Dance Willow!
Dance Willow!
Women have known for a long time that willow bark or leaves prevent conception. A contraceptive recipe, noted by Aetius Amidenus, was given in the sixth century: boil willow bark down and drink it “continually” with honey “to temper its bitterness.” In 1085, medieval writer Constantine the African described “the juice of the willow leaves so that a woman will not conceive.”
