Name: RUBUS spp.
Toxicity: not known
R. fruticosus (Blackberry) Continent: Europe Habitat: I
R. saxatilis (Stone Bramble) Continent: Europe Habitat: IV
R. idaeus (Raspberry) Continent:North Temperate Zone Habitat: I
R. chamaemorus (Cloudberry) Continent:North Temperate Zone Habitat: I
R. caesius (Dewberry) Continent: Europe Habitat I
Applicable Plant Components: stem, root, herb, fruit, bark, cambium, sprout
Sanctificational: stem, root, herb, fruit
Invitatory: root, herb
Convocational: root, herb
Fortificational: fruit, root
Intensificational: root
Psychical: herb, root
Desistant: root
Harmonical: root, fruit
Pacificatory: root
Reconciliatory: fruit, root, stem
Reversional: stem, root
Theurgical: root, fruit, cambium
Transmutational: sprout
Prolongational: root, fruit
Amoristic: sprout
Protectant: herb
Tutelary: herb
Vulnerary: herb, stem, bark
Plenitudinal: herb
Plenarial: bark
Ensurant: root, fruit
Soporific: herb, root, stem
Divinatory: fruit
Affixal: stem (with Prunus bark), fruit, root, herb
Resurgent: herb, stem, root
Anecdotal: Rubus is Bear Medicine. Dancers sanctify with Rubus before ceremonial dances and practitioners wear Rubus flowers during healing rituals. Occasionally Rubus canes bend and root in soil forming a loop or arch. Some cultures believe that healing can be accomplished by being passed back and forth through that arch or doing so can insure good health. It remains unclear to me if a gardener can deliberately pin down a cane and let it root to create an arch or the phenomenon must be found in the wild. Rubus was also handled as good luck medicine for hunters and their dogs, affording them inordinate protection. Some packed their footgear with Rubus for the same reasons. Berries were applied to quivers to empower or strengthen them. And berry juice was rendered into a stain or dye for tanned robes. Rubus has to be harvested in the waxing moon for protection or charms against illness. This is true for the Rubus medicine handled during ritual courting and masked dances as well. Rubus roots can be carved into ritual pipe bowls. The spirit within Rubus is invoked to address an array of spiritual issues. Included can be severe impairment of expression, the losses of a sense of vision and appetite for life as well as attrition of spiritual energy or direction. It plays beautifully in matters of the heart, resolution of endopsychic wounds, and exorcism of parasitic spirits. Rubus is women’s medicine, tied to sacred cycles and an insurer of successful rebirth. It has a restorative spirit that enhances energy and hopefulness. When there is frost on the flowers it is a sign that the fruit set will be heavy and harvest will be abundant.