St. John's Wort (hypericum perforatum) rewards us in late spring and early summer with her shimmering yellow flowers, awakening our hearts from the tumult of spring, to the coming warmth of summer. Hold a leaf up to the light and you will see tiny pin pricks with red dots of oil from the glands in the leaves. Squeeze the petals of a flower and see your fingers turn red, and because of this oil, most home crafted or wild crafted St. John's Wort products will have a lovely ruby red cast to it. Tincture is bright red, and oils infused with St. John's Wort is a lovely translucent ruby color.

Use this herb to nourish your nervous system, strengthen your immune system and more! It had a place in antiquity on the battle field to staunch wounds, as a deterrant to spirits for the Greeks, (which is how it got it's name: hypericum is derived from the Greek and means "over an apparition" according to botanical.com, in the belief that simply smelling this herb would send a spirit or apparition sailing in the other direction. This is pretty funny, as the smell of this herb is not very strong in it's plant form, but when infused, it takes on a heavenly subtle and sweet aroma. This infused oil is the base of many meditation mixtures I take to annoint myself or clients.

There have been German medical studies as to the efficacy of this herb to fight the herpes virus, and as many know to use as an anti-depressant. It does have anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-depressant and anti-inflammatory properties. Wonderful for healing, for boosting the immune system, for nourishing the nervous system and for cultivating spiritual awareness.

"This beautiful yellow flower yields a blood-red tincture that I take by the dropperful to prevent viral infections such as the flu. A dropperful in the morning throughout the cold months is adequate for prevention. I increase that to 2-3 dropperfuls a day if I have been exposed at home or at work to the flu. If I do get sick, I will use other herbs to counter the infection. Capsules of St. J's are ineffective; I only use the tincture." (From Susun Weed in "Fight the Flu, the Wise Woman Way")

Dosage is generally 10-30 drops in water, juice or tea 1-3/x times per day.

Ingredients: St. John's Wort flower, stem and leaf infused in a menstruum of 150 Vodka in a ratio of 1:1.

Note: Weight above is shipping weight. Actual weight is 1 fl. oz. in glass bottle with glass dropper.


*Pregnant women please check with your health care provider before using these products. None of these statements have been evalulated by the FDA. Please do not use this in place of proper medical care. Please make informed health choices.