Hypericum Anhängsel

Frei nach: Thomas Cowan, M.D.

In studying the life history of the plant St. John’s wort, the beginning of a deeper understanding of symptoms and phenomena of depression can come into clearer focus.

St. John’s wort is the predominant “natural” medicine used to treat depression and it has been used in this context since antiquity. In those days, the illness was called “melancholia” and St. John’s wort was the “cure.”

St. John’s wort is so named because it flowers in Europe on St. John’s Day (June 24) close to summer solstice. This feast day celebrates the reputed birthday of John the Baptist, the prophet of the New Testament, who was somewhat a zealot, even perhaps what we would call today a madman. In former times, the celebration of the summer solstice and St. John’s Day was marked with a huge bonfire in the village square, an unusual happening seeing as how this would generally be one of the hottest days of the year. Like St. John himself, it’s a bit mad, or what we today call crazy, to do such a thing.

Remember that summer solstice follows soon after the Pagan festival of Beltane which in Europe was the day when the villagers lit huge fires, did ecstatic chants and drumming, wore masks, and were “allowed” to have sex that night with anyone of their choosing without repercussions (although I can imagine some interesting discussions in the homes in the following days and weeks). It seems as if in the interest of mental health people in the pre-depression era knew that a little craziness, or allowing oneself to more freely experience a wider range of emotions, from passion to ecstasy, was a way to allow a kind of freedom of the soul that had a hygienic, even therapeutic effect.

The plant, St. John’s wort, captures the spirit of the solstice, of John the Baptist, of the Beltane celebration and integrates that spirit into the human being as a medicine. It is not a medicine that treats depression for the simple reason that there is no such actual phenomenon as depression. Rather, it allows the possibility of an “unfreezing” of the emotional world so that a wider range of emotions can be experienced, a kind of physiological bonfire for the soul even though it may be the warmest day of the year.

It should come as no surprise that a plant that lights a fire would be most active at the time of the summer solstice. It should also be no surprise that this plant would actually store oil in its leaves, the red oil glands giving rise to the name Hypericum perforatum (perforated leaves), and oil being the warmth carrier in nature. And, it should be no surprise that the St. John’s wort warmth stimulates the enzymes in the liver that carry out detoxification, since the Greeks considered a congested liver as the source of melancholia.

St. John’s wort is not only a medicine for frozen souls, it is a teacher for our whole culture. This humble plant is calling us to give freer reign to our feeling in live, not so much so that we do crazy things, but so that we don’t. Repressed, hidden feelings, emotional wounds covered up become toxic and literally poison our livers. Narrowly defining our emotional lives creates resentment, anger, the feeling of powerlessness and then we strike out. In contrast to the metaphor that lives as St. John’s Wort, Prozac and other SSRIs have little to teach us. They may alleviate the unpleasant feelings and severe despair that so many suffer from today, but in return there is a blunting of the whole emotional life, exactly the wrong direction we need to go.

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