Avena sativa
planetary ruler: Venus
element: Earth
associated deities: Virankannos, Brighid
magical virtues: Fertility, divination
A slender annual cereal with husked, drooping fruit, oats grow in temperate northern latitudes where wheat and barley struggle to mature. Archaeologists have found traces of wild oats on grinding tools from about 32,000 years ago. 186 However, though wild oats were eaten early on, they seem to have been the last of the grains to be brought into cultivation by Bronze Age farmers in northern Europe, where the climate was too cold for wheat to do well.
Oats were disparaged by the ancient Greeks and Romans as being fit only for animal fodder. Indeed, the Romans belittled the Germanic tribes as “oat-eating barbarians.” Samuel Johnson (1709–1791) defined oats in his dictionary as “eaten by people in Scotland but fit only for horses in England.” To which his Scottish friend and biographer James Boswell responded, “That’s why England has such good horses and Scotland has such fine men!” 187 Even now, only 5 percent of the oats grown in the world are destined for human consumption.
They were certainly more valued in northern countries where growing other grains was difficult. In Nordic mythology oats are described in the Edda as the food of the gods. 188 The Finnish deity of oats is Virankannos (or Vironkannos), a god of growth and fertility.
Like other grains, oats are associated with abundance and used in prosperity spells. In Scandinavian countries a bundle of oats was hung by the door for good fortune. In Carpathia, as soon as a marriage ceremony was over, everybody returned to the bride’s house. Before crossing the threshold, the bride and bridegroom had to pass under two loaves that were held aloft while oats were thrown and water sprinkled over the couple as a token of wealth and prosperity. 189 In Poland, on New Year’s Day, oats were thrown at people to wish them wealth and prosperity. 190 In Derbyshire, in the UK, it was said that on Christmas Eve you should give a sheaf of oats to every horse, cow, or other beast about your farmhouse as an act of sympathetic magic to ensure their health during the coming year. 191
For magic concerned with prosperity and abundance, use oats in charm bags or add them to ritual food. Hang some stalks of oats by the door to attract luck and wealth. Oats can be used in fertility magic and to convey strength and endurance. They may also be used in healing rituals and for rejuvenation and inner peace. Oats were also commonly used in money spells.
Oats were often used for divination. An old Scottish method to determine the number of children you will have is to go into an oat field at midnight, close your eyes, and pull three stalks of oats. Count the number of grains on the third stalk, and this is the number of children you will have. 192 In County Roscommon, Ireland, girls would take nine grains of oats in their mouths and, going out without speaking, walk about till they heard a man’s name pronounced, and that would be the name of their future husband. 193 Such rituals are fun to try at Halloween.
On the Isle of Man, oats featured in the ritual of Bride’s Bed at Candlemas (Imbolc). The mistress and servants of each family took a sheaf of oats and dressed it up in woman’s apparel, put it in a large basket, and laid a wooden club by it, and this they called Briid’s bed, and then the mistress and servants cried three times, “Briid is come, Briid is welcome.” This they did just before going to bed, and when they rose in the morning, they looked among the ashes expecting to see the impression of Briid’s club there, which, if they did, they reckoned a true omen of a good crop and a prosperous year, and if the contrary, they took it as a bad sign of things to come. 194 We always make a Brighid doll for Imbolc and enact the rite of Brighid’s bed. One of the women circles the ring with the doll, saying, “Let Brighid come in,” and the other women respond, “Welcome, Brigid; Brighid has come; welcome to our circle,” repeating this three times. The doll is laid in a crib on the altar to represent the goddess. You can make a simple doll by taking a sheaf of oats and tying off the tops with their seeds for the head and hair, and then tie off two arms and two legs. Secure a clear quartz crystal in the body.
culinary uses
Oats do not contain gluten like other grains such as wheat, barley, and rye, but they are often processed near wheat, barley, and other grains, so may be contaminated; coeliac sufferers may want to avoid them unless guaranteed gluten free. The use of oats is well known in breakfast porridge, gruel, oat cakes, and haggis. Oat Milk is a ready replacement for cow’s milk for those sensitive or adverse to dairy products.
cosmetic uses
Skin conditions benefit greatly from oats. Ground dried oats are a traditional ingredient in cosmetics, used for their clearing and rejuvenating action. Oats contain a unique group of polyphenolics, the avenanthramides, which relieve itching, alleviate redness, and reduce inflammation and swelling. A long-chain polysaccharide, oat beta-glucan, was identified as a deep hydrating agent, capable of reducing fine lines and wrinkles, improving skin elasticity, and accelerating tissue healing,
An oatmeal face mask will rejuvenate tired skin. You can make your own by blending oats and warm water into a paste and applying to your face; after twenty minutes rinse off with tepid water.
medicinal uses
actions: antidepressant, antispasmodic, anxiolytic, cardiotonic, demulcent, emollient, hypolipidemic, nervine, nutritive, prostatelium, stimulant, tonic, vulnerary
Oats contain anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds, which many studies have found reduce the redness, dryness, scaliness, and itching of eczema. Tie a handful of oats into a square of muslin and hang from the bath tap as you run the hot water, or just drop the sachet into the bath. Bathe in the soothing water.
Oats contain a specific type of fibre known as beta-glucan that can quickly lower LDL cholesterol. 195 Studies show that just 60 to 85 grams of oats (a small bowl of porridge) a day can reduce LDL cholesterol by 8 to 23 percent, 196 or try Maggie’s Flapjacks.
Oats contain the alkaloid gramine, which is a natural sedative. 197 To relieve stress and insomnia, oats can be included in the diet or Oat Milk taken before bed.
Caution: None known (see the note in the culinary section about coeliac sufferers).
Recipes
Oat Milk
100 grams (1 cup) rolled oats
1 litre (4 cups) water
Put in a pan, bring to boil, and reduce heat to simmer twenty minutes. Strain. Store in the fridge.
Oatcakes
115 grams (1⅓ cups) medium oatmeal
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon butter, melted
hot water
Mix the oatmeal, soda, and salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the melted fat and enough hot water to make soft dough. Turn onto a surface dusted with oatmeal and form into a smooth ball. Knead and roll out thinly. Cut into eight pieces and put on a baking sheet. Bake at 180˚C/350˚F/gas mark 4 until the edges curl. The oatcakes should be toasted just prior to eating. These make suitable cakes for ritual, particularly if you work in the Northern Tradition.
Maggie’s Flapjacks
150 grams (2 cups) oats
150 grams (1 cup) oat flour
100 grams (1 cup) any combination of dried fruit, nuts, and seeds
150 grams (½ cup) honey
175 grams (¾ cup) margarine or butter
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Gently melt the honey and margarine together in a pan or in the microwave. Add to the dry ingredients. Spoon into a baking tray. Bake for fifteen minutes at 160˚C/325˚F/gas mark 3. Cut while still warm.
Prosperity Charm Bag
small palm full of oats
3 almonds
3 basil leaves, dried
1 cinnamon stick
7 cloves
pinch of turmeric powder
Combine in a green bag.
Oatmeal Ale
9 litres (38 cups) water
1,000 grams brewing malt extract
120 grams black malt
500 grams (2 cups) flaked oats
60 grams hops
500 grams (2½ cups) brown sugar
stout yeast and nutrient
Put half the water into a pan and bring to boil. Stir in the malt extract, black malt, oats, and hops. Cover and boil for forty-five minutes. Strain into a plastic brewing bin and put the solids into a sieve over the brewing bin. Boil the rest of the water and pour over the solids in the sieve into the brewing bin to make sure you wash out the rest of the goodness in them back into the brew. Discard the solids. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Cool to lukewarm. Add the yeast and nutrient, and stir well. Cover and keep in a warm place for three days. Stir and skim off scum daily. Leave to continue fermenting—this should take about a week—then siphon off into demijohns and fit airlocks. Leave in a cool place for two days. Siphon off into beer bottles, leaving four centimetres of headroom, adding ¼ teaspoon sugar to each. Seal tightly and keep in a warm place for a week, then remove to a cooler place for storage. Ready to drink after six weeks.
186 http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/stone-age-people-were-eating-porridge-32000-years-ago-003797, accessed 1 November 17.
187 Eric Linklater, The Survival of Scotland (William Heinemann, 1968).
188 Snorri Sturluson (Anthony Faulkes, ed.), Edda (W&N, New Ed edition, 2008).
189 http://www.iabsi.com/gen/under/customs%20and%20superstitions.htm, accessed 1 November 17.
190 Sophie Hodorowicz Knab, Polish Customs, Traditions, and Folklore (Hippocrene Books, 1996).
191 http://www.kjarrett.com/livinginthepast/2014/12/22/derbyshire-christmas-folklore-superstitions-customs-and-carols/#_edn8, accessed 7 January 18.
192 W. Grant Stewart, The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland (Edinburgh: A. Constable, 1823).
193 https://mrsdaffodildigresses.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/halloween-superstitions-ancient-times-reported-in-1916/.
194 Moore, The Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man.
195 Steel (ed.), Healing Foods.
196 Ibid.
197 Ibid.