Be Your Own Herbal Expert- Part 2

Susun S Weed

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 bed 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 houseplants, 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:

•     Mountain Rose Herbs – http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/

•     Pacific Botanicals - http://www.pacificbotanicals.com/

•     Frontier Herbs – http://www.frontierherb.com/

•     Garden Medicinals – http://www.gardenmedicinals.com/

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 the 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 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 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.

About Susun Weed:

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

Fighting Cancer with Vitamins and Antioxidants by Kedar N. Prasad, Ph.D. and K. Che Prasad, M.S., M.D.

Book Excerpt

Chapter 1
Common Misconceptions about Cancer

Although most nutrition scientists agree with the idea that changes in the diet and lifestyle may reduce the risk of cancer, the value of micronutrients, including antioxidants, in cancer prevention or treatment remains controversial and the subject of extensive debate. As a result, a number of misconceptions concerning the value of supplementary
micronutrients exist among the general public and most health professionals. In an effort to reduce confusion, we will look at the facts behind some of these misconceptions.

Misconception: Supplementary micronutrients including antioxidants are not useful for cancer prevention.

Fact: The above belief is propagated by the results of a human clinical study in which a single micronutrient, such as beta-carotene, was administered orally once a day for several years to individuals at high risk of developing cancer (such as heavy cigarette smokers). The results showed that the incidence of lung cancer and other cancers increased in the beta-carotene treated group compared to those who did not receive beta-carotene. However, the use of one antioxidant alone in a high-risk population has no scientific merit for the following reasons: (a) heavy cigarette smokers have a high oxidative environment in their bodies; and (b) a single antioxidant, such as beta-carotene, will be damaged in such an environment and then will act as a pro-oxidant (free radical) rather than an antioxidant. The results obtained from the use of a single antioxidant should not be extrapolated to the effects possible by the use of multiple antioxidant preparations in which other antioxidants will prevent conversion of one antioxidant to a pro-oxidant. There are many laboratory studies and a few human studies that indicate that many supplementary micronutrients are essential in lowering the risk of cancer.

Misconception: Most supplementary micronutrients, including antioxidants, pass out of the body in the urine and feces, so why take them?

Fact: While it is true that consumption of high doses of micronutrients can lead to increased levels of these products in the urine and feces, the beneficial actions of micronutrients are notably performed during the digestion of food. The absorption from the intestinal tract of most orally ingested antioxidants at moderate doses is about 10 percent; however, the presence of the remaining amounts of antioxidants in the intestinal tract perform very important beneficial functions. For example, increased amounts of vitamin C and vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) are needed in the stomach to prevent the formation of nitrosamine, a potent cancer-causing agent, that is formed from nitrite-containing foods, such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs, or cured meat. These antioxidants can reduce the levels of mutagens that alter genetic activity and increase the risk of cancer formed during digestion in the intestinal tract. Antioxidants produce beneficial effects in the body even without being completely absorbed.

Misconception: It is not possible for antioxidants to protect against damage produced by different types of harmful agents, such as radiation, toxic chemicals, and pathogenic viruses and bacteria.

Fact: Radiation (such as X-rays, gamma rays) and certain toxic chemicals (such as mustard gas and chlorine gas) cause most damage to cells by producing excessive amounts of free radicals and acute or chronic inflammation. Among known prescription and nonprescription drugs, antioxidants are the only group of nutrients that can destroy free radicals, decrease acute and chronic inflammation, and stimulate immune function.

Misconception: The more supplementary micronutrients, including antioxidants, you take, the better you will feel.

Fact: Slavish adherence to this belief can actually be dangerous to your health as consumption of excessive amounts of certain micronutrients may cause severe damage to your body. For instance, taking large amounts of vitamin A (25,000 IU or more per day over a long period of time) may lead to liver and skin toxicity. Vitamin A, even at lower doses of 10,000 IU or more, can increase the risk of birth defects in pregnant women and of bone fractures in older women. Excessive intake of selenium–400 micrograms (mcg) or more per day over a long period of time–may cause cataracts.

Misconception: The presence of trace minerals–such as iron and copper–in many multiple-vitamin preparations containing vitamin C is good for your health.

Fact: Your body needs tiny amounts of these trace minerals for growth and survival. These amounts can easily be obtained from the Western daily diet. The body has no significant way of getting rid of these minerals once they enter the body, so the addition of iron, copper, or manganese in any multiple-vitamin preparation is not optimal for long-term health. It is well established that vitamin C in combination with iron or copper (and less so with manganese) generates excessive amounts of free radicals that can damage cells and/or reduce the effectiveness of vitamins. In addition, the absorption of these trace minerals in the presence of vitamin C is enhanced markedly in the intestinal tract, which can increase the body’s storage of minerals such as iron. Increased storage of free iron (not bound to proteins) in the body can increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, and some neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

Misconception: A balanced diet is sufficient for optimal protection against cancer.

Fact: Although a balanced diet is a necessary part of any cancer-prevention plan, it may not be adequate for optimal protection for the following reasons: (a) the concept of balanced diet is not well defined; (b) trying to obtain the optimal levels of antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, and E and beta-carotene through a balanced diet only may not be possible or practical; (c) optimal levels of endogenous antioxidants such as glutathione, alpha-lipoic acid, and coenzyme Q10 cannot be obtained from a balanced diet; and (d) all foods that we consume on a daily basis contain both protective and toxic substances. To maximize the intake of protective substances and for maximum protection against cancer, supplementary micronutrients, including dietary and endogenous antioxidants, should be combined with a healthy diet and changes in lifestyle in consultation with your doctors and health care professionals.

Here Comes the Flu Season

Protect Yourself the Wise Woman Way

Susun S Weed

Along with the beauty of fall days comes the need to get ready for winter. Time to get out my long underwear and my warm wooly socks. Time to nourish my immune system so cold days won’t be days of colds – and flu.

I don’t rely on modern medicine to keep me healthy, but if you usually rely on a flu shot to protect you, you may feel frightened by your inability to get one this year. You may be wondering what you can do instead. Or you may have discovered that flu shots don’t give protection from all types of flu, just the ones the makers guess will be active this winter. And you may wonder if there isn’t some other way to prevent the flu. Or maybe, like me, you prefer not to use shots or drugs unless absolutely necessary. You may wonder what herbs and remedies are the best to have on hand to help your family deal with the flu.

No matter what your situation, now is a good time to give yourself the benefit of Wise Woman Ways to prevent – and deal with – the flu. These flu preventers and flu remedies are simple. They are quite safe. And you don’t have to be rich to use them. Wise Woman herbal medicine is people’s medicine. Mama Medicine. You can buy most of the things I discuss in this article – and you can find them growing freely, too. You can buy the herbal preparations I mention already made – and you can easily make you own for pennies, too.

These Wise Woman Ways are supported by both tradition and science. Wise women through the centuries have kept themselves and their families safe from contagious diseases. And science has found good reasons for their effectiveness. I hope these tips will help you face winter’s ills with confidence and good health.

Beat the Flu

 The best way to prevent the flu is to build a powerful immune system. While this can’t guarantee that you won’t get the flu, neither can the flu shot. Here are my favorite ways to keep my immune system strong:

•         Eat more garlic.
•         Drink nourishing herbal infusions daily.
•         Make immune-strengthening soups; or add immune-strengthening herbs to canned soup.
•         Use anti-viral herbs as needed.

Eat More Garlic

One of the best immune-system helpers is garlic. Dr. James Duke says it contains at least 17 different factors that nourish and support powerful immune system functioning. Herbalists in the middle ages relied on it to prevent infection from the plague, so it might keep us safe from the flu. Garlic is anti-bacterial, too. If you don’t like fresh raw garlic, powdered garlic is just as good. The dose is 1 or more cloves of raw garlic per day, or up to a teaspoon of garlic powder. Here are a few of my favorite ways to eat raw garlic:

•         Top scrambled eggs with minced raw garlic.
•         Put chopped raw garlic on pasta and cover with tomato sauce.
•         Try minced raw garlic on a piece of hot buttered toast. Delicious!
•         Add minced raw garlic to your baked potato.
•         Mix chopped raw garlic and olive oil with hot cooked greens like kale or spinach.

Drink Nourishing Herbal Infusions

Nourishing herbal infusions are the basis of great nourishment for the immune system and the entire body. They are full of antioxidant vitamins, minerals, proteins, phytoestrogens, and hundreds of protective phytochemicals that work to help you ward off the flu and colds too. Here’s how I make a nourishing herbal infusion:

•         Choose one herb: nettle, oatstraw, red clover, comfrey leaf, linden flowers, or violet leaf.
•         Place one full ounce, by weight, of any one herb in a quart jar. A canning jar is best.
•         Fill the jar to the top with boiling water.
•         Screw on a tight lid.
•         Let it steep for four hours, or overnight.
•         Strain the liquid out, squeezing the herb.
•         Refrigerate the infusion. It will be good for 24-36 hours.

I drink two to four cups nourishing herbal infusions daily – over ice, heated up with honey and milk, or mixed with other beverages.

Make Immune Strengthening Soups

Cooking herbs and vegetables together for a long time extracts minerals, activates immune-strengthening phytochemicals, and increases the levels of available antioxidants. Raw foods weaken and stress the immune system. To make an immune strengthening soup:

•         Chop at least half an onion per person and sauté in olive oil until translucent.
•         Add at least two cloves of garlic, sliced or chopped, per person and sauté for a minute.
•         Add two or more cups of water or vegetable broth per person.
•         Add one cup per person of chopped seasonal vegetables such as:

carrots, cabbage, celery, corn, burdock, turnips, potatoes, tomatoes, parsnips

(If using canned soup, begin here.)

•         Add one small handful of seaweed per person.
•         Add one ounce fresh, or one-half ounce dried mushrooms – any kind – per person.
•         Add one-quarter ounce dried tonic roots per person.
•         Add generous amounts of antioxidant seasoning herbs and some sea salt.
•         Bring to a boil; simmer for an hour.
•         Turn off fire and let your soup mellow in a cool place overnight.
•         Serve it the next day, heated up, with freshly-baked bread and organic raw milk cheese.

Seaweeds build powerful immunity. Kombu and wakame are excellent in soups. Cut them small; they swell to 5-7 times their dried size when cooked.

All mushrooms strengthen the immune system. Dried shitake are available and inexpensive at Chinese grocery stores. Reishii, maitake, and other medicinal mushrooms are delicious, as are the more common button mushrooms, portabellos, and dried porcinni.

Tonic roots help our livers, lymph, and kidneys work well, protecting us from infection. I often put these tough roots into a jelly bag and drop that into the soup so I can fish it out before serving. I use one or more of these, fresh or dried, depending on what I have available:

•         Siberian ginseng
•         Astragalus
•         Burdock
•         Dandelion
•         Chicory
•         Yellow dock
•         American ginseng

Seasoning herbs from the mint family - rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram, and sage are loaded with antioxidants. I don’t just season the soup with them; I add them by the handful for the greatest impact on my immune strength.

Anti-Viral Herbs

Anti-infective herbs can help us prevent the flu – and assist us if we do get sick. Colds and the flu are caused by viruses, making them more difficult to treat than bacterial infections. Viruses are more vital than bacteria and harder to kill. There are many anti-bacterial herbs – including yarrow, echinacea, elecampane, and poke – but few that are anti-viral. Of these, my favorite is St. Joan’s/John’s wort. If any herb can prevent the flu, St.J’s can.

Of course, even flu shots don’t prevent all types of flu, and they don’t prevent colds, so even if you do get a shot, it’s a good idea to have some anti-viral and anti-bacterial herbs on hand. The distinction between them is not so important once you are sick. Both types of herbs will alert the immune system to the infection and help it gather the resources needed to counter it. Did you know that the achy muscles and headachy feeling we get with the flu is not caused by the flu itself but results from the immune system gobbling up all available resources so it can clobber the flu virus?

St. Joan’s/John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum)

This beautiful yellow flower yields a blood-red tincture that I take by the dropperful to prevent viral infections such as the flu. A dropperful in the morning throughout the cold months is adequate for prevention. I increase that to 2-3 dropperfuls a day if I have been exposed at home or at work to the flu. If I do get sick, I will use other herbs to counter the infection. Capsules of St. J’s are ineffective; I only use the tincture.

Echinacea (Echinacea augustifolia)

The tincture of echinacea root is a well-known anti-infective. When I feel an infection brewing, I use large doses of echinacea to build white blood cells and encourage T-helper cells. The dose of echinacea root tincture is 1 drop for every 2 pounds of body weight, as frequently as every hour or two in the acute phase of an infection, 2-4 times a day otherwise. I have seen echinacea relieve terrible flu infections.

Important: I do not use echinacea as a preventative; it doesn’t seem to work that way. I do not use any part of this plant except the root. I do not combine it with goldenseal, which I believe hinders the immune system. I do not take echinacea in capsules.

I make a quart of echinacea tincture each fall as my winter insurance. Here’s how I do it: Put 4 ounces of dried Echinacea augustifolia root in a quart jar. Fill to the top with 100 proof vodka. Cap tightly and label. Shake daily for the first week then weekly for at least eight weeks.

Poke (Phytolacca americana)

The tincture of this root is so powerful some authors consider it poisonous. You may have a hard time finding it for sale. But poke is an important helper when flu “bugs” have taken over. I would not take poke as a preventative; it is far too strong. I use poke root tincture to kick my immune system into high gear. The dose is one drop – yes, only one drop – once or twice a day for no more than a month, although in serious cases I may use up to 8 doses a day. Poke root tincture can harm the kidneys if it is taken continuously. I never take capsules of poke root.

Elecampane (Inula helenium)

The tincture of this root is a favorite for clearing lung infections and countering the flu. The usual dose is 10-15 drops 2-3 times a day, but I would increase the dose to 6 times a day in an acute situation. I expect to see results within a day or less. I would only take elecampane if I had an active infection; it has little protective value. I never use elecampane capsules.

Elder (Sambucus canadensis)

Elder flowers are a nice remedy for those with a feverish cold, but for those with the flu, I prefer elder berries. The most common way to take them is in the form of a syrup. The immune enhancing properties of elder berries are renowned in Europe and slowly gaining popularity in the United States. Elder berry syrup also eases coughs and lung congestion.

Winter is Coming

Herbs may not seem strong enough to prevent or counter the flu, but they are. When we use herbs to maintain and regain health, we not only take a big step toward health independence but a small step toward peace on our planet. Instead of making war on weeds, I use them. Instead of making war on nature, I let Her guide me. Instead of making war on myself when I’m sick, I nourish myself toward greater health, greater peace.

Green blessings surround us. Herbs not only protect us from the flu, they can uplift our hearts and bring us joy in trying and uncertain times.

Tips to Avoid the Flu

1. Wash your hands; this is the single best way to avoid the flu.

2. Cough or sneeze into your elbow, not your hand. Viral particles are easily passed from hands to eyes and nose even if you use a tissue.

3. If the flu is active in your area, avoid public places.

About Susun Weed:

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

Now Remember Rosemary

Susun S. Weed

Mad Ophelia tells us: “There’s Rosemary, that’s for remembrance”. In Shakespeare’s day it was common knowledge that rosemary helped one remember. Today, as then, herbalists agree: “For weyknesse of ye brayne, sethe rosemaria in wyne and keep ye heed warme”. The leaves of this tough, evergreen shrub, are valued for both medicinal and culinary uses. And, the powerful antioxidant vitamins found therein do help the brain work better.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is an especially aromatic member of the mint family. When grown in dry, poor soils in hot areas, a little protected, but touched by the winds, rosemary rewards us with minerals, vitamins, and antiseptic, antibacterial volatile oils which extract easily into water, vinegar, alcohol, and fat. While evergreen, and thus usable at any time of the year, rosemary is considered most medicinal when flowering. A large pinch of dried rosemary in food acts as a preservative. A strong brew of the fresh or dried leaves makes a particularly effective wound wash.

Old herbals hint that rosemary exerts its influence magically as well as physically. Burned as an incense, twined into a wreath, or grown in a pot, rosemary protects the house and those who live in it, especially the women. Added to the wedding bouquet, it insures fidelity. Tied with silk ribbons and given to the wedding guests, it spreads loving kindness.

“As for Rosmarine, I let it runne all over my garden walls, not onlie because my bees love it, but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance, and, therefore, to friendship …” said Sir Thomas More several hundred years ago, with a smile.

Juliette de Bairacli Levy repeats an old, old story about rosemary:  When Mary and Joseph were fleeing with the infant Jesus, Mary placed her damp blue cloak on the rosemary bush to dry it. The rosemary, thus blessed, forever more has had blue flowers, and the absolute power to protect against evil. A sprig of rosemary hung by the door banishes all thieves; a bush of rosemary growing by the door allows only love to enter.

Rosemary is a traditional Christmas decoration – partly because it smells good, and partly because pruning rosemary back mid-winter makes it stronger and healthier. So don’t hesitate to cut bunches of it for beauty. If you take your decorative rosemary down before it gets too dry, it can be used for cooking or as a smudge.

The dense smoke (smudge) produced by burning dried rosemary is equally favored in religious, mystical, and medicinal settings. When frankincense and myrrh – expensive and foreign resins – are in short supply, rosemary stands in for them in the church’s – or the pagans – censors. During the plague years, and thereafter in many hospitals, the burning of rosemary reliably cleared the air and countered airborne infections. By extension, rosemary was given to mourners to protect them from contagion. It was laid in the coffin to preserve the body. And it was cast into the grave at the end of the funeral.

In England, a branch of rosemary was placed in the dock of the courts of justice as a preventative against jail-fever. To ward off moths, lay it in your woolen chest.

European ladies, princesses, and even queens used rosemary in many ways to enhance their beauty. They tied it into a cloth to keep fleas away; they smelled it to “keep youngly”; they soaked it in wine and used it to wash their faces so they would be “light and lovely”; they added it to their bath water so they would “wax shiny and be merrie”; and they stopped bad dreams by placing rosemary under the bed.

Modern ladies praise rosemary’s ability to make their scalp healthy and dander free, and their hair lush, thick, and dark. To make a rosemary hair rinse, brew a full ounce of dried rosemary in a quart of boiling water overnight. After you’ve washed your hair, pour the dark, sweet-smelling rosemary liquid over your head, rubbing well into the scalp. Leave it be; no need to rinse it out. If you have very bad dandruff, add a tablespoon of borax per half cup of rosemary hair rinse just before use. Lavaggio, a hair tonic made from an Italian folk recipe that is 99% rosemary, is available for sale for those who don’t want to do it themselves.

Recent research has found that the heart has memory cells just like the brain. No wonder rosemary is renowned as a heart tonic, too! The oldest recipes call for soaking several handfuls of fresh rosemary in a large glass of white wine for several days, then sipping the wine to ease palpitations, strengthen weak hearts, and heal broken hearts. Rosemary in capsules, or rosemary tincture in large doses, can raise blood pressure however, so I stick to tea or external applications.

Rosemary infused oil or ointment (not the essential oil, which can cause poisoning) eases the pain of arthritis, improves flexibility of the joints, counters and sometimes cures eczema, and hastens wound healing. If you don’t have the oil, rosemary tea can be used instead.

Rosemary tea has a beneficial effect on the lungs and breathing. If you have a cold, rosemary tea is happy to help you feel better. Too tired and sick to do anything? Just throw a big handful of rosemary in canned chicken soup and heat. For best effect, let steep for an hour, then eat it. Ahhh. When imbibing rosemary tea, feel free to add honey*, especially if your throat is scratchy and sore.

Rosemary, like all its mint sisters, is antispasmodic, mildly so as a tea, more strongly in vinegar, and powerfully as a tincture. Not only does it relieve nervous pains and headaches, rosemary eases all digestive woes, from gas to gall bladder problems. A tablespoon or two of the vinegar on salad is an easy way to take this remedy. Because of the danger of kidney damage, I use small (1-5 drop) doses of rosemary tincture, and only occasionally.

As a seasoning, rosemary feeds the brain and helps prevent cancer. As a medicine, rosemary restores memory and improves digestion.

No wonder boxes made of rosemary wood are considered magical. As rosemary is only happy when commanded by a woman, its magic is most suited to the needs of women. Perhaps Pandora’s box was made of rosemary wood. For sure, your life will be more magical when you remember rosemary.

*Note: Do not give honey to babies under 12 months old.

Susun Weed

PO Box 64

Woodstock, NY 12498

Fax:  1-845-246-8081

Sexy Herbs

By Susun Weed

Digestive Distress

Susun S. Weed

Step 1:       Collect Information

As the mix of hormones in your blood changes during your premenopausal years, you may notice the effects on your gastrointestinal tract both directly – estrogen is a gastrointestinal stimulant and varying levels may swing you from loose stools to dry ones – and indirectly, as the hormonal load places ever heavier demands on the liver.
Hormones have a strong effect on the motility of the intestinal tract. When your levels of estrogen and progesterone change (as they do throughout menopause, during pregnancy, and before menstruation and birth), your bowel patterns change, too.

Your liver is, among other things, a recycling center. It breaks down hormones circulating in the blood when they are no longer needed and makes their “parts” available for the production of more hormones. During the menopausal years some hormones (such as LH and FSH) are produced in such enormous quantities that your liver may struggle to keep up with its recycling work, and have little energy left over for digestive duties. Help yourself with these Wise Woman Ways.

Step 2:       Engage the Energy

• Bless your food out loud before you eat; say grace; thank the plants and animals who nourish you; breathe in and feel grateful.

• My mother’s favorite way of preventing digestive distress and ensuring regularity is to eat at regular times and go to the toilet at regular times. You’d be surprised how effective this is.

• First thing in the morning, get yourself a cup of hot water (or herbal tea) and bring it back to bed. Sip it slowly, and gnaw gently on your bottom lip. Then lie on your back and bring your knees up, feet flat on the bed; place your palms on your belly and breathe deeply. Gently begin to rub your belly (in spirals): up on the right, across the middle, and down on the left. Soon you will feel the movement gathering momentum. Sit up slowly and head for the toilet.

Step 3:       Nourish & Tonify

• Yellow dock root vinegar or tincture is a wonderful ally for menopausal women with digestive distress. Daily doses of 1 teaspoon/5 ml vinegar or 5-10 drops of tincture eliminate constipation, indigestion, and gas. Yellow dock is especially recommended for the woman whose menopausal menses are getting heavier.

• Dandelion is everyone’s favorite ally for a happy digestive system and a strong liver. It relieves indigestion, constipation, gas, even gallstone pain. How to use it? Have a glass of dandelion blossom wine. Eat the omega-3-rich leaves in salads. Enjoy the phytoestrogenic roots as a vinegar or tincture (a dose is 1-2 teaspoons/5-10 ml vinegar or 10-20 drops tincture taken with meals) or as a coffee substitute.

• Any rhythmical exercise, especially walking, relieves digestive gas and improves intestinal peristalsis (the movement of feces). Oriental wisdom says the liver loves movement.

• Motherwort, fenugreek, vitex, or black cohosh tinctures, taken daily, strengthen digestion and ease menopausal digestive woes. Or try a cup of garden sage tea.

• If constipation occurs due to a lessening of the moistening, lubricating cells in the colon, slippery foods such as slippery elm bark powder, oats, seaweed, flax seed, and seeds from wild Plantago (or cultivated psyllium) are wonderful allies. Adding a teaspoon/5 ml of any, or better yet, all of them to a cup/250 ml of rolled oats and cooking until thick in 3 cups/750 ml of water is a delicious way to prepare this remedy.

• My favorite remedy to relieve digestive and gas pain is plain yogurt. Sometimes even a tiny mouthful will bring instant relief. Acidophilus capsules work, too. I use both when dealing with chronic constipation or severe diarrhea.

Step 4:       Stimulate/Sedate

• White flour products slow the digestive tract; so does too much grain-fed meat. Whole grain products, well-cooked beans, wild meats, and cooked greens speed it up.

• Add more liquids and soft foods to your diet – applesauce, yogurt, nourishing soups, herbal infusions – to help relieve constipation. Chew your food slowly and savor it. Drink lavishly between meals.

• Menopausal women will want to avoid the use of bran as a laxative, as it interferes with calcium absorption. Instead try prunes, prune juice, rhubarb with maple syrup, or figs.

• Ginger tea with honey is a warming, easing drink when your tummy is upset. Ahhh. Try the fresh root grated and steeped in boiling water, or put a tablespoon of the powdered stuff from your spice cupboard in a cup of hot water and enjoy.

• Crushed hemp seed (Cannabis sativa) tea – rich in essential fatty acids – is a specific against menopausal constipation.

• Herbal laxatives such as aloes, cascara sagrada, rhubarb root, and senna are addictive and destructive to normal peristalsis. Except in rare cases (such as relief of constipation for a ninety-year-old woman confined to a bed), I do not advise their use.

Step 5a:     Use Supplements

Constipation and digestive distress are common side effects from taking iron supplements. A spoonful of molasses with 10-25 drops of yellow dock root tincture in a glass of warm water is a better way to increase iron, and improve elimination.

Step 6:       Break & Enter

Enemas and colonics are last-resort techniques. They do not promote health and may strip the guts of important flora. Regular use of enemas is highly habit-forming. For the sake of your health, avoid them.

New Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way available from www.ashtreepublishing.com.

Susun Weed

PO Box 64

Woodstock, NY 12498

Fax:  1-845-246-8081

Mysterious Mushrooms

Susun S Weed

As summer nights lengthen into autumn, the forests of the Catskill mountains in upstate New York fill with magical, mystical, medicinal mushrooms. “Toadstool” is a quaint name for the many mushrooms that spring forth between rains, while “fungi” is the more technical term. Fungi are plants, but plants without flowers or roots or chlorophyll (which makes plants green). Strange shapes (some quite sexually suggestive), the ability to grow (and glow) in the dark, and psychedelic colors make mushrooms an obvious addition to any witch’s stew. But you will want some other reasons to make mushrooms a steady part of your diet. Is outwitting cancer a good enough reason?

It’s true. All edible fungi – including those ordinary white button mushrooms sold in supermarkets – are capable of preventing and reversing cancerous cellular changes. We aren’t exactly sure why. Perhaps it’s because fungi search out, concentrate, and share with us the trace minerals we need to build powerful, healthy immune systems. Or perhaps it’s because of their wealth of polysaccharides – interesting complex sugars that appear to be all round health-promoters. It could be because mushrooms are excellent sources of protein and B vitamins with few calories and no sodium. Or we could single out the anti-cancer, anti-tumor, and anti-bacterial compounds found in the stalk, caps, gills, and even the underground structures (mycelia) of every edible mushroom.

Be sure to cook your mushrooms though; avoid eating them raw. Scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical School found that mice who ate unlimited amounts of raw mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) developed, over the course of their lifetimes, significantly more malignant tumors than a control group.

Everywhere I go in August and September – whether walking barefoot on vibrant green mosses or stepping lightly across the deeply-scented fallen pine and hemlock needles; whether climbing rocky outcrops festooned with ferny whiskers or skirting swamps humming with mosquitoes; whether following the muddy bank of a meandering stream or balancing on old stone walls inhaling the scent of righteous rot – I am on the lookout for my fungi friends.

My woods are especially generous to me with chanterelles, beautiful cornucopia-shaped mushrooms with a delectable taste. I find both the delicious little black ones – jokingly known as “trumpet of death” due to their eerie coloration – and the very tasty and much bigger orange ones. Sometimes we return home naked from our mushrooms walks – if we find more ‘shrooms than we have bags for, we have to use our shirts and pants as carriers to help haul dinner home.

The bright orange tops and sulfur yellow undersides of sulphur shelf mushrooms (Polyporus sulphuroides) are easy to spot in the late summer forest. Growing only on recently-dead oaks, these overlapping shelves make a great-tasting immune-enhancing addition to dinner. I have harvested the “chicken of the woods” in oak forests around the world. In the Czech Republic, I saw a particularly large example as we drove a country lane. Stopping, I found a portion of it had been harvested. I took only a share, being careful to leave lots for other mushroom lovers who might come down the lane after me.

You don’t have to live in the woods and find your own mushrooms to enjoy their health-giving benefits. You can buy them: fresh or dried for use in cooking and medicine; and tinctured or powdered as well. Look for chanterelles, cepes, enoki, oyster mushrooms, portobellos, maitake, reishii, shiitake, chaga, and many other exotic and medicinal mushrooms in health food stores, supermarkets, specialty stores, and Oriental markets.

Maitake (Grifolia frondosa) is more effective than any other fungi ever tested at inhibiting tumor growth. It is very effective when taken orally, whether by lab rats or humans dealing with cancer. The fruiting body of the maitake resembles the tail feathers of a small brown chicken, hence its popular name: “Hen of the Woods”. If you buy maitake in pill form, be sure to get the fruiting body, not the mycelium.

Reishii (Ganoderma lucidum) is one of the most respected immune tonics in the world. Reishii is adaptogenic, revitalizing, and regenerative, especially to the liver. Even occasional use builds powerful immunity and reduces the risk of cancer. In clinical studies, use of reishii increased T-cell and alpha interferon production, shrank and eliminated tumors, and improved the quality of life for terminal patients. Reishii and shiitake are great partners, the effects of one enhancing the effects of the other. Reishii is best taken as a tincture, 20-40 drops, 3 times daily.

Shiitake (Lentinus edodes) is highly medicinal and tastes good enough to eat in quantity. I go to an oriental market and buy the big, big, big bag of dried shiitake mushrooms for a fraction of what I would pay for them in a health food store. To use, I just rehydrate them by pouring boiling water over them or by dropping pieces into soups. Those who make shiitake a regular part of their diets increase their production of cancer-fighting alpha interferon, reduce inflammation throughout their bodies, prolong their lives, and improve their ability to produce and utilize vitamin D.

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a rather ugly and intensely hard fungi found on birch trees.  Baba Yaga and other Russian herbalists favor it as an immune nourisher, cancer preventive, and an aid to those dealing with melanomas.

Mushrooms are not just for food and medicine; they are renowned for their ability to alter our perceptions of reality. Psychoactive psilocybin mushrooms were used by the famous shaman/healer Maria Sabina in Mexico. The red-capped mushroom with white dots usually drawn next to the witch’s house is the mind-altering Amanita muscaria, sometimes called manna, and widely used in Siberian shamanic rites.

Whether you use fungi to make a mushroom soup or as a remedy for someone dealing with cancer, whether you stir them up in a witch’s cauldron of spiraling power or sew them into a spirit bag, mushrooms offer magic and mystery, good health and good cheer.

Susun Weed

PO Box 64

Woodstock, NY 12498

Fax:  1-845-246-8081

Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com

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