Here we are, happily using our hands to process and chop plants we harvested at the Plaszow Concentration Camp memorial site to make Agrimony tincture and St. John’s/Joan’s Wort oil with an ethnobotanist and a memory activist from Krakow.
(If you missed the story behind why we were harvesting herbs at a former Holocaust site, please see the previous post)
St. John’s Wort: Shudim Shutz in Yiddish, literally, Demon Protection. Healers (oshprekherins in particular) across the Pale relied on it as protection against the evil eye, as well as for respiratory ailments, skin disorders, dysentery, headaches, infections, colds, sores, and nervous diseases including “paralyzing fear.” This aligns with common uses today both for nerve pain and to calm anxiety and depression.
(from the book Ashkenazi Herbalism @ashkenaziherb)
Agrimony: Used broadly in the region, its leaves and flowers support wound healing, infections, digestion, diarrhea, inflammation, as well as for emotional uplift and nervous system regulation. I read that it can be used for people who hide their unhappiness behind masks of cheerfulness to help them accept the darker aspects of their lives (Richmond Natural Medicine).
There’s so much to heal in these lands and in us, and these plants are playing a role 🌱🏵️
