Aloe

What this is

Aloe (Aloe vera). The succulent of mercy, its thick leaves holding a cool gel that soothes the burn the moment it is split open. A Moon-on-water plant sacred to Cancer, lit from within by a hidden hand of the Sun, kept for grief, protection, and the easing of pain.

What it governs

Aloe answers to Moon and the element of Water, with a second hand from Sun. Its seat in the zodiac is Cancer, and its day is Monday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with the waxing and full moon. In the old practice its office is plain: Split a leaf; apply the gel to a minor burn or sore skin — immediate relief.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning aloe is cool and moist, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the leaf gel. Its working colour follows Moon, silver and pale blue; its metal is silver, its stones are moonstone, pearl, its number 9, and on the Tree of Life it threads up to Yesod. It is gentle, safe to use as the practice describes.

Where else it appears

The same coolness everywhere: hung in the doorway against the evil eye across North Africa and the Levant; the leaf split on a scald in every kitchen; planted on a grave in old custom to comfort the dead and the living alike. Soothing and guarding at once, one gel for the body's hurt and the home's.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Aloe on Today's Herb, Angelic Herb, Moon's Companion, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its one office: split a leaf; apply the gel to a minor burn or sore skin — immediate relief. As the Angelic Herb it stands under Gabriel; read its rising as that intelligence laying a hand on your day, with lunar tides, dream, and feeling. As the Moon's Companion it asks you to do its quieter work by night, or with the turning tide of the moon behind you.

Why it matters

Aloe soothes. Its whole nature is to draw the heat out of a wound, the literal burn or the burning grief, and lay a cool hand on it. It asks you to tend what is raw before you do anything else.

Correspondences

planet

Moon

element

Water

zodiac

Cancer

number

9

sephirah

Yesod

day

Monday

colour

silver, pale blue

metal

silver

stone

moonstone, pearl

tarot

The Moon