Of St John’s Wort

ioqayin:

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Saint John’s Wort, Herb of Saint John, Herb of Saint Columba, Armpit Package of Saint Columba, Lus na fala (blood wort), Hypericum perforatum

They say that you will not be able to find St John’s Wort unless you are not actively looking for it. 

According to folklore, the plant is best plucked during Midsummer, on the Feast of St John, and can be burned on the Midsummer pyre to protect against witchcraft and bad luck. It can also be claimed as a talisman to navigate the Otherworld, and the juice can be used to anoint talismans and ritual tools for faerie work. It’s Latin name, Hypericum, means “power over spirits”. One might also hang a wreathe of it above their home or barn to protect against witchcraft, bad luck, and storms. 

A Charm to Harvest St John’s Wort

SAINT JOHN’S wort, Saint John’s wort,
My envy whosoever has thee,
I will pluck thee with my right hand,
I will preserve thee with my left hand,
Whoso findeth thee in the cattle fold,
Shall never be without kine.

Carmina Gadelica v2, 168

A Traditional Charm against Witchcraft

Trefoil, vervain, John’s wort, dill,
Hinder witches of their will.

As a herb of fire, this herb is excellent for conditions that affect the nervous system, such as anxiety and terror. It is, traditionally, plucked with the right hand, and preserved beneath the left armpit to protect against these maladies. It was also, according to Culpepper, used as a remedy against melancholy and madness when taken internally. 

Culpepper on St John’s Wort

A tincture of the flowers in spirit of wine, is commended against melancholy and madness. Outwardly, it is of great service in bruises, contusions, and wounds, especially in the nervous parts. 

Culpepper’s Herbal

St John’s Wort is an astringent, expectorant, nervine, haemostat, and is hepatic. It is excellent for clearing excess phlegm from the lungs in cases of chronic bronchitis (Beyerl, Master Book of Herbalism). Care must be taken, as too much of this firey herb can make one’s skin sensitive to the sun. As such, the juice is known as Liquid Sunlight, and may be used in recipes to call upon solar deities, and spirits of fire, and to clear out through Holy Flame. It is best taken as a tea against depression during the darker half of the year when winter’s chill may set into the bones. Daniel Schulke in his book Viridarium Umbris gives a formula against melancholy to be made in the spring and summer months made from the flowers of violet, rose, gillyflower, primrose, and St John macerated in brandy. 

St John’s Wort is a powerful, fiery faery herb, and is a great spirit to have around the house. It’s beautiful yellow flowers can be harvested all through the summer months, and are best harvested on a long, hot summer day. 

constellations-and-energy:

casualphoenix:

nicegoingsam:

adventurotica:

drwholvr:

101st-analborne:

fallbeil:

mugenstyle:

eccecorinna:

wrathofprawn:

for those not in the know, night witches were russian lady bombers who bombed the shit out of german lines in WW2. Thing is though, they had the oldest, noisiest, crappest planes in the entire world. The engines used to conk out halfway through their missions, so they had to climb out on the wings mid flight to restart the props. the planes were also so noisy that to stop germans from hearing them combing and starting up their anti aircraft guns, they’d climb up to a certain height, coast down to german positions, drop their bombs, restart their engines in midair, and get the fuck out of dodge.

their leader flew over 200 missions and was never captured.

how the fuck is this not taught in every single history class ever

pilots (◡‿◡✿) 

girl pilots (◕‿◕✿)

girl pilots killing nazis ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* (◕ヮ◕✿)/ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

But, remember, women never did anything in history.

I’m reblogging this again. Always reblogging. Always

And the Nazis called them “Night Witches” because you couldn’t fucking hear them.  They basically appeared out of the night as if they were flying on brooms and dropped bombs.

Hell yeah

There’s actually a song about them by Sabaton, it’s fucking amazing and it’s called “Night Witches”

howilearnedtocope:

bee-pd:

loved one: sorry, i can’t hang out! i have plans with other people 

my hellbrain’s instincts: wow you love them more tha- 

me, ignoring her and working on being a better person: that’s okay! i hope you have fun! can we hang out some other time?

I love this bc it’s a little snapshot of what the intermediate stage of recovery/treatment/growth can look like.

It might not be what you expect. I think people want to stop having those thoughts immediately, and if they can’t they feel that they’ve failed. But that’s not true! Challenging those old thought patterns is exactly what recovery looks like