Sunny Side of the Street
(Originally posted as a newsletter 7/7/20. If you are not signed up for my newsletters,signup here!
LOOK A LITTLE ON THE SUNNY SIDE WITH ST. JOHN'S WORT
Hello Friends!
Need a little sunshine in your life?
Why not ask the wonderful herb commonly known as
St. John's wort/St. J's (Hypericum perforatum)
to help you embrace the practices and people
that support you in shining your brightest self into the world?
St. J's helps you lift your spirits and lets your unique light shine!
It is one of the herbs I always have in my green treasure chest of herbal medicines. St. J's is a restorative tonic for the nervous system and strengthens and calms the nerves. Not only is this wonderful wild flower an anti-inflammatory for the nerves, St. J's has reliable anti-viral properties that can help reduce the frequency and duration of herpes outbreaks
and soothe the pain of mouth or genital blisters.
I most frequently use St. J's (Hypericum spp.) as a tincture
and as an infused oil.
Call on the following blend when your nerve endings are raw and frazzled from grieving or seething, when they've been fried and short circuited with shock and/or anger, or you can't stop thinking and you're not sleeping well.
Calm Those Frazzled Nerves Tincture Blend
1 part St. J's wort tincture
1/2 part Skullcap tincture
1/4 part California poppy tincture
Mix these tinctures into hot water. It is very effective for helping anyone who is frazzled. If giving it to a distressed child or an elder start with small amounts, such as 5 drops of St. J's, 2 drops of Skullcap, and 1 drop of California poppy...you can always increase them. Sometimes you need to increase/decrease to find the right dosage. The range of what is acceptable is broad. An example of a large but still safe dosage is up to a teaspoon of St. J's (roughly 125 drops) and a half-teaspoon of Skullcap (though with Skullcap, smaller quantities are usually more sedative than larger ones) and half-teaspoon of California poppy (here the higher quantity is potentially
more sedative).
Excerpted from "The Gift of Healing Herbs" by Robin Rose Bennett
I recently posted a short video on St. J's wort
in the Big Little Herbal Tips play list on my YouTube channel.
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Though best known as an herbal medicine that is clinically proven to help mild-to-moderate depression, everywhere I've traveled on this beautiful planet, this plant is also honored for her magical properties.
If there is one thing I've learned in six decades around the sun on planet earth (in this incarnation), it's that one lifetime is both a long time, and a short time. To be a teacher means to be a student, forever. Often, when people get to a certain age, or stage, they think they know it all. But they don't, because we never do! And you know what? That's what keeps life exciting and can keep you filled with curiosity and wonder!
St. J's is a protective plant that can help you dispel inner darkness that comes from the experiences you've had (or read about) and the story that "this is the way it is, and always will be" or that "this is how people are". I'm not suggesting you ignore history/herstory, but I am suggesting not to be limited by it.
We are in an era of evolutionary creativity and need to use our imaginations, individually and in community to re-create earth-honoring ways of living together with ourselves, each other, and all our "more-than-human" relations on planet Earth.
St J's can help ... Here are a few ideas for simple rituals that when practiced with sincere openness, can help transform your life!
Put some of the dried plant on your bedside table ... ask this plant to come into your dreams and give you an insight about some question you've been asking. St J's excels at illumination.
Put dried St. J's flowers into a pouch, perhaps with a quartz crystal to amplify the energy, and wear it around your neck or carry in a pocket to dispel harmful energies that may be around you at work or at home.
Put a drop of fresh plant tincture on your hand every morning, and lick it off. Create a mantra that is authentic for you such as:
I am now embodying more light than ever before.
And as surely as we and the plants need sunshine, we need moonlight, too.
To that end, I have (at last!) made my New and Full
Moon meditations available streaming from my website, here!
Ritual and ceremony needn't be complicated to be powerful.
If you'd like to explore much more about this with me,
see below for information on my upcoming course.
Learn how to gather and direct healing energy for yourself and our world.
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ON-LINE OFFERING
At the end of this month, my series of 3 weekly classes on
Herbs, Ritual and Sacred Ceremony will begin!
Do you long to find ritual practices to help you become more centered in your authentic self?
Meaningful ritual is vital to our healing.
Join me from anywhere on our beautiful planet!
Classes are recorded if the timing does not work for you.
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IN-PERSON OFFERING
(we will adapt to online if need be)
August 28 - 30
"Turn the World Around" - A Weekend of Spiritual Activism
Held at the beautiful, private Blueberry Point in West Milford, NJ
This weekend we will engage in activist ritual magic together,
focused on birthing healing and justice in our world.
We will strengthen ourselves in community and bring joy to our hearts,
which gives us the juice we need to be activists in our lives,
in our communities, and in our beloved world.
For more information, visit my website.
Love and Green Blessings
Robin Rose
~*~