28/10/2026
It's just a pretty, purple, flower. Well, yes - it certainly is but Vervain is more than a pretty face in the 🪻🪻
It's been renowned for its protectionist properties since the times of the Ancient Eyptians, Ancient Greek and Romans - it was used to purify scared spaces and to bring about peace (through victory) in times of war...
In Pagan and Druid traditions Vervain was hailed a great protector and cleanser and bythe time we get to Western European Christian tradition, Vervain is routinely used to protect against witchcraft - needless to say, it's also belived to have a raft of medicinal qualities...
The glorious Rowan tree or, 'Tree of Life', boasts very similar credentials 🌳🌳
Celtic, Norse, and Druid belief in the sacrality of the Rowan tree for its protectionist properties made their way into folklore... and with that brilliant built in pentogram it's easy to see why having a Rowan tree close to your dwelling is like to have been an early modern property must-have! ✨✨
It's a huge jump from medieval and early modern beliefs and practices to ward off malevolent forces, to our twenty-first century celebratory version of Halloween. It's a story involving massive social and cultural change over the centuries.
One defining factor that has made the difference? As the centuries have rolled on, we have cultivated a gradual acceptance that magic isn't real and we stopped worrying about it. Rightly, or wrongly...🧙♀️🧙♂️✨
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