Newsletter Signup »
HERBSTALK
  • Home
  • Mission + Values
  • Event Info
  • About
  • Press
    • Kind Words
  • Blog
  • Community Partners
  • Contact

Herbs of the Enneagram: Type One -- Blue Vervain

1/29/2018

 
by Herb Pearce

An introductory note from the Herbstalk team:

Welcome to our new series The Herbs of the Enneagram! The Enneagram is a fascinating and insightful way of describing personality patterns. In this blog series Enneagram expert Herb Pearce will explain each of the 9 personality types and a plant that corresponds with each. (And yes, his name is really Herb!)

We are delighted to welcome Herb, a faithful Herbstalk participant, to share his wisdom and insight of the Enneagram and connect it back to some of the beloved plants that we talk about at Herbstalk.

Read on to learn how the patterns of the Enneagram match up with the patterns of various herbs. You will also learn how the plant itself can help to bring balance and harmony within each personality type. Enjoy and stay tuned for more Herbs of the Enneagram each month!...
Picture
A Brief Intro to the Enneagram
The star-shaped Enneagram (Ennea is Greek for "nine" and gram for “type”) is an amazingly accurate system of understanding personality that groups human motivations and patterns of feeling, thought and body experience into nine personality types. Everyone has elements of all nine types, but one is almost always dominant and is a stronger perceptual lens. This lens flavors how you see the world and therefore, to a large degree, how you think, feel, and act automatically.

The nine types are: The Perfectionist, Helper, Achiever, Romantic, Observer, Questioner, Optimist, Boss and Peacemaker. Each style or type has amazing strengths and also limitations. Knowing this information is wonderful for personal clarity, relationship building, and team development.
Picture
Blue Vervain For Type 1, The Perfectionist
Blue vervain (Verbena hastata) is such a “perfect” plant for Type 1, The Perfectionist. Perfectionists, sometimes called Reformers, tend to see the world from how it should be. They want to improve, reform, correct and fix things to the ideal of how it “ought” to be. They can be rigid, overzealous and black and white in their thinking, and can have a hard time with gray tones, mistakes, and the imperfection of things and people, including themselves. They tend to notice what’s missing instead of the perfection of what’s here with its limitations, flaws and quirks as part of the package.
​
They can push people to a point of view that doesn’t offer the flexibility of personal choice and nuance. 1s can’t handle crooked pictures or dead leaves on plants without fixing them. They may clean up the forest when the dead, fallen down trees are exactly what the insects, birds and soil need for nourishment.
Picture
Blue vervain is tall with an erect stem, like 1s who tend to hold an erect posture. 1s are the headmasters at right posture and proper etiquette schools. It’s about propriety, good manners, polish, and doing what’s right, following the customs and traditions of what’s worked before. They are responsible, reliable and steady. Blue vervain flowers bloom from the bottom of each flower stem to the top in a steady sequence, as 1s tend to be steady, reliable, consistent and loyal.

Blue vervain is a strong plant and a favorite among garden lovers. The bluish flower heads are beautiful and bright yet small in comparison to the stems. No drooping flowers here! The unique square stems fit the Type 1 personality, sharp angled with exact edges. The root, being a perennial, is deep and strong.

Enneagram 1s make lists and tend to work hard to accomplish their tasks. Things need to be defined and acted on. No idle hands here! My grandmother was a 1 and I didn’t always look forward to visiting her as she “encouraged” me to work in her garden pulling weeds when I was a child. For 1s work and accomplishment tends to be more important than play.

Picture
Blue vervain is a bitter herb which helps to support the liver (and release pent-up anger) and it also acts as a supreme anti-spasmodic, releasing tension in the muscles, especially the neck. As herbalist Lisa Fazio says:

“I choose Blue Vervain to be second to none when it comes to muscle constriction caused by nervous tension especially in people who are intense by nature and overdriven. It's cool blue medicine eases and relaxes not just the musculature, but the soul… Blue Vervain is considered an antispasmodic and relieves spasm caused by overwork that is not so much physical in nature, but that is intellectual or mental activity with a perfectionist tendency. This high intensity is more than the individual’s body can maintain and so it produces a tension throughout the viscera causing the muscles to tense and knot. I see this plant as being appropriate for those of us who don't have the physical container or constitution to hold the nervous and mental energy we are inclined to create.”
Lisa Fazio, Earth, Root & Flower: An Herbal Blog

1s tend to face reality head-on with responsibility and hard work, handling the toughness of life so taking bitter medicine is in alignment with their personality. Blue vervain can filter out some of the anger that 1s have with the imperfection and irritation of others not doing what’s right.
​
Taken as a flower essence, Blue Vervain can help Type 1s learn “tolerance, patience and broadmindedness…and that the big things of life are done gently and quietly without strain or stress.”
Blue Vervain balances the Perfectionist who tends to over-work, over-effort and over-think the right thing to say or do. Blue Vervain adds flexibility, being in the moment, ease, acceptance of imperfection, allowing for the world and individuals to be as they are without forcing anything to live up to a pressured idealism.
Picture
REFERENCES:
https://www.hawthornehillherbs.com/node/158
http://www.flowersociety.org/vervain.html
https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/​


Picture
Herb Pearce is an expert on the Enneagram with 28+ years experience. He has authored four books on the Enneagram including his most recent work, Presidential Profiles: Washington to Trump - Enneagram and Myers-Briggs Perspectives. Herb has taught over 2000 Enneagram workshops and has worked with hundreds of organizations, individuals and couples using the Enneagram in his counseling practice. Herb resides in Arlington, Massachusetts where he is a practicing psychotherapist and life coach. He emphasizes developing the strengths of all 9 Enneagram types and is known for his exacting insights, moderated by gentleness, humor and compassion. You can learn more at www.herbpearce.com or email him directly at herb@herbpearce.com.



    Archives

    October 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Angelica
    Anxiety
    Aromatherapy
    Artichoke
    Autumn
    Ayni Institute
    Ayurveda
    Bath Salts
    Becoming An Herbalist
    Beltane
    Bitters
    Black Cohosh
    Blue Vervain
    Botanical Crafts
    Botanical Dyeing
    Cacao
    Calendula
    Cancer
    Canine Nutrition
    Cannabis
    Chaga
    Chamomile
    Chickweed
    Chinese Medicine
    Cleavers
    Climate Change
    Community
    Connection
    Cultivating
    Curandismo
    Dandelion
    Deserts
    Digestion
    Doshas
    Earth Healing
    Ecological Herbalism
    Eco-printing
    Educational Gardens
    Elder
    Eleuthero
    Elixirs
    Energetics
    Essential Oils
    Ethnobotany
    Events
    Evergreens
    Fall
    Farming
    Flax
    Flower Essences
    Folk Traditions
    Food Plants
    Free Clinics
    Fungi
    Gardening
    General
    Gentian
    Ghost Pipe
    Gifts
    Goldenrod
    Groundwork Somerville
    Growing Herbs
    Guide To Herbstalk
    Hawthorn
    Healer's Path
    Herbal Education
    Herbal Energetics
    Herbalism
    Herbal Marketplace
    Herbal Oils
    Herbal Salves
    Herbs For Pets
    Herbs Of The Enneagram
    Hibiscus
    History Of Herbstalk
    Holidays
    Holy Basil
    Honey
    Imbolc
    Immunity
    Interviews
    Lammas
    Liver
    Living With An Herbalist
    Local Classes
    Local Plants
    Lyme
    Marshmallow
    Meadowsweet
    Medicinal Mushrooms
    Medicinal Uses
    Meet The Herbalist
    Meet The Herb Farm
    Menstruation
    Milky Oats
    Mimosa
    Mint
    Motherwort
    Mugwort
    Mullein
    Mutual Aid
    Natural Dyeing
    Nettles
    New England
    Nourishing Herbs
    Oat
    Passionflower
    Permaculture
    Phytochemistry
    Pink Lady Slipper
    Plant ID
    Plant-of-the-year
    Plant Profile
    Podcast
    Poisonous Plants
    Psychological First Aid
    Queen Anne's Lace
    Recipes
    Reciprocity
    Reishi
    Rhodiola
    Rose
    Rosemary
    Russian Herbalism
    Samhain
    Schisandra
    Seasonal Cycles
    Seasons
    Seeds
    Shen Tonics
    Skullcap
    Snow
    Social Justice
    Spring
    St. John's Wort
    Summer
    Survival Herbs
    Tea Blends
    Tincturing
    Tonics
    Traditional Chinese Medicine
    Trauma
    Travel
    Tree Medicine
    Tulsi
    Urban Gardening
    Urtication
    Vata
    Vervain
    Violet
    Water Hemlock
    Wheel Of The Year
    Wildcrafting
    Wild Edibles
    Winter
    Wintergreen
    Yarrow
    Yule

    RSS Feed

Copyright © Herbstalk 2021