Plant Witchery: Discover the Sacred Language, Wisdom, and Magic of 200 Plants - Juliet Diaz 2020

Arrowhead Sagittaria latifolia
A Compendium of Plants

ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES

healing, strength, courage, protection

This aquatic tuber has leaves that look like—you guessed it—large arrowheads. These leaves are very long and thin, clumping up above the water, while the tuber below remains immersed. Like many plants, arrowhead contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which can cause extreme pain if eaten raw—so just make sure your pets don’t go snacking on it. If arrowhead is cooked properly, the crystals dissolve.

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

Many Native American tribes have worked with arrowhead to relieve headaches. A poultice made from the roots can treat wounds and sores, while a tea made with dried roots can calm digestion. The leaves can treat skin conditions. Arrowhead tubers are highly nutritional and contain a great deal of phosphorous, which is needed for bone growth.

MAGICAL PROPERTIES

Arrowhead works best in a vision journey, a meditative state that allows you to travel to different realms and spaces. Traveling into the inner universe is her expertise. Allow her to take you into the spaces left untouched, the spaces rotting within you. She will find them, and she will guide you in the journey to mending them.

Arrowhead is best kept in your bedroom to help you heal during the night. If your children are suffering from bullying or any other troubles, she can protect their hearts and heal their thoughts. I also keep a few in my meditation space, for healing work.

PLANT WISDOM

Arrowhead’s superpowers are in healing trauma—and giving you the strength, courage, and protection you need to do this healing work. Is healing Magic? Of course it is. Healing is mending, shifting one energy to another, and when we heal ourselves, we amplify our inner power, opening space for the things we desire most of all. This is why many Indigenous peoples believe that healing must come before anything else. Healing leaves you with your truest self, your most powerful self.

Set arrowhead next to you as you write in your journal, meditate with her, and even bring her to the bathroom when you take a self-love bath. She will gently guide you, while at the same time striking viciously at the ghosts that live within you.