Plant Devotional: Violet
Short, informal prayers of gratitude and curiosity toward plants and planets.
Sweetening, soothing, smoothing, softening violets. Violets of death, violets of life. Violets that move the waters of the body, the rivers of our emotions, the lymph that protects us and moves out what is no longer needed.
You could spend a lifetime reading violet stories. Violet, so slight in size, has made a big impact on the lives of humans. Associated with rebirth and springtime as well as funerary rites and the underworld, violets reflect the complexity of their planetary ruler Venus.
“Death is woven in with the violets,” said Louis. “Death and again death.”
— Virginia Woolf, The Waves (a favorite)
There are few plants that mean more to me than violets. I think this plant is such a gorgeous way to get to know one of Venus's many faces. Venus as a living and dying and living one. Venus and her synodic cycle — her visibility and invisibility. Like other springtime blooms, the connection with death here is about the inextricable tie between life and death. Violets, like Venus, resurface, emerging from their underworld journeys with the wisdom of below.
I was taught to work with violet when there are agitations of the heart, to soothe anxious, unsettled states. Sometime between 50-70 CE Dioscorides described violet as: "a little flower, very sweet, of a purple. It grows in shade rough places. It is cooling… helping a burning stomach, inflammation of the eyes... and an abscessed throat." In the 11th century, Ibn Sina wrote that violet was used for skin eruptions, cough, pleurisy, pneumonia, and inflamed swellings. Violet, like Venus, tempers the heat of Mars.
Violet can soften Saturn too. Violet helps disintegrate and mollify our rigid edges. As one example, herbalists have worked with violet as complementary care for people with tumors and fibroids. Violet has an affinity for the throat and chest, so it is often infused in oil and applied topically to breast tissue.
Violets, also called “heartease,” are teachers of emotional hardness as well, slowly, like a wave against a cliff side, eroding our destructive defenses. Violets reflect Venus’s power of softness to dissolve and destroy what is calcified and seems immovable. This is one of many ways the goddess of love and pleasure can be a goddess of death.
Violets can be found all over the world, often in open areas and woods. Be sure not to mistake violets for the poisonous larkspur (Delphinium tricorne) or monkshood (Aconitum uncinatum). The flowers and leaves are distinct but they are small and purple, so be cautious. It’s best to avoid the yellow violets as they can be irritating and are less abundant than their purple cousins.
Because violets have such an affinity for the water element, I prefer to work with them in a water infusion over tincture (1 tbsp per cup of water) especially if you’re looking for its moistening, lymphatic support action. However, violet makes a lovely tincture as well (1:5; 40% alcohol, 1-2 mL 1-3x a day). In both cases, work with the leaf and flower if available. I am usually working with the leaf. For tincture, fresh herb is best.
Cautions: violet roots are emetic and poisonous to humans, so they should not be ingested. Violet should not be consumed by people with the rare disorder glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, as the herb can aggravate hemolytic anemia (Blankespoor, 2016).
I often make an equal parts violet, marshmallow, calendula, and red clover infusion (1 tbsp per cup of water, steeped for 3+ hours) to increase moisture and bring gentle lymphatic stimulation. A violet, rose, and hawthorn tincture could be a supportive formula for those navigating destructive anger or hoping to soften a rigidity that may have had a purpose once but no longer does.
If violet calls to you, consider working with this plant daily or weekly. When in season, spend time with this being of purple resilience. Plant it. Work with violets in tea, tincture, oil, or as a syrup. Open the experience with a message of gratitude or a prayer to Venus, and the utterly transformational power of softening.
This devotional is as ever dedicated to violets and Venus, but also to another Violet — my best friend’s child — who is due to arrive any day now. Welcome sweet Violet to this wild green planet.
Sources
Blankespoor, J. (2016). Violet’s edible and medicinal uses. https://chestnutherbs.com/violets-edible-and-medicinal-uses/
Dioscorides. (2000). Dioscorides: De materia medica (T. Osbaldeston, Trans.). Johannesburg, South Africa: Ibidis. (Original work published 70 CE)
Rose, Kiva. Three Faces Under A Hood: The Many Aspects of Violet. https://enchantersgreen.com/violet
Sina, Ibn (1998). Canon of medicine: Book 2, materia medica (Department of Islamic Studies at Hamdard University, Trans.). New Delhi, India: Jamia Hamdard. (Original work published 1025).
Course materials and notes from my studies with The Commonwealth Center for Holistic Herbalism and The School of Evolutionary Herbalism
