by Patricia Kaminski

The Hound’s Tongue Plant:
An Exceptional Bridge Between Gravity and Levity

Hound’s Tongue (Cynoglossum grande) is a native plant that is blooming now in the woodlands around Terra Flora. Its unique form and gesture always captivates our imagination. A member of the Borage botanical family, it is related to Borage, Forget-Me-Not, Comfrey and Mountain Forget-Me-Not, as well as many other notable plants. Most of the plants in this family thrive in sun-lit meadows, but the Hound’s Tongue enjoys grounding itself in the dark under-story of the forest floor. In the spring, however, it ascends into the Light, soaring upward from it large basal “hound’s tongue” leaves; its elongated stem holding radiantly beautiful blue blossoms.

All of the members of the Boraginaceae botanical family share an intriguing relationship to levity and weight and darkness and light. For example, we can note the dense mucilaginous leaves and roots of the Borage plant, yet something ebullient in its upper vegetation, including siliceous hairs that sparkle with light. The Hound’s Tongue is perhaps, one of the most dramatic in this family. One half of this plant prefers its dark and dense identity, but the upper half ascends into the light with its glorious blue blossom, a picture of heaven itself. This dynamic activity within the Hound’s Tongue points to its special healing qualities. It is helpful for a condition of consciousness that is weighed down by its perception and experience of the material world. The Hound’s Tongue personality “gravitates” toward a reality ruled by number, weight and measure. This personality typically chooses professions that emphasize a dry, intellectual, technical or scientific consciousness that cannot incorporate imaginative, artistic or inspirational thoughts and feelings.

Charles Darwin: “My mind Seems to have become a kind of machine.”

Charles Darwin, the famous scientist who expounded our current mechanistic understanding of evolution, is a riveting example of the problems of such a one-sided outlook. He wrote candidly in his autobiography, “My mind has changed during the last twenty or thirty years. … Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry. … I have also almost lost any taste for pictures or music. … My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts. … If I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week. … The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.” The Autobiography of Charles Darwin: 1809-1882

Addressing Lethargy, Metabolic Dysfunction, Depression and the Hardening of the Spiritual Identity

Those who are helped by Hound’s Tongue often exhibit signs of depression, lethargy, metabolic sluggishness or weight gain. Hound’s Tongue types often seek a release from the density they feel. They can become addicted to various drugs or an escapist lifestyle, unconsciously seeking an deeper engagement and joy for life than their academic or scientific profession can provide. Long term deprivation of nourishing soul experiences can lead to states of numbness and indifference, straining the dynamics of social warmth and engagement in personal relationships. Overall, a “hardened” Hound’s Tongue type is emotionally unavailable or unreachable.

At its deepest level, the hardened intellect of the Hound’s Tongue leads to cynicism, spiritual isolation and atheism. The great western initiate, Rudolf Steiner, pointed out that we should regard atheism not as a belief but an actual physical disease. It means that the body and mind have become so materialistic that the individual can no longer remember or feel connected to the reality of knowing that the physical body has spiritual origins. The intricate, astonishing beauty, design and innate wisdom within the human body and the whole of Nature could never have evolved as Charles Darwin and others supposed: a mere physical mechanism of “survival” manifesting randomly through chance mutations and an abstract law of “natural selection.”

Integrating Artistic and Moral Impulses with Intellectuality: A Case Report

The wonderful gift of the Hound’s Tongue is that the soul need not discount or reject the gift of intellectual or scientific consciousness. Rather, new life is breathed into these perspectives. The following summarized case from a practitioner illustrates this outcome for a client:

“A college student majoring in pre-med visited my office reporting malaise, weight gain, sluggish metabolism, difficulty waking up in the morning, and a generally flat experience of life. Bouts of drinking with friends seemed to provide relief at the time, but only made his emptiness rebound with more intensity. This young man was concerned because members of his family suffered from depression and were on various medications, and an uncle had committed suicide. Using kinesiological testing, Hound’s Tongue was extremely strong. This was the primary remedy he used for several months; in the beginning it was the only flower essence. He did not know what Hound’s Tongue was for but came back reporting that it seemed like an amazing antidepressant. As the details of his report emerged, he had made an spontaneous decision in the next semester to sign up for an art class focusing on sketching the human body. He had no idea why he did this since it would not count toward his pre-med major, only that he had always loved drawing and sketching. He noted that this led to an opportunity to join a student group that summer touring European art locations. These experiences, especially a profound encounter with Greek sculpture, led to a newfound interest in anatomy and physiology. Rather than simply memorizing facts for a test he became truly fascinated by the intricacy and symmetry of the human body. Months later, this led to a change in his major to physical therapy. He reported, ‘The human body is so amazing, so complex yet artfully designed. I want to help people who have been injured or traumatized and no longer feel this vital connection.’”

Concluding Thought: To See Heaven in a Wild Flower

The Hound’s Tongue helps the valuable gifts of academic talent, scientific inquiry and grounded physical perception come into dynamic relationship with the levity of artistic impulses and living spiritual insights and moral values. We can well imagine its need in our current culture where the divide grows ever stronger between the intellect and intuition, the knowledge of the head-human and the feeling perception of the heart-human. Increasingly, we live in a culture where the only conception of reality is an entirely material one, leading to ever growing alienation of the human soul from the light-illumined Spirit pervading all matter with life and meaning. We see in the Hound’s Tongue an amazing ability to span the bridge between both realms, bringing new life and vigor to both body and soul. These pithy lines from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake epitomize the positive state of Hound’s Tongue:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

Distinctions and Affinities with other Flower Essences

Hound’s Tongue can be used effectively as a single remedy, but also with other flower essences with similar themes. It is useful to know some primary differences and distinctions.

Iris–Hound’s Tongue is often used in tandem with Iris. Both flower essences awaken creative impulses within the soul. However, Iris stimulates the over-all expression of artistic impulses which may lie dormant, be under-valued or otherwise stymied. In the case of Hound’s Tongue, the soul has a lopsided engagement with the world, in which the more analytical, technical or scientific aspects are valued and emphasized to the exclusion of artistic perceptions and feelings.

Borage–Borage is a botanical cousin of Hound’s Tongue and both share an ability to address feelings of heaviness, lethargy and depression. In Borage these qualities are more emotionally based. In fact, the Borage type, unlike the Hound’s tongue, is typically quite aware of various emotional states, but has the tendency is to be stuck in these emotions, and to dwell upon them excessively, lacking buoyancy and transcendence. With Hound’s Tongue, the weight or heaviness resides in the mind itself and its perception of the world.

Rock Water–Both the Rock Water and Hound’s Tongue personalities share qualities of hardening. However, in the Rock Water personality this hardening aspect typically works more into the physical body rather than the intellectual consciousness. For instance, the Rock Water type prefers austere measures that tax or strongly challenge the physical body to the point of joyless existence that lacks grace and flow in life. These activities can include extreme fasting or dietary programs, or intense physical regimens. The Hound’s Tongue type by contrast prefers more intellectual pursuits and may in fact be disinterested or disengaged from the physical body and physical activity.

Nasturtium–Both the Hound’s Tongue and Nasturtium personalities suffer from a depletion of vital forces due to an over-use of intellectual energies. In the case of Nasturtium, this is typically because the head forces are over-taxed, such as a student with challenging projects or end-of-year exams. Nasturtium helps to replenish the vital forces in the metabolism and thus redistribute and redirect the energetic currents of the body. In the case of Hound’s Tongue, the intellectual identity itself is more deeply entrenched and curtails the ability of the individual to tap into artistic and imaginative forces that would also bring enhanced vitality, creative and renewal.

Angelica–Both Hound’s Tongue and the Angelica help to open the soul’s awareness to spiritual realms. In the case of Angelica, the emotions of loneliness, isolation and solitude block the ability to recognize and receive guidance, protection and guardianship from the Spirit Realm. For the Hound’s Tongue individuality, the intellect is so powerfully imbued by a materialistic outlook that a living spiritual realm can literally not be imagined or felt.