Medicine
highHill recommends betony for head and nervous complaints and says it may be taken as tea or dried and powdered.
Found in the Hermetikon archive
Betony
Stachys officinalis
Betony appears in Hermetikon as an archive-backed plant entry, with references across historical medical, magical, symbolic, and ritual contexts where the source texts support them.
- Risk
- moderate
- Books
- 9
- Contexts
- 3
- Mentions
- 84
Archive Profile
Identity, safety, and search aliases used to connect this herb to the archive.
Herb identity
- Common name
- betony
- Latin name
- Stachys officinalis(candidate)
- Identity note
- Often appears as wood betony in historical sources.
Safety
moderate
Modern safety data is limited; medicinal-use cautions remain conservative.
Historical archive citations are not medical advice. Use modern clinical and poison-control sources for ingestion, dosage, pregnancy, and toxicity questions.
- Kew POWO: Modern safety data is limited; medicinal-use cautions remain conservative.
Aliases
betonyStachys officinaliswood betony
Betony in Historical Sources
Curated archive synthesis of recurring uses, recipes, rituals, and interpretive problems.
Hermetikon's curated reading of Betony (Stachys officinalis) is built from 3 source-linked archive notes and 2 preparation or ritual-use entries. The strongest recurring contexts are medicine, preparations, and identity. Each note below links back to the archive source used for the claim.
Preparation
highBurton cites betony sod in whey and drunk daily among decoctions prescribed for melancholy.
Identity
mediumKing's citation is mostly alias material around bugleweed, water hoarhound, Paul's betony, and archangel, showing how betony-name evidence can mix several botanical identities.
Preparations and ritual uses
Betony tea or powder
highHill says betony may be taken as tea or dried and powdered for head and nervous complaints.
Betony sod in whey
highBurton includes betony boiled in whey and drunk daily among melancholy decoctions.
Betony Archive Contexts
Compact source patterns from the extracted citation set.
Astrology
2 passages across 2 books; strongest source: Culpeper's Complete Herbal.
Matched as betony; high confidence.
Preparation
12 passages across 7 books; strongest source: Culpeper's Complete Herbal.
Matched as betony; high confidence.
Safety
1 passage across 1 book; strongest source: Illustration of the Occult Sciences.
Matched as betony; high confidence.
Betony Cited Excerpts
Representative public passages with the herb mention highlighted and linked to archive source material.
Culpeper's Complete Herbal
Nicholas Culpeper
1653
"...rown too old, and past cure, especially if there be a due and orderly preparation of the body with posset-drink made of Betony, &c. The root is also effectual for women that are not sufficiently cleansed after child-birth, and such as are troubled with the mother; for which likewise the black seed beaten to powder, and given in wine, is also available. The black seed also taken before bed-time, and in the morning, is very effectual for such as in their sleep are troubled with the disease called Ephialtes, or Incubus, but we do commonly call it the Night-mare: ..."
Chapter 15Open in Reader
Preparationalias: betonyhigh confidence
King's American Dispensatory
Harvey Wickes Felter
1854
"...e oil and tannin. Lycopus is popularly known as Bugleweed, Water bugle. Sweet bugle, Water hoarhound, Gypsy-weed, Pauls betony, Green ashangee anil Archangel, though the latter name is oflener applied to another plant — the Archangelun Atrojuupumi. The name lycopus originates from two Greek words — (ukm, wolf; and //o(M, foot; hence wolf-foot, so called because of a fancied resemblance of the cut leaves to a wolfs foot. We have evidence that this plant was used early in the present century aa a medicine. Schoe])f, Ive.s, and ZoUikofTer mention" it. In 1828, Ka..."
Page 325Open in Reader
Preparationalias: betonyhigh confidence
The Family Herbal
John Hill
1755
"...at the tops in form of a kind of thick short spike; they are small and purple, and of the shape of the flowers of mint. Betony is to be gathered when just going to flower. It is excellent for disorders of the head, and for all nervous complaints. The habitual use of it will cure the most inveterate head-aches. It may be taken as tea or dried and powdered. Some mix it with tobacco and smoke it, but this is a more uncertain method. There is a tall plant with small purple flowers growing by waters, thence and from the shape of the leaves called water betony, but ..."
Page 87Open in Reader
Preparationalias: betonyhigh confidence
Illustration of the Occult Sciences
Ebenezer Sibly
1784
"...bs and Plants.*—Arse-smart, assarum, barberry-bush, broom, sweet basil, broom-rape, butchers broom, bramble, brooklime, betony, crow-foot, madder, wake-robin, crane's bill, cotton thistle, toad-flax, garlic, hurt-bush, hawthorn, hops, masterwort, rocket, mustard, hedge-mustard, onions, dittany, carduus benedictus, radish, horse-radish, rhubarb, rha-phontic, monk's rhubarb, thistles, woolly-thistle, star-thistle, treacle-mustard, dyer's weed, wormwood, birthwort, camelion-thistle, danewort, eslue, cornel-tree, euphorbium, spearwort, white hellebore, sponge, lau..."
Page 111Open in Reader
Safetyalias: betonyhigh confidence
Anatomy of Melancholy
Robert Burton
1621
"...etius, Aurelianus, &c., and many latter writers, are still prescribed the decoctions of Wormwood, Centaury, Pennyroyal, Betony sod in whey, and daily drunk * many have been cured by this medicine alone. Prosper Alpinus and some others as much magnify the water of Nilus against this malady, an especial good remedy for windy melancholy. For which reason belike Ptolemseus Philadelphus, when he married his daughter Berenice to the King of Assyria (as Celsus records) to his great charge caused the water of Nilus to be carried with her, and gave command that during ..."
Page 619Open in Reader
Preparationalias: betonyhigh confidence
Books Mentioning Betony
Complete public source inventory, placed after the interpretive reading so the page opens with the most useful synthesis first.
Culpeper's Complete Herbal
Nicholas Culpeper | 1653
betonywood betony
54 mentionscited
Anatomy of Melancholy
Robert Burton | 1621
betony
12 mentionscited
The Family Herbal
John Hill | 1755
betonywood betony
7 mentionscited
Illustration of the Occult Sciences
Ebenezer Sibly | 1784
betony
4 mentionscited
King's American Dispensatory
Harvey Wickes Felter | 1854
betony
2 mentionscited
Pow-Wows
John George Hohman | 1820
betony
2 mentions
Clavis Astrologiae Elimata
Henry Coley | 1669
betony
1 mention
Genethlialogia
John Gadbury | 1658
betony
1 mention
Manual of Astrology
Raphael (Robert Cross Smith) | 1828
betony
1 mention