Confession: I am still new to this whole herbalist life. However, ever since the door to the plant path opened for me, my worldview has shifted immensely. My connection with my surroundings feels much deeper. It is an honor and a complete delight to watch as the scenery changes each year. Not only with seasonal shifts, but also annual differences. These last few years have taught me to notice the subtleties of particular growth patterns, who is blooming, who seems to be the star of the moment, and what message the earth around me trying to send. Nothing is accidental and everything has a role. Once you begin to understand this is the language of plants; it allows you to get a taste of the magic of the universe as a whole. Their intelligence is mind blowing and our attempt at comprehension is just scratching the surface, or in some cases we translate to appease our own desires, but that’s a story for another day. The story for today is yarrow, our lovely friend who in my eyes is the star of the summer.
Just like a fireworks show, wildflowers and plants begin their show as the weather warms and the sun shines longer, blessing us with spring then summer. In my area and my perception things this year began with wild mustard and the show began to pop off. While you can predict who will show up, you never know how much or what the phases will bring. Some plants only flower in the second year and some need an instigator like soil disruption or fire to awaken their growth. When watching a particular area or even your own front yard, things change every year. You never know when a plant ally will show up. For example, motherwort blessed my yard this year & I am soooooo grateful. Whether a bird angel dropped some seed or it just blew into my life on the wind, my garden is forever changed. This is the magic of plants and nature.
One of my mentors told me about the secret language of plants and it really stuck with me. They mentioned that they should have known we were headed into a phase where the respiratory system was going to need a lot of help due to the plants they saw growing in abundance. Mullein was one ally that has continued to really show up over the last few years. In hindsight, Queen Ann’s Lace was notably prolific last year. Road sides, fields, you name it were full of the wispy white lace saucers. Did it know we might need its powers this year? Did is sense an attack on the reproductive system? How do you engage with their messages when you have to be thinking ahead, allowing them to help you predict the future. This year, instead of Central Wisconsin roadsides being filled with Queen Ann’s Lace I was intrigued to find my drives across Wisconsin to be FILLED with yarrow.
In order to attempt to translate its message, let’s take a step back and understand what we know about yarrow. Starting with plant identification, yarrow’s latin name helps you remember some key features since white wild flowers can be a very tricky topic. With that being said, plant ID is CRITICAL if you are going to forage yarrow! You must feel 100% confident in your ID skills since there are a few unfriendly look alikes. While this is a serious note, yarrow does have key features that are extremely helpful.
I am going to explain this in my own lingo. Please consult your favorite guide books and several references so that you can develop your own lingo as well. This will ensure that you understand what you are looking at and for in your own perspective of the plant. When I was first starting out I confused yarrow with Queen Ann’s lace. Thankfully this was not a harmful error, but looking back I needed to study a bit more before heading out foraging.
As I mentioned before, in the case of yarrow starting with the latin name tells you some helpful tips for plant identification. Achillea millefolium, millefolium referring to the apparent thousands of leaflets coming off of the leaf base stem structure. This looks feathery or even like mini squirrel tails. For the most part, yarrow is short (1-3 feet tall) a lot of times growing below knee height, but this year I have seen it growing to its max potential along roadsides. Yarrow thrives in full sun to partial shade and blooms from May to July. Along with leaf structure, the composition of flowers/buds is another key feature in white flowered plant ID. In yarrow’s case, somewhat dense clusters of flowers form from a stem that multiplies at is reaches to top. It starts with the base stem and then almost has a tiny separate stem for each small white flower. The clusters are slightly firm to the touch with 10-40 mini white flowers. Yarrow does come in various colors (white, yellow, pink, red), each with their own energetics, but the predominant wild flower in my region is white. The scent of yarrow is described as sweet pine, but once you positively ID the plant you can develop your own description. Yarrow leaves and flowers are bitter, notiably part of the aster/daisy family. Caution for allergies along with improper plant identification, specifically poison hemlock, which should not be touched or smelled. Nature’s Garden by Samuel Thayer breaks down the differences excellently.
Now that we know what plants we are looking at, we can move on to the message it is trying to send to us. My first thought was are we all going to be a bleeding mess next year, but I discussed this topic with a friend and she reminded me of the energetic properties of yarrow and that reset my focus a bit. Let’s discuss both.
The reason my the first thought my overly dramatic brain had was worrying that we all will bleed to death is because yarrow is a reliable wild medicine ally. Yarrow can be added to your wilderness medicine/first aid kit or if you are hiking it can be used in emergencies. This is because it can stop bleeding and has antimicrobial powers. However, The Holistic Herbalism Podcast did note that the small particles of yarrow are not always easy to get out of wounds, so yarrow is better in an infused wound wash. I am currently making a plantain & yarrow powder infused witch hazel.
The prevention of bleeding is definitely not all that yarrow is known for. It is a mild diuretic, meaning it can help flush fluid off of the body. This can be helpful for individuals who struggle to manage their fluid either in congestive heart failure or high blood pressure. Its bitter nature can assist with digestion and reduce gas build up or cramping bellies. Another way it helps upset stomachs is through antispasmodic properties.
Combining a lot of what was just mentioned above, yarrow can be an ally to those who menstruate. The stimulating and sedative actions of yarrow excite uterine muscles while relaxing them, thus bringing on late periods or easing cramps when taken as a warm tea. Yarrow can be used in a sitz bath or in a postpartum pericare blend to help with healing/bleeding/episiotomy incisions and can tone the uterus after birth. Yarrow is also hormone balancing and promotes progesterone production and is useful for when menses in menopause are coming too frequently.
One last physical effect of yarrow is that it is a very helpful fever aide. By drinking yarrow in a tea blend, preferable with some immune boosting allies like hibiscus or elderberry that will help improve tea flavor, the body is encouraged to sweat and work through what it needs too. There is a place for fever in the illness process, but sometimes you need some relief. Yarrow helps the immune reaction of sweating it out take place in a supportive way that can help illness move through faster in some cases.
Now let’s move on to the energetic properties of yarrow. These can be captured in a flower essence, but also have some effects when you interact with yarrow, grow yarrow near your home, and work with yarrow as a plant ally. Below is an excerpt from my materia medica and sources will be included at the end of this post.
Flower Essence:
White yarrow: Strengthens and protects against toxic environmental influences, geopathic stress, and other hazards of technology-dominated modern life. This includes the disruptive effects of radiation on human energy fields from X-rays, televisions, computer monitors, electromagnetic fields, airplane flights or nuclear fall-out.
Golden yarrow: Positive qualities: Remaining open to others while staying self-contained; active social involvement which preserves inner equilibrium. Patterns of imbalance: Over-sensitivity to one’s social surroundings, resulting in social isolation, or a false social persona; dependence on drugs for protection or social masking
Pink Yarrow: boundary medicine for those who work in the healing field/work close emotionally with others. Positive qualities: Loving awareness of others within a field of self-contained consciousness; appropriate emotional boundaries. Patterns of imbalance: Unbalanced sympathetic forces, overly absorbent auric field, lack of emotional clarity, dysfunctional merging with others
End of story, yarrow is boundary medicine in many forms. In a world that seems to never stop, especially when we have technology involved, it helps us sit with our own energy, protecting us. So much of others opinions and emotions are thrust at us, telling us certain things are bad, be mad about this, the world is scary etc. etc., but when we sit with our own truth we can see clearer and realize that we are all, at our core, coming from the same place. At times we are divided by what our body looks like or what/where we identify with, but at the end of the day we truly all are just on a journey to try and experience joy, love, and the passions our soul drives us towards.
So whatever message yarrow is telling you, for some reason it is really calling out to me this year. From patches on my way to work that are persistently growing despite being mowed, to the roadsides on my drive across Wisconsin. Yarrow is here this year. What a blessing it is to grow along side it.
Sources:
Midwest Medicinal Plants – Lisa M. Rose
The Holistic Herbalism Podcast
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies – Nicole Apelian Ph.D & Claude Davis
Nature’s Garden – Samuel Thayer
https://www.brecks.com/product/Rainbow-Yarrow-Mixture
https://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/yarrowssummer-pastels.html
Apelian, N., &; Davis, C. (2021). The lost book of herbal remedies: The healing power of plant medicine.
Gladstar, R. (1995). Herbal healing for women. Prentice Hall.
Gladstar, R. (2012). Rosemary Gladstar’s medicinal herbs: A beginner’s guide. Storey Publishing.
Green, J. (2007). The male herbal. Crossing Press.
Harrison, K., & Murphy-Hiscock, A. (2020). The Herbal Alchemist’s Handbook: A
Complete Guide to Magickal herbs and how to use them. Red Wheel/Weiser.
Hoffman, D. (2003). Medical Herbalism. Healing Arts Press.
Jaworski, P. 2021, Green Wisdom School.
Kane, A. (2021). Herbal magic. Wellfleet Press,U.S.
Kindscher, K. (1992). Medicinal wild plants of the prairie: An ethnobotanical guide.
University Press of Kansas.
Kuhn, M. A., Winston, D., & Harold, D. M. A. (2001). Herbal therapy & supplements: a scientific & traditional approach. Lippincott.
Rose, L. M. (2017). Midwest medicinal plants: Identify, harvest, and use 109 wild herbs for health and Wellness. Timber Press, Inc.
Stafne, G. 2021. Green Wisdom Summer Field School.
Weed, S. S. (1992). Menopausal years: The wise woman way. Ash Tree Pub.
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https://www.etsy.com/listing/265007920/yarrow-botanical-illustration-giclee