Myth and Folklore: Loosestrife and Lupine

Like a lot of plants, loosestrife has some folklore in the Dark Side, where magic was a life force and your soul was often at stake. And it played both sides of the ethereal fence.

Wizards and sorcerers used it as a tool to harness evil spirits to do their evil bidding. (Good deeds are just that, good deeds, but bad deeds are evil bidding ... hmmm, I sense a prejudice here.)

On the other hand, the good guys used loosestrife to drive away those very same evil spirits as well as witches and others of an ill persuasion. It was also used to guard treasure. An herb of such power, whether for good or evil, was bound to be regarded with fear and awe, such as in Russia, where that is exactly how it was regarded, with fear and awe. (Do you get the feeling I'm trying to pad my word total?)

In a more rural, beast of burden vein, a sprig of loosestrife tucked beneath the yokes of quarrelling oxen was believed to calm them. (My question is: how do you know when oxen are quarreling?) It was also considered efficacious in ridding animals of flies and gnats; it was burned to drive away mosquitoes; it was believed the smell of the plant was offensive to snakes, thus keeping them away.

Loosestrife also had its place in folk medicine. It was once widely used as a remedy for dysentery and for all manner of bleeding, whether internal or external. It was a popular remedy for rheumatism and gout in Britain, and in Ireland it was used in general for healing.

Lupine has not had much luck breaking into the myth and folklore circuit. It has had its folk uses, but nothing remotely magical has ever been attributed to it.

The use of lupine-flour soap was mentioned in Arabian Nights, and the seeds of one species were once used for food in the Old World.

As per that old familiar doctrine of signatures, lupine was used in the 17th century to treat nervous disorders and kidney problems. It was also used to treat hand and finger conditions.

The Navajo People used lupine in curing sterility, and they also believed it helped in producing female children. (I guess that could be considered a bit of magic, huh?) The Navajo also made a remedy for boils from lupine seeds.

It's not a lot, as far as myth and folklore go, but it's interesting anyway.

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