St John’s Wort cut (Hypericum perforatum)

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Midsummer charm: gathered on or around St John’s Eve, 23 June, and hung over doors and windows to ward off harm and evil spirits.
• Banishing incense: burned on charcoal to drive out unwanted spirits and heavy atmospheres.
• Courage: carried in a sachet for strength and resolve.
• Love divination: in parts of Europe, young women picked a sprig on St John’s Eve and read their prospects of marriage by whether it wilted or stayed fresh.

A Simple Working

• On a sunny day, gather a small bundle of St John’s wort with a few sprigs of rosemary.
• Tie them with red thread.
• Pass the bundle through the smoke of a gold or yellow candle.
• Say: “Devil and harm, keep from this door.”
• Hang it above your front door, flowers down.
• Replace it each midsummer and burn the old bundle.

Pairs Well With

• Rosemary, for a protective door bundle.
• Vervain, another midsummer herb of protection.
• Frankincense, a solar resin for banishing incense.
• A gold or yellow candle, for solar work.

What You Receive

Cut dried St John’s wort, available in 1 oz, 2 oz and 1 lb.

Origin & Lore

Hypericum perforatum is a European and Asian perennial with bright yellow flowers that open around midsummer. It was traditionally steeped in oil to make a red infused oil for the skin, and used as a herbal tea.

Its old Latin name was fuga daemonum: the demon-chaser. Bunches were hung over doors and windows on St John’s Eve to keep evil out of the house.

The plant blooms around the feast of St John the Baptist, which gave it its English name. When the flowers are crushed they bleed a red juice, which folk tradition tied to the saint’s blood, shed at his beheading.