February is celebrated as a month of Heart energy because of its holiday, Valentine’s Day. Layering on that, it’s also a month to bring awareness to the physical heart and its healing needs. In this post, we celebrate both aspects: the Heart as a center of love, connection and wisdom, and the heart organ, the warm center of our physical being, circulating the life’s blood through the whole body.
One of the best-known plant tonics for the physical heart is Hawthorne, a tree whose berries have been used as a cardiac tonic since the earliest days of herbalism. Hawthorne has a strengthening and toning effect on the heart’s structures and functions, making its movements more efficient and even. Its antioxidants protect the integrity of blood vessels and collagen throughout the body, making our Hawthorne Essence a good support for the aging body, from heart all the way out through the joints, muscles, and skin.
Often combined with Hawthorne, Motherwort is another excellent tonic to the heart and circulatory system. Motherwort’s botanical name refers to this use – Leonuris cardiaca – and it is said to give the heart of a lion when used wisely. It is more calming than Hawthorne, and especially useful for emotional and hormonal imbalances which affect the heart, such as the palpitations of anxiety or menopause. For these uses, our Motherwort Essence combines well with Ashwagandha to slow overstimulated adrenaline, or with other hormonal balancers as in our Sage’s Sleep Ens.
Even more calming to the heart is our Jatamansi Initiatic. An Asian relative of Valerian, this earthy root is less sedating than its European cousin. In small doses, Jatamansi smooths out anxious and worried states, and in larger doses, it is very useful for meditation and sleep and dreamwork. As it stills the body and clears the mind, it brings a deepening awareness of the Heart and its wisdom, dispelling doubt and creating mindfulness.
As a medicinal mushroom, Reishi bridges many different worlds, and in healing, it unites the physical heart’s functions with the peacefulness of the Heart center, which Chinese healing calls Shen. Reishi is an adaptogen, optimizing the functions of many body systems, and also creating a wise, heart centered perspective that grows into wisdom with long term use. Our Reishi Essence is a good balanced tonic to the immune, circulatory, digestive, and nervous systems, and it creates a calm center within the self.
Working from an archetypal level, our Rosemary Magistery invokes the pure solar energy of light, warmth, cheer, and the circulation of all these energies through the microcosm of the body. Rosemary is one of my favourite healing herbs, and it expresses so many different facets of energy, depending on how it is extracted. As a Magistery, it is clean and a little sharp tasting, opening up into a brightness that feels like the Sun coming out after a long winter. It’s the perfect Spagyric for this time of year, if you’re needing to banish the seasonal gloom as much as I do!
Our Heart center, the chakra situated near and around the organ, is ruled by Venus, the intelligence of harmony, beauty, refinement, and all varieties of love. Herbs of Venus can be tonics to her organs of skin and kidneys, but on a higher level, they imbue us with connection, openness and affection.
Perhaps no herb better expresses this gift better than Rose, and our Rose Magistery is a refined and beautiful manifestation of all that is best about this singular flower. Aromatic, cheering, opening to the heart and connection to all beings through it, it’s a great invocation of all Venus’ best energies.
Try it with someone you love for a deeper synergy between you, or solo for work in the arts, love and beauty magic, or the imaginal and visioning stage of any magickal practice.
Once you have imagined and planned your magickal working or spiritual practice, Hibiscus can be an ally to getting that energy moving into manifestation, especially if sound is part of your path. Mantra, prayer, invocations, song and other vocal workings are enhanced by this flower, as it is said to make the intent of what you are vocalizing become actual. As it does this, our Hibiscus Initiatic also brings a balanced connection between the heart organ and its energy of movement, and the Heart center and its wisdom.
One of our newest Spagyrics also connects these two energies through uniting mineral and plant work: our Rose Gold. Alchemical oil of Gold carries the Solar metal’s qualities of light, warmth, courage and centered strength, while the Rose Magistery we combined it with brings grace, peacefulness and joy. Together, they create a flow of energy which is easy to work with and move throughout the system, especially supportive to meditation and practice of loving-kindness, devotional service, and charity.
Our Heart Opener Somalixir is also built around our Rose Magistery and a mineral extract- Ruby, for its fire and passion. Also in the mix is Cacao, which invigorates the other qualities into action, whether for spiritual or physical connection to another. If you’re struggling to keep a relationship harmonious, this can help smooth things over, and for couples that are already well-connected, it will bring deeper and more meaningful connection on all levels of being.
Cacao is a lovely heart herb to play with, being tonic to the health of the circulatory system, and an herb which brings love and passion along with its deliciousness. Our Mayan Lovers Somalixir is our simplest formula- just Cacao and Vanilla, but its based on complex chemistry and an ancient story of two lovers, doomed in this life, but eternally together as two plants.
As discussed above, Cacao bring passion and fire, stimulating the chemistry of that first intoxicating tumble into love with another. Vanilla connects to the chemistry of mothering, bringing long-lasting devotion and keeping the fire from burning out too fast. Together they balance each other like the two original lovers, entwined forever in the forest.
Shatavari is an Ayurvedic herb whose name means “she with a hundred husbands”, referring to its considerable tonic properties for womens’ sexual health. It’s also a balanced tonic to all the female organs and systems, and is not as hormonally specific as other womens’ herbs, making it useful for all stages of life. Beyond its tonic properties on the physical level, Shatavari creates a very Venusian energy of devotion, affection, and love between any two people who take it together.
Our Shatavari Nectar has been used by many couples to build their relationships on the physical and spiritual levels, but it is also a support for mothers and the love and devotion they carry, and to anyone who missed that connection and who wishes to create it within themselves at any point in life.
Finally, however you find and nurture that Heart energy, a tonic to keep the centeredness you find there, and protect it from the world and its unkindness. Our Faith Somalixir was created many years ago “in the trenches” of our festival booth, requested by social warriors, change-makers, wisdom keepers, and others who needed to stay strong in their work to better the world.
Albizia lifts the Shen of the Heart, freeing it from the weight of sadness and difficulty. Rhodiola and Saffron keep that energy moving through us and all around us, and Amber protects the positivity we find when we tune in to the best of ourselves. Together, they create a tonic for perseverance and positivity in trying times, reminding us that the very root of the word courage is heart.
