We humans have had a long history with Avena sativa, or the common oat. We began cultivating this Middle Eastern native centuries ago, not long after we’d domesticated wheat and barley. Avena sativa wasn’t the first or even the only wild oat we lured from their wild, grassy beginnings. In Medieval Europe, Avena nuda was the variety that was most popular. It was more strongly medicinal than our modern A. sativa and had the added bonus of having no husk, making it easier to process into food for humans.
As trade developed, peoples in Northern Europe gravitated toward Oats as a food and feed crop, probably because Avena sativa and its cousins are happy in areas where wheat and barley struggle more. Oats thrive in slightly damp, cool climates, allowing farmers to replace weak wheat or barley crops and grow more success than failure. In this way, Oats began soothing nerves for us humans long before we realized how valuable Oats are as a medicine for the nerves. Oats eased stress for those early adopters!
For centuries, Avena species were the farmer’s and homesteader’s best friend. They provided nourishment for family and animals alike. They were used topically to soothe itching rashes, removing blemishes, and dissolving hard masses. Oats helped us ease colic and wind-related conditions in the abdomen and digestive system and recover from illness of the same. They were valued as a women’s medicine, helping to balance the menstrual cycle and support the endocrine system, and generally recommended as a healthy daily food.
Later, in the 19th century, Physicians and Herbalists discovered that Oatstraw tea and later Milky Oat tincture were wonderful medicines for soothing the nerves as well as supporting Women’s health, digestion, and healthy skin. Samuel Johnson, in particular, has been credited with popularizing Milky Oats as a nerve tonic. Monastic tradition, like that of Hildegard von Bingen, had long drawn upon Oats as an important folk and daily medicine.
Today, Oats are among the most popular breakfast cereals across Europe and the Americas. We reach for oats mostly as a food, using them as both a flour and a cereal. Modern herbalists are most likely to suggest either Milky Oat tincture for nerves or Oatstraw tea for hormonal balancing. Ancestral Herbalists or those who practice Primitive Living Skills, Nature Skills, and similar back-to-basics practices are likely to reach for a topical oat-based preparation to handle rashes including topical dermatitis from contact with Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, and similar plants.
When it comes to Avena sativa, we haven’t entirely forgotten the wisdom of our Herbal Ancestor’s use of the magic and medicine of the humble oat!
Oat Magic: Avena for Recovering Your Resilience
Oats like to grow in the marginal spaces, where other grains find the weather too cold and damp, not the best soil, maybe only part-sun. They thrive in slightly adverse conditions, teaching us how to thrive even when we’ve landed in a spot that’s perhaps not quite as optimal as we might desire. Oats show us how to plant our roots and adapt to the conditions we have to grow in. Instead of focusing on what they don’t have, Oats focus on letting the world around them support them just as it is. Oat magic is the magic of Acceptance.
Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. Not by a long shot. Oats find strength around themselves. They grow in clumps, finding others like themselves and gravitating toward them. It’s about survival, about finding kinship, about recognizing our own amid the challenges. Amid the clump, Oats remain individuals, each seed growing into a single Oat plant not attached or connected directly to the others. Oats show us how to find kin while retaining our boundaries. Oats recognize themselves in the other, but they never lose themselves in the other. Oat magic is the magic of Self-actualization amid the Herd.
Herding animals indeed know and love Oats. Among the many grains and grasses Horses in particular seek, Oats rank top. That’s no surprise there, either. Oat Magic is the magic of remaining calm, cool, and alert in a crowd. Horses, like other herding animals, are extremely sensitive to the emotions and energies around them. It’s a key part of their survival instinct to pay attention to everything all the time. Oats offer a calm, cooling support to their overwrought nervous systems, reminding them the best defense is a calm, centered spirit. Oats help them, and us, rebuild that overwrought system, replacing the brittle and sharp edges with strong, flexible, resilient structures…just like a field of oats swaying in the wind, we are able to bend but not break when we learn the lessons Oats have to teach. Oat Magic is the magic of Recovering what is inherently ours: Resilience.
Oat projects are those that spring up after or amid tough times in answer to stress, overwhelm, and exhaustion. They ask us to slow down rather than work harder, and somehow that slowing down creates new and beautiful growth. If you’re finding the project you’ve been struggling with is frozen and trying to get to the next stage is overwhelming and exhausting, Oat Magic may be the answer.
Oats counsel us to sit back and allow the rest of the world to take a role in creating. Allow the sun to shine on your work. Let yourself be safe and still amid the crowd. Trust in your own inner flexibility to allow the project to sway and shift and change as needed. Oats will show you how to accept the project and the world as it is…then to thrive there in the midst of it.
In astrology, Oats are connected with Gemini and are ruled by Mercury. They are connected with the elements of Air and Metal.
