Entries Tagged as 'Herbs'
Dandelion - More Than Just a Common Weed
Its name originated out of the fact that some believe its leaves resembled the tooth of a lion, but for years the Dandelion has done more than just help bees make honey. While its juices are bitter, many animals consume the plant for various reasons, including its ability to stimulate milk production.
Its name originated out of the fact that some believe its leaves resembled the tooth of a lion, but for years the dandelion has done more than just help bees make honey. While its juices are bitter, many animals consume the plant for various reasons, including its ability to stimulate milk production.
For humans, the benefits derived from the dandelion are quite different. Some people do blanche the leaves and use them in salads, or eat them on sandwiches and in soups, but the plant also serves some medicinal needs.
Both the root and leaves of the dandelion are used as an alternative to man-made prescriptions. The most powerful portion of the dandelion is the milky white juice found within the root itself.
Dandelion has been harvested for centuries and is often most effective when the weed is in its infancy. It was first used as a medicinal treatment in the tenth century, when it was first used to treat liver ailments. Dandelion’s used to stimulate the entire system, but primarily focuses on the needs of the urinary tract.
Aside from the liver, dandelion is also consumed for kidney disorders. While it can be taken in straight high doses without being poisonous, dandelion is usually mixed with other agents in patent medicines and herbal treatments alike.
People who have chronic liver complaints over time often find relief in taking a soup made from dandelion roots harvested at a young age. It’s said to provide a slight laxative effect and helps aid digestion when you have an upset stomach.
Dandelion has been used successfully in the treatment of gallstones and has also been found safe to give to children. The weed is given to those suffering eczema and other topical diseases and has even been known to remove warts when the juice of the stalk is applied as a topical treatment to the affected area.
A dandelion tea is used to treat various urinary ailments. A single ounce of the juice is mixed with boiling water and then sweetened with honey before being served. The frequency and doses of how much dandelion is consumed depends on the type of disease you’re treating.
For instance, to treat piles, you would take three wineglassfuls of dandelion concoction per day, but for a liver and kidney treatment, you would only need to take 1 teaspoonful of a concoction three times a day.
Using dandelion to resolve your medical issues is a great alternative to depending on high-priced prescriptions, but it’s always best to check with your doctor and make sure it’s suitable for your needs.
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Tags: Herbs
Herbal Medicine Chest…IN YOUR BACK YARD
Don’t kill, spray, tear up, or destroy the weeds in your garden, yard, and fence rows. Many of them are actually highly-regarded, widely-used, and extremely-valuable medicinal herbs! What could be easier than growing an herb garden with no effort? Of course, you’ll have to harvest your weeds, but you would do that anyhow: it’s called weeding.
Spring is an especially fertile time for harvesting your weeds - roots and all - and turning them into medicines. Here then are some tips on how to find, harvest, prepare, and use a baker’s dozen (13) of common weeds that probably already grow around you.
To make your medicines you’ll need glass jars of various sizes with tight-fitting lids. And at least a pint each of apple cider vinegar (pasteurized), vodka (100 proof is best, but 80 proof will do), and pure olive oil (not extra virgin) or good quality animal fat such as lanolin, lard, or belly fat from a lamb or kid. You will also want a knife, a cutting board, and some rags to mop up spills.
In general, you will fill a jar (of any size) with coarsely-chopped fresh, but dry, plant material. (Do not wash any part of the plant except roots, if you are using them, and be sure to dry those well with a towel before putting them in your jar.) Then you will fill the jar with your menstruum, that is, the vinegar, the oil, or the alcohol. Label well and allow to stand at room temperature, out of the sunlight for at least six weeks before decanting and using. (See Healing Wise for info on making preparations.)
A field guide is helpful for positively identifying your weeds. The one I like best is: A Guide to the Identification of New Zealand Common Weeds in Colour, complied by E. A. Upritchard. (Available from the New Zealand Weed And Pest Control Society, P.O. Box 1654, Palmerston North) This book even shows you how the weeds look when they are emerging.
Ready? OK! Let’s go outside and see what we can find.
Shepherds’s purse (Capsella bursa pastoris) is an annual in the mustard family. Cut the top half of the plant when it has formed its little heart-shaped “purses” (seed pods) and make a tincture (with alcohol), which you can use to stop bleeding. Midwives and women who bleed heavily during their period praise its prompt effectiveness. Gypsies claim it works on the stomach and lungs as well. A dose is 1 dropperful (1ml); which may be repeated up to four times a day.
Cleavers (Gallium aparine) is a persistent, sticky plant which grows profusely in abandoned lots and the edges of cultivated land. The entire plant is used to strengthen lymphatic activity. I cut the top two-thirds of each plant while it is in flower (or setting seeds) and use alcohol to make a tincture which relieves tender, swollen breasts, PMS symptoms, and allergic reactions. A dose is 15-25 drops (.5 - 1 ml); repeated as needed.
Chickweed (Stellaria media) has many uses, including delicious salad greens. I cut the entire top of the plant and eat it or use alcohol to make a tincture, which dissolves cysts, tonifies the thyroid, and aids in weight loss. A dose is a dropperful (1 ml), up to three times a day.
Daisy (Bellis perennis) is a common perennial weed of lawns and open areas. Quite different from the native daisy (Lagenifera petiolata), the little English daisy is related to feverfew and has similar abilities. I use the leaves and flowers to make a tincture (with alcohol) or a medicinal vinegar which relieves headaches, muscle pain, and allergy symptoms. A dose is a dropperful of the tincture (1 ml), up to twice a day; or a tablespoon of the vinegar in the morning.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) is a persistent perennial of lawns and gardens and one of the best known medicinal herbs in the world. (The native dandelion of New Zealand - Taraxacum magellanicum - is medicinal too.) Those who love a pure green lawn curse the sunny yellow flowers of common dandelion. But those who are willing to see beauty anywhere (such as children and herbalists) treasure this weed. You can use any part of the dandelion - the root, the leaves, the flowers, even the flower stalk - to make a tincture or medicinal vinegar which strengthens the liver. A dose of 10-20 drops of the tincture (.5-1 ml) relieves gas, heartburn, and indigestion, as well as promoting healthy bowel movements. A tablespoon of the vinegar works well, too. More importantly, taken before meals, dandelion increases the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, thus increasing bio-availability of many nutrients, especially calcium. The fresh or cooked green leaves are loaded with carotenes, those anti-cancer, anti-heart disease helpers. And the oil of the flowers is an important massage balm for maintaining healthy breasts. (There’s lots more information on dandelions in Healing Wise.)
Dock, also called yellow dock, curly dock, and broad dock is a perennial plant, which my Native American grandmothers use for “all women’s problems.” The Maori call it paewhenua or runa. It is another plant that disagrees with sheep, especially when the land is overgrazed. I dig the yellow roots of Rumex crispus or R. obtusifolius and tincture them in alcohol to use as an ally when the immune system or the liver needs help. A dose is 15-25 drops (.5-1 ml). I also harvest the leaves and/or seeds throughout the growing season and make a medicinal vinegar, taken a tablespoon at a time, which is used to increase blood-levels of iron, reduce menstrual flooding and cramping, and balance hormone levels. If the chopped roots are soaked in oil for six weeks, the resulting ointment is beneficial for keeping the breasts healthy.
Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) and Ragwort (Senecio jacobea) are hardy perennials that have a reputation for poisoning livestock, like their cousin tansy. Although not good for sheep, these two Senecios are some of the world’s most ancient healing plants, having been found in a grave 60,000 years old. You can use the flowering tops and leaves with your alcohol to make a tincture which acts slowly to tonify the reproductive organs, ease PMS, and stop severe menstrual pain. A dose is 5-10 drops (.2-.5 ml) per day, used only once a day, but for at least 3 months. (A larger dose is used to speed up labor.)
Mallows (Malva neglecta, M. parviflora, M. sylvestres) grow well in neglected gardens and are surprisingly deep-rooted. The flowers, leaves, stalks, seeds, and roots are rich in sticky mucilage which is best extracted by soaking the fresh plant in cold water overnight or longer or by making a medicinal vinegar. The starch is extraordinarily soothing internally (easing sore throats, upset tummies, heart burn, irritable bowel, colic, constipation, and food poisoning) and externally (relieving bug bites, burns, sprains, and sore eyes). The leaves, flowers, and bark (especially) of the native Hohere (Hoheria populnea) are used in exactly the same way by Maori herbalists.
Plantain, also called ribwort, pig’s ear, or bandaid plant - and kopakopa or parerarera by the Maori - is a common weed of lawns, driveways, parks, and playgrounds. Identify it by the five parallel veins running the length of each leaf. You may find broad leaf plantain (Plantago major) with wide leaves, or narrow leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata) with lance-thin leaves. Either can be used to make a healing poultice or a soothing oil widely regarded as one of the best wound healers around. Not only does plantain increase the speed of healing, it also relieves pain, stops bleeding, draws out foreign matter, stops itching, prevents and stops allergic reactions from bee stings, kills bacteria, and reduces swelling.
Try a poultice or a generous application of plantain oil or ointment (made by thickening the oil with beeswax) on sprains, cuts, insect bites, rashes, chafed skin, boils, bruises, chapped and cracked lips, rough or sore hands, baby’s diaper area, and burns.
To make a fresh plantain poultice: Pick a leaf, chew it well and put it on the boo-boo. “Like magic” the pain, itching, and swelling disappear, fast! (Yes, you can dry plantain leaves and carry them in your first aid kit. Chew like you would fresh leaves.)
To make plantain ointment: Pick large fresh plantain leaves. Chop coarsely. Fill a clean, dry, glass jar with the chopped leaves. Pour pure olive oil into the leaves, poking about with a chopstick until the jar is completely full of oil and all air bubbles are released. Cap well. Place jar in a small bowl to collect any overflow. Wait six weeks. Then strain oil out of the plant material, squeezing well. Measure the oil. Heat it gently, adding one tablespoon of grated beeswax for every liquid ounce of oil. Pour into jars and allow to cool.
St. Joan’s/John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) This beautiful perennial wildflower may be hated by sheep farmers but herbalists adore it. The flowering tops are harvested after they begin to bloom (traditionally on Solstice, June 21) and prepared with alcohol, and with oil, to make two of the most useful remedies in my first aid kit. Tincture of St. Joan’s wort not only lends one a sunny disposition, it reliably relieves muscle aches, is a powerful anti-viral, and is my first-choice treatment for those with shingles, sciatica, backpain, neuralgia, and headaches including migraines. The usual dose is 1 dropperful (1 ml) as frequently as needed. In extreme pain from a muscle spasm in my thigh, I used a dropperful every twenty minutes for two hours, or until the pain totally subsided. St. Joan’s wort oil stops cold sores in their tracks and can even relieve genital herpes symptoms. I use it as a sunscreen. Contrary to popular belief, St. Joan’s wort does not cause sun sensitivity, it prevents it. It even prevents burn from radiation therapy. Eases sore muscles, too.
Self heal (Prunella vulgaris) This scentless perennial mint is one of the great unsung healers of the world. The leaves and flowers contain more antioxidants - which prevent cancer and heart disease, among other healthy traits - than any other plant tested. And as part of the mint family, self heal is imbued with lots of minerals, especially calcium, making it an especially important ally for pregnant, nursing, menopausal, and post-menopausal women. I put self heal leaves in salads in the spring and fall, make a medicinal vinegar with the flowers during the summer, and cook the flowering tops (fresh or dried) in winter soups.
Usnea (Usnea barbata) is that many-stranded grey lichen hanging out of the branches of your apple trees or the Monterey pines planted in the plantation over there or in almost any native tree in areas of the South Island Alps, where it is known as angiangi to the Maori. If in doubt of your identification: Pull a strand gently apart with your hands, looking for a white fiber inside the fuzzy grey-green outer coat. To prepare usnea, harvest at any time of the year, being careful not to take too much. Usnea grows slowly. Put your harvest in a cooking pan and just cover it with cold water. Boil for about 15-25 minutes, or until the water is orange and reduced by at least half. Pour usnea and water into a jar, filling it to the top with plant material. (Water should be no more than half of the jar.) Add the highest proof alcohol you can buy. After 6 weeks this tincture is ready to work for you as a superb antibacterial, countering infection anywhere in the body. A dose is a dropperful (1 ml) as frequently as every two hours in acute situations
Yarrow (Achellia millefolium) This lovely perennial weed is grown in many herb gardens for it has a multitude of uses. Cut the flowering tops (use only white-flowering yarrow) and use your alcohol to make a strongly-scented tincture that you can take internally to prevent colds and the flu. (A dose is 10-20 drops, or up to 1 ml). I carry a little spray bottle of yarrow tincture with me when I’m outside and wet my skin every hour or so. A United States Army study showed yarrow tincture to be more effective than DEET at repelling ticks, mosquitoes, and sand flies. You can also make a healing ointment with yarrow flower tops and your oil or fat. Yarrow oil is antibacterial, pain-relieving, and incredibly helpful in healing all types of wounds.
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
For permission to reprint this article, contact us at: susunweed@herbshealing.com
Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.
Susun is one of America’s best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women’s health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at www.susunweed.com
Tags: Herbs
Be Your Own Herbal Expert - Part 1
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free.
Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of plants for health and well being. Our neighbors around the world continue to use local plants for healing and health maintenance. You can too.
Learning About Herbs
Information on herbs and their uses has been passed down to us in many ways: through stories, in books, set to music, and incorporated into our everyday speech. Learning about herbs is fun, fascinating, and easy to do no matter where you live or what your circumstances. It is an adventure that makes use of all of your senses. Reading about herbal medicine is fascinating, and a great way to learn how others have used plants. But the real authorities are the plants themselves. They speak to us through their smells, tastes, forms, and colors.
Anyone who is willing to take the time to get to know the plants around them will discover a wealth of health-promoting green allies. What stops us? Fear. We fear that we will use the wrong plant. We fear poisoning ourselves. We fear the plants themselves.
These fears are wise. But they need not keep us from using the abundant remedies of nature. A few simple guidelines can protect you and help you make sense of herbal medicine. This series of short articles will offer you easy-to-remember rules for using herbs simply and safely. When you have completed all eight parts of this series, you will be using herbs confidently and successfully to keep yourself and your loved ones whole/healthy/holy.
Survival is a Matter of Taste
Virtually all plants contain poisons. After all, they don’t want to be eaten! Because we have evolved eating plants, we have the capacity to neutralize or remove (through preparation or digestion) their poisons. Not all poisons kill, and even poisons that are deadly often need to be taken in quantities far larger than can easily be obtained from foods. (Apple seeds contain a lethal poison but it takes a quart of them to cause death.)
Our senses of taste and smell are registered in the part of the brain that maintains respiration and circulation, in other words, the survival center. Plants (but not mushrooms) advertise their poisons by tasting bad or smelling foul. Of the four primary kinds of poisons found in plants — alkaloids, glycosides, resins, and essential oils — the first two always taste bitter or cause a variety of noxious reactions on the oral tissues, and the last two usually do, especially when removed from the plant or concentrated.
Sometimes the taste of the poison in a plant is hidden by large amounts of sweet-tasting starch. Fortunately, human saliva contains an enzyme that breaks down these carbohydrates, exposing the nasty taste of the poison. Since even tiny amounts of some poisons can have large effects, for safety sake, take your time when tasting.
Safety First
Because our sense of taste protects us against poisonous plants, it is always best to take herbs in a form that allows one to taste them. Consuming just one plant at a time, with as little preparation as possible, gives us the greatest opportunity to taste poisons and is therefore the safest way to use herbs.
One herb at a time is a “simple.” When we ingest a simple herb– raw, cooked as a vegetable, brewed fresh or dried in water as a tea or infusion, steeped in vinegar or honey, dried and used as a condiment — we bring into play several million years of plant wisdom collected in our genes. When we ingest many plants together, or concentrate their natural poisons by tincturing, distilling, or standardizing, we increase the possibility of harm. Powdering herbs and putting them in capsules is one of the most dangerous ways to use them, especially those containing poisons. For ultimate risk, play with essential oils; they are far removed from the plant, very concentrated, and as little as one-quarter ounce can kill.
Safety Second, too
In the next installments we will continue to learn how to use herbs simply and safely. We will explore nourishing and tonifying herbs, the difference between fixing disease and promoting health, how to apply the three traditions of healing, and how to take charge of your own health care with the six steps of healing.
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*Note, we do not endorse nor sponsor these links, but we do order from these vendors ourselves..
Experiment Number One
You will need the following plants, all of which contain poisons that you can taste: a head of lettuce (taste the leaves and the core separately), some black or green tea (unbrewed), a fresh dandelion leaf, strong chamomile tea (steep it overnight), a can of asparagus, some fresh mint, a spoonful of mustard seeds, and a bottle of vanilla extract.
Approach tasting a plant as you would tasting a wine. Begin by inhaling the aroma. Release the bouquet by squeezing the plant until your fingers are moist (or chew briefly and spit into your hand). Do you feel enticed, repelled, or neutral? Does your mouth water? Does your throat clench? Observe how you react to the smell. Does it sting your eyes? Irritate your nasal tissues? Do you want to taste it?
We do not gulp our wine, nor do we merely wet our tongues; for best effect, taste and smell a reasonably large piece, but don’t stuff your mouth. As you chew, move the plant material around in your mouth. Roll it around with your tongue. Make contact with it for a full minute but DO NOT SWALLOW. No, no, spit it upon the ground, or into your hand, or the sink, or wherever you can, but do not swallow. SPIT IT OUT.
What do you feel now? In your stomach? your throat? your head and nose?What is your gut feeling? What sensations accompany the taste of this plant?
It is best to wait until the previous taste is completely gone before going on to the next plant. If you are doing advanced work with wild plants, wait at least a day before you use or consume the plant in case you have a delayed reaction to some component.
Experiment Number Two
Taste as in experiment one, but use these inedible (poisonous) parts of common foods: Lemon inner rind, apple seeds, rhubarb leaves, lettuce root, the inner soft pit of a peach.
Experiment Number Three
Taste as in experiment one, these poisonous plants (fresh or dried): wormwood leaf, goldenseal root, yellow dock root, echinacea root, eucalyptus leaf, motherwort leaf.
Experiment Four
Aromatic plants are rich in essential oils. We often use them to season and preserve food. In small quantity, these oils are not harmful, but concentrated, they threaten the liver, kidneys, and life itself. Smell and taste, as in experiment one, as many aromatic plants as you can: thyme, rosemary, oregano, lavender, sage, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg. Brew strong teas (steep overnight) of these plants and taste. Can you see, smell, or taste more essential oils? Smell or taste one drop of the extracted essential oil of any of these plants.
Further study
1. What is an alkaloid (hint here)? Medicinal plants often contain groups of alkaloids. Name seven plants rich in alkaloids (specify the part); then name at least three of the alkaloids in each plant. 2. What are glycosides? Name at least four glycosides and describe the effect each has. Name seven plants rich in glycosides; specify the part of the plant and the kind of glycoside.
3. What are resins? Name four or more plants (specify part) rich in resins.
4. What are essential oils? Name a dozen or more plants rich in essential oils (specify part).
5. What is the difference between a poison and a medicine? Are all drugs poisons?
NOTE: If you can’t find the answer to a q above use Google.com to search, you will find helpful hints.
Advanced work
* Give the botanical name (genus and species) for each plant you named in the further study section.
* Taste a variety of plants that grow around you. Warning: It is possible to experience uncomfortable or harmful effects from this experiment. A book on poisonous plants can reassure you that the plants you are tasting will not kill you. It is best not to put plants such as poison ivy or poison oak in your mouth. DO NOT TASTE HOUSEPLANTS.
—————
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com
Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international
reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on
health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with
humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine.
Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging
and often profoundly provocative.
Susun is one of America’s best-known authorities on herbal medicine and
natural approaches to women’s health. Her four best-selling books are
recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and
cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at
www.susunweed.com
Tags: Herbs
Be Your Own Herbal Expert Part 2
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of plants for health and well being. Our neighbors around the world continue to use local plants for healing and health maintenance, and you can too.
In your first lesson, you learned how to “listen” to the messages of plant’s tastes. And you discovered that using plants in water bases (teas, infusions, vinegars, soups) — and as simples — allows you to experiment with and explore herbal medicine safely.
In this lesson, we will learn how to make effective water-based herbal remedies and talk more about using simples.
Tea for You?
Teas are a favorite way to consume herbs. Made by brewing a small amount of herbs (typically a teaspoonful to a cup of water) for a short time (generally 1-2 minutes), teas are flavorful, colorful drinks.
Herbs rich in coloring compounds — such as hibiscus, rose hips, calendula, and black tea — make enticing and tasty teas. They may also contain polyphenols, phytochemicals known to help prevent cancer. Since coloring compounds and polyphenols are fairly stable, dried herbs are considered best for teas rich in these.
Herbs rich in volatile oils — such as ginger, chamomile, cinnamon, catnip, mint, lemon balm, lemon grass, lavender, bergamot, and fennel, anise, and cumin seeds — make lovely teas which are effective in easing spasms, stimulating digestion, eliminating pain, and inducing sleep. Since much of the volatile oils are lost when herbs are dried, fresh herbs are considered best for teas rich in these, but dried herbs can be used with good results.
I enjoy a cup of hot tea with honey. But teas fail to deliver the mineral richness locked into many common herbs. A cup of nettle tea, for instance, contains only 5-10 mg of calcium, while a cup of nettle infusion contains up to 500 mg of calcium. For optimum nutrition, I drink nourishing herbal infusions every day.
Infusion for Me!
An infusion is a large amount of herb brewed for a long time. Typically, one ounce by weight (about a cup by volume) of dried herb is placed in a quart jar which is then filled to the top with boiling water, tightly lidded and allowed to steep for 4-10 hours. After straining, a cup or more is consumed, and the remainder chilled to slow spoilage. Drinking 2-4 cups a day is usual. Since the minerals and other phytochemicals in nourishing herbs are made more accessible by drying, dried herbs are considered best for infusions. (See experiment 2.)
I make my infusions at night before I go to back and they are ready in the morning. I put my herb in my jar and my water in the pot, and the pot on the fire, then brush my teeth (or sweep the floor) until the kettle whistles. I pour the boiling water up to the rim of the jar, screw on a tight lid, turn off the stove and the light, and go to bed. In the morning, I strain the plant material out, squeezing it well, and drink the liquid. I prefer it iced, unless the morning is frosty. I drink the quart of infusion within 36 hours or until it spoils. Then I use it to water my house plants, or pour it over my hair after washing as a final rinse which can be left on.
My favorite herbs for infusion are nettle, oatstraw, red clover, and comfrey leaf, but only one at a time. The tannins in red clover and comfrey make me pucker my lips, so I add a little mint, or bergamot, when I infuse them, just enough to flavor the brew slightly. A little salt in your infusion may make it taste better than honey will.
Having trouble finding herbs in bulk at your local health food store? Try ordering online:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ Mountain Rose Herbs
http://www.pacificbotanicals.com/ Pacific Botanicals
http://www.frontierherb.com/ Frontier Herbs
http://www.gardenmedicinals.com/ Garden Medicinals
Simple Messages
When we use simples (one plant at a time), we allow ourselves an intimacy that deepens and strengthens our connections to plants and their green magic. There are lots of interesting plants, and lots of herbalists who maintain that herbal medicine means formulae and combinations of herbs. But I consider herbs as lovers, preferring to have only one in bed with me at a time.
When I use one plant at a time it is much easier for me to discern to effect of that plant. When I use one plant at a time and someone has a bad reaction to the remedy, it is obvious what the source of the distress is, and usually easy to remedy. When I use one plant at a time, I make it easy for my body to communicate with me and tell me what plants it needs for optimum health.
I even go so far as to ally with one plant at a time, usually for at least a year. By narrowing my focus, I actually find that I learn more.
Coming up
In our next lesson we will learn more about the difference between nourishing, tonifying, stimulating/sedating, and potentially-poisonous plants; how to prepare them; and how to use them. In the following installments we will explore the difference between fixing disease and promoting health, how to apply the three traditions of healing, and how to take charge of your own health care with the six steps of healing.
Experiment Number One
Make and drink a quart of nourishing herbal infusion made with stinging nettle, oatstraw, red clover, raspberry leaf, or comfrey leaf. If you wish, flavor it with mint. On the same day, make a tea from the same herb, using dried herb. Compare and contrast the colors, flavors, and sensations.
Experiment Number Two
Make an infusion of stinging nettle, oatstraw, red clover, raspberry leaf, or comfrey leaf, using one ounce of dried herb as usual. At the same time, make a quart of “brew” using the same herb, but fresh, not dried. To make it fair, use 4 ounces of fresh herb. After one hour of steeping, look at both jars, taste and compare/contrast. Repeat three more times at hourly intervals.
Minerals are released slowly into water. They darken the color of the water and give it a dense, rich taste. Oil-soluble vitamins float to the top and make a thin glaze of swirls.
Experiment Number Three
Buy, or grow a tasty, aromatic herb, like ginger, peppermint, or rosemary. For this experiment you will need one tablespoon of fresh herb, and one teaspoon of the same herb dried. Place the fresh herb in a cup or mug and the dried herb in a another. Fill both to the top with boiling water. After one minute, taste, smell, compare the teas. Wait another minute and compare again. Then wait five minutes and try each one again.
Experiment Number Four
Make a tea with aromatic seeds — anise, caraway, coriander, cumin, fennel, or fenugreek. Use a teaspoon of seeds in a cup of water. At the same time, brew some using a tablespoon of seeds per cup. After a minute, taste, smell, contrast. Repeat in five minutes, then in thirty minutes, then after an hour, then after four hours. Teas and infusions of dried seeds are almost the same.
Further study
1. Drink a 2-4 cups of nourishing herbal infusion for a month and see if your health changes in any way. Best if you don’t drink coffee or tea during this month.
2. Choose a green ally to focus on this year.
3. Read Healing Power of Minerals by Paul Bergner.
4. Read about stinging nettle and oatstraw in my book Healing Wise.
5. Write out the botanical names of the herbs you used in making your teas and your infusions.
Advanced work
* Learn more about essential oils in plants. Grow several plants rich in essential oils.
* Learn more about tannins. Make an oakbark infusion.
—————
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com
Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international
reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on
health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with
humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine.
Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging
and often profoundly provocative.
Susun is one of America’s best-known authorities on herbal medicine and
natural approaches to women’s health. Her four best-selling books are
recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and
cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at
www.susunweed.com
Tags: Herbs
Be Your Own Herbal Expert - Part 3
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of plants for health and well being. Our neighbors around the world continue to use local plants for healing and health maintenance, and you can too.
In your first lesson, you learned how to “listen” to the messages of plant’s tastes. And you discovered that using plants in water bases (as teas, infusions, vinegars, and soups) — and as simples — allows you to experiment with and explore herbal medicine safely.
In your second lesson, you learned about herbs for teas and how to preserve and use their volatile oils. You leaned about vitamin- and mineral-rich herbal infusions, and how to use them to promote health and longevity. And you continued to think about using herbs simply.
In this lesson you will explore the differences between nourishing, tonifying, stimulating/sedating, and potentially-poisonous plants. You will learn how to prepare and use them for greatest effect and most safety.
All Herbs Are Not Equal
All herbs are not equal: some contain poisons, some don’t; some of the poisons are not so bad, some can kill you dead. I divide herbs into four categories for ease in remembering how (and how much) to use. Some herbs nourish us, some tonify; some bring us up or ease us down and some are frighteningly strong.
Nourishing herbs are the safest of all herbs. They contain few or no alkaloids, glycosides, resins, or essential oils (poisons).
Nourishing herbs are eaten as foods, cooked into soups, dried and infused, or, occasionally, made into vinegars.. They provide high-level nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, proteins, phytoestrogens and phytosterols, starches, simple and complex sugars, bioflavonoids, carotenes, and essential fatty acids (EFAs).
Nourishing herbs in water bases (infusions, soups, vinegars) may generally be taken in any quantity for any period of time. Side- effects — even from excessive use — are quite rare. Nourishing herbs are rarely used as tinctures (in alcohol), but when they are, their effects may be quite different.
It is generally considered safe to use nourishing herbs in water bases with prescription drugs. They may also be taken even if you are using tonifying, stimulating/sedating, or potentially poisonous herbs.
Some examples of nourishing herbs include:
burdock roots
chickweed herb; tincture dissolves cysts
comfrey leaf
elder blossoms and berries
mushrooms
nettle leaves and seeds
oatstraw
plantain leaves and seeds
red clover blossoms
seaweeds
violet leaves and blossoms.
Tonifying herbs are generally considered safe when used in moderation. They may contain alkaloids or glycosides or essential oils, but rarely in quantities sufficient to harm us.
Tonifying herbs act slowly in the body and have a cumulative, rather than immediate, effect. They are most beneficial when used for extended periods of time. Tonifying herbs may be used regularly (but usually not daily) for decades if desired.
Tonifying herbs are prepared in water and alcohol bases: tinctures and wines, as well as infusions, vinegars, and soups.
The more bitter the tonic tastes, the less you need to take of it. The more bland the tonic tastes, the more you can use of it.
Side effects from overuse and misuse of tonics is uncommon but quite possible. The dividing line between what is tonifying and what is stimulating differs from person to person. Ginseng is tonifying to my sweetheart, but stimulating to me. Even herbal authorities disagree on
which herbs are tonifying and which stimulating.
Take care to counter any tendency to overuse tonifying herbs or you may experience unwanted side effects.
It is generally considered safe to use tonifying herbs in water bases if you are taking prescription drugs. You may also use tonifying herbs while using nourishing, stimulating/sedating, and even potentially poisonous herbs. Tonifying herbs in alcohol bases are considered safe to use with nourishing herbs, but may produce unexpected results if combined with drugs or strong herbs.
Some examples of tonifying herbs include
burdock seeds, especially in an oil base
chasteberry
mug/cronewort herb, especially in vinegar
dandelion leaf, root and flowers
echinacea root
ginseng root
hawthorn berries, leaves, and flowers
horsetail herb
motherwort leaves and flowers
yellow dock leaves, roots, and seeds
Stimulating/sedating herbs frequently contain essential oils, alkaloids, glycosides, or resins. Because these substances cause strong physical reactions, stimulating/sedating herbs are known from their rapid and pronounced effects, some of which may be unwanted.
Stimulating/sedating herbs are most often prepared as tinctures (and wines), vinegars, teas, and infusions. Many stimulating/sedating herbs are used as seasonings in cooking as well. Despite my cookbook’s injunction to use only a little, I long ago learned that more aromatic herbs in my soups gave a “livelier” result.
Because long-term use of stimulating/sedating herbs can lead to dependency, dose and duration of use must be carefully watched. A moderate to large dose, taken infrequently will produce better results than a small dose taken over a longer period.
Side effects from the use of stimulating/sedating herbs in water bases are not common but possible. Side effects from use in alcohol bases are frequent. Whenever stimulating/sedating herbs are used regularly, health is compromised.
It is not safe to take prescription drugs with stimulating/sedating herbs, but they may be taken even if you are using nourishing and/or tonifying herbs.
Some examples of stimulating/sedating herbs include:
leaves of aromatic mints such as catnip, lemon balm, lavender, sage, skullcap
cinnamon bark
coffee beans
ginger root
kava kava root
licorice root
tobacco leaves
uva ursi leaves
valerian root
willow bark and leaves
Potentially poisonous herbs always contain alkaloids, glycosides, resins, or essential oils. And they contain large quantities of those poisons, or in very potent forms.
Potentially poisonous plants can cause death directly, through the actions of their poisons on their targets (such as cardiac glycosides which stop the heart) or indirectly, by causing the liver and/or the kidneys to fail (as they attempt to cope with and clear the poison from the system).
Potentially poisonous herbs are usually extracted into alcohol (tinctures) and used in minute doses (1-3 drops). For safety sake use potentially poisonous herbs as infrequently as possible and for the shortest possible time.
Powdering and encapsulating increases the risk of side effects from any herb, but when we take stimulating/sedating and potentially poisonous herbs in capsuled, the side effects can be deadly.
Homeopathic pharmacy uses many potentially poisonous plants, but in such dilute doses that death is impossible. Side effects can occur, even with homeopathically tiny doses, however.
Potentially poisonous herbs activate intense effort on the part of the body and spirit and may cause nausea, visual disturbances, digestive woes, and allergic reactions even when used correctly.
Always be extremely cautious when using potentially poisonous herbs. Consult with at least three other knowledgeable herbalists who have used the plant in question before proceeding.
In general it is not considered safe to take potentially poisonous herbs which taking prescription drugs, other potentially poisonous herbs, or stimulating/sedating herbs. It is generally safe to use potentially poisonous herbs while using nourishing and tonifying herbs.
Some potentially poisonous herbs:
belladonna
castor beans
cayenne
cotton root
goldenseal
liferoot/groundsel
nutmeg
poke root
tansy leaves and flowers
wormwood.
Coming up
In your next lesson you will begin to create your own herbal medicine chest. In future installments we will explore the difference between fixing disease and promoting health, how to apply the three traditions of healing, and how to take charge of your own health care with the six steps of healing.
Experiment Number One
Spend some time alone quietly breathing. Tune into your body piece by piece (toes, feet, calves, knees, thighs, and so on). Use colors to draw yourself. Don’t worry about making art. For the next month include some nourishing herb in your diet. Example: on Monday include seaweed as a vegetable for dinner, on Tuesday drink a quart of nettle infusion, on Wednesday make a soup with burdock and other roots, on Thursday drink a quart of red clover infusion, on Friday make garlic bread with at least one clove of freshly chopped garlic per slice, on Saturday drink a quart of oatstraw infusion, on Sunday drink a quart of comfrey/mint infusion. And so on. One month later, sit alone and breathe quietly. Tune into your body piece by piece. Use colors to draw yourself. Has anything changed? You can continue this experiment for as long as you like.
Experiment Number Two
Repeat experiment number one, but instead use any one tonic (preferably one that lives where you do) at least four times a week for one month. Again, note any changes in how you feel, how much energy and stamina you have, how much curiosity and delight you experience in life. You can continue this experiment for as long as you like also.
Experiment Number Three
What stimulants and sedatives do you use regularly? What happens if you give up one or more of them for a week? for a month? Try — on different days — at least one herbal stimulant and one herbal sedative and keep notes on your reactions.
Experiment Number Four
Choose one potentially poisonous plant that grows near you and cultivate a relationship with it. Read about it. Talk about it with others who have a relationship with it. Keep a special book for writing about your poisonous ally.
Further study
1. Name five more nourishing herbs. Specify part used, preparation, and dosage.
2. Name five more tonifying herbs. Specify part used, preparation, and dosage.
3. Name five more stimulating/sedating herbs. Specify part used, preparation, and dosage.
4. Name five more potentially poisonous herbs. Specify part used, preparation, and dosage. In what case and how would you use each?
5. What is the difference between a tonic and a stimulant?
Advanced work
* Give the botanical name (genus and species) for each plant listed.
* List five nourishing herbs commonly sold in tincture form and describe what they are used for in that form.
* Learn more about homeopathy.
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Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com
Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international
reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on
health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with
humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine.
Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging
and often profoundly provocative.
Susun is one of America’s best-known authorities on herbal medicine and
natural approaches to women’s health. Her four best-selling books are
recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and
cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at
www.susunweed.com
Tags: Herbs
