Thujone is a fragrant, oily substance, naturally found in a variety of common plants and flowers. Thujone is perhaps best known in connection with absinthe, the drink that inspired a generation of nineteenth-century artists, writers and thinkers. In absinthe, thujone is thought to be the secret behind the unusual "mind-illuminating" effects (as one French doctor put it) of the special green liquor.
Thujone, however, turns up in all kinds of unexpected places.
Thujone takes its name from the thuja tree, whose bark contains the substance. Coriander, tansy and tarragon all contain moderate amounts of thujone, as do many other herbs and spices. Thujone is also found -- in fairly high concentrations -- in cedar leaf oil and Dalmatian sage oil. As a result, many everyday products contain some concentration of thujone, including Ralph Lauren's "Safari" fragrance and Vick's "Vaporub".
Thujone in absinthe
The alpha-thujone contained in absinthe comes from Artemisia absinthium, a wild plant commonly known as wormwood. An essential ingredient of the celebrated drink, wormwood perhaps is nature's richest source of thujone: by weight, wormwood oil typically contains over 40% of the substance.
Mind-bending substance?
Thujone is believed to trigger inexplicable transformations in the mind. For over two centuries, absinthe drinkers have reported perplexing shifts in sensory perception, as well as extreme clarity of thought and vast improvement in cognitive and creative abilities. It is unclear, however, why thujone affects the mind in this way, or even if thujone alone is responsible for these remarkable absinthe effects.
To this day, modern science has failed to provide any comprehensive answers, even though scientists had documented the effects of thujone by 1916. Recent research did confirm one thing: the alpha-thujone found in absinthe causes "CNS cholinergic receptor binding activity" in the brain, which, scientists claim, improves the brain's cognitive functions. This will come as no surprise to practitioners of natural medicine, who have long prescribed thujone-rich wormwood for the improvement of thinking and memory.
Some claim that thujone compels the mind to enter a different level of awareness. In this state, apparently, the mind is able to connect with some sort of universal consciousness or intelligence from which it then draws its enhanced abilities.
Others stop short of making a connection with the supernatural. In their view, we don't tap into any mystical source, we just tap into a rich subconscious source that is hidden deep within each of us, a source that our usual conscious self cannot easily access otherwise.
The thujone in absinthe, it is thought, removes the blocks that normally prevent the mind -- and the senses -- from working at full capacity. Essentially, absinthe gives the mind the green light to be completely free, at least for a time. In this state, the usually docile subconscious mind is awaken and begins to work in tandem with our conscious awareness -- hence the perception of reality on two different levels. Our creative, cognitive and perceptive abilities reach new heights as a result.
Modern science has also tried to explain the unusual effects of the absinthe drink. Under the title "Absinthe Makes Neurons Run Wild", Corinna Wu, writing for the Science News magazine, described research in 2000 into the effects of the wormwood herb on the human brain.
Conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, the study has found that wormwood -- as well as other ingredients in absinthe -- cause "CNS cholinergic receptor binding activity". This, according to scientists, has the effect of improving cognitive functions of the brain.
