What We Talk About When We Talk About the Heart
The heart is an organ that circulates blood throughout the entire body, transporting essentials of life like oxygen, nutrients, and hormones where they’re needed. Being the precious lifeforce that it is, the heart is also one of the most physically protected organs of your body, held within your ribcage. Energetically, it is also a place we are inclined to protect.
Across many belief systems, the heart is associated with the element of fire. (Think of the word “hearth” — the heart of the house.) Like fire, the heart needs breathing room to really thrive.
Therefore when we talk about healing for the heart, we talk about things that can help us to nurture and protect this precious center while allowing it to breathe. And because this center connects to the rest of the body, to offer these things to the heart is to offer them to all the places it extends to, physically and otherwise.
Cardiotonics
Cardiotonics are botanicals that demonstrate beneficial support for the cardiovascular system of mammals, sometimes referred to as “cardioprotectives.” Marked often by the presence of red berries, haws, and hips, they follow the Doctrine of Signatures, an old concept in folk and herbal medicine where the appearance of a plant (shape, color etc) relates to the part of the body it benefits.
For example, just as the roots of yellow dock and goldenseal share the same hue as the bile they help promote and walnuts resemble brains, many of the cardiotonics we’ll talk about are red, purple, or blue, sharing these hues with the cardiovascular system that they support.
“The soul does not perceive the external or internal physical construction of herbs and roots, but intuitively perceives their powers and virtues, and recognizes at once their signatum…This signatum is often expressed even in the exterior forms of things, and by observing the form we may learn something in regard to their interior qualities, even without using our interior sight.”
- Paracelsus, Swiss physician, alchemist, and astrologer of the German Renaissance — a pioneer in of the medical revolution of the Renaissance, emphasizing the value of observation and received wisdom.
Tannins
The word tannin comes from the Old German word tanna, meaning oak or fir, as in tannenbaum. In nature, tannins are found in the bark, wood, leaves, buds, stems, fruits, seeds, roots, and plant galls of coniferous trees, many flowering plants, and medicinal herbs — like hawthorn, arjuna trees, and motherwort, all categorized as cardioprotective botanicals. Many of these thrive in the colder months of the fall and winter — as if, maybe, they are here for us in our darkest days, glowing bright red through the gloom.
Part of the healing benefit of many cardiotonics can be attributed to the presence of tannins, a special class of cooling, astringent polyphenols. Tannins are abundant in dietary form, found in tea, coffee, cocoa, fruits like pomegranates and persimmons, berries like cranberries, strawberries, and blueberries, spices like cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves, and maybe most recognizably, they are what put the dry in dry red wine and give it its infamous “mouthfeel.” They are also found in abundance in many cardioprotective herbs.
Large molecules, they bind easily, creating substances that are insoluble and resistant to decomposition, and are stored in places like tree bark as well as the dense inner part of a tree trunk known as the heartwood to protect it from infection by bacteria or fungi, in plants buds to protect the inner leaf tissue from being attacked, and in the early leaves of vulnerable germinating seeds.
What’s interesting is that tannic compounds help to protect the “heartwood” of the trees, and when ingested by mammals, serve to protect the heart. When a mammal ingests a tannic plant, tannins take on a protective role by binding with organic compounds in the body that travel through the blood. Tannins also add greatly to the antioxidant activity of a plant, a big part of what helps them play a heart-protective role for the mammals who ingest them.
Hawthorn (Crataegus)
Hawthorn has a long history of use in traditional botanical medicine in many parts of the world for its multiple health effects, but especially in relation to cardioprotection. There are 2,718 species of hawthorn and counting — it self-propogates without fertilization! — all in the rosacea family (along with roses, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, plums, etc) and all of the genus Crataegus meaning “hard wood.” The haw in the name is for the berry-like haws, and the thorn is because of its often very thorny branches — gathering it requires thick gloves and careful moves! In the UK, it often grows in hedges, forming natural boundaries, where the word hawthorn originated as an old English term for hedgethorn.
For these reasons, hawthorn is stabilizing, tough, and great for holding and setting boundaries, supporting us during periods of grief or great transition, and fostering a sense of self-possession.
Hawthorn grows all across the world, known in many cultures to gladden and strengthen the heart. More scientifically, hawthorn is a trophorestorative — an herb that bring balance to a particular body system or organ — its leaves, flowers, and red berries known widely to be trophorestorative for the heart. This includes helping improve the strength of the heartbeat (heart beats stronger, but not faster), dissolve plaques, regulate the heart’s rhythm, and allow blood to move more esily and carry nutrients throughout your whole body, which is why it’s known herbally as a whole-body tonic as well.
Chinese Hawthorn (C. pinnatifida) which also grows in the northwest develops huge, crabapple sized haws and is helpful for weathering changes in the weather and environment. In Mexico, a traditional drink called Ponché is made from Mexican Hawthron (C. Mexicana) and used for mid-winter fiestas around solstice and as a daily tonic, containing other cardioprotectives like cinnamon bark, apples, and plums.
It has no major contraindications except rare cases of hypersenstivity to the Crataegus genus, in pregnancy for its potential uterine stimulation, and with cardioactive digitalis-based medications and beta-blockers, which it may enhance the activity of, but not in a toxic way. At high doses it can cause sedation and low blood pressure.
Roses (Rosa) and Rosehips 🌹
As Sufi poet Rumi wrote: “Rose is sent to earth by the gardeners of paradise for empowering the mind, the eye and the spirit.”
There are many varying traditional uses for the rose. The Damask rose, for instance, is cited as a significant nervine useful for depression and anxiety that may be useful for heartache, and the Chinese have long used rose blooms as an energy stimulant and blood tonic. In one recent Swedish study, rosehips were found to lower blood pressure and cholesterol and decreasing risk of cardiovascular disease, echoing the findings of other similar studies. Not to mention, rose can be a calming, cooling astringent for the skin. As another saying goes, “roses are good for the skin and the soul.”
In early Islamic tradition, the physician Ibn-i Sina in the 11th century emphasized rose’s aromatherapeutic benefits for the heart, brain, and human spirit. Ibn-i Sina wrote: “Because of its exquisite fragrance, the rose addresses the soul. It has a calming effect and is highly beneficial for fainting and for rapid heart beats...It enhances comprehension and strengthens memory.” A later Islamic physician, Ibn-Al-Baitar, praised rose water for strengthening the mind, increasing the life force, and treating anxiety.
Truly, the rose is a magic flower. Noble yet common, fragile yet hearty, sweet yet thorny — the rose’s contradictions give it its delicate strength which is exactly what I feel it imparts energetically to a person and their emotional heart. The rose’s smell alone is an entrancing kind of medicine that to me is more soothing and addictive than almost any other smell. And lately, I’ve noticed that roses are having a kind of heyday — not only is the rose spotting group on Facebook expanding (lol, but also a strong indicator of social patterns) but friends in general are wearing and talking about roses more than ever, rose lattes are on the rise, and people just generally seem to be deriving just a lot of pleasure from these divine plants. And why not? Roses are the best — the Queen of Flowers, as she’s called. Does she deserve all the attention? Yes.
It’s been said that roses were grown in some medieval gardens as much as (or more) for medicinal/nutritional purposes than for beauty. In 1st century Rome, naturalist Pliny the Elder recorded 32 different medicinal uses of the rose. Years later in the 19th century, it was proven that rose petals contain essential oils and the oils began to be distilled and used as aromatherapy, its fragrance used to clear the mind as it has traditionally been used for centuries, now in a more distilled way.
Nutritionally roses and rosehips are especially rich in Vitamin C. In the 1930s, when vitamin C was discovered and American biochemist and peace activist Dr. Linus Pauling claimed it could cure the common cold, and it was also found that roses contained remarkably high amounts of it — three times as much as some citrus fruit — roses began to be used more widely as an immunobooster in fighting common colds and flu.
Among the many other traditional cardiac-related uses of roses and rosehips is their use as an astringent and hemostasic (stopping blood flow), often being used to slow heavy menstruation and other heavy bleeding.
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)
Motherwort is a perennial plant indigenous to central Europe and Scandinavia, but it is also found in the area spanning temperate Russia, Central Asia, and dates back many centuries as a folk medicine. Siberian motherwort appears in the ancient Chinese “Book of Songs” from 1000-500 BCE.
As evidenced by its Latin name (cardiaca) and its nicknames like Lady Lionheart and heartwort, motherwort has long been associated with its affinity for the heart as a remedy for heart conditions, women’s reproductive cycles, and other matters of the heart. Researchers attribute motherwort’s tannins and other phenolic acids for its effectiveness in nervous heart conditions, such as those related to anxiety and trauma, a sedative before surgery, an emmenagogue (stimulating menstrual flow) during the lunar cycle, and a general cardiac tonic for cardiovascular support. My first introduction to motherwort was through an herbalist on Martha’s Vineyard where I was studying — a very strong, powerful women who stood by a motherwort bush and shed a tear when she talked about what motherwort meant to her and how much it had helped her through a difficult menopause and kept her “from throwing socks at her husband.”
In traditional medicine, motherwort extracts have been used for both nervous heart conditions and digestive disorders, having negative chronotropic (slowing heart rate), hypotonic, and sedative effects. It is also believed to have been smoked in some cultures, particularly China and Mexico, for a mild inebriating effect. Motherwort has also been traditionally used a a treatment of climacteric symptoms related to stress brought on by major events.
Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) 🌺
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is native several warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world, like China, Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean, South and Central America, North Africa and Southeast Asia. Like the rose, hibiscus has many varying traditional uses. Across many cultures, it’s prepared as a sour tea, its sourness often softened by honey.
Hibiscus has been used medicinally all across the world, in places including India, Nigeria, Sudan, Japan, Mexico, China, Hawaii, and Thailand. In Egypt, it’s traditionally used as a treatment for cardiac and nerve diseases, in Iran and many other cultures as a traditional hypotensive for hypertension cardiovascular disorders. Research supports this claim, proving hibiscus extract’s relaxing effect on the body, especially the uterus, and its ability to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and fevers.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum)
A treasured talisman fruit, the pomegranate is proven in both the realms of magic and science to be cardioprotective, helping not only act as a joy-bringer for the heart and a powerful altar offering for divination, luck, and wealth, but also physically lower blood pressure, reduce plaque and create more suppleness in the arteries, and generally offer broad protection against cardiovascular diseases thanks to its high tannic content.
The pomegranate has also been associated with the fall and winer since ancient Greek times. In the myth, Persephone lives in a world where it’s always summer, until one day she is snatched to the underworld, leaving behind only a pile of flowers. Persephone can’t eat or drink anything in the underworld, or else she’ll be stuck there forever with Hades, who only kidnapped her because he was lonesome. When Persephone’s mother convinces Hades to release her, but not before she he offers her a ripe pomegranate so delicious looking she eats six seeds on her way out the door — which I 100% don’t blame her for — which she is then punished for with 6 months of fall and winter.
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum)
And as a last little dash of spice, let’s talk for a minute about the wonders of cinnamon. Also following the Doctrine of Signatures, cinnamon bark resembles the arteries, which it helps support by reducing fats and sugars in the bloodstream, preventing plaque build up in the arteries, and lowering cholesterol, among many other physical benefits. Its magical properties are also many and include igniting passion, energy, clairvoyance, and protection. Cinnamon bark also makes a great altar offering.
May your hearts be nurtured and protected with plenty of breathing room. ('; ♡