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Healing & Alternative Health
St. John’s Wort
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by Kami McBride |
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There are many wonderful medicinal herbs that are best harvested around the time of summer solstice. St. John’s Wort is one of them. Anywhere from mid-June to mid-July this beautiful plant goes into full golden bloom with bright yellow flowers. There are many ornamental, non-medicinal St. John’s Wort plants. The medicinal variety is Hypericum Perforatum. It can be purchased in many nurseries and usually one year of growth will produce flowers the following summer. Wild growing St. John’s Wort is identified by its bright yellow flowers and by the small pin head sized perforations in the leaves. Another identifying character is the dark reddish purple juice that bleeds from the flowers when you press them between your fingers.
As with any plant though, you never ever guess if you have found the right plant in the wild. It is very important to have plants properly identified by someone that is knowledgeable. If you don’t have any St. John’s Wort growing in your garden or know of where to harvest it in the wild, you can always have some fresh picked plant sent to you overnight. You can order fresh St. John’s Wort from Pacific Botanicals at 541-479-7777, pay for the overnight shipping and have a box of flowering St. John’s Wort tops sent to your doorstep! They usually require a five pound minimum purchase, so you can get together with a couple of friends and have a party with your five pounds of St. John’s Wort flowers.
Once you have gotten some fresh St. John’s Wort flowers you can make St. John’s Wort oil which is one of the best herbal remedies to have on hand.
To make St. John’s Wort oil:
Put two cups of flowering St. John’s Wort tops which includes the flowers, stems and leaves into a blender with three cups of organic olive oil and one tablespoon of vodka. Blend everything together until the plants are finely chopped like making pesto. Take the mixed oil and herb and store it in a clean dry jar for one month in a cabinet. For the first few days check your oil to make sure that the oil completely covers the plant. If the plant material begins to pop up above the oil, add more oil to your jar.
For one or two days out of the month that you let the oil infuse, put the jar into a paper bag and put it out in the sun for a couple of hours. Leave the oil in the bag so it gets the heat from the sun, but not the direct rays. Put it back in the cupboard for the rest of the time. After one month, strain the herb out from the oil. Purchase some tightly woven cotton linen from the fabric store and pour the oil through it into a jar. The fabric will catch the herb and remove all herb particles from the oil. Discard the herb and store the oil in a glass jar. You now should have beautiful, dark red oil that is stable for up to two years.
St. John’s Wort oil is my favorite herbal oil. It has so many uses. It helps to relax the nervous system and the muscles so it is a great massage oil and bath oil. It is one of the best oils for burns and it is also helpful for softening old scars and preventing scarring from fresh injuries. St. John’s Wort oil is a great oil to use during pregnancy to help prevent scarring stretch marks. Applied topically several times a day it can help with nerve damage or nerve pain. It is a good oil to use on sciatica and shingles. It is one of the best oils to use for whiplash and neck strain. It also helps to relieve pain from sprains and bruises. St. John’s Wort oil can be used on open wounds to help stop the bleeding, disinfect the wound and relieve the pain.
Many years ago someone came to my house and as she was getting out of her car; she slammed her finger in the car door. I put her hand into a bowl of St. John’s Wort oil and it stopped the stinging, throbbing and the bleeding. She couldn’t believe that within a minute she went from feeling excruciating pain to having it disappear.
St. John’s Wort is also one of the main herbs used for protection. Take a few sprigs, tie them together with a prayer for protection for you and your family and hang it outside your front door.
You can see why it is a plant worth going through the trouble to try to get a hold of. It is a primary medicine in my pharmacy and an important remedy for everyone’s home remedy kit.
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Kami McBride,
Teacher of Herbal Medicine
& Women's Health
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Kami McBride has taught herbal medicine and women’s health since 1988. She has studied medicinal plants for almost 20 years and has taught Herbology at the University of California School of Nursing and Stanford Hospital. Her popular course, Cultivating the Herbal Medicine Woman Within is an experiential earth awareness and herbal studies program that is taught at her beautiful school and herb gardens in Vacaville, California.
An intuitive and inspiring teacher, Kami has helped thousands of people learn to use healing plants in their daily lives in ways that are healthy, safe and fun. Her extensive knowledge of herbal medicine along with a focus on teaching herbology as a relationship with the Earth and a way of life, help to fulfill her mission of reviving the cultural art of home herbal care.
Kami is an herbal consultant and an expert in the field of holistic health specializing in women’s issues. Her herbal consultations empower women to discover sacredness and pleasure in their healing process. Her educational courses provide a sanctuary for women to transform their relationship with their body and reclaim their heritage as healers and herbalists.
Kami is the author of 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation, available at www.amazon.com.
Visit Kami’s website at:
www.livingawareness.
com
Sign up for her free quarterly herbal e-newsletter.
kami@livingawarness.
com
For Classes, Books & Consultations:
Phone: 707-446-1290
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