Basil

Basil
Ocimum basilicum
Ocimum sanctum

Basil has a long and strangely schizophrenic history. Some herbalists warned that it would grow scorpions in the brain. To other people, e.g., in India, it has a long and happy history of use, both religiously and medicinally, and is called “holy.”
Culpeper reviles it, although he credits it with some medicinal value, i.e. drawing out poison from a sting. But he believes that this is only because “Every like draws its like,” meaning that basil is as poisonous as the sting itself.
The old stories that claim that its name comes from the basilisk—that dreaded reptilian beast whose breath and gaze could kill—might hold a clue to basil’s paradoxical reputation.
In the Western societies, whose histories can be traced back to the ancient Jewish tradition through the Bible, the Serpent (which is a similar archetype to the basilisk) is seen as evil, actually as the devil, and is the cause of the downfall of “Man.” As a Puritan, Culpeper probably believed strongly in this symbolism.
In India, on the other hand, where basil is called “holy,” the serpent archetype as Kundalini,( the serpent energy coiled at the base of the human spine), is seen as a symbol of wisdom, and when properly raised, of enlightenment. (Certain Gnostic sects also equated the serpent with wisdom, but they are mostly long forgotten—except by people like me.)
In considering the extreme polarity of the serpent symbol and its relationship to basil, the Flower Essence Repertory may hold a key. Basil’s flower essence is for the soul who “tends to polarize the experience of spirituality and sexuality,” (and who more so than a Puritan?) This is that old dualistic dilemma of spirit vs. matter, which has been a thorn in the side of so many religions for so long.
In my experience, I have found that Truth exists at the heart of Paradox, in the fulcrum of the scales, so perhaps somehow both of basil’s reputations are true. What if Culpeper’s “scorpions” are simply a reference to a puritanically repressed sexuality, which not coincidentally is ruled by Scorpio in astrology? Even the serpent-like nature of the basilisk is a potent symbol of male sexuality.
Perhaps Basil is another guide into our Shadow Self, but I must stop at the entrance to this gate of mystery here and agree with Culpeper: “I dare write no more of it.” At least, for now.