Veratrum & the Deepest Fears
This plant is best known as False Hellebore, but I have a lot of hang-ups about how and why we’ve named plants. One of my dislikes is comparing one plant name to another, as in the case of using "False" to describe something. False Hellebore, False Solomon’s Seal, False Lily-of-the-Valley. I feel like they’re putting the plant in the shadow of another and not letting it stand on own. False Hellebore was given that name because its toxic properties were similar to the Hellebores in Europe. It is a completely different plant and doesn’t even share a family with Hellebore. I’ve chosen to call this plant Veratrum when I work with it, which is its genus name. The one I write about here is Veratrum viride, or Green Veratrum. I’m fine with whatever you call it; this is just a personal choice and I wanted to explain why I refer to it as something different than the norm.
Veratrum starts out early in the year, with its shoots emerging around the same time as the spring ephemerals. It grows into a beautiful little tuft of bright green leaves that alternate off a single stem. The simple leaves have deep veins that run lengthwise from base to tip, and each leaf seems to twist just slightly in its own way, giving the whole plant a lot of dimension and movement. By the end of spring, some plants will send up a stalk of cascading green flowers that can reach up to 6 feet tall. The clusters of flowers seem to shoot off like tiny streams of fireworks, eventually drooping downwards as the new buds open. Each flower is under 1” in size, with six green petals that mimic the shape, color, and veining of the leaves. It also has six yellow anthers in the center of each flower, which is really the only non-green color on this entire plant.
There are a lot of random accounts of medicinal use for this plant throughout history, but the biggest consistency was its use as an analgesic. Many Indigenous people used this plant topically to relieve pain. It also has a sedative quality, slowing the heart rate and reducing blood pressure. Modern medicine has turned to this plant to use as an insecticide, which tells you something about its potency. During my time sitting with it, I was surprised at how many insects were attracted to it, maybe to the point of obsession. The way they circled it and feasted on it reminded me almost of a type of worship. I counted over two dozen different types of insects that visited it, some of which had even laid eggs tucked in the deep crevases of the leaves. Notably, one insect bit my hand while I was taking a video of Veratrum, as if protecting it (or warning me?). Many things about this plant seem to indicate a complicated relationship.
One of the most interesting complexities of Veratrum has been studied in livestock, especially in sheep. Livestock can experience the poison symptoms if they eat this plant. They can have foaming at the mouth, vomiting, a change in their breathing and heartbeat, and can even lead to comas or convulsions. All of this can be treated with epinephrine, which is hormone and neurotransmitter also known as adrenaline. However, there have been several scientific studies that prove pregnant sheep who ingest this plant will give birth to offspring with severe mutations. Some fetuses become so mutated that giving birth isn’t possible at all; they grow to sizes that the mother’s body cannot handle. Limbs become shortened and appear in different places, jaws are either too big or underdeveloped, noses are elongated like a proboscis, and eyes are often merged into a single eye, also called cyclopia. I have included photos of some of the malformations from the study below, but please skip them if you are uncomfortable because they can be difficult to look at.
Combing through the documentation of these studies left me thinking a lot about monsters. If we look at how monsters are depicted in movies, books, and folklore, they are usually based on what someone perceives as a physical abnormality, and then magnified into something that plays into our fears. These baby lambs have enough abnormalities that they could easily be labeled as a real-life monster and are uncomfortable to look at. But the alternate side of this is from the lamb’s perspective: they are in a great deal of suffering themselves. While we focus on our own discomfort towards them, we have to keep in mind that they’re actually completely harmless to us and their bodies cannot even sustain being alive. Why are we afraid of this?
Given what it can do to the physical body, it's not surprising how potent the spirit of Veratrum can be. It can go deep, stirring everything up until it comes to the surface to be dealt with. It is great at illuminating and amplifying the fears you’ve held onto and adapted your life around, and it does this quickly. The speed at which it works can easily knock someone off their guard. Similar to how moldavite is thought to be a catalyst for change in the mineral world, I suspect Veratrum could hold this role amongst the plant kingdom. It finds a way to provoke you that is difficult to ignore, and it’s able to target even the things that have been buried so deep, they feel almost engrained in your life and difficult to separate from.
Both this technique and this plant itself remind me of The Tower card in tarot. The card that signifies sudden upheaval, major changes, potential difficulty - all of which can be necessary to redirect someone onto a path that resonates more truly with who they are. Veratrum’s leaves alternate off the stem and have enough curvature to make me think of steps going upward in a spiral. When the plant produces flowers, it sends up a giant stem with dozens of flowers shooting off of it in all directions, similar to the lightning strike or fire depicted in many of the tower cards. As the flowers mature, the weight begins to pull the flowers down. They begin to droop, or look like they’re falling, like the person falling out of the tower. While this card often makes people uneasy because it signifies a major disruption, it can also be embraced as a necessary clearing so that something new may begin, built to support your present-day needs. Veratrum works similarly to interrupt deep-seated emotional conditioning that no longer serves you, especially relating to your fears.
Although we can all rationalize why we are afraid certain things, fear does not need to dictate your life. Sometimes we fear things we don’t need to, sometimes we fear the unknown as an excuse to stay someplace that isn’t working for us, sometimes we let other’s fears influence our own. Sometimes we fear ourselves, for the monstrous things we have done that make us think we are unlovable, unworthy, or required to suffer as an atonement. It’s a complex subject to untangle, and frankly, it’s one we usually don’t prioritize. There are times that we would rather adapt around our deep seated fears than go through the tumultuous path to release them, even if it would ultimately bring a more fulfilling life.
One of my teachers taught about a meditation practice in Tibetan Buddhism called Chöd, which means “to cut or sever” in relation to the inner hindrances we carry around. I have turned to this practice when facing my own deep seated fears that no longer helped me. When I find myself blindly reacting instead of feeling like I can make my own decisions about a fear, I go to this approach. It is about facing the things that are plaguing you head on - but instead of fighting against them, it becomes about surrendering to them. In this process of surrender there is a letting go that brings about a freedom from these hindrances and also allows you to see them in a new light.
Confess your hidden faults.
Approach what you find repulsive.
Help those you don’t want to help.
Anything you are attached to, give that.
Go to the places that scare you.
– Five Slogans of Machig Labdrön, creator of Chöd
While not many people want to venture into their own darkness to face what monsters are looking back at them, it can ultimately offer a release from fear. It gives you a chance to change the narrative and decide what you want to continue to hold. And the more fear you release from yourself, the more room you are given to become stronger, more self-assured, and more steady as you continue on in your life. Who would you be if your fears weren’t holding you back?
So while Veratrum can be an intimidating plant that is capable of turning baby lambs into movie-like monsters, it can also be a valuable friend for those who are ready to clear the skeletons out of their closet and reframe their fears into something that better enhances their lives. Just because you had reason to fear something doesn’t mean you have to be tethered to it. We are growing all of the time and you are a different person now. You can let go, amend, forgive - even if this is towards yourself. You have the choice to make it what you want, and Veratrum can help you confront it.
Disclaimer: This article is about working with the energetics of this plant and does not encourage ingesting the actual plant.
