Hops

What this is

Hops (Humulus lupulus). The strobile of the hop-bine, a Mars-and-Saturn herb of Scorpio that bitters and keeps the ale and, dried, fills the sleep-pillow. A plant of deep, dream-heavy rest, ranged with the still tide of the High Priestess.

What it governs

Hops answers to Mars and the element of Water, with a second hand from Saturn. Its seat in the zodiac is Scorpio, and its day is Saturday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with the waning moon. In the old practice its office is plain: A pillow of dried cones brings deep, dream-rich sleep.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning hops is cool and dry, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the strobile. Its working colour follows Mars, scarlet red; its metal is iron, its stones are amethyst, jet, 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

Heavy, dreaming sleep everywhere: a pillow of dried cones for deep rest from English cottage custom onward; brewed into the ale that loosens and stills the day; used to quiet a restless, racing mind. To drop the day and dream deep, the same sedation, cup and pillow.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Hops on Today's Herb, Angelic Herb, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its one office: a pillow of dried cones brings deep, dream-rich sleep. 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

Hops drops you into rest. Its whole nature is to weigh the racing mind down into sleep and the sleep into dreaming. It asks you to surrender the day rather than carry it into the night.

Correspondences

planet

Mars

element

Water

zodiac

Scorpio

number

5

sephirah

Geburah

day

Saturday

colour

scarlet red

metal

iron

stone

amethyst, jet

tarot

The High Priestess