By Maranda Wabik
Plant Name: Common Name: Centaury, Feverwort, Christ’s Ladder, and European Centaury. The perennial Centaury is also known as Blushwort, Pink Gentian, or Squill-leaved Centaury.
Plant Name: Latin Name: Centaurium erythraea
Plant Name: Synonyms: Centaurium minus, C. umbellatum, Erythraea centaurium
Botanical Description: Centaury is an annual/biennial herb, which also has a perennial variety that can grow as large as 0.3 m (1ft) by 0.2 m (0ft 8in). Centaury flowers from June to October, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The species contains both male and female plant organs and is self-fertile because of its hermaphrodite nature. Centaurium is commonly pollinated by bees, flies, and beetles and has pink five-petaled flowers with bright yellow anthers. The flowers usually appear in clusters but can be found solitary as well. The fruit is a many-seeded, cylindrical capsule. The leaves are roundish and stalked in opposite pairs up the stems.
Taxonomy: Order: Gentianales
Taxonomy: Family: Gentianaceae
Ethnobotany: The primary Ethnobotany that is known for centaury, when it pertains to the use of the herb by native peoples would be that it is one of the Nine Sacred Herbs of the Celts. In this case, the native people would be those, such as the Druids, who practiced magickal and spiritual rites in Celtic lands before the dawn of Christianity.
Plant Herstory (History): Centaury’s very name denotes a possible connection to the Greek mythic creature, the Centaur, a half-man and half-horse being. I personally would associate her with the Centaur, Chiron, who was a great tutor of heroes! Chiron famously tutored heroes including Achilles and Jason. He is also the one who tutored a young Heracles, even if the Disney Hercules film chose to not include him as a character. In fact, mythologically Chiron was killed after attempting to help Heracles during his famed 12 Labors. Much of the knowledge held by Centaurs was used to inspire J.K. Rowling in how she would go on to portray them in the Harry Potter Series. Even the fact that Centaurs were able to divine through the stars seems to be a reference to the fact the Chiron exists in the night sky. He was memorialized there along with many other Greek mythic figures, which is why you will see a Chiron placement on your birth chart! Most prominently, as mentioned above, centaury was one of the Nine Sacred Herbs of the Celts. It was often used as a strewing herb, in baths, and to keep pests at bay. The association with the Celts means that centaury very well may have been used by Druids, but even more important to me, she very well may have been used by the Priestesses of Avalon! I like to think that Avalonian Priestesses used all of the Nine Sacred Herbs of the Celts; after all, Nine has long been associated with being the number of Avalon herself. There is much association with centaury being an herb of the Witch and an ally of the Priestess. The leaf is the primary part of the plant used magickly and medicinally. Centaury has associations with the Sun, with the element of Fire, and with the Masculine gender by extension of that (even if I have been referring to centaury as feminine, I use that connection because I feel her as feminine). I find that her energy is very much like the Celtic Moon Goddesses, who were once associated with the Sun, like Aine and Rhiannon! Rhiannon’s link to horses and centaury’s link to Centaurs may also provide an overlap of this Divine Feminine Solar connection. Finally, I want to mention the old folk magickal use for centaury. It has long been associated with dreams and dream work, making it a psychic plant in many ways, lending to its Priestess, Enchantress, and Sorceress qualities. It was used for protection against snakes, spiders, ants, and other pests. This snake removal quality is one of the most known things about centaury at this time.
Cultivation: Centaury is suitable for light and medium soils (known as sandy and loamy soils). She prefers well-drained soil but can also grow in nutritionally poor soil. She prefers dry or moist soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral, and basic soils (also known as mildly alkaline soils). She can grow in semi-shade or no shade. This makes the light woodland a good place to find centaury.
Wildcrafting Information: Habitats: Specific places that are good to find centaury while wildcrafting include a woodland garden on the sunny edge; in the dappled shade; on the shady edge of the forest; and in a meadow. You can find centaury in open woods, meadows, dry grasslands, and often in places with chalky soils. She is found in the range of Europe, including Britain, from Sweden to the Mediterranean, and east to Southwest Asia.
Preparation Methods: The plant is used as a flavoring in bitter herbal liqueurs and is an ingredient of vermouth. Centaury can also be used to make tea to aid in digestion.
Pharmacognosy (pharmacology): The constituents of Centaurium that I could find are xanthonoids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and fatty acids. These are considered classes of secondary metabolites.
Indications: diabetes, fever, rhinitis, stomach ailments, urinary tract infections, dyspeptic complaints, loss of appetite, and hemorrhoids.
Actions: antibacterial, antioxidant, antifungal, antileishmanial, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal, diuretic, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, dermatoprotective, neuroprotective, diuretic, and inhibitory agent for larval development.
Administration and Duration of Use: Herbal preparations: comminuted herbal substance, powdered herbal substance, liquid extract (1:1; ethanol 25% v/v) D), tincture (1:5; ethanol 70% v/v). Well-established use includes being a comminuted herbal substance such as herbal tea or other herbal preparations in liquid (or menstruum). As for the duration of use, centaury should not be used if the symptoms persist longer than 2 weeks during the use of the herb. At that point, a doctor or a qualified health care practitioner should be consulted.
Side Effects: May cause mild abdominal discomfort and cramps. Safety during pregnancy and lactation has not been established.
Contraindications: Centaury is contraindicated in clients with peptic ulcers. As stated in side effects, pregnancy, and lactation may be a contraindication of Centaurium, but whether or not it has uterine tonic actions has yet to be solidified.
Personal Commentary: Ever since Centaury came up in a Tarot reading performed for me, I began to seek out a relationship with this very magickal and sacred plant. I believe that part of why centaury came forward as a plant desiring to build a bond with me is because I am astrologically a Virgo, both Sun and Moon, and Virgo is the sign of the Priestess. It makes sense that a Priestess plant would seek out a bond with me for that reason. Additionally, I have a Leo Ascendant sign, but my astrological Chiron is also in Leo, meaning I have the Centaur of the Zodiac in my Sun-ruled sign, just as centaury is ruled by the Sun! When I first got my hands on some centaury, I chose to make a tea of the single herb. That proved to be one way that centaury does not work for me, as even though I love bitter things, centaury alone is insanely bitter, and I could only drink about a third of a cup. However, after that misfire, I did have extremely good digestion for several days, proving her ability as a digestive aid. Next, I moved on to using centaury in a bath, which proved to aid in relaxation and promoted psychic ability during meditation during and after bathing. I followed that up by using it to dress my spell candles. I have been doing this religiously since, as centaury combined with rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) essential oil and mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) oil infusion base really pack a candle magick punch. I found this to be especially potent for any type of Shadow Work and in combination with Divination. I have also used centaury in several psychic tea blends during my Dark Moon and Full Moon rituals since I began to build a relationship with her. When centaury is mixed with other herbs, the bitterness is cut, and this is especially true when I blend centaury with aromatic herbs like lavender (Lavandula officinalis) and rosemary, making for a very potent psychic tea blend that helps in trance work, astral projection (or crossing the hedge), and communion with Goddesses of Avalon. Finally, I added centaury to my Rosemary Priestess Hair Tonic, to add a magickal Enchantress and Sorceress edge to the concoction. In conclusion, I have been truly adoring getting to know centaury and finding interesting ways to incorporate this herb, which has quickly become a favorite, into as much of my magickal Faery Enchantress life as possible.
Resources:
Image Source is Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_Centaurium_erythraea0.jpg
https://commonwealthherbs.com/centaury-herb-of-the-week/
https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/KentaurosKheiron.html
https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/centau46.html
https://www.peacehealth.org/medical-topics/id/hn-3655009
http://www.wildflowerweb.co.uk/plant/2820/perennial-centaury
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Centaurium+erythraea
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874121003986
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/herbal-monograph/european-union-herbal-monograph-centaurium-erythraea-rafn-sl-herba_en.pdf
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/herbal-monograph/draft-community-herbal-monograph-centaurium-erythraea-rafn-herba_en.pdf
https://escop.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2016/06/Centaury.pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37948163/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37582477/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37259391/
https://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/natural-health-guide/benefits/centaury
The Herbal Alchemist’s Handbook by Karen Harrison
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham
