Cleavers: the juiciest springtime plant

The magickal & medicinal properties of cleavers 🌱

Happy Ostara, beautiful people!

I hope you’re having an absolutely wonderful day. I started the spring equinox in the best way: by performing an Ostara ritual to promote love, protection and luck in my life. You can find the ritual in last week’s newsletter. I hope you enjoy it 🌸

And now for something a little different…

Welcome to my new blog series – Wild Wellbeing – where I discuss the healing properties of plants and wildflowers, and how we can work with them to heal ourselves from the stresses of the modern world.

For the first blog in this series, we’re focusing on cleavers – the juiciest lunar plant on the forest floor. I’ll also be giving you a healing cleavers recipe right at the end of this email.

Let’s delve in.

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All about cleavers

Spring is officially here – today! And I know we’ve all been anticipating the season with excitement after a very (overly) long winter. A few weeks ago, I wrote about about the very first signs of spring before the equinox hits. Cleavers (Galium aparine), also known as ‘goosegrass’ or ‘sticky willy’ here in the UK, is another of those first verdant signs of the season.

Pushing up from the ground in woodlands, hedgerows, and meadows, vibrant cleavers looks almost too green after three months of bare land. But there it is, those slender erect lime-green stems with their sticky, spiralled leaves look like something slightly alien!

You may have heard of cleavers being referred to as ‘sticky willy’ because of its ability to stick to just about everything! The miniature hooks on its stems and leaves (as well as its seeds in the form of hard, round burrs) make it stick to socks, rucksacks, jeans, everything – so that after a hike you may find yourself covered in long tendrils. I always enjoy whacking a bit onto my husband’s back and seeing how long he takes to notice 😅

Like many spring plants, cleavers thrives in damp and shady environments (just take a look at lesser celandine or wood anemone), soaking up the limited sunlight through gaps in the woodland canopy or through the thorns of the hawthorn hedges. I love this ‘shrinking violet’ aspect of cleavers because I feel like it fits well with its astrological correspondence.

Medicinal and magickal benefits

Cleavers is a lunar plant ruled by the astrological sign of Cancer. A retreating water sign that’s filled with emotion, I love that cleavers hides away on the forest floor, testing the waters – as it were – before it starts to stretch out its limbs and get comfortable.

Ruled over by the moon and the Classical element of Water, cleavers is seen as a plant that embodies the feminine, opposed to the thirstier, masculine sun-loving plants that thrive in full sunshine.

As a natural diuretic and lymphatic tonic, cleavers support the body's detoxification processes, helping to flush out toxins and impurities. Additionally, its anti-inflammatory properties make it a valuable ally in soothing skin irritations and reducing swelling. Scientific research has validated many of these traditional uses, shedding light on the efficacy of cleavers in treating conditions such as urinary tract infections and lymphatic congestion.

[pic taken from eatweeds.co.uk]