Plantain

What this is

Plantain (Plantago major). The flat ribbed rosette of every trodden path, the old English waybread, mother of herbs in the Nine Herbs Charm. So faithful to the foot-worn ground that the bruised leaf was the first reached for to close a wound, it is the traveller's herb and the steady healer.

What it governs

Plantain answers to Venus and the element of Earth, with a second hand from Mars. Its seat in the zodiac is Taurus, and its day is Friday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with the waxing moon. In the old practice its office is plain: Fresh leaf chewed and applied on an insect sting — the first-aid herb of the path.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning plantain is cool and dry, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the leaf. Its working colour follows Venus, green and rose; its metal is copper, its stones are emerald, rose quartz, its number 7, and on the Tree of Life it threads up to Netzach. It is gentle, safe to use as the practice describes.

Where else it appears

One healing on the move in many lands: the Saxon charm hails Waybroad, open to the east and mighty within; the indigenous peoples of the Americas named the European plant white-man's-foot for the way it sprang up wherever boots had trodden; healers everywhere pressed it to a cut. What is most trodden upon is often what heals best.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Plantain on Today's Herb, Angelic Herb, Today's Gathering, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its office: Fresh leaf chewed and applied on an insect sting — the first-aid herb of the path. As the Angelic Herb it stands under Anael; read its rising as that intelligence laying a hand on your day, with Venus's love and gentle harmony. As Today's Gathering it marks a plant to take up now, while waxing moon and the day are with it.

Why it matters

Plantain heals on the road. Its bent is patient endurance, the wound closing as you keep walking, the journey watched over. It asks you to keep going and let the hurt mend as you go, lifting your eyes now and then to where the path leads.

Correspondences

planet

Venus

element

Earth

zodiac

Taurus

number

7

sephirah

Netzach

day

Friday

colour

green, rose

metal

copper

stone

emerald, rose quartz

tarot

The Fool