Eyebright: Magical Properties & Uses

Eyebright is the herb of clear seeing in both the physical and the psychic sense. Its primary magical use is in the opening and strengthening of second sight: the ability to perceive what is not immediately visible. Brewed as a tea and the cooled liquid used to wash the eyes before divination, or placed in a small bowl near the scrying surface, it is a traditional preparation for psychic work. In workings for clarity of perception (for understanding what is actually happening in a situation versus what one fears or hopes is happening), eyebright is the most appropriate herb. It is also used in workings dedicated to solar deities of vision and truth.

Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis) has been used in European herbal medicine for eye complaints for at least five hundred years. It contains iridoid glycosides including aucubin, tannins, and flavonoids. The cooled tea applied externally as an eye wash has some evidence for reducing redness and irritation in mild conjunctivitis, though clinical trials are limited. It is used in homeopathic preparations for eye complaints and is still sold as a herbal eye drop preparation in some European countries. Culpeper recommended it extensively for the eyes and for the improvement of memory.

Sun deities

A modest little flower with a tiny golden eye at its centre, known by every old herbalist as the gift of clear seeing. Brewed into a cooled tea and used as an eye wash, it was the standard European remedy for weak, inflamed, or strained eyes from at least the medieval period. Culpeper, who was particularly enthusiastic about it, said it had restored the sight of many who had abandoned all hope. In Scottish Highland folk magic it was used to anoint the eyes specifically before second sight work: to open the eye that sees what others cannot. It was associated with the sun and with clear solar vision throughout the Western herbal tradition.