It is an extremely potent plant. Ingestion of parts of the plant can cause delirium (inability to differentiate reality from fantasy), hallucinations, elevated temperature, flushed skin, fast heart rate, and agitation (bizarre, and possibly violent behavior). The changes in mental status can last for days in cases of severe intoxication.
Several seed pods were gathered from the 'wild garden' from the sacred riverbank and allowed to open in their own time at the foot of Hera's Statue. Once fully opened the seeds were allowed to dry and then placed in small glass viles which rest upon the altar until the following spring when they were finally planted and the transference of the plans from the river was complete.
Yesterday I once again visited the riverbank while out fishing and I was anticipating seeing how the riverbank was growing with all of its many plants and wildflowers. But much to my heartbreak this is what I saw instead:
Every one of Hera's Stars have been killed while all of the plants surrounding them remain. They are dry, brittle, their stems twisted, their still developing seed pods hanging lifeless upon broken stems by a thread. where there was once a long beautiful stretch of dark green and bursting white blossoms there is only desolation. But only here and only of these sacred plants. Nothing else has been damaged or touched.
Of these consecrated plants, the only ones still in existence are those from which I grew from the seed pods I took after they were dedicated to Hera. 17 of them grow today in a protected area and are blessedly producing new seed pods of there own. One of which grows in a terracotta pot inside the altar room itself where it is kept under strict guard and tending. Especially now that its parental stock has been eradicated. One final vile of the sacred seeds also remains inside Hera's Altar Room. There are perhaps 200 or so seeds in the tiny glass vile.In addition 3 full roots of the plants were also taken during the first dedication. The root systems were placed in the altar room and allowed to dry for use in ceremony.
In response to the insult to Hera and the destruction of her sacred wild garden along the riverbank it hs been decreed that a new, protected, and private garden dedicated to the Goddess is to be constructed beginning immediately with an estimated completion time of next summer.
The new garden dedicated to Hera will include Hera's Stars from the consecrated seeds along with dozens of other flowers and plants. Seeds from the newly built Gardens of Hera will be taken to the river during the annual Spring Procession and with luck will rebirth the original sacred stretch.
