A brief history of Indigo, Woad and the Ancestral connection….

by Nikiah Seeds

I have long been interested in Indigo and Woad especially since Woad in particular is connected to my Scottish and Irish ancestors.

Indigo, the colour of the sky and water and the source of deep alchemical magic and revere across most of the world!

For some time now I have been gathering the ingredients and dreaming about what I might do should I set up an Indigo vat–mostly I had visions of deep Indigo drums, perhaps a shawl and of course the initiation into Indigo as seen with the classic “Blue Hands”.

Interestingly enough it is said that in India those with Blue hands were considered not of a lower caste as one might think, but rather if you were a dyer that knew the secrets of Indigo blue dying and had the tell-tale blue hands much respect was given!

I am notoriously known for my love of the colour Red and it’s deep connection to the divine feminine, but blue has captured my heart and ancestral soul for the moment, so it was fun to combine both loves by setting up my Red Tent and Indigo vat side by side for the day.

What is the difference between Indigo and Woad?

Ok so here is the run down–basically Woad and indigo are the same, AND….woad and indigo are different, how is that for confusion!?

What is the same about these two is that the compounds in the leaves, when extracted, both produce blue pigment called Indigo.

From what I understand Woad is easily grown in Europe, thus the history of use there, and Indigo although referred to as the colour produced, is also a plant grown in more tropical climates, and the Indigo that is gathered from these plants is deeper then what one is able to obtain from Woad.

I imagine that a more lush tropical climate must be the reason for the compounds that create the blue colour of Indigo to be deeper then the Woad grown in Europe, but that is just a guess…

The introduction of Indigo to Europe came by way of Asia is the middle ages they say as early as 1140, and initially it was was sold in hard lumps and used as an ingredient in paint for artists.
It was not until the 1500 that it started to be imported and used for dye which made woad dyers quite uneasy, however it seems that the use of woad for dye was slowly departed from as the darker colours of the more tropical Indigo were discovered.

It is said that where woad is a slow blue Indigo is fast, but the truth of the matter is this–both require deep alchemy in order to achieve any kind of lasting colour!

“In Europe and in the British Isles, when woad was the only affordable blue, processing began with the crushing and composting of leaves. The mixture was shaped into balls dried for storage and transport. Inside the balls, a tiny secret was at work: a bacterium, Clostridium isatidis, thriving in the interiors, using up the oxygen, beginning a transformation by fermentation that led to blue pigment.

Woad, the plant whose deep blue pigment was used as a warpaint by the ancient Britons to frighten their enemies, is to be farmed commercially in Britain for the first time in 500 years.

Large-scale production of woad, which was most famously used by the warrior queen Boudicca, finally died out in the 16th century when cheaper dyes imported from India made it uneconomic.” Source
Woad has long been connected with the Icenci tribe and it’s famous leader Boudica who was said to have painted her face with paint before going into battle, and we now know that woad is also antiseptic and may also have been used to heal battle wounds! The thought with painting the face Blue was to frighten the enemy by having a fierce face done is a colour that would have been hard to achieve anywhere else. of course back then Urine would have been one of the magical ingredients needed to turn the green dye blue….

I could write an entire book on the ancestral connections between the magical dye and each country it was used in, fortunately there are many other wonderful and amazing books that have already done so…

From what I can understand the myth and magic of this alchemical dye has literally been found most of the world over, and ancient history shows that not only was it used for dying fabric, but also it was used for tattooing in Japan, for burial shrouds in Egypt, in trade as currency from Africa to to Central America and on and on… and it certainly not just contained to my personal European ancestors–so if this colour has captivated you as much as me chances are your ancestors used and wore it too!

Indigo was used to ward off evil spirits and the secrets of it’s facinating alchemical process were guarded fiercely by those who would eventually pass them down through the family line, or sometimes passed through secret ritual and ceremony from one dyer to another in the line.

Because I am always interested in finding my own ancestral links and understandings I was fascinated by the use of Woad as a colour of warriors and in domestic use for dying wool and clothing as well as the idea of dying drums this colour for use in ceremony.

It is said that the ancient Celtic Picts used woad for drawing on their bodies before battle and I found a fascinating book “Finding Blue” which goes into this history as well as giving a recipe and images for doing just that {see images below} but I have also read that this is not dependably accurate and so the search continued until my understanding-although not exhausted, has come full circle in that I now see that this line of my ancestors were an extremely adaptable and creative peoples {sounds familiar} and somewhere in it all lays a speckle of truth-and I am sure that speckle was Blue!

To this end I decided to ask my own helping ancestors directly and see what they had to say for it all, as they were also a pragmatic people who did not tolerate fools easily…

In the end I felt my connections deepened and I was shown a drum dark as ravens wings and used for a very specific purpose in death and grief work, which I have yet to make, as it will take more time, ceremony, and thought on my part before I even begin, as these kinds of things are not to be rushed in any way.

However, before all of this I enjoyed a few full days of dying and made a few sacred drums for sale which I have finally listed up in the Drum Shop.

And so it was that given the dog days of summer I found myself dreaming of blue–perhaps it was the long blue skies or finding myself with a bit of time off, but either way I wanted to set up my Red Tent in my back yard for dreaming and working in, and for my daughter to have friends over to sleep in and before I knew it a few days were set aside for Indigo dying and an invite was sent to all women wishing to pop by and dye some old clothes or just visit…
I had dreams of dying several drums the deep dark colour of Ravens wings and since spirit seemed to be pleased with my plans I went ahead and prepared both hide and fabric for the big day!

I prepared two Indigo Vats for the day and was glad that I had attended an Indigo Social the week before as it helped immensely with the process, plus it was there that I found out that the Indigo I was using came from India and was harvested on a full moon–this made my spirit happy!

The day found my teenaged daughter joining us which was also a delight and many friends dropped by for a few hours at a time enjoying company and being creative together, which I believe sits at the heart of woman’s work, priestessing and supporting one another in the most of organic and natural ways–gathering at the Red Tent to work with our hands.
And so it was that my love for Red was combined with Blue, with women and the ancestors– there is not much more that this spirit worker would want for…..