Some plants open the eyes, not the ones in your head, but the eyes that dream, that see beyond the veil. These are the herbs the old seers kept close, their roots hidden in shadowed gardens, their leaves steeped beneath moons few remember. Each carries a voice from the unseen world: one calls you to vision, another protects you from what would follow you home.

Below are six herbs of second sight: companions to the dreamers, the witches, and the walkers between worlds.

Sweet Flag

(Acorus calamus)

They say the wind speaks clearer where sweet flag grows. Its long, swordlike leaves whisper along the edges of rivers and swamps, where earth and water touch, a place of reflection, of oracles. The Thracians burned its root before prophecy. The scent itself seems to cut through fog, both the mist upon the water and the mist of the mind.

It’s an herb for those who listen. A single thread of its smoke can sharpen the inner ear, helping one hear the truth beneath dream and omen. But it’s also a guardian: what walks out of the reeds isn’t always meant for mortal eyes. Sweet flag clears the path and keeps the traveler safe.

For: vision, clarity, sacred focus

Bearberry

(Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

Low and evergreen, bearberry clings to rocky slopes, unbothered by frost or wind. Its red berries shine like drops of heartfire amid the snow. Shamans once smoked its leaves before sleep, believing it would carry their spirits safely through the dark.

Bearberry belongs to the bear, the dreaming beast who sleeps through winter and wakes full of ancient memory. So too does this herb teach the dreamer endurance: to go deep into trance and still find the way back. It roots vision in the body, anchoring the soul after flights into the unseen.

For: grounding after vision, lucid dreams, spirit protection

Centaury

(Centaurium erythraea)

A modest pink flower said to have sprung from the blood of Chiron, the wounded centaur, teacher of heroes. Centaury is for those who see too much, whose gifts exhaust them, whose hearts ache with what they cannot heal. The old herbalists brewed it as a tonic for “faint spirits,” believing it restored courage and discernment.

Psychically, it burns away illusions. Drink in its story and you’ll find yourself less easily deceived by spirits, by others, or by your own fears. Its magic is the light of reason within the realm of intuition, a lantern held steady in the hand of the healer.

For: discernment, inner strength, clearing false visions

Anise

(Pimpinella anisum)

Sweet and aromatic, anise has long been a charm for vision and sleep. The ancients believed its seeds—tiny stars fallen to earth—could summon prophetic dreams and call friendly spirits to one’s bedside.

To this day, wise women scatter anise seeds beneath pillows or burn them upon coals before divination. The scent opens the crown of the head, a door through which moonlight enters. It’s a gentle herb, guiding rather than forcing revelation, turning the dreamer’s face toward truth like a flower to the sun.

For: dream magic, gentle clairvoyance, spiritual clarity

Valerian

(Valeriana officinalis)

The root of valerian smells of earth, sleep, and the forgotten wild. It was once hung in doorways to keep away lightning and restless spirits, forces that disturb peace both inward and outward.

To open the inner eye, one must first still the outer senses, and that’s valerian’s gift. It quiets the mind’s clamor, allowing vision to rise softly from the silence beneath. Seers of the Middle Ages burned it in trance rites and dream vigils, trusting its smoke to guard them from the spirits drawn to psychic light.

For: meditation, trance, protection from psychic disturbance

False Hellebore

(Veratrum lobelianum)

This isn’t an herb to touch lightly. False hellebore grows where the earth’s magic runs deep and dangerous: near bogs, old graves, and places where lightning once split the ground. In ancient divinations, its roots were brewed by those who sought visions through ordeal. Many never returned.

Yet in folklore it was also a guardian: planted on thresholds to ward off envy and the evil eye or used symbolically in rites to represent the peril of knowledge. Its lesson is the same now as it was then: power untempered by wisdom destroys.

False hellebore stands at the edge of the vision path, whispering: Do you truly wish to see?

For: shadow work, protection rituals, symbolic use only

When the Veil Stirs

The old ones taught that second sight isn’t granted; it’s grown. These herbs don’t force the way open; they walk beside you, teaching patience, teaching reverence. Sweet flag calls the spirits, bearberry brings you safely home, centaury keeps your heart steady, anise opens the dream gate, valerian guards the threshold, and false hellebore warns what lies beyond it.

Use them wisely, with the respect due to all things that speak in whispers. For the deeper you look, the more the world begins to look back.

The Slavic Oracle

Check out our Oracle Deck Kickstarter campaign to discover more about using herbs in divination: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/slavic-divination?ref=3dp9ve