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I have been reading an advance copy of Carole Guyett’s book “Sacred Plant Initiations” which will be published in April. I’ve known Carole since we studied herbal medicine together in the 1980s and she has always been fascinated by the power of plants: not just their obvious medicinal properties but their spiritual power.
To that end she has studied as a shaman and celtic priestess and – apart from her highly regarded work as a medical herbalist in Ireland – she has developed a significant following    for her work on “plant dieting”. A means through fasting, meditation and selective eating of plant extracts to understand the spiritual nature of the herb and its power.
“Sacred Plant Initiations”  is a distillation of that knowledge describing the visions the plants have bestowed on her and her “diet” group and how the plants can help mankind find a new path through our troubled times.
It is fascinating book  but I was particularly delighted to read her comments on St John’s wort and especially its close relative tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum), which she associates with the Winter Solstice and the “Emerald Ray” – one of seven traditional spiritual rays which “carries harmony, joy, and knowledge and is associated with the awakening and evolution of the heart”.
Tutsan grows like a weed in my garden – it arrived, uninvited, some years ago and self-seeds enthusiastically. It has similar properties to St John’s wort as its name – derived from the French tout sain or all-healthy – suggests. Tutsan is a favourite with flower arrangers who love its long-lasting deep red berries. so I hope that it is also busily shedding its light on both them and the many places it decorates.