listening to herbs in the moment
A hot day at the end of May. My twelfth birthday. The car has lumbered onto the moors. We’ve stopped in Kilbutn to admire the mouseman’s oak furniture. My mother remains in the car while the rest of us — Dad, sister, schoolfriend and me — head up Sutton bank towards the white horse cut into the hill in 1857. We’re thirsty and hot. It’s 1973. No water bottles.
Ash
Oak
Birch
Alder
Willow
Hawthorn
Wild flowers and fern along the path.
Betony
Devil’s bit scabious
Bird’s foot trefoil
Common spotted orchid
Eyebright
Meadow cranesbill
Rough hawkbit
Yellow rattle
Red campion
An adder, soaking up sun on the path, slips into the flora-rich grass as we approach.
The names of red campion —
Blodyn neidr (snake flower in Wales)
Robin Hood
Cuckoo flower
Blodyn taranau (another Welsh name — thunder flower)
Red catchfly
Bird’s eye
Red Jane
Adder’s flower
In Celtic lore, adders are symbols of transformation, healing, life energy. Adders glide into crevices, into the otherworld, journey with grace… Adam and me saw one just before we left Finistère to visit the UK, beside the forest path near our home — shy and quick.
Recently a gifted herbalist and reiki practitioner suggested I work with red campion. It was a strong intuition that emerged as we worked together and immediately felt right, even though I’d never considered red campion as a medicinal plant. Red campion (Silene dioica) is a a wild flower of childhood and is abundant here in the forest, one that always calls to me.
A couple of days later, working on a a section of my current manuscript, there’s a passage I didn’t remember writing — focussed on red campion
We’re in the season of Beltane — the last of the Celtic festivals of Spring, on the cusp of Summer, the water element giving way to fire. The warmth and conviviality of outdoor fires on long evenings lengthening towards Summer Solstice. Fires that burn away what is not needed, alchemical fires that purify, transform. Fires of the heart.
How much our world needs transformation, the voice of the heart…
Herbs of heart and circulation — emotional, spiritual, life-giving — feature strongly in my practice. Rose — uplifting, nourishing, knowing when to raise her boundary of thorns. Hawthorn — holding and protecting, full of strength. Yarrow for circulation and staunching wounds, physical and emotional.
And red campion…
In her work with me, my practitioner focussed on voice, heart and circulation. Neither of us realising how deeply interwoven these elements are with this overlooked plant. Her intuition spoke to what I was feeling in my body, what I’m seeing in so many…
To be seen and heard — how many are longing for this?
A herbaceous perennial abundant across Europe, Asia and parts of North America, her bright pink or red flowers are more known for their cheer than their herbal gifts, but there are many traditional uses.
So many conditions are rooted in or worsened by inflammation, which red campion modulates. From sore throats to swollen joints to skin conditions, infusions or decoctions of leaves or roots are soothing. She is also an astringent — toning tissues in wound or gut healing, helpful where there is diarrhoea.
Rich in flavonoids used to treat respiratory disorders, red campion has a long folk history of aiding respiratory problems in remedies of syrups or teas. The Silene species also contain phytoecdysteroids — antibacterial and antioxidant.
In traditional herbalism red campion was used to treat urinary tract infections and to support the kidneys — something I’ve been aware of doing since being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition.
A warm day at the end of April… the path into the forest is birdsong and dappled light, soft hiss of low river and everywhere flora. Hawthorn blossom — lavish froth and foaming sweetness, scent of softness and desire…
Valerian
Loosestrife
Dog rose
Royal fern
Enchanter’s nightshade
Vervain
Self heal
Foxglove
Buttercup
Red Campion
Red campion — herb of the heart — ten petals pairing as five hearts.
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince
Sweetness and heart — seeing beyond the surface — what kind of world could we inhabit with a different story?
Red campion in rituals of love, hand-fasting at Beltane, fertility… A vibrant perennial symbolising constant renewal. A herb for attracting love, protection and healing. For dreamwork — the clarity of dreams and their messages to heart and emotions.
Healing
Attraction
Clarity
Voice
Breath
Circulation
Heart
Herb of transition — Spring to Summer, water to fire… The lungs and kidneys, organs of flow and water, the digestion and heart organs of fire and transformation.
May in Glastonbury — in the Chalice Well garden —
the last of the bluebells
lavender
Abelia
Japanese anenome
lemon verbana
pink hydrangeas
red campion
The ancient Greeks had two notions of time —
chronos that ticks our lives away
kairos — the ripe time, the apt moment…
Red campion sings of transformation and healing, voice and heart — how often a plant appears at just the right time.