DIY Herbal Medicine: St John’s Wort Oil (Vlog & Photos)
Herbal medicine is people’s medicine. It is powerful, easy to make and accessible. At home, with a few ingredients you can make medicines to support your healing process.
St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a wonderful plant for a multitude of uses! Many know it for a gentle mood supporter for depression/anxiety. In this way in “brings the light in” as it acts as a nervine tonic.
This plant is specifically potent in this way because it is a solar medicine through and through.
So named after St John the Baptist as his birthday is right around this time. It is when the Summer Solstice happens (June 21st, the longest day of the year) and when the sun makes the biggest presence.
I will make a tincture this year to capture this nerve action, but this morning, as the blooms are just opening and the sun is shining on them, I’m collecting them for a powerful herb infused oil.
Using olive oil (and a little vitamin e oil to stabilize against rancidity), I’m picking the flowers into a glass jar and infusing them in the oil.
I simply fill the jar, pour oil to the top and set in the sun for 2 weeks. I then take the flowers out/strain it and have a lovely oil!
Also known as Hypericum oil, this oil is an ancient potent medicine that had wondrous effects at reducing inflammation, burns, soothing sore muscles, sun burn, sore breasts of lactating women, sciatica and more.
Essentially it is a supreme anti inflammatory. And fascinating as it is, the oil turns a beautiful rich red as it infuses in the sun. This oil has been used by humans for a very long time!!
Watch the video to follow along as I make this very simple herbal oil this morning. Many blessings and thanks to our herbal allies and the humans who have passed on this wisdom through generations!
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You make such magic with nature. ((hugs)) 💖💖💖
xoxo thanks lady, great to hear from ya. yeah, let's align with this magic of nature. humans + nature = magic!
YES! Exactly. :)
skips into the forest dancing with the fireflies
Wisdom of the ancients from a couple of young kids... bringing us older generation back to nature. I love it! haha
Hope I don't offend calling you kids but I'm 50 now and my kids are moving out of the house so I feel old even if you don't consider yourselves young :)
;) we get it. happy to share the love.
This flower is so beautiful! Amazing photography, you were able to capture the true essence of this lovely St. Johns Wort. Can't wait to see the beautiful red tincture. I had never seen the flowers before. Wonderful video @mountainjewel!
thanks mama. i had a lot of fun this morning taking pics. it's an amazingly beautiful plant and flower. can't wait to share it with you xoxox
Thanks for the information. I've been living in the mountains for three weeks now and need to do some forging.
nice, where are you currently? looks like maybe desert southwest or a canyon out west?
I'm in Northern California up near Redding. Pretty close guess. How about yourself?
we live in Southern missouri near the Arkansas border.
I've never been to Missouri, been through a few states that way along a greyhound route on my way to NY from Los Angeles. I see you are in the Ozarks, I would love to visit that part of the country. Don't know if you guys chat at all via facebook or messenger? im facebook.com/david.levy.58910
Herbal medicine!I've always learn to use that.my grandpa taught me that,it's easy to prepare and work majestically in my body especially the powdered one.thus is what we mostly use in our home and it has positive effect on us because we are all living fine
yeah for sure. glad to hear your grandpa taught u the ways. what a great tool for humanity!
Thanks for the tutorial and lesson! I'm hoping to grow St. John's Wort myself and do just this!
yay! love to hear it! :) it was quite easy to start from seed. best wishes!!!
There’s so many things in nature that are so under appreciated but so powerful and healthy. Thanks for sharing this process with us.
You are so true on this one, there is so much to explore, appreciate and connect with in the plant kingdom. Glad you appreciated the sharing.
Love the bright yellow = so much energy in these shots.
Thanks for the compliment. They are bright bursts of solar radiance!
Such a pretty flower. I love how so many of our healing herbs have pretty flowers!! I'm going to try to set aside some more garden for medicinal plants this year - whilst we have some, we were concentrating on making our garden a little more water wise here in Australia and making little micro climates within it, so now we are more infilling - which means I can find some space for more powerful herbs. YOur posts are inspiring me to do that. I take St Johns Wort internally which helps a lot. xx
awww glad to hear we're sharing inspiration!! definitely filling in the awesome microclimates you're creating with powerful medicinals is such a worthwhile and exciting endeavor!!! can't wait to see what you choose. i'ld also be curious to learn more about your local/native/indigenous medicines that perhaps do well with the lower amount of water. i'm so unfamiliar with your region!!!! love that you're doing a water conscious garden!!! <3 how do you take st johns? pills/tincture? what effects do you notice it has? i just made a tincture yesterday. such bright babes!!!
Low water medicinal indigenous plants is a whole other ballgame and I'd have to do some research there. Ireally want to do a course on indigenous bush foods around here. They are starting to get more into mainstream cooking like wattleseeds. However, we didn't plant our garden with that in mind, only that the natives are architecturally appealing and in keeping with the natural environment as well as food and shelter for birds.
Years ago I used to have a huge medicinal garden with many of the plants you describe - st johns wort, echinacea, borage, etc etc. What we'd call a cottage garden. But that was more in a suburban garden which was more sheltered so easier to maintain and water.
We DO grow some herbs, but let it slide in terms of variety as we just couldn't maintain the garden and vegies and the herbs - seasonally, they take a lot of work pruning and watering and etc. It's not the kind of landscape in which they would grow wild, which is a bit hard to explain. But there's little nooks now where I can get the soil a bit less hydrophobic and plan a medicinal garden, so I'm gonna get on it!!!
Lovely that is infused by the sun...