Angelica

What this is

Angelica (Angelica archangelica). The root of the Holy Ghost, so named because, the story runs, an angel revealed it to a monk during a plague as a sovereign guard. A tall umbellifer whose hollow stems and bright green range it with the Sun and with Leo, carrying a hand of Venus.

What it governs

Angelica answers to Sun and the element of Fire, with a second hand from Venus. Its seat in the zodiac is Leo, and its day is Sunday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with the waxing and full moon. In the old practice its office is plain: Burn a fragment of root as incense to consecrate a new space. Archangel Michael's herb.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning angelica is hot and dry, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the root and the seed. Its working colour follows Sun, gold and solar yellow; its metal is gold, its stones are sunstone, topaz, its number 6, and on the Tree of Life it threads up to Tiphareth. It is a herb of scent, working through the nose as much as the hand, it carries well on the body, kept in a pocket or a small sachet, and it is gentle, safe to use as the practice describes.

Where else it appears

Angelica stands the same watch under every name: the Christian herbalist hung it at the threshold against contagion and the evil eye; the Saami burned it as a smoke of protection; conjure keeps Holy Ghost root for guarding the home and lifting a curse. A doorkeeper that lets the clean in and bars the rest.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Angelica on Today's Herb, Scent of the Hour, Angelic Herb, Today's Gathering, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its one office: burn a fragment of root as incense to consecrate a new space. Archangel Michael's herb. As the Scent of the Hour its message arrives through the nose, so let its smoke or its smell set the temper of the hour. As the Angelic Herb it stands under Michael; read its rising as that intelligence laying a hand on your day, with solar warmth and the will to shine. As Today's Gathering it marks a plant to take up now, while the waxing and full moon and the day are with it.

Why it matters

Angelica is unshakable, sunlit defence, not a closing-up but the standing of a guard who does not move. When your ground needs holding and a space needs consecrating, angelica holds it.

Correspondences

planet

Sun

element

Fire

zodiac

Leo

number

6

sephirah

Tiphareth

day

Sunday

colour

gold, solar yellow

metal

gold

stone

sunstone, topaz

tarot

The Sun