it together, who feel best being in charge of projects and situations. The planners, the ones who keep the tight ship and double check everything before sending.
In bondage, the to do lists subside, and I am gracefully brought into the ever present eroticness of the Now.
A misconception about BDSM is that it’s focused around pain. While the knife’s edge (pun intended) point of pleasure and pain is certainly a part of it, in my experience the real allure of BDSM is control.
There’s a paradox in BDSM because while the sub is giving up their physical power (they are literally restrained), the sub still has all of the power in the interaction.
It is the sub who dictates the boundaries of comfort.
It is only because the sub is willing that the dance even exists. Without their consent, the exchange ceases to be. At any moment in time, the sub can utter a safe word, stop the show. Anyone who’s played in these sorts of relationships will also tell you that the focus is pleasure. The dom’s role in this relationship is to one, be a trusted and safe place for this exchange to occur; and two, to be the provider of pleasure.
Blue Vervain is a facilitator of erotic expression and a playful companion in unraveling power dynamics and exploring new ways of relating to power. They help strip us of brittle and crumbling rigidity and offer us a dose of sensual embodiment, opening us to a vaster experience of somatic pleasure.
Blue Vervain has a strong affinity for the womb and any stagnant sexual energy. They bring relief from PMS that expresses itself as irritable rather than weepy, when you feel flushed with anger and can’t find a way to settle. They are a highly specific remedy for hot flashes given their cooling nature that relaxes the liver, opens pores and capillaries and calms tension. Due to their diaphoretic action they are also appropriate to use during fever, especially one that refuses to break, and Vervain can work in cases where other diaphoretics could not.
Blue Vervain is incredibly bitter, and this bitter quality is what shifts the nervous system into relaxation and also stimulates digestion. They work great in a bitter formula, especially for the type of person who holds a lot of tension or emotions in the gut. Vervain stimulates bile flow and works to cool down a hot and overworked liver.
For those who fit this pattern, either by personality or simply due to the particular season of life they’re moving through, Blue Vervain will have an instantaneous effect and can provide immediate relief as things shift within you. Long term daily use sees those shifts integrating deeply and integrating within our psyche.
Even if you are not a ‘Blue Vervain Person’ per se, they’re still a strong ally to have in your toolkit, and are supportive in any situation where there is tension or spasms, as they relieve constriction in the musculature of the body. They’re valuable for cases of TMJ, tension headaches, or any stiffness from the shoulders up and work well with other herbs in a comprehensive formula for anxiety
One of my favorite herbalists Kiva Rose writes,
“Vervain is a mender of broken edges, and sometimes, a great giver of dreams.”
Vervain is a plant steeped in myth and magic. The latin name “verbena” translates to ‘Altar Plant’. Vervain was revered by the Egyptians, the Druids, the Romans, and was a staple medicinal herb to folks across both oceans. They have been called ‘The Enchanters Plant” or “Wizards Herb” and were referred to as the “Tears of Isis” by the Egyptians.
Blue Vervain has an illusive quality about them, like they are holding a secret or shyly veiling what lies beneath. An attractive perennial, they have deep green jagged toothed leaves and in mid to late summer send out a candelabra covered in small violet flowers blooming from the bottom up. They prefer to grow in damp meadows, the edges of swamps, and wetlands, although they’ll thrive in medium garden soils as well. They’re short lived compared to other medicinal perennials but eagerly self seed. They are native across all of Turtle Island.
I recommend making a tincture with the fresh herb at 1:2 ratio with 40-60% alcohol. The leaves and flowers can be dried for tea, although fair warning - they are bitter! I blend them with other herbs in a tea blend for a more palatable taste.
Enchanted as I am with folklore, I harvest them as was traditionally done by the Druids when Sirius (dog star) is visible anywhere from July 3- August 11.
Pliny the Elder writes in Natural History,
“Both types are used by the people of Gaul in fortune-telling and in uttering prophecies, and the Magi (the Druids) especially make the maddest statements about the plant; that people who have been rubbed with it obtain their wishes, banish fevers, win friends and cure all diseases without exception. They add that it must be gathered around the rising of the dog star without the action being seen by the sun or the moon; that beforehand atonement must be made to earth by an offering of honeycomb and honey; that a circle must be drawn with iron round the plant and then it should be pulled up with the left hand and raised aloft; that leaves, stems and root must be dried separately in the shade. They also say that if a dining couch is sprinkled with water in which the plant has been soaked the entertainment becomes merrier.”
If you’re curious to meet Blue Vervain, find them here…