Anaphrodisiacs are agents that diminish or suppress sexual desire and function, serving as the pharmacological inverse of aphrodisiacs. The term derives from the Greek prefix an- ("without") and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In magical and alchemical contexts, anaphrodisiacs are employed to cool the passions, redirect vital energy toward spiritual or intellectual pursuits, and enforce celibacy or ascetic discipline.

Position on the Tree of Life

This entry occupies Path 20 on the Tree of Life, the link between Hod (Splendor) and Netzach (Victory). Path 20 is associated with the Hebrew letter Yod (י) and the astrological sign Virgo. The anaphrodisiac function here balances the more stimulating vegetal drugs on adjacent paths, particularly the cerebral excitants on Paths 12 and 15 and the aphrodisiacs on Path 14. On Path 20, the drug category acts as a neutralizing or purifying agent, consistent with Virgo’s themes of discrimination, chastity, and refinement.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

Virgo, an earth sign ruled by Mercury, governs this path. Mercurial influence lends anaphrodisiacs an analytical, separating quality—they sever the body’s automatic linkage between hormonal impulse and desire. In traditional astro-botany, Virgo-ruled plants are often dry, astringent, and cooling, mirroring the physiological effect of anaphrodisiac substances.

Historical context

Classical and medieval physicians catalogued anaphrodisiacs primarily as remedies for satyriasis and nymphomania, but also as tools for monastic chastity. Dioscorides noted that water-lily (Nymphaea) “cooleth the heat of lust”; the herb was strewn on monks’ beds into the Renaissance. Similarly, Vitex agnus-castus (chasteberry) earned its name from its use in Athenian women’s festivals of Demeter, where participants abstained from sex. By the 16th century, herbals such as John Gerard’s distinguished “anaphrodisiacs” as a formal class of simples.

In ritual magic, anaphrodisiacs support the operation of Saturnine or Mercurial workings that demand sexual continence. The grimoire tradition prescribes fasting and the use of cooling herbs like camphor or lettuce opium (lactucarium) before evocations. Anaphrodisiacs also appear in alchemy as agents of coagula—fixing the volatile spirit by calming the lower fires.

In Liber 777

In Crowley’s Liber 777, “All anaphrodisiacs” occupy the Vegetable Drugs column at Path 20 (value 20, scale of 32). The row’s placement directly opposes Path 14 (“All aphrodisiacs”), creating a balanced polarity across the Tree. Though no specific plants are named in this cell, the position implies every herb or potion classified as desire-quenching, from common kitchen sage to the potent Agnus castus tinctures of folk tradition. The entry stands as the explicit rejection of the erotic current, a necessary void in the system’s spectrum of vegetal correspondences.