Echinacea

What this is

Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea). The purple coneflower, a Mars-and-Jupiter herb of Scorpio and Sagittarius, the great prairie medicine of the Plains nations for snakebite, wound, and fever. Its root rallies the body's own defenders rather than fighting the foe directly.

What it governs

Echinacea answers to Mars and the element of Fire, with a second hand from Jupiter. Its seat in the zodiac is Scorpio and Sagittarius, and its day is Tuesday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with the waxing moon. In the old practice its office is plain: A few drops of tincture at the first scratchy throat of cold — often cuts it short.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning echinacea is cool and dry, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the root. Its working colour follows Mars, scarlet red; its metal is iron, its stones are bloodstone, garnet, its number 5, and on the Tree of Life it threads up to Geburah. It is gentle, safe to use as the practice describes.

Where else it appears

Strengthening the defender everywhere: chewed and poulticed on snakebite and wound from Native medicine onward; taken at the first scratch of a cold to cut it short; carried to add force and protection to a working. To rouse your own guard, the same rally in body and rite.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Echinacea on Today's Herb, Angelic Herb, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its one office: a few drops of tincture at the first scratchy throat of cold — often cuts it short. As the Angelic Herb it stands under Samael; read its rising as that intelligence laying a hand on your day, with martial heat and decisive force.

Why it matters

Echinacea rallies your own strength. It does not fight your battle for you; it wakes the part of you that can. It asks you to act at the first sign, while the rallying still does its full work.

Correspondences

planet

Mars

element

Fire

zodiac

Scorpio, Sagittarius

number

5

sephirah

Geburah

day

Tuesday

colour

scarlet red

metal

iron

stone

bloodstone, garnet

tarot

Strength