Symphytum Saturn and the Power of the Root.

    Everything around you has a specific set of astrological significations and descriptions. Using them in concert with that knowledge fosters a life of health and meaning.  

   Case in point: My parents brought back with them a comfrey plant from California and proceeded to seed the entire region with this foreign invader. The plant seems uniquely designed to survive, no matter what the climate is. Part of the reason for this is that its roots grow so deep that you simply cannot get rid of it once it takes hold. Saturn rules the roots.  

 

   This is a picture of a specific plant I've been trying to do away with for over a decade now.   One of the survival strategies this plant has is to grow leaves so large and heavy that once they have gathered enough energy to produce flowers their own mass cracks the stems holding themselves up so that they flop all around the root structure to completely smother all plant competition in the immediate region. An extremely successful strategy as you'll note a comfrey plant you let go will have a patch of bare earth around it after a few years.  We can see clearly the destructive end of the spectrum of Saturn in this strategy, constricting things to the point of being barren. The constructive end of the spectrum of Saturn is the nature of storing energy within the roots to survive a brutal winter.

   Any plant which puts an emphasis upon storing energy in the roots has a strong Saturnian correspondence.  It is the nature of Saturn to save and plan for the cold winter months ahead. It is no accident then that Saturn rules the two coldest months of the year, Capricorn and Aquarius. Bears are almost entirely born with the Sun in the sign of Aquarius, as such, their most distinguishing factor, aside from being as large and imposing as they are, is that they store up fat in order to hibernate through the winter, exactly as a root vegetable does. Traditional astrology understood all of this and assigned the bear to Saturn.
   Back to Comfrey! In understanding that it is ruled by Saturn we can glean the main usage people have found for it medicinally, which is to create a poultice to help heal bones. Saturn rules the bones. This is the magic of the universe around us which we are active participants within. Understanding the meaning of the symbols all around us is an act of divine ecstasy and communion with the infinite glory of nature.