Astrology
highVervain has a clear astrological thread in Agrippa's plant lists: upright vervain is assigned to Taurus and bending vervain to Gemini. That makes identity and morphology part of the archive's occult classification.
Found in the Hermetikon archive
Vervain
Verbena officinalis
Vervain 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
- 47
- Contexts
- 6
- Mentions
- 257
Archive Profile
Identity, safety, and search aliases used to connect this herb to the archive.
Herb identity
- Common name
- vervain
- Latin name
- Verbena officinalis(candidate)
- Identity note
- Distinguish common vervain from lemon verbena.
Safety
moderate
Limited modern safety data; avoid medicinal use in pregnancy without professional guidance.
Historical archive citations are not medical advice. Use modern clinical and poison-control sources for ingestion, dosage, pregnancy, and toxicity questions.
- EMA HMPC: Limited modern safety data; avoid medicinal use in pregnancy without professional guidance.
Aliases
vervainverbenaVerbena officinalis
Vervain in Historical Sources
Curated archive synthesis of recurring uses, recipes, rituals, and interpretive problems.
Hermetikon's curated reading of Vervain (Verbena officinalis) is built from 3 source-linked archive notes and 1 preparation or ritual-use entry. The strongest recurring contexts are ritual uses, folk magic, and astrology. Each note below links back to the archive source used for the claim.
Folk magic
highVervain recurs in Midsummer and St. John's seasonal magic. Golden Bough material links it with summer-solstice gathering, washing or steeping customs, and protective folk practice.
The Golden Bough | James George Frazer | 1913
Chapter VIII. The Magic Flowers of Midsummer Eve.
Ritual
highCeremonial magic sources use vervain in ritual implements. The Key of Solomon describes a sprinkler made with vervain and companion herbs, gathered under specified planetary timing.
Preparations and ritual uses
Ritual sprinkler
highThe Key of Solomon includes vervain in a sprinkler made with fennel, lavender, sage, valerian, mint, basil, rosemary, and hyssop, gathered under Mercury timing.
Vervain Archive Contexts
Compact source patterns from the extracted citation set.
Medicine
1 passage across 1 book; strongest source: The Family Herbal.
Matched as vervain; high confidence.
Astrology
4 passages across 4 books; strongest source: Illustration of the Occult Sciences.
Matched as vervain; high confidence.
Folk magic
1 passage across 1 book; strongest source: Aradia.
Matched as vervain; high confidence.
Preparation
7 passages across 7 books; strongest source: Culpeper's Complete Herbal.
Matched as vervain; high confidence.
Symbolism
1 passage across 1 book; strongest source: The Golden Bough.
Matched as verbena; high confidence.
Safety
1 passage across 1 book; strongest source: King's American Dispensatory.
Matched as vervain; high confidence.
Vervain Cited Excerpts
Representative public passages with the herb mention highlighted and linked to archive source material.
Culpeper's Complete Herbal
Nicholas Culpeper
1653
"...m, Rupture-wort, Clary, Schenanth, Bay-leaves, Toad-flax, Hops, Melilot, Water-cresses, Origanum, Pennyroyal, Scordium, Vervain, Mother of Time, Rocket, Spikenard, Saxifrage, Nettles. *Heat the womb.* Maudlin, Angelica, Mugwort, Costmary, Calaminth, Flea-bane, May-weed, Ormarg-weed, Dittany of Crete, Schenanth, Arch-angel or Dead Nettles, Melilot, Feather-few, Mints, Devil’s-bit, Origanum, Bazil, Pennyroyal, Savin, Sage, Scordium, Tansy, Time, Vervain, Periwinkles, Nettles. *Heat the joints.* Cowslips, Sciatica-cresses, hot Arsmart, Garden-cresses, Costmary, ..."
A CATALOGUE OF SIMPLES IN THE NEW DISPENSATORY.Open in Reader
Preparationalias: vervainhigh confidence
Three Books of Occult Philosophy
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim
1533
"...puleius distributes certain and peculiar herbs to the Signs and Planets, viz. : To Aries, the herb sage; to Taurus, the vervain that grows straight; to Gemini, the vervain that grows bending; to Cancer, comfrey; to Leo, sow-bread; to Virgo, calamint; to Libra, mug'Wort; to Scorpio, scorpion-grass; to Sagittarius, pimpernel; to Capricornus, the dock; to Aquarius, dragon's-wort; to Pisces, hart-wort. And to the Planets these, viz. : To Saturn, sengreen; to Jupiter, agrimony; to Mars, sulphur- wort; to the Sun, marigold; to Venus, wound- wort; to Mercury, mullein;..."
Page 118Open in Reader
Astrologyalias: vervainhigh confidence
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer
1890
"...of Bordeaux, court physician to Theodosius the First, in his curious work on medicine. It is as follows. Take a root of vervain, cut it across, and hang one end of it round the patient’s neck, and the other in the smoke of the fire. As the vervain dries up in the smoke, so the tumour will also dry up and disappear. If the patient should afterwards prove ungrateful to the good physician, the man of skill can avenge himself very easily by throwing the vervain into water; for as the root absorbs the moisture once more, the tumour will return. The same sapient wr..."
4. The Magician’s ProgressOpen in Reader
Preparationalias: vervainhigh confidence
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer
1913
"...llent remedy for consumption, if you take a spoonful or two of them, moistened with water, day by day. People also burn vervain in the fires, and they say that in the ashes of the plant you may find, if you look for it, the “Fool's Stone.” 491 In many parts of Brabant St. Peter's bonfire used to be much larger than that of his rival St. John. When it had burned out, both sexes engaged in a game of ball, and the winner became the King of Summer or of the Ball and had the right to choose his Queen. Sometimes the winner was a woman, and it was then her privilege t..."
§ 4. The Midsummer Fires.Open in Reader
Preparationalias: vervainhigh confidence
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer
1906
"...of Bordeaux, court physician to Theodosius the First, in his curious work on medicine. It is as follows. Take a root of vervain, cut it across, and hang one end of it round the patient’s neck, and the other in the smoke of the fire. As the vervain dries up in the smoke, so the tumour will also dry up and disappear. If the patient should afterwards prove ungrateful to the good physician, the man of skill can avenge himself very easily by throwing the vervain into water; for as the root absorbs the moisture once more, the tumour will return.​ [289] The same s..."
§ 2. Homeopathic or Imitative MagicOpen in Reader
Preparationalias: vervainhigh confidence
Books Mentioning Vervain
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
vervainverbena
38 mentionscited
Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Lewis Spence | 1920
vervainverbena
24 mentions
King's American Dispensatory
Harvey Wickes Felter | 1854
vervainverbena
20 mentions
Transcendental Magic
Eliphas Levi | 1854
vervain
13 mentions
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable
E. Cobham Brewer | 1870
verbenavervain
11 mentions
Witchcraft, Magic & Alchemy
Grillot de Givry | 1929
vervain
10 mentions
Aradia
Charles Godfrey Leland | 1899
vervainverbena
9 mentions
Demonology and Devil-lore
Moncure Daniel Conway | 1879
vervain
9 mentions
Balder the Beautiful, Volume I
James George Frazer | 1913
vervain
8 mentions
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer | 1890
vervain
7 mentionscited
Transcendental Magic
Éliphas Lévi (Alphonse Louis Constant) | 1856
vervain
7 mentions
Manual of Astrology
Raphael (Robert Cross Smith) | 1828
vervain
6 mentions
The Family Herbal
John Hill | 1755
vervainverbena
6 mentions
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer | 1913
vervain
6 mentionscited
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings | 1918
verbena
5 mentions
The Authentic Red Dragon and Black Hen
Anonymous | 1800
vervain
5 mentions
Mysteries of All Nations
James Grant | 1880
vervain
5 mentions
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings | 1916
vervain
4 mentions
Magick in Theory and Practice
Aleister Crowley | 1929
vervain
4 mentions
Book of Black Magic
Arthur Edward Waite | 1898
vervain
4 mentions
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings | 1926
vervainverbena
4 mentions
The Discoverie of Witchcraft
Reginald Scot | 1584
vervainverbena
4 mentions
Illustration of the Occult Sciences
Ebenezer Sibly | 1784
vervain
4 mentions
Three Books of Occult Philosophy
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim | 1533
vervain
3 mentionscited
Witch Stories
E. Lynn Linton | 1861
vervain
3 mentions
Le streghe
Jules Michelet | 1862
verbena
3 mentions
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer | 1913
vervain
2 mentions
Bilder der Wunderkunst
Karl Grabner (Attributed/Editor) | 1834
verbena
2 mentions
Metamorphoses (Books I-VII)
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) | 8
vervain
2 mentions
An Introduction to Mythology
George W. Cox | 1873
verbena
2 mentions
The Evolution of the Dragon
G. Elliot Smith | 1919
vervain
2 mentions
The Magus (Vol 1)
Francis Barrett | 1801
vervain
2 mentions
Anatomy of Melancholy
Robert Burton | 1621
verbena
2 mentions
Pow-Wows
John George Hohman | 1820
verbena
2 mentions
Miscellanies
John Aubrey | 1696
vervain
2 mentions
Student's Mythology
Catherine Ann White | 1873
vervain
2 mentions
Encyclopaedia of Antiquities
Thomas Dudley Fosbroke | 1825
vervain
2 mentions
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer | 1906
vervain
2 mentionscited
Liber 777
Aleister Crowley | 1909
vervain
2 mentions
A World of Wonders
James Grant | 1845
vervain
2 mentions
The Equinox Vol. 1 No. 2
Aleister Crowley | 1909
vervain
1 mention
Key of Solomon
King Solomon | 1400
vervain
1 mention
Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus
Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim (Paracelsus) | 1493
verbena
1 mention
The Equinox Vol. 1 No. 7
Aleister Crowley | 1912
vervain
1 mention
The Influence of the Stars
Rosa Baughan | 1880
vervain
1 mention
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer | 1906
verbena
1 mention
Psychological Origin of Religion
James H. Leuba | 1909
vervain
1 mention