Nothing signals the arrival of summer quite like St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum). Its brilliant, star-shaped flowers radiate the joy and vitality of the full summer sun, and are even said to resemble rays of sunlight breaking through clouds.
St. John’s Wort blooms as the sun gains full strength near the summer solstice. For this reason, many herbalists mark the solstice by harvesting St. John’s wort while it’s in full bloom. When they get home, they make a deep, ruby-red tincture, infused oil, or other herbal recipe from the fresh plant material.
Native to Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, St. John’s Wort now grows wild across large parts of the United States and is easy to identify once you know what you’re looking for. It grows 1-3 feet in height, has bright yellow flowers, and a reddish, woody stem. You can positively identify it by one of its most intriguing features—a blood-red pigment that’s revealed by crushing the buds and flowers between your fingers. This is the pigment that turns St. John’s wort tinctures and oils into their distinctive, deep red color.
St. John's Wort is most commonly known today for its ability to ease melancholy and support balanced moods through the changing seasons.* However, it has many powerful properties that extend beyond that, which we’ll shed light on in this article.
St. John’s Wort’s Health Benefits
Nourishes Nerve Health
As a nerve tonic, St. John’s Wort soothes nerve pain and has a special affinity for the spine. If you suffer from shooting or tingling nerve pain, then St. John’s wort may offer much-needed comfort.*
Supports Healthy Digestion
St. John's Wort supports digestive health by nourishing and toning the enteric nervous system, or the neural gut. There are more than 100 million nerve cells in your digestive system, and research is rapidly progressing on the powerful gut-brain connection. So it makes sense that by supporting the health of your neural gut, St John’s Wort can, in turn, encourage healthy digestion and help lift your mood.*
St. John’s Wort also supports the liver and digestive system with gentle detoxification. It does this by stimulating liver pathways to help clear toxins from your body.*
Soothes Minor Wounds and Burns
St. John’s Wort is a powerful ally when used topically as an infused oil or salve for minor bruises, burns, sprains, muscle pain, nerve pain, and spasms.*
Brightens the Mood
St. John’s Wort has a long and trusted history of gently lifting melancholy, especially when caused by isolation, burnout, or seasonal shifts.* It encourages joy, eases irritability, and helps restore emotional balance. St. John’s Wort’s solar warmth helps you reconnect to yourself and your purpose, supporting clarity, resilience, and inner strength.
St. John’s Wort – A Flower of the Sun and Air
Planetary Influence = SUN
Growing in open, sunny places, St. John’s Wort’s bright, golden flowers seem to mirror back the light and radiant warmth of the sun. Not surprisingly, in medical astrology, St. John’s Wort is ruled by the Sun, the planet of vitality, clarity, and strength. As the source of all life on Earth, the sun’s energy is expressive, dynamic, outgoing, and active.
St. John’s Wort symbolizes your inner Sun – your truth, purpose, and light. It lifts the spirit, dispels darkness, and reconnects you with your true self. Spiritually protective, it’s said to transform pain into power, helping you to shine with clarity, confidence, and heart.
Element = Air
St. John’s Wort is a slender and dainty plant, which reveals its connection to the Air element. Air governs the nervous system, so it makes sense that St. John's Wort is a potent nervous system tonic.*
Air also rules the mind and our thinking, which offers us a clue to how St. John’s Wort can help ease melancholy moods.*
Energetics
Pungent and bitter, St. John’s Wort is a gentle, warming herb that is slightly moistening, helping to soothe irritated nerve tissue.*
Folklore and Traditional Uses of St. John’s Wort
Historically, European people used St. John's Wort to protect themselves. They believed it was imbued with the life-giving energy of the sun and that it would lend this energy to all it touched.
People carried St. John's Wort bundles in their pockets or wore St. John's Wort amulets to protect themselves from harmful forces—everything from evil spirits to lightning strikes. Bundles of St. John's Wort were hung in homes over doorways, windows, and religious icons to offer protection.
If you hold up a St. John’s Wort leaf to the sun, you’ll see tiny perforations that let the light shine through. This mirrors the way St. John’s Wort has long been used as an ally for enhancing the protective barrier around a person and for those who may have poor energetic boundaries. The perforations of St. John’s Wort leaves are also a signature for its topical and homeopathic use for puncture wounds.
This distinct characteristic of its leaves shows us how St. John’s Wort shines light into the darkness and penetrates the places where we can fall into despair and depression. This may be at the root of the traditional, folkloric uses of St. John’s Wort as a protective talisman against darkness, as it dispels the malady of melancholy.
Working with St. John’s Wort Around the Solstice
St. John’s Wort blooms as daylight peaks, near the summer solstice. And it takes its common name from St. John the Baptist’s feast day, which is June 24, just a few days after the solstice.
Probably the best way you can reap St. John's Wort’s benefits is with a tincture or oil made of fresh flowers and aerial tips. The dried herb loses potency quickly, which is why many herbalists choose to capture the full power of the fresh plant before it fades.
We make our St. John's Wort spagyric tinctures and essences with fresh, wildcrafted St. John's Wort gathered around the summer solstice – at its peak potency – here in Washington.
Wildcrafting St. John’s Wort
Keep your eyes open this time of year for St. John’s Wort growing in the wild near you. Considered an invasive plant, it thrives in exposed spots where the soil has been disturbed, like grazing land or along trails and ditches.
While its sunshine yellow flowers will probably catch your eye, look out for these two very distinct features to help you positively identify St. John’s Wort:
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First, squeeze the flowers and unopened buds. Does it stain your fingers a deep red?
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Second, look closely at the undersides of the small leaves. Are they covered in pinpoint holes? (St. John’s Wort gets its species name, perforatum, from these holes, since they give the leaves a perforated appearance.)
If your St. John’s Wort passes these two tests, go ahead and cut the entire flowering heads from each branch. It’s okay to take some of the leaves, they add astringency to your extracts. When foraging, make sure to leave plenty behind so you don’t deplete wild sources, and take care to harvest from clean, allowed locations that aren’t near any chemical runoffs, spray, or pest waste.
Safety Notes
Always use St. John’s Wort internally under the guidance of a health care provider. It interacts with many drugs, largely because of its effect on your liver’s detoxification pathways. It should never be used with antidepressants (MAOIs, SSRIs), contraceptives, chemotherapy, or many other pharmaceuticals.
St. John's Wort is also photosensitizing and can make you more prone to sunburn when taken internally. So use sunscreen and wear your sun hat to protect yourself.
Celebrate Summer with St. John’s Wort
This summer solstice, reap the benefits of St. John’s Wort. The full force of the sun’s strength is concentrated in this lovely herb. It offers you its warmth, light, and protection, and generously bestows the energy of the warm sun and air on you.
Let it warm and uplift your body, mind, and spirit this summer solstice.
Additional Resources
To learn more about St. John’s Wort, read Feeding Your Inner Sun with St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), from the School of Evolutionary Herbalism, our sister business.
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