Saint Joan’s Wort Oil…. I prefer to name Hypericum ‘Saint Joan’ instead of Saint John in honor of Joan of Arc. Herbalist Susun Weed inspired this idea of renaming & reclaiming to Saint Joan. Well these herbs were allies of midwives, wise folk & witches long before the herb names were christianized and named after male saints.
Another common name I am fond of for Hypericum is Sunshine Herb because she glows bright like the sun and turns oil a beautiful red when infused in a sunny window. I experimented with infusing fresh Hypericum flowers in oil then set in a dark place instead of the sunny window as I usually do. I waited almost 6 weeks, the oil never turned bright red. I even tried setting the oil next to a warm radiator. Still, no bright red. I really like that red color, and decided to put the jar in a sunny window. Within 1 day the oil began turning bright red. I am now pleased.
According to herbalist Henriette Kress some species of Hypericum won’t color your finger red when you crush the flower, and won’t color the oil red, and are therefore not medicinal. The deep red color is an indication of how medicinal the herb is. Henriette says the redder the color, the stronger the medicinal quality of the herb. She also says that the oil won’t turn very red if you pick the herb right after a rain or in autumn. So it seems important to pick Hypericum on a sunny summer day, crush the flower to make sure that you see red, and infuse the oil in a sunny window.
Some say that the oil goes rancid quicker when set in the sun. But I still have Hypericum oil from over a year ago and it smells perfectly fine. I do add vitamin E oil to preserve, 10 ml vitamin E per liter of oil. So I have decided that Hypericum and Sunshine complement and reflect one another.
After straining the oil from the flowers, I apply externally for those experiencing nerve pain, sciatica, radiating pain, pain from herpes, shingles, cold sores, fever blisters.
