Week Two

Belladonna & Henbane: Sex, Death, & The Unknown

Our unconscious relationship to sex, the concept of death, and the unknown in general have a profound influence on our human existence yet they are rarely explored. Poisonous plants will lovingly take us right into those oft avoided places. Almost all the poisonous plants we discuss through this series of classes have aphrodisiac qualities. What is the link between plants that threaten to push us beyond our biological thresholds towards death, and the sexual impulse towards life?

Belladonna, aka deadly nightshade, literally means “beautiful woman,” her latin name Atropa comes from the Greek fate “Atropos” whose job was to decide when each human life was to come to an end. 

Henbane has many myths associating it with the Underworld, including its use in the wreaths that crown the souls of the dead as they descend to Hades. In European folklore it was used to attract lovers, and is still used for divination in communicating with the spirits of the Underworld.

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