Goat's Rue | Bind the Promise and Hold Them To It

Associations

Planet: Mercury
Element: Air
Astrological Sign: Gemini
Chakra: Throat
Deities: Hermes

Description

Also sold as Italian Fitch and Pestilenzkraut. Goat's Rue is worked with for binding a promise and holding someone to their word. In folk practice it is carried to compel a person to follow through on what they already agreed to, which makes it the herb of the unpaid invoice, the unanswered message, and the arrangement that keeps quietly slipping. In hoodoo it is also worked against drag and delay closer to home, when the thing stalling is your own follow-through rather than somebody else's.

Despite the name, this is not common Rue. Goat's Rue is a pea, not a rue, and the two share no tradition and no use.

Plant Context

Goat's Rue takes hold and does not let go. It spreads through disturbed ground, holds it against everything else, and is famously difficult to remove once established, hardy enough that four states list it as a weed. That grip is the whole signature. It is asked to do to an agreement what it does to a field.

In the Hand

Slim green cut stem and leaf with small dried pea-flowers, light and faintly grassy. It packs down to very little and holds its shape in a sachet.

Work with it

Goat's Rue is commonly used in binding work, oath work, and follow-through petitions. A focused practice is to write the agreement out in plain words, name both parties, and tie it closed with the herb inside — a knot for each thing that was promised. It also sits well in a jar with a name paper when you are waiting on someone who has gone quiet.

Important Notes

Ritual use only. Never for consumption. Toxic to livestock, and keep it away from pets.
Not the same plant as common Rue — Goat's Rue is in the pea family and is used differently.
Sold for its traditional folkloric and metaphysical associations only. Not a drug, supplement, or medicine, and not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent anything. For ritual use only.
This herb is packaged in a home kitchen and is not inspected by the Department of State Health Services or a local health department.
Sold in 1/2 ounce packages.