The Nine Sacred Saxon Herbs
In the Lacnunga we are told the nine herbs. They are mugwort, waybroad ( plantain), stime (watercress), atterlothe, maythen (camomile), wergulu (nettle), crab-apple, chervil and fennel.
A worm came creeping,
he tore asunder a man.
Then took Woden
nine magic twigs
and he smote the serpent
that he flew into nine bits.
Now these nine herbs have power
against the nine magic outcasts
against nine venoms
against nine flying things
and against the loathed things
that over land rove.
Against the red venom
against the runlan venom
against the white venom
against the blue venom
against the yellow venom
against the green venom
against the dusky venom
against the brown venom
against the purple venom.
FOLLOWING IS AN ACCOUNT OF HOW THE ANCIENT HEALING HERBS CAME ABOUT. ( Adapted from the Old Irish folk legend told in 'Magic and Medicine in Anglo-Saxon England', Wilfrid Bonser. )Sister Aelfwynn July 1993
Long ago , in Erin, there were the Fomorians, and after them, the Tuatha De Danaan. The Tuatha fought to win the land from the Fomorians and they were helped by their god of medicine and physic, Diancecht. At the last great battle, Diancecht took one each of every good herb in Erin, and threw them into a well. Then he took all those mortally wounded of the Tuatha De Danaan and threw them into the well. They each climbed from the well, whole again and fit to rejoin the battle; and in this manner, which I shall forbear to call cheating, the Tuatha De Danaan defeated the Fomorians. Diancecht had a son called Midac; when Midac died, 365 different herbs grew on his grave, one for each joint and sinew of his body. Each herb was good cure for the matching part of the human body that it's position indicated on the grave of Midac. Diancecht's daughter collected and dried the herbs and placed them in store in their proper order; however, Diancecht must have thought the Tuatha were getting it too easy, for in a fit of a temper he mixed all the herbs up; that is why mankind has to sort things out for himself.
THE NINE HERBS CHARM
Remember, mugwort, what you made known,
what you arranged at Reginmelde.
You were called Una, the oldest of herbs.
You were potent against the three and the thirty;
you were potent against poison and infection;
you were potent against the hateful ones going through the land.
And you, waybread (plaintain), mother of herbs,
open to the east, mighty within,
carts creaked over you, queens rode over you,
brides cried out over you, oxen snorted over you.
You withstood all that and fought back;
so you withstand poison and infection
and the hateful ones going through the land.
This herb is called the nettle; it grew on a stone;
it stood against poison; it fights off pain.
It is called strong, it fights against poison,
it drives off the hostile, casts out poison.
This is the herb that fought against the serpent;
this is potent against poison, it is potent against infection,
it is potent against the hateful ones going through the land.
And you, now, betony, though lesser, conquer the greater;
greater, conquer the lesser, till both are cured.
Remember,mayweed, what you made known,
what you ordained at Alorford:
that no one's life be given up to infection
after anyone has prepared him mayweed as food.
This is the herb called lamb's cress:
the seal sent it over the sea's back
as remedy for the horror of the second poison.
These nine are potent against nine poisons.
A serpent came creeping, he bit a man;
then Woden took nine glory-twigs
and struck the serpent into nine pieces.
Apple and poison there brought about
that it would never enter into any house.
The wise Lord created the two mighty
herbs, thyme and finnel, when he was hanging;
he made them and sent them into the seven worlds
as a remedy for rich and poor alike.
It stood against pain, it fights against poison,
it is potent against the three and the thirty,
against enemy's hand and against sudden guile,
against the enchantment of evil creatures.
Now these nine herbs are potent against the nine who've fled from glory,
against nine poisons and against nine infections,
against the red poison, against the running poison,
against the white poison, against the purple poison,
against the yellow poison, against the green poison,
against the dark poison, against the purple poison,
against the brown poison, against the scarlet poison,
against serpent-swelling, against water-swelling,
against thorn-swelling, against thistle-swelling,
against icy swelling, against poison-swelling,
if any poison comes flying from the east
or any poison comes from the north
or any from the west over the nation of men.
Christ stood above sickness of every kind.
I alone know the running stream
where the nine serpents dwell nearby.
All weeds will grow up as herbs,
and the seas, all salt water, will dissipate,
when I blow this poison away from you.
THE PREPARATION
Mugwort, waybread that is open to the east, lamb's cress, betony, mayweed, nettle, crab-apple, thyme and finnel, old soap. Make the herbs into a powder, mix with the soap and with the apple's juice. Make a paste of water and ashes, take the finnel, boil in the paste and heat it with beaten eggs; then let him put on the salve, both before and after. Sing the charm over each of the herbs three times before he makes it, and over the apple as well; and sing the same charm both in the man's mouth and in his ear and over the wound before he puts on the salve.
{From the Old English Herbarium. The Old English Herbarium is a free translation of the late classical "Herbarium of Apuleius," though the attribution to the second-century philosopher Luc ius Apuleius is false. Compare the charms with the kind of medical science the Middle Ages had inherited from the classical world.
