Astroherbal Dispatch: Sun in Aries (Wild Garlic) / Moon in Libra (Mallow)
Astroherbal dispatch for Aries season.
Read series intro here.
by Hat Fidkin
27th March 2026
Sun in Aries ꒷⊙
The Sun moved into Aries about a week ago on 20th March, or Spring Equinox, the point of equal light and darkness.
Aries is the seed of the zodiac; the moment of conception, pre-birth. It’s the seconds before the breaking dawn, the first glowing embers of a fire lit within to warm and defrost after months of darkness. A Cardinal sign, and the first of the wheel of the year, it carries a pushing-upwards-and-outwards energy of renewal.1 An awakening from a long, deep sleep.
Aries is a fire sign, ruled by Mars, deity of passion, self-assertion, willpower and motivation. Mars is what gets you out of bed in the morning, what excites you, what propels you towards embodying that which fulfills you. Mars is the animal nature: aggression, sexuality, the ability to fight back if we find ourselves endangered. Together, Mars and Aries rule the First House, ‘the house of the self’, governing not only the essential vitality, but the beginning of all things; the symbolic and literal births of all living beings, the manifestation into being itself.
Martian plants are stimulating, warming, mineralising and diffusive. Mars rules the blood, and its plants are skilled at opening capillaries, purifying and cleansing through their alterative actions.2 They are often spiky, prickly or stinging – stratagems of strong boundaries, which in turn can teach us about our own. Sometimes stinky and pungent, they return us to our senses and invigorate deeply.
There’s one particularly pungent plant friend, one of the first to greet us in the weeks following Imbolc and leading up to Equinox, that truly embodies these Martian/Aries dynamics. It’s just beginning to flower where I am in the Midlands, though its scent was whispering in the woodland air long before. Of course, I am talking about the beloved Wild Garlic!
In his and Fiona Owen’s book Weeds in The Heart, herbalist Nathaniel Hughes assigns Pan, the goat-man God of the wild and fertility, as Wild Garlic’s divine companion. Note the similarities between the horned ram of Aries, and Pan. Even the leaves of Wild Garlic, bursting forth from their bulb, look like the V-shaped glyph of the sign – ‘Ram’s Horns’ is even one of its English folk names!3
Pan’s essence celebrates fecundity; raw sexual power and the promise of wild new beginnings. “Sitting at the edge of civilisation and the wild, he is a liminal being.”4 Accompanying us on the journey between seasons, Wild Garlic supports our bodies by warming the blood, lungs and digestive system, purging any lingering winter phlegm and stiffness.
Wild Garlic leaves mirroring the horns of the Ram. Photo by Hat Fidkin.
In Irish mythology, the plant figures in the legend Buile Shuibhne or ‘Sweeney Astray’, telling of Suibhne (Sweeney), who was fated to die at the tip of a spear and sustained himself in his exile in Wild Garlic woods.5 This connection resonates with the Roman god of war Mars, often depicted holding a spear or sword. It seems humans also attempted to imbue their animals with Mars’ warrior energy using Wild Garlic, as it “was universally used in cock fighting because the ‘heady’ smell was thought to stimulate the birds to fight”.6
Offering Suibhne essential nourishment when under the threat of violence, the symbol of the spear is subverted, from spear as weapon to spear as food. Interestingly, Mars is also the protector-god of agriculture, showing Mars’ duality as a force of both sustenance and brutality. The month of March is even named after him, for March marks the start of sowing season, as well as the reawakening of many nourishing wild plants – including Wild Garlic.
A blade of Wild Garlic piercing an old autumnal leaf like a spear. Photo by Leo El-Qawas.
The Latin name for Wild Garlic is Allium ursinum, which translates to ‘bear’s garlic’. It is known to be a favourite snack of European brown bears waking up from hibernation, likely due to its high concentration of antioxidants and antimicrobials – the herb releases a compound called allicin when chewed, known to act against microbes.7
It’s an ancient woodland indicator species (the Woodland Trust defines ‘ancient woodland’ as ‘areas of woodland that have persisted since 1600 in England, Wales and the North of Ireland and 1750 in Scotland’).8 Richard Mabey tells of Wild Garlic woods being used as landmarks in old charters:9
In the charter for a piece of land in Berkshire granted by King Edmund to Bishop Aelfric in AD944, one of the features used to fix the boundary in the minds of the inhabitants was a ‘wild garlic wood’. A thousand years later these tangy spots, sweet-and-sour, still stick in the memory.10
In times of widespread cold and flu, carrying a piece of garlic the pocket functioned as a charm to ward off sickness.11 A similar practice to drive away coughs and colds was to place Wild Garlic leaves in your shoes under the soles of the feet and walk about, crushing them to release their medicinal compounds.12
On the Aran islands, Wild Garlic was valued for preventing blood clots, and on Skye and Harris, for preventing gravel and stone in the kidneys.13 These two folk practices have been attested by modern scientific research, as allicin has been proven to lower cholesterol and as a diuretic.
Across cultures, Garlic’s strong smell is mobilised for scaring off demons, vampires, witches and the evil eye. For this reason a common folk tradition is to hang it in the doorways of houses to protect those living inside.14 In Ireland, weaving the bulbs into thatched roofs was another protective practice.15 A favourite of the fae, British and Irish folklore warns against falling asleep in a patch of Wild Garlic, lest the faeries take you to the other world and you wake up having been replaced by a changeling. I can attest that the fae are fond of Wild Garlic – I’ve often felt an otherworldly uneasiness when alone in a Wild Garlic woodland, like I’m very close to the thinning veil when treading amongst it.
That being said, Nathaniel Hughes suggests camping in a Wild Garlic woodland in April time to connect to Pan, your inner wild power, and perhaps even your primal fear. Wild Garlic can help in accessing dormant ferality and calling personal power back to the self, especially when a person is feeling too tame and tightly coiled. As such a fiery, invigorating medicine, it can however be a little overpowering for those who already run hot, or don’t need any help connecting to their inner forest goblin (although I would argue that a majority of persons in Western Europe do in this day and age!).
Wild Garlic carpeting a woodland floor in March. Photo by Hat Fidkin.
Full Moon in Libra ♎︎︎◯
This Aries season, I am fired up and on high alert with the ongoing injustice and chaos unfolding in the news, and in the world. Whilst Wild Garlic supports me to rise from my winter slumber, I’m also reaching for an ally to soothe the nervous heat within.
For this, I look to the Moon, which will be full and in the sign of Libra on 2nd April at 03.12 BST.
Libra, opposite to Aries on the Zodiac wheel, is an air sign; a sign of harmony, diplomacy, and beauty. Libra energy seeks to inspire communication and balance in a chaotic world. It is the veil between self and other, the point where the zodiac shifts from ‘me’ to ‘us’.
Libra is ruled by Venus, planet of softness, the senses, pleasure and creativity, and counterpart to Martian adrenaline and aggression. Libra loves harmony, and its qualities sing beautifully with the Lunar medicine of the upcoming Full Moon.
Moon plants are moistening, often oily or mucilaginous, and can also be bitter.16 They often have a profound impact on the mucosal membranes of the stomach and uterus, which are also Lunar ruled. Morphology-wise, they tend to be soft, feathery and delicate, and silvery, blue, purple or white in colour. On the spirit level, they encourage tending to personal needs, listening to the dream world, and attuning to the rhythms of the body.17
A plant that is ruled by the Moon, and also Venus/Libra to some degree, and which epitomises this cooling, melting softness on the mind and body, is Common Mallow, Malva sylvestris. Malva comes from the Greek word ‘malaxos’, meaning slimy, or to soften, which is exactly what the high mucilage content can do to inflamed tissues of the digestive, respiratory, urinary, musculoskeletal, immune, and nervous systems!
A wild Mallow growing in a park. Photo by Leo El-Qawas.
Mallow is in the Malvaceae family, which also includes Cotton, Hibiscus and Okra! The most commonly used species for medicinal purposes is Marsh Mallow, Althaea officinalis, found growing in damp, marshy areas, both fresh and salty in Britain.
You’re most likely to see Common Mallow (M. sylvestris) growing alongside footpaths, waste ground, and on roadsides in Britain and Ireland, making it an easy one to spot and spend some time with if you live on these lands. These and many other species can also be found thriving across Europe, North Africa, the Crossroads region, and Central Asia.18 It’s also been naturalised in Turtle Island, Mexico, and so-called Australia.
Although having a broad application across the mucosa of the body, Mallow has a particular affinity for the kidneys and urinary system, ruled by Venus and Libra. Herbalist Matthew Wood describes it as ‘the most diuretic of the mucilages, and the most mucilaginous of the diuretics.’19 The kidneys’ function, like the scales of Libra, is to balance the water and solids of the body. Mallow is excellent at keeping things flowing smoothly in this particular area.
In traditional British and Irish folk medicine, ‘the general application was (and frequently still is) as a soothing poultice for sores, cuts, bruises, ulcers, boils, skin complaints and inflammation of any kind, as well as to soften and disperse swellings, including those in mumps and swollen glands.’20 In both Italy and Anatolia, compressed leaves are used to treat abdominal and uterine pains.21
Across Cana’an كنعان, Mallow/Khebaizeh/خبيزه has been recorded as an essential source of food for humans since 3000BC, with evidence of this found in Syrian archeological sites.22,23 In Lebanon, it’s used as a first line of defence for infections of any kind, especially those that affect the respiratory or digestive systems.24 Mlokhiyeh/ ملوخية is a well-beloved regional dish made using the leaves of Jute Mallow (Corchorus olitorius) to thicken a gloopy soup of crushed garlic, coriander, onions and lemon. Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt all have distinctly different preparations of the meal. Many foragers in Britain have made variations of the dish using the leaves of Common Mallow – Roger Phillips describes their leaves as being ‘very similar in texture and flavour to Corchorus olitorius.’25
Soft-textured older leaves. Photo by Carla Danielle.
Though Mallow is a little way off flowering yet in this part of the world, you might have been able to spot some of its young leaves growing near to you. Do be careful if foraging for the plant before you can identify it through its flowers unless you’re certain… see here for guidance. At this stage of its growth, leaves can be drunk as a soothing tea if found in sufficient abundance, and eaten in salads. Once they begin to mature, they’re better for a soup or stew.
However, I find connecting to Mallow through presence and/or touch to be some of its most potent medicine; it has a knack for nudging back to centre and inducing calm simply by coexisting within its field. Spending time sitting with and exploring its smooth and downy textures in a quiet moment can be a great grounding practice if experiencing feelings of disembodiment or overwhelm, for those days when fully inhabiting the body feels far away.
This Libra Full Moon, I encourage you to take a walk and keep an eye out for this soothing Lunar friend beginning to emerge, reflecting on what could use a little softening in your life seasons shift. For the times that your response to the senseless violence perpetuated by those in power involves feelings of powerlessness and disorientation, returning to the truth, what is alive and growing in front of us right now, can sometimes provide some calming solace. This month, I hope that Wild Garlic and Mallow can be gentle sources of hopefulness for you, as they have been for me.
A stem of young Mallow. Photo by Ben Still.
Endnotes
1. The Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) mark the start of the four seasons (Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, Winter Solstice). The simplified essence of Cardinal energy is that of the initiator; one who has the energy to begin anew.
2. See Herbal Reality for an explanation of ‘alterative’ herbal action.
4. Nathaniel Hughes and Fiona Owen, Weeds in the Heart: The Practice of Intuitive Herbalism (Quintessence Press, 2016)
5. Niall Mac Coitir, Ireland’s Wild Plants
6. Jocelyne Lawton, Flowers and Fables: A Welsh Herbal (Bridgend: Seren, 2006).
7. David Allen and Gabriel Hatfield, Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition: An Ethnobotany of Britain and Ireland (Timber Press, 2004)
8. ‘Ancient Woodland’, Woodland Trust (n.d.)
9. Richard Mabey, Food For Free (HarperCollins, 1993)
10. Richard Mabey, Flora Britannica Book of Spring Flowers (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1998)
11. ‘Dún Mór (cailíní)‘, The Schools Collection, Duchas.ie
12. Allen and Hatfield, Medicinal Plants
13. Ibid.
14. Maria Leach, Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend (Harper SanFrancisco, 1972)
15. Mac Coitir, Ireland’s Wild Plants
16. Mucilaginous herbs contain polysaccharides that swell in water, turning slippery and gel-like, creating soothing and protective demulcent remedies that coat the tissues of the body.
17. Two excellent resources for learning about the extensive actions of mallow are Solidarity Apothecary’s Mallow Plant Profile, and Sajah Popham’s info on Mallow.
18. Southwest Asia and Northern Africa; ‘a less colonial description of the area typically called the Middle East and North Africa.’ Layla K Feghali
19. Matthew Wood, The Earthwise Herbal Vol 1: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants, (North Atlantic Books, 2008)
20. Allen and Hatfield, Medicinal Plants
21. Abdullatif Azab, ‘Malva: Food, Medicine and Chemistry’, European Chemical Bulletin 6:7 (2017)
22. Modern-day Syria, Palestine, Lebanon: “the ancestral civilization that originated in the areas between Syria and the Sinai region of Egypt everywhere west of the Jordan River, making up the physical borderlands between the African and Asian continents.” Layla K Feghali, The Land in our Bones.
23. João Cleverson Gasparetto , Cleverson Antônio Ferreira Martins , Sirlei Sayomi Hayashi , Michel Fleith Otuky , Roberto Pontarolo, ‘Ethnobotanical and scientific aspects of Malva sylvestris L.: a millennial herbal medicine‘, 64:2 (2012)
24. Layla K Feghali, The Land in our Bones: Plancestral Herbalism and Healing Cultures from Syria to the Siani, (North Atlantic Books, 2024)
25. Roger Phillips, Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers (Macmillan, 2014)
Hat Fidkin is a herbalist, astrologer and writer from the West Midlands. datura-astrobotanics.carrd.co
Editor: Leo El-Qawas
I love the idea that just sitting with or touching Mallow is medicine. I actually felt my nervous system shift just moving from reading about Wild Garlic to Mallow.