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Botanical Name
Stellaria media

Chickweed

Needs Review

Details

Chickweed is a small sprawling annual with tiny white star-shaped flowers, found as a weed across much of the world. Cunningham calls it feminine, with the Moon and water, and gives fidelity and love: carry it, or use it in spells to attract a love or to keep a relationship. Kynes adds Gemini, Libra, Pisces and Jupiter, and the Irish god of healing Dian Cecht. She lists fertility, love, fidelity, purification and home blessing. In England its flowers served as weather divination, open for fair weather and shut before rain, and in the Fenlands it was grown in pots to attract luck. She sprinkles flowers in the bath to release anger, and places a sachet under the bed for fertility or fidelity.

Caution

Cunningham advises harvesting chickweed from environments free of fertilizer.

References

#1#2#3#4

Correspondences

Elements
Water
Celestial Bodies
Moon, Jupiter
Zodiac Signs
Gemini, Libra, Pisces
Colours
No colours recorded.
Deities
Dian Cecht (Irish; also called Diancecht)

Folk Names

  • Adder's Mouth
  • Bird Weed
  • Indian Chickweed
  • Passerina
  • Qoqobala
  • Satin Flower
  • Star Chickweed
  • Starweed
  • Starwort
  • Stellaire
  • Stitchwort
  • Tongue Grass
  • White Bird's Eye
  • Winterweed

Categories

  • Emotions
  • Family
  • Fertility
  • Fidelity
  • Home Blessing
  • Love
  • Negativity
  • Purification
  • Relationships

Substitutes

No substitutes recorded.

Forms

Flower

Kynes sells a flower essence and sprinkles flowers in the bath to release anger.

References

#5

Herb

Cunningham carries it or uses it in spells to attract love or keep a relationship. Kynes sells the cut dried leaves as chickweed tea, burns a few to dispel negative energy, and holds a sprig in each hand for esbat rituals.

References

#6#7

References

Notes

  1. Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Chickweed"; p. 266.
  2. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, p. 826.
  3. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Chickweed".
  4. Wikipedia, under "Stellaria media."
  5. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Chickweed".
  6. Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Chickweed".
  7. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Chickweed".

Bibliography

  • Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. 2nd ed. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2012. (EPUB.)16
  • Gardner, Zoë, and Michael McGuffin, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2013. (PDF.)2
  • Kynes, Sandra. The Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical Plants: History, Folklore, Correspondences, and Spells. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2024. (EPUB.)357
  • Wikipedia, under "Stellaria media." Accessed October 23, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stellaria_media&oldid=1367518259. Open the Source4
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