The Nine Anglo-Saxon Healing Herbs

This year, I'm preparing for a Viking-adjacent encampment at Midgard at the Mill in November.

During this event, I'll be hosting the Quest for Silk and Steel, an interactive adventure starting at the encampment and ending in a Persia/Byzantium-adjacent area.

In the Viking area, I'll have the forge, tablet weaving, sprang weaving, and an herbal area.

The herbs will focus on the herbs in the Nigon Wyrta Galdor: Nine Herbs Spell.

Mugwort, plantain, lamb's cress, nettles, chamomile, crab apple, fennel, and then herbs of some debate.

Two already grow wild in our yard.

Broadleaf plantain: we use it for stings!

The first is plantain, called "waybread" in the poem.

 Ond þu ƿegbrade ƿyrta modor

east[a]n op[e]ne inn[a]n mihtigu

ofer ðy cræte curran ofer ðy cƿene reodan

ofer ðy bryde bryodedon ofer ðy fearras fnærdon.

Eallum þu þon ƿiðstode and ƿiðstunedestswa

ðu ƿiðstonde attre and onflyge

and þæm laðan þe geond lond fereð :

"And you, wegbrade, mother of worts,

open to the east—within, mighty,

over you carts creaked, over you women rode,

over you brides yelled, over you oxen snorted.

All you withstood and pushed back against,

so might you withstand venom and on-fliers,

and the loathsome one that fares across land."

This stuff grows wild in the Southeast, and people treat it like a useless weed. My mom makes a tincture, and we use it on stings and bites. You can also chew it up and use the chewed part on the sting if you're in a pinch.

The second plant we have isn't in the body of the poem (unless I misunderstand the herbs), but it's mentioned in the recipe at the bottom.

Stinging nettles

Netelan or nettles

"Mucgwyrt, wegbrade that is open eastward, lombescyrse, āttorlāðan, mageðan, netelan, wood-sour-apple [wudusūræppel], fille, and finul, old soap; work the plants to dust, mix with the soap and the apple muck [gor].

Make a paste of water and ashes. Take finol and boil it into the paste [place fennel into boiling paste?]. Bathe [The wound?] with an egg mixture [when] he applies the salve, before and after."

My mom SWEARS by stinging nettle tea, and I agree with her. It provides a different energy from caffeine and is supposed to help with inflammation.

Stinging nettles can also make fabric--the processing is similar to that of flax.

The plant is also great for discouraging trespassing. The "stinging" part is not a lie.

My mom also grows chamomile and fennel--the list isn't very mysterious.

Check out the poem and grow your own herbs this year! Make sure you go to reliable sources. AI slop is strong in the herbalism realm.