This year I decided I wanted to grow mint. In my research, I became intrigued with pennyroyal and decided to grow some. Pennyroyal has been used since Ancient Greek and Roman times as an emmenagogue (more specifically an abortifacient) and a way to dispel afterbirth and dead fetuses. Unfortunately, over the years the abortifacient aspect got misinterpreted and amplified, resulting in many deaths. The most recent documented death occurred in 1994 in California. Also, there was a death of a 16 year old girl in Maryland in 1912 who took 36(!) pennyroyal pills to induce abortion. I can only imagine how many more women have died or been permanently injured. There are a lot of feelings and history (and poison!) in these little inconspicuous plants. I planted them on a waning gibbous phase of a cancer moon (I'm a cancer moon, but born under a waning crescent). Apparently, just a tablespoon of pennyroyal oil can cause a person to go into multi organ failure.
"Drawing from a 13th-century manuscript of Pseudo-Apuleius's Herbarium, depicting a pregnant woman in repose, while another holds some pennyroyal in one hand and prepares a concoction using a mortar and pestle with the other. Pennyroyal was historically used as an herbal abortifacient.
Source: scanned from Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance by John M. Riddle." - from wikimedia commons
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