For a plant that isn’t typically known for its beauty, you probably wouldn’t expect lemon verbena to be quite the charmer.
This Th-HERBS-day, we honor lemon verbena, (Aloysia triphylla).
It’s a member of the vervain (Verbenaceae) family and native to Chile and Argentina.
You may hardly notice it in nature, but its strong sweet lemon scent usually gives away its position.
Brewed with honey, it makes a candy-flavored tea, closely resembling the flavor of Lemonheads.
Plus, this candy-flavored tea can surprisingly help control weight gain.
If you’re familiar with lemon verbena in spell crafting, it’s likely you’ve used it for love, lust, and protection workings.
But did you know that lemon verbena can comfort your aura and release anxiety?
Incorporating lemon verbena into your craft can do wonders for your practice and your own energy.
Yet, it can be a fickle herb to work with if it’s bored of your workings.
Let’s take a look at lemon verbena’s story and learn about the spirit behind its character.
Lemon Verbena In History
Lemon verbena was introduced from the New World to the Old, so you won’t find it easily in older grimoires.
It has a tendency to do poorly in colder climates, so its medicinal background is still being discovered.
When the Spanish discovered it in Argentina and Chile, they fell in love with its intimate scent.
Subsequently, it was cultivated and manufactured to use in body oils, soaps, and perfumes.
Today it is farmed commercially in France and North Africa and used for delicate teas and perfumes.
In herbal medicine, it is used as a digestive aid and claimed to have a tonic effect on the stomach and intestines.
Recently it’s been found to have light sedative properties and promote repair of connective tissues like muscle and collagen.
You might notice lemon verbena in many weight loss supplements as it is a popular herb that assists in fat burning.
In culinary work, chefs love to use lemon verbena as a lemony seasoning for fish and poultry dishes.
If you like baking, you can use it as a subtle ingredient in many sweet baking recipes like pound cakes, zucchini bread, and muffins.
Also, for wild-flower inspired landscaping, its beautifully dainty blooms can add a nice subtle color and aroma to the yard’s ambiance.
To learn more about its medicinal properties, check out the list of health benefits described in this video here.
Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Liquid Hand Soap Refill Biodegradable Lemon Verbena, 33oz
Witchery With Lemon Verbena
Like many Mercurial plants, lemon verbena has the capability to ease and relax your nerves.
Using wind to transfer its scent, it associates with strong air properties but it’s not long sustained.
It loves to entice passersbys with its beckoning aroma and soothe them with its spell-binding scent.
This powerful air-driven energy strongly connects to masculine Libra traits and can serve beautifully in love and lust magick.
Lemon verbena has a spirit that sedates your mind so that you can pointedly focus on manifesting.
Wonderfully light, hypnotic, seductive, and excellent for sending out your intentions quickly to speed up your workings.
It works well with most other plants but you must ensure the energies between the herbs are well balanced.
Working with too many herbs that are ruled by restrictive planets could overpower and snuff out lemon verbena’s energy.
Most importantly, you’ll want to refrain from working with it on full moons, because the Moon is the enemy of Mercury.
In addition, if you find that its effects are irregular, it’s usually because it can get bored if utilized for redundant tasks.
Keeping your workings varied with lemon verbena stimulates its energy, motivating and strengthening its engagement.
Adding it to your daily tea is a great way to connect to the herb, as this invites it into your aura.
Ingesting lemon verbena regularly, allows it to bind to your energy to gain an understanding of your subconscious needs.
Doing this builds a closer relationship with the herb and gives it more interest in working with your future practices.
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (Llewellyn’s Sourcebook Series) (Cunningham’s Encyclopedia Series, 1)
Lemon Verbena’s Energetic Properties
This list of lemon verbena’s properties is an extremely helpful guide to assist you in spell crafting and rituals.
The energy of the herb is heightened when planned carefully with corresponding days, seasons, zodiacs, etc.
Here are 18 energetic properties associated with lemon verbena:
1. Planet: Mercury
2. Zodiac Sign: Gemini, Virgo
3. House: 3rd and 6th
4. Element: Air
5. Gender Energy: Masculine
6. Chakra: Vishuddha/Throat (Blue)
7. Archangel: Raphael
8. Deity: Hermes (Greek), Freya, Freyr, Sif (Norse), Turms (Etruscan)
9. Sabbat: Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh
10. Season: Summer
11. Day: Wednesday
12. Body: Nervous System, Bowels, Hands, Arms, Shoulders, Collarbone, Tongue, Sight, Perception, Understanding, Interpretation, and Expression
13. Rune: Raidu, Kauna, Isa, Jera
14. Numerology: 5
15. Fae: Fairy
16. Major Arcana: The Lovers, The Magician, The Hermit
17. Minor Arcana: Swords
18. Cartomancy: Spades
Cultivating Lemon Verbena
You can easily grow lemon verbena by propagation.
You won’t see many seeds produced by this plant naturally, however you can pollinate the plant yourself to encourage seed production.
All you need to do is use a cotton swab to lightly graze over each and every flower.
Keep in mind that you need to collect the small dust of pollen from the center of the flowers.
As you graze new flowers attempt to gently brush a bit of the pollen dust on each one.
Unless you live in zones 9 or 10, you may run into trouble attempting to grow these guys outside.
It’s likely you will grow them in containers, so be sure to plant them in loamy soil and feed regularly.
In the warmer months you can place the containers outside but do this on a hard surface like concrete.
This keeps the plant from rooting itself in the soil, which could be detrimental when tearing them to bring indoors.
Lemon verbena tends to get infested with spider mites and whitefly but using neem oil will keep this at bay.
Happy Th-HERBS-day!
