Herbalism (Wortcunning)

This report item names the herbs a chart draws, in the tradition that assigns them: Nicholas Culpeper's seventeenth century planetary rulerships and Scott Cunningham's later, distinct magical attributions. The two genuinely disagree about many plants, so both are given and named rather than blended into one list. This page is historical and folkloric, and is not medical advice: no plant here is recommended for any condition.

History

Nicholas Culpeper, a seventeenth century English herbalist and astrologer, published his herbal in 1652, commonly known today as Culpeper's Complete Herbal, assigning a planetary ruler to each plant it describes and tying herbal medicine directly to astrological practice; the book shaped English language herbal writing for centuries after its first printing and remains in circulation today. Scott Cunningham, a twentieth century American author, published a separate and later reference, his 1985 Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, assigning plants their own distinct set of magical correspondences, planet, element, gender and traditional folk-magic use, aimed at a modern Wiccan and neopagan readership rather than at herbal medicine in Culpeper's sense.

The two systems, roughly three and a half centuries apart, disagree about a good many plants' planetary rulership, since they were built for different purposes by authors working from different sources; this report item names both attributions for a given plant where they diverge, rather than silently picking one or blending them into a single answer.

How A Reading Is Constructed

A reading finds the herbs a chart's placements draw under each of the two named systems, Culpeper's planetary rulerships and Cunningham's later magical correspondences, and names both attributions side by side, flagging plainly where the two genuinely disagree rather than resolving the disagreement into one answer. As the report item's own description states, this reading is historical and folkloric material, not medical advice, and no plant named here is a recommendation for any condition.

Where To Read More

• ChamomileFlowersChamomile.
• St Johns WortHerbsSt Johns Wort.
• RosemaryHerbsRosemary.