☉ The Sun

The research

▶ 49 min Members · preview open

Planets & cycles · Plants & herbs · Video research · The Sun · Sajah Popham · Hawthorn · Angelica · Ashwagandha · St John's wort

The Sun's herbs: heart, warmth, vitality and spirit

In medical astrology the Sun rules the heart and the vital force, and Sajah Popham matches its four sides with four herbs: hawthorn for the heart, angelica for warmth, ashwagandha for vitality and St John's wort for the spirit. The astrology is the old one — Lilly in 1647 gave the Sun “the Heart, the Brain and right Eye, and vitall Spirit”. The evidence behind the herbs runs from strong to none: St John's wort matches antidepressants for mild to moderate depression; hawthorn eases heart-failure symptoms without saving lives; ashwagandha has small trials for stress and sleep; angelica has no trial of its own.

1647 Lilly: the Sun “governeth the Heart, the Brain and right Eye, and vitall Spirit”

9 min read · 12 sources (9 peer-reviewed)

▶ 9 min Members · preview open

Plants & herbs · Video research · Planets & cycles · Hawthorn · The Sun · Sajah Popham

Hawthorn, the heart herb

Sajah Popham gives hawthorn to the Sun as the herb of the heart: a slow, food-like tonic that strengthens the heart muscle, eases the vessels and calms an anxious mind. The trials split the claim in two. In small trials of people with heart failure, hawthorn extract improved exercise and symptoms; in the one large trial, 2,681 people over two years, it didn't reduce heart events. The EU accepts it, by long use, for palpitations from mild anxiety and for mild stress and sleep. No trial supports it for ADHD in children.

+5.35 W more exercise at peak with hawthorn extract in pooled heart-failure trials

8 min read · 7 sources (4 peer-reviewed)

▶ 9 min Members · preview open

Plants & herbs · Video research · Planets & cycles · Angelica · The Sun · Sajah Popham

Angelica, the warming bitter

Sajah Popham's herb of the Sun's warmth is garden angelica: a warming, fennel-like aromatic bitter that he says lights a fire in the gut, then sends warmth and blood out to the hands, feet, head, lungs and uterus. Culpeper put it “under the Sun in Leo”. It has no trial of its own: it has been tested only as one of nine herbs in Iberogast, which helped indigestion. Herbal references accept it for indigestion by long use. Two cautions the lesson leaves out: its root contains sun-sensitising compounds, and it is avoided in pregnancy.

0 trials of angelica on its own, for any use, that we could find

7 min read · 6 sources (2 peer-reviewed)

▶ 6 min Members · preview open

Plants & herbs · Video research · Mind & nervous system · Ashwagandha · The Sun · Sajah Popham

Ashwagandha, the calm adaptogen

Sajah Popham's herb of the Sun's vitality is ashwagandha, the Ayurvedic rasayana: gently warming, building strength without overstimulating, calming but not sedating, and balancing the immune system. In small trials, mostly in India, ashwagandha root extract lowered cortisol and stress scores and improved sleep; two 2025 reviews agree on cortisol but disagree on whether people feel less stressed. His claim that it raises iron rests on one student's blood test. The lesson leaves out its cautions: rare liver injury, effects on the thyroid, and a ban in Denmark.

15 trials, 873 people: anxiety, stress and cortisol fell at 8 weeks

7 min read · 10 sources (8 peer-reviewed)

▶ 10 min Members · preview open

Plants & herbs · Video research · Mind & nervous system · St John's wort · The Sun · Sajah Popham

St John's wort, the midsummer flower

Sajah Popham's herb of the Sun's spirit is St John's wort, the yellow flower that blooms around St John's Day at midsummer. For depression the evidence is strong: in 29 trials of 5,489 people it beat placebo and matched standard antidepressants, with fewer people stopping for side effects. He is right that it works on the liver — it speeds up how the gut and liver clear many medicines, from the contraceptive pill to transplant drugs — and that makes it one of the most interaction-prone herbs there is. For nerve pain, its one trial found no effect.

29 trials, 5,489 people with depression: St John's wort beat placebo and matched standard antidepressants

8 min read · 7 sources (6 peer-reviewed)

The videos

Each one is summarised and fact-checked in its entry, with every claim timed to the video.

• The Sun's herbs The Plant Path with Sajah Popham · 49 min · checked in “The Sun's herbs: heart, warmth, vitality and spirit” Read the summary → YouTube ↗
• Hawthorn for the heart: the Sun's herbs The Plant Path with Sajah Popham · 9 min · checked in “Hawthorn, the heart herb” Read the summary → YouTube ↗
• Angelica for warmth: the Sun's herbs The Plant Path with Sajah Popham · 9 min · checked in “Angelica, the warming bitter” Read the summary → YouTube ↗
• Ashwagandha for vitality: the Sun's herbs The Plant Path with Sajah Popham · 6 min · checked in “Ashwagandha, the calm adaptogen” Read the summary → YouTube ↗
• St John's wort for the spirit: the Sun's herbs The Plant Path with Sajah Popham · 10 min · checked in “St John's wort, the midsummer flower” Read the summary → YouTube ↗

Other projects