Vitex (Chasteberry) Leaf and Berry.

Some oils ask for respect before anything else. Vitex is one of them: an immensely powerful oil that needs careful and judicious use, best approached slowly, with the safety notes read first and a copy kept close.

Vitex agnus castus, the chasteberry, is ethically cultivated in Bosnia, and its oils are steam-distilled from the leaves and from the berries. Its Latin name and its old common one carry centuries of folklore about chastity and restraint. Of the two oils, the leaf is the gentler: it is distilled from the aerial parts of the plant and so likely holds some berry too, while the berry oil wants a much lighter hand. It is not an oil for men to use, or even to be around: in one small research project, two men who simply bottled it reacted badly, one with nausea and one with a severe migraine.

Details

• Botanical name: Vitex agnus castus
• Origin: Bosnia, ethically cultivated
• Method: steam distillation of the leaves and the berries
• Leaf oil gentler; berry oil stronger

How to use

Inhale it straight from the bottle, or use a fairly weak dilution in a cream or oil base, with an even lighter hand for the berry oil. Never take it internally. Do not use it when pregnant or while using birth control pills, as it may negate them. If you are on hormone replacement therapy, expect that it may need recalibrating. Please see our contraindications page for other oils to avoid.

A potent old-world plant, for the careful hand.