COMMON NAMES : Yarrow, Arrowroot, Bad Man's Plaything,
Carpenter's Weed, Death Flower, Devil's Nettle, Eerie,
Field hops, Gearwe, Hundred Leaved Grass, Knight's Milefoil,
Knyghten, Milefolium, Noble Yarrow, Nosebleed,
Old Man's Mustard, Old Man's Pepper, Sanguinary,
Seven Year's Love, Snake's Grass, Soldier's Woundwort,
Stanch Weed, Thousand Seal, Wound Wort, Yarroway, Yerw

ELEMENT : Water

RULING PLANET : Venus

GENDER : Feminine

MAGICKAL POWER : Protection, Courage, Love, Psychic powers, Exorcism

MAGICKAL USES : When held in the hand, it stops all fear and gives courage. When yarrow is worn it protects the person who wears it.

Yarrow attracts attention of those you most want to see.

Use yarrow in love spells.

Carry yarrow to attract friends and distant relations you wish to contact.

DESCRIPTION : The stem is angular and rough, the leaves alternate, 3 to 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. The leaves clasp the stem at the base, bipinnatifid, the segments very finely cut, giving the leaves a feathery appearance.

This herb flowers June to September. The flowers are white, shaped like miniature daisies, are in flattened, terminal, loose heads or cymes. The whole plant is more or less hairy, with white, silky appressed hairs.

CULTIVATION : Sun, soil sweetened with lime, good drainage, and add compost. Divide in spring or fall. Grown easily from seed.

COLLECTION : The whole plant above ground should be gathered when in flower between June and September.

PARTS OF THE PLANT USED : Aerial parts

PLANT ANALYSIS : Up to 0.5 per cent volatile oil, flavonoids, tannins, a bitter alkaloid, salicylic acid derivatives, thujone, a principle called achilleic acid which is said to be identical with aconitic acid, resin, gum, nitrates, phosphates, chlorides of potash and lime.

MEDICINAL USE : Prescribed by herbalists for high blood pressure and the threat of blood clotting, or thrombosis.

It stimulates the digestion and tones the blood vessels.

The use of yarrow is indicated in infections such as cystitis for use as a urinary antiseptic. It is useful to stop hemorrhage of the lungs, bowels, and other internal bleeding. Also used for influenza, measles, smallpox, chicken pox, fevers and acute catarrh of the respiratory tract.

Yarrow has influence over dyspepsia, amenorrhea, suppressed or restrained menses and in menorrhagia or profuse continued menstruation.

Chewing the leaves will frequently ease the pain of a toothache

Used externally it will aid in the healing of wounds. Yarrow is considered to be specific in thrombotic conditions associated with high blood pressure.

Yarrow is a good insect repellent. You may splash on the body in tea form, or rub the flowers on the body to repel mosquitoes.

Yarrow tea makes a good mouthwash for canker sores.

It is said to tighten the uterus and to cause contractions to bring down the placenta after bearing a child. Thus, it is contraindicated for pregnant women.

Externally, decoction and poultices are used for surface or subcutaneous skin conditions.

Clinically, recent recognition has been given to extracts and decoctions for stomach sickness, especially ulcers, and for bleeding and gastritis.

Apply yarrow tea or expressed fresh yarrow juice compress to sore nipples.

The infusion may be used in the early stages of colds.

MEDICINAL ACTION : Diaphoretic, hypotensive, astringent, diuretic, antiseptic. Yarrow is one of the best diaphoretic herbs. It lowers blood pressure due to a dilation of the peripheral vessels. This action is also helpful for varicose veins and piles.

The salicylic acid derivatives (aspirin) may account for its use in treating fevers and reducing pain.

The thujone in sufficient quantities can cause abortions.

DOSAGE :Do not use this herb if you are pregnant

For an infusion pour a cup of boiling water onto 1-2 teaspoons of dried herb and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes. Drunk hot three times a day. When feverish it should be drunk hourly. May be sweetened with sugar or honey.

This infusion may also be used as a lotion for compresses on painful varicose veins.

For a tincture, take 2-4 ml of the tincture three times a day.

HISTORY : The name Millefolium is derived from the the many segments of its foliage.

The most authentic way to cast the I Ching uses dried yarrow stalks. The stems are said to be good for divining the future.

This common weed has been used for centuries. It was used crushed on fresh cuts and bruises or added to a lard ointment to heal bruises.

Native Americans, including the Blackfoot, Illinois, Miami, Micmac, and Ute, used yarrow for injuries and sores. At least 46 tribes used yarrow. They found 28 ailments that responded to it. The Blackfoot used an infusion of yarrow leaf and flower for an eye wash. The Winnebago steeped the whole plant and poured the liquid into an aching ear.

Greek physician Dioscorides smeared yarrow on ulcers to prevent inflammation.

In the 1500s, the British herbalist John Gerard recommended it for relieving "swelling of those secret parts."

Since the 15th century Russian herbalists have used yarrow as a tea, decoction, with vodka, for bleeding, stomach sickness, gastritis, ulcers, dysentery, diarrhea, cold, cough, among other things.

In the sixteenth century, yarrow was commonly called "nosebleed." A use for this plant calls for the leaves to be crushed and packed into the nostrils to stop the bleeding.

In some accounts, the plant was supposed to cause the bleeding. An old treatment for a headache was to cause bleeding from the nose.

The yarrow's history of use as a wound healer goes right up to the American Civil War.

The Shakers knew of yarrow. They used in a variety of complaints ranging from hemorrhage to flatulence. It was used enough to be included in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1836 to 1882. As of 1982, yarrow still appeared in the pharmacopoeias of Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Switzerland.

In Sweden it is called "Field Hop" and has been used in the manufacture of beer.

LORE : Some people believed that you could determine the devotion of a lover by poking a yarrow leaf up your nostril and twitching the leaf while saying, "Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow: if my love loves me, my nose will bleed now."

Homer tells us that the centaur Chiron, who conveyed herbal secrets to his human pupils, taught Achilles to use yarrow on the battle grounds of Troy. Achilles is said to have used it to stop the bleeding wounds of his soldiers. For centuries it has been carried in battle because of its magical as well as medicinal properties.

Yarrow grows native in the orient. Oriental tradition assured mountain wanderers that where the yarrow grew neither tigers nor wolves nor poisonous plants would be found..

Nursery rhymes say if you put a yarrow sachet under your pillow, you will dream of your own true love. If you dream of cabbages (the leaves do have a similar scent), then death or other serious misfortune will strike.

Yarrow was one of the herbs put in Saxon amulets. These amulets were for protection from everything from blindness, to barking dogs.

In the Middle Ages, witches were said to use yarrow to make incantations. This may be the source for the common names devil's nettle, devils plaything, and bad man's plaything.

Western European tradition connects yarrow with a goddess and a demon. Yarrow was a witching herb, used to summon the devil or drive him away. But it was also a loving herb in the domain of Aphrodite.

Chinese proverbs claim that yarrow brightens the eyes and promotes intelligence.

Hang a bunch of dried yarrow or yarrow that had been used in wedding decorations over the bed, to ensure a lasting love for at least seven years.

Washing your hair with an infusion of yarrow will prevent baldness, but will not cure it if it already has begun.

Yarrow was also used to exorcise evil and negativity from a person, place or thing.