Foxglove Tattoo Meaning

Healing and harm in one chemistry, the fairy glove, and medicine's double edge.

The Foxglove is the fairy flower that heals and kills — the tall spire of speckled bells beloved of the fairy world, whose chemistry, digitalis, can steady a failing heart in the right dose and stop it in the wrong, medicine and poison in one bloom. To carry the Foxglove is to carry healing and harm in one chemistry, the fairy glove, and medicine's double edge — the fairy thimble of Celtic lore, the folk remedy that became a founding story of modern medicine, the powerful chemistry that both cures and kills.

In Celtic and British folk tradition, the foxglove was deeply bound to the fairy world: the foxglove (digitalis) was associated with the fairy world — called fairy thimbles, fairy gloves, dead men's bells, witch's gloves; the spots inside the flowers were said to be fairy fingerprints; to bring foxglove indoors was to invite fairy interference, to pick it carelessly was to invite the attention of the Otherworld. The tall foxglove, with its spire of speckled, bell-shaped flowers, gathered to itself a host of folk names rich with the supernatural — fairy thimbles, fairy gloves (a name from which 'foxglove' itself may derive), dead men's bells, witch's gloves.

These names mark the flower as a thing of the fairies and the Otherworld, both magical and dangerous. The distinctive spots inside the flowers were said to be the fingerprints of the fairies, marking where they had touched. And the foxglove was hedged with cautions and superstitions: to bring it indoors was to invite the interference of the fairies into the home, and to pick it carelessly or disrespectfully was to draw the dangerous attention of the Otherworld. The foxglove was thus a flower to be treated with wariness and respect — beautiful, magical, bound to the fairies, and not to be trifled with. The Celtic foxglove is thus the fairy thimble of the Otherworld — the magical, dangerous flower of the fairy world, marked with fairy fingerprints and hedged with caution. The foxglove was the fairy flower of Celtic lore — fairy thimbles and dead men's bells, marked with fairy fingerprints, bound to the dangerous Otherworld. The Celtic foxglove is the fairy thimble of the Otherworld — the foxglove (digitalis) was associated with the fairy world, called fairy thimbles, fairy gloves, dead men's bells, witch's gloves, the spots inside the flowers said to be fairy fingerprints, to bring foxglove indoors to invite fairy interference and to pick it carelessly to invite the attention of the Otherworld; the tall foxglove with its spire of speckled bell-shaped flowers gathering a host of folk names rich with the supernatural (fairy thimbles, fairy gloves, dead men's bells, witch's gloves) marking it as a thing of the fairies and Otherworld, both magical and dangerous — the distinctive spots inside said to be the fingerprints of the fairies, and the flower hedged with cautions (to bring it indoors inviting fairy interference into the home, to pick it carelessly drawing the dangerous attention of the Otherworld), a flower to be treated with wariness and respect.

Digitalis purpurea (common foxglove) contains cardiac glycosides — digitoxin and digoxin — that increase the force of heart contractions and slow the heart rate. These compounds are still used in modern cardiology. William Withering (1741–1799 CE) published An Account of the Foxglove (1785 CE) after ten years of clinical observation — documenting 163 cases, it is considered one of the first works of systematic clinical pharmacology. He credited a woman named 'Mother Hutton' (or, in some accounts, an unnamed Shropshire herbalist) with the original remedy. The foxglove's common name origin is disputed — 'foxglove' may derive from 'folk's glove' (the fairy folk) or from 'fox's glove' literally; the Welsh name is bysedd y cŵn (dogs' fingers); the Irish name is lus mór (great herb). The plant is completely toxic — every part is dangerous at the wrong dose, but the right dose of its extracted compound has saved millions of people with heart failure and atrial fibrillation.

Foxglove across cultures

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