OSusun S. Weed October, 2011

Be Your Own herbal Expert

Part 4

herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors used – and our neighbors around the world still use – plant medicines for healing and health maintenance. It’s easy. You can do it too.

In your first lessons, you learned how to “listen” to the messages of plant’s tastes, how to make effective water-based herbal remedies, and how to distinguish safe nourishing and tonifying herbs from the more dangerous stimulating and sedating herbs.

In this lesson, you will learn how to how make herbal tinctures. You will make tinctures from fresh and dried roots as well as from fresh flowers and leaves.

Then you will collect your tinctures into an herbal Medicine Chest and begin to use them. Shall we begin?

Tinctures Act Fast

Tinctures are alcohol-based plant medicines. Alcohol extracts and concentrates many properties from plants, including their poisons. Alcohol does not extract significant amounts of nutrients, so tinctures are used when we want to stimulate, sedate, or make use of a poison. (Remember that nourishing herbs are best used in water bases such as infusions and vinegars.)

The concentrated nature of tinctures allows them to act quickly. It also makes them perfect for a first-aid kit or herbal medicine chest: a little goes a long way.

I have dozens of tinctures in my cabinet. But these are the ones I carry with me when I travel; they are the ones I don’t leave home without. This is my traveling herbal medicine chest.

Echinacea tincture                 Motherwort tincture                     Skullcap tincture

Ginseng tincture                     Dandelion root tincture                Wormwood tincture

St Joan’s Wort tincture           Poke root tincture (danger)         Yarrow tincture

Making Dried Root Tinctures

I strongly prefer to make tinctures from fresh plants. But many people have a hard time getting fresh plants. Most books therefore ignore fresh plant tinctures and focus on making tinctures only from dried plants. The only dried plant parts I use to make tinctures are roots and seeds. All other plant parts I use fresh when making a tincture. And I actually prefer to use fresh roots too.

To make a tincture from dried roots:

{   Buy an ounce of dried Echinacea augustifolia or Panax ginseng root.

{   Put the whole ounce in a pint jar.

{   The dried root should fill the jar about a third full. If not, use a smaller jar.

{   Fill the jar to the top with the alcohol. Cap tightly and label.

Almost any alcohol can be used to make a tincture. My preference is 100 proof vodka. A lower proof, such as 80 proof, does not work nearly as well. Higher proofs, such as 198 proof or Everclear, can damage the liver and kidneys, so I don’t use them to make medicine.

The tincture is ready in six weeks, but gets stronger the longer it sits. I like to wait about six months before using my ginseng tincture and a year before using my echinacea tincture.

Making Fresh Root Tinctures

Roots generally hold their properties even when dried. But two of my favorite root tinctures must be made from fresh roots are the dried ones have lost much of their effect.

Making a tincture with a fresh root is similar to making one with a dried root.

{   With great respect for the plant, dig up its root.

{   Gently rinse mud away. (For more about digging dandelion root, see Healing Wise.)

{   Chop root into small pieces and fill a jar to the top with the chopped root.

{   Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.

{   Fresh root tinctures are ready to use in six weeks.

Making Fresh Leaf and Flower Tinctures

I use only fresh flowers and leaves in my tinctures. These delicate plant parts lose aroma and medicinal qualities when dried.

Tinctures can be made from dried herbs, but I find them inferior in both effect (how well they work) and energetics (how many fairies are in it), not to mention taste (how many volatile substances remain) and somatics (how something makes you “feel”).

What if the plants you need to make all the tinctures in your medicine chest don’t grow where you live or you can’t find them? Try one or more of these solutions.

{   Take a vacation to a place where the plant you need does grow. And make sure to go at the best time to gather it.

{   Find an herbal pen-pal who lives in the area where the plant you want to tincture grows. Have your pen-pal make a tincture of the fresh plant for you. You could make a tincture of something you have lots of to give to her too.

Even if the plants do grow where you live, it may take a year or longer for you to find them, harvest them and make tinctures. While you are “in limbo,” it’s fine to buy tinctures to use in your herbal medicine chest.

When you finally find the plants you want, don’t be afraid to make several quarts of tincture. Tinctures last for hundreds of years if protected from heat and light.

St. Joan’s wort tincture: Eases muscles spasms, anti-viral, pain-relieving.

{  Pick yellow Hypericum perforatum flowers in the summer’s heat.

{  Fill – don’t stuff – a jar with the blossoms and leaves.

{  Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label. (It will turn bright red.)

{  Your fresh St. Joan’s wort tincture is ready to use in six weeks.

Motherwort tincture: Eases menstrual cramps, mood swings, stress.

{  Pick Leonurus cardiaca flowering tops (leaves and flowers) in early fall or late summer.

{  Fill – don’t stuff – a jar with coarsely chopped blossoms and leaves.

{  Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.

{  Your fresh motherwort tincture is ready to use in six weeks.

Skullcap tincture: Pain-relief, headache remedy.

{  Pick Scutellaria lateriflora flowering tops when there are seeds as well as flowers.

{  Fill – don’t stuff – a jar with the blossoms and leaves.

{  Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.

{  Your fresh skullcap tincture is ready to use in six weeks.

Wormwood tincture: Counters food poisoning and parasites.

{  Pick emisia absinthemum leaves in the late summer or early fall, when mature.

{  Fill – don’t stuff – a jar, with the coarsely chopped leaves.

{  Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.

{  Your fresh wormwood tincture is ready to use in six weeks.

Yarrow tincture: Counters all bacteria internally and externally, repels insects.

{  Pick Achillea millefolium flowering tops, white ones only, when in bloom.

{  Fill – don’t stuff – a jar, with the coarsely chopped herb.

{  Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.

{  Your fresh yarrow tincture is ready to use in six weeks.

Double and Triple Tinctures

An herbalist in Austin Texas shared her special way of preparing a tincture that helps her keep her cool in stressful situations. She tinctures fresh lemon balm, gathered before it flowers, for six weeks, in 100 proof vodka. She pours that tincture over a new jar of fresh lemon balm leaves. After that sits for six more weeks, it’s a double tincture. She then pours the double tincture over another new jarful of fresh lemon balm and lets that sit for six weeks. After which she has a triple tincture. She uses: “A dropperful sublingually – works absolute wonders for me when I’m stressed out and ready to scream.”

Plant Poisons

You remember that there are four types of poisons in plants: alkaloids, glycosides, essential oils, and resins. The first three are fairly easy to move from plants to a tincture.

Resins, because they “fear” water (hydrophobic) are difficult to tincture. When I want to tincture a resin I do use high proof alcohol. Some examples would be: pine resin tincture, balsam bud tincture, calendula flower tincture.

Taking Tinctures

I see many people put herbal tinctures under their tongues. I prefer to protect my oral tissues from the harsh, possibly cancer-causing, effects of the alcohol.

I dilute my tinctures in a little water or juice or even herbal infusion and drink them.

Using Your Tinctures

Here are a few of the ways I use the tinctures in my herbal medicine chest. For more information on using these tincture, see my books and my website.

Acid indigestion:  5-10 drops of Dandelion root or Wormwood tincture every ten minutes until relieved. I use a dose of Dandelion before meals to prevent heartburn.

Bacterial infections (including boils, carbuncles, insect bites, snake bite, spider bite, staph): 30?50 drops Echinacea or Yarrow tincture up to 5 times daily. For severe infections, add one drop of Poke tincture to each dose.

Colds: to prevent them I use Yarrow tincture 5-10 drops daily; to treat them, I rely on Yarrow, but in larger quantity, say a dropperful every 3-4 hours at the worst of the cold and tapering off.

Cramps during menstruation: 10 drops Motherwort every 20 minutes or as needed. Used also as a tonic, 10 drops daily, for the week before.

Cramps in muscle: 25 drops St Joan’s every 25?30 minutes for as long as needed.

Cramps in gut: 5?10 drops Wormwood, once.

Diarrhea: 3 drops Wormwood hourly for up to four hours.

Energy, lack of: 10 drops of Dandelion or Ginseng tincture in the morning.

Fever: 1 drop Echinacea for every 2 pounds of body weight; taken every two hours to begin, decreasing as symptoms remiss. Or a dropperful of Yarrow tincture every four hours.

Headache: 25 drops St Joan’s plus 3-5 drops Skullcap every 10?15 minutes for up to two hours. 5 drops of Skullcap may prevent some headaches.

High blood pressure: 25 drops of Motherwort or Ginseng tincture 2-4 times a day.

Hot Flashes: 20?30 drops Motherwort as flash begins and/or 10?20 drops once or twice daily.

Insect: prevent bites from black flies, mosquitoes, and ticks with a spray of Yarrow tincture; treat bites you do get with Yarrow tincture to prevent infection.

Nervousness, hysteria, hyper behavior: 15 drops Motherwort every 15?20 minutes.

Premenstrual distress: 10 drops Motherwort twice a day for 7?10 days preceding menstruation or 10 drops daily all month.

Sore throat: Gargle with Yarrow tincture.

Swollen glands: 1 drop Poke root tincture each 12 hours for 2-5 days.

Viral infections (including colds and the flu): 25 drops of St. Joan’s wort tincture every two hours. Add one drop of poke root tincture 2-4 times a day for severe cases.

Wounds: I wash with Yarrow tincture, then wet the dressing with Yarrow tincture, too.

In the next installment of Be Your Own

Herbal

• WiseWoman Traditions

Expert, you will learn about herbal oils, including infused and essential oils. Future lessons will explore the difference between fixing disease and promoting health, applications of the three traditions of healing, and using the six steps of healing to take charge of your own health and make sense of medicine.

Experiment Number One

Choose one plant and make several small tinctures of it using different types of alcohol. Taste and smell each tincture every week or so for 6-8 weeks.

Experiment Number Two

Buy or make different tinctures of the same plant: dried herb, fresh herb, timed with the moon, in different menstrums, made by different people, harvested in different places. Can you taste differences? Are the effects different? What else do you notice?

Experiment Number Three

Make a double or triple tincture of motherwort, skullcap, or lemon balm. See if it relieves anxiety, hyperactivity, emotional distress, headaches. I use a dose of 5-30 drops. Remember skullcap can induce sleepiness.

Experiment Number Four

Tincture four plants that are common to your area. Learn at least three things they can each be used for and if at all possible, use them.

Further study

1. What is osmosis? Why does 100 proof vodka make stronger tinctures than 80 proof?
2. What is a menstrum? What other menstrums are used to make tinctures?
3. Of the four plant poisons, which are present in each of plants used in the medicine chest?
4. Why don’t I consider vinegars tinctures?
5. How is a glyceride different from a tincture?

Advanced work

{   Make a tincture from a resinous plant.

{   Make a glyceride.

{   How is a standardized tincture made?

Study with Susun Weed in the convenience of your home! Choose from three Correspondence Courses: Green Allies, Spirit & Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition, and Green Witch – includes audio/video tapes, books, assignments, special mailings, plus personal time.  Learn more at http://www.susunweed.com or write to:

Susun Weed

PO Box 64

Woodstock, NY 12498

Fax:  1-845-246-8081

Tags: health, Herbal

• Herbal

Jennie Johnston January, 2011

Family Winter Wellness

The dark phase of the year often brings with it lower immune systems and colds and flus.   As a new parent (only three years in) I often forget to prevent illness and backtrack when my little guy comes down with something.  I’ve assembled a quick guide to keeping your family healthy in the winter focusing on prevention since we’d rather not deal with getting sick if possible.  Of course if we do get ill we know that it is a message from our body that slowing down and resting is in order.  Since January is post-holiday craziness time it is hopefully a great time to make some changes to your schedules making restfulness and care for ourselves a higher priority.

Sleep

Getting enough sleep is always important but since this is the darker time of the year it seems to be a better time to make that happen for yourself and your kids.   Let your evenings be as calm as possible.  If you can’t make every evening relaxing try and do it at least once a week.  Use candles or dim lighting to keep everyone more introspective.  Have some herbal tea for dessert and read together.  Have blankets on hand for getting cozy under and make sure that bedrooms are refuge like for everyone.   A great lesson for kids to learn is that clutter does not inspire calmness and a room full of toys does not relax kids but instead stimulates them.

Wash those Hands

I know this one is about as basic as you can get but I am constantly amazed by how many people do not wash their hands properly.  The best way to prevent the spreading of illnesses is by washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with regular soap and water.  Many parents have hand sanitizer and wipes in case a sink is not an option before snacks when you are out and about.   You can help encourage your children to wash their hands by making it as fun as possible.  Soaps in fun shapes, colourful towels, and stools to help everyone reach the sink are really helpful.  Singing while washing always helps with my little one.  It will also help you to remember how long they need to wash.  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is our favourite standby for hand washing.

Eat Ginger and Garlic

Remember to include immune system boosting foods in your family’s diet.  You can find many recipes for stir-fries with ginger and garlic, two super foods for your body at this time of year.  We love hummus which almost always has a healthy dose of garlic, this hot drink recipe looks great (although I would lessen the sugar replacing it with honey or maple syrup and just sweeten to taste)  broths are also great for health; chicken, beef or fish bones boiled down with water.   You can find a recipe here.

Colour Therapy

Grey days are hard for everyone but children can have a harder time communicating a feeling of sadness or moodiness that may be brought on by a lack of sunlight exposure.  One way to help that is to have sunny colours around your home for them to feed off of.  A bright wall hanging, throw pillows, making colourful art together and dressing them in sunny coloured clothing for daytime can all help with this often silent problem.

Skin Care

Staying hydrated is key in cold weather just like in the summertime.  Heaters and indoor re-circulated air dry out the skin.  Try using a gentle cleanser for your young one’s skin and use it sparingly in only the body creases or very dirty areas.  Otherwise use moisturizers and drink lots of fluids to try and keep your skin from drying out or cracking.  Also remember to use sunscreen if out on very bright days with lots of sun reflection.

Get outdoors

Fresh air is good for us and so is natural light.  There may not be much natural light to spare but it is a good practice to get out as much as you can.  The air indoors is never as good for your lungs as that from a brisk walk or an afternoon of outdoor fun.  Light helps keep the winter blues at bay and makes your system function with the natural rhythms of the earth.

Does your family do something special to fight off the winter flu season?  Please share it in the comment section if you care to.  Have a wonderful winter and let’s try and have a healthy season and New Year.

Tags: health, wellness, winter

• Articles

OSusun S. Weed January, 2011

In Praise of Snow

Ó Susun S Weed

Winter is my favorite season. And where I live, winter brings cold and snow. Do you like snow? I do. I like to play in the snow. I admire snow’s beauty. I’m thankful that snow protects the animals and the plants. But what impresses me the most about snow is its country name: “poor person’s fertilizer.”

What fun to sled in the snow (screaming), to ski across the snow (silently), to ride a snowboard in the snow (grinning), to ice skate (laughing), to make snow angels (shivering), to bring a snow person to life (cooperating), to have a snowball fight (competing), to make snow caves (digging), and snow forts (lying in wait).
I never fail to thrill at the sight of moonstruck rainbows glittering off the surfaces of fine snow on a sub-zero night. I love standing out in the snow when it is softly falling, watching the flakes shining in my long dark hair, and catching them on my tongue. I cherish the mornings when I awake to white skies filled with snow, snow, snow. There’s snow on the ground, snow tumbling down, nothing but snow. Even life is canceled for the day. Snow day. It’s no day. No responsibility day. Hooray. Snow!
Snow is beautiful. Each snowflake unique. Each a miniature mandala. Each one a slice of a six-sided crystal. And every snowflake, like a quartz crystal, is vibrant and vibrating. Snow is magic. Everyone feels it. Experiment this winter with using the crystalline energy of snow.
When snow falls without wind, it outlines each branch and bud of each tree and shrub.
Perhaps it is making their auras visible. Snow rounds and softens the shapes of nature. Snow connects everything with sweeping strokes. Snow blots out the details and leaves the big picture. Snow speaks to our pleasure, and our need, to erase the small stuff, to soar wide in imagination, to understand the big pattern.

Snow lays quietly, covering the ground, covering the plants. Snow provides an insulating blanket that protects the roots of the plants. Without snow cover, the ground heaves. It freezes at night, and expands up. Then it thaws during the day, and sinks down. This seesaw of freezing and thawing, expanding and sinking, pushes up large rocks from beneath the ground and can uproot plants. A blanket of snow keeps the ground evenly frozen, preventing frost heaves and protecting the plants from upheaval.
That blanket of snow provides safe cover for small animals, too. They can burrow beneath it, running and foraging safe from the watchful eyes of predators. Snow keeps little animals warm, too. And they find it easier to tunnel through than the frozen earth.
But it is snow’s power to bring fertility to the land that amazes me the most. Snow is water. But snow is so much more than water. Each snowflake forms around a mote of dust. That dust is an iota of soil, a minute amount of minerals. And as the snow falls to the ground, it brings with it the nourishment of that tiny bit of mineral dust.
This is true of raindrops as well. Each drop of rain coalesces around a mote of dust. I frequently hear people refer to the rain as “cleansing.” Fortunately for us all, it is not. Just think what a barren wasteland we would inhabit if, instead of nourishing the soil, rain cleansed it. When rain washes the dirt away, we call it erosion. And, without dirt, there can be no plants. Rain is not cleansing. Rain is nourishing. And so is snow.
The minerals in snow are absorbed into the soil. And, when the ground thaws, they are taken up by the plants. The weeds make exceptionally good use of the mineral wealth of snow. Oats and oatstraw consolidate the snow’s magnesium, with 1200mg in 100 grams of herb. Red raspberry grabs onto the manganese, manifesting 146mg in 100 grams of herb. Chickweed loves snow’s iron, offering 253mg in 100 grams of herb. Valerian values snow’s calcium; Skullcap thrives on snow’s copper; hibiscus sops up snow’s chromium; catnip goes for snow’s selenium; while nettle champions snow’s zinc.
Minerals provide structure and allow communication in cells, plants and animals. The healthiest soils are mineral-rich soils. They provide minerals for healthy plants. And those plants create healthy bodies. Minerals are the key to optimum health, for people, plants, and the planet.

That’s why I champion the edible weeds such as nettle, oatstraw, dandelion, burdock, lamb’s quarters, mallows, and purslane. They provide optimum nourishment, including mineral salts in many forms. They heal by nourishing.
When in Switzerland some years back, I visited a cheese factory and watched a movie about Swiss cheeses. “What makes Swiss cheeses so special?” the movie asked. Then, answering its own question, it replied: “The special plants our cows eat.” And there they were, right up on the big screen, the stars of the show: red clover and dandelion, yellow dock and chickweed, sorrel and plantain, burdock and mustard, nettle and thistle, mineral-rich weeds, fed by the snow.
Weeds are green snow. Minerals fall as snow, are taken up by the weeds, and become available to us in forms we can use as food and medicine.
Go out into the snow if you can this winter. Taste it. Savor it. Play with it. Admire it. Open your heart to its blessings. Open your spirit to its richness. Open yourself to its nourishment. You are a beloved child of the Universe and the snow is stardust.

Green blessings.

Tags: health, Herbal, herbs, winter

• Herbal

OSusun S. Weed September, 2009

Wild Foods for Wise Women
The Missing Part of Your Diet May Be In Your Own Back Yard

Boost Your Immunity and Prevent Cancer With Dandelion, Honeysuckle, Clover

and Other Ordinary Weeds

Did you know that many of those unglamorous “weeds” that you’ve been poisoning or pulling out of your garden and lawn are some of the world’s most well-respected and powerful healing plants? If not, you aren’t alone: many people don’t realize that common ordinary weeds can build and maintain good health. Common weeds that grow by you can boost your immunity, strengthen your liver, help you build strong blood, counter colds and the flu, increase your vitality, and even prevent cancer.

Health-promoting weeds are easy to find (even in the city), easy to identify, easy to prepare, incredibly abundant, and as delicious as high-priced gourmet goodies. Go outside right now and see if you can find one or more of my seven favorites: Burdock, Dandelion, Honeysuckle, Plantain, Red Clover, Violet, or Yellow Dock.  (To the botanist: Arctium lappa, Taraxacum officinale, Plantago majus, Trifolium pratense, Viola odorata, and Rumex crispus.) You probably take them for granted. But if they could talk, they would say “Here we are! We love you! We’re waiting to change your life!”

How can they change your life? When properly prepared and used, these weeds can boost your immunity, strengthen your liver, renew your energy, and help prevent cancer. And the best part is, they’re free!
Immune System Boosters

Dandelion and Honeysuckle are particularly good builders of the immune system. (The immune system is a network of cells and cell products that defends the body against disease-causing organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and cancer cells.) Dandelion root tincture (20 drops, 2-3 times a day) actually increases the production of interferon, a protein that inhibits viral multiplication and activates T-cells.

Can a powerful immune system prevent cancer? Put cancer into remission? Prevent the recurrence of cancer that has been treated? Stop a cancer from metastasizing? In my book Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way, I answer these questions affirmatively (and share recipes for immune-building soups, too). Building powerful immunity can help us remain cancer-free and it provides long-lasting benefits – and long life – for relatively little effort.
Liver Strengtheners

The liver is the body’s recycling center. This large organ is critical to healthy digestive functioning, utilization of hormones, and removal of chemicals from the body. Dandelion is an outstanding liver strengthener. It is known to protect, heal and tone up the liver, helping to relieve food allergies and aid digestion, as well as repairing damage done by drugs, chemicals, alcohol, and infections such as hepatitis. Burdock, Red Clover, Plantain, and Yellow Dock are also powerful liver strengtheners.

Most experienced healers that I’ve met are unanimous in their agreement that a healthy liver is the basis for a healthy and long life. Perhaps the single most important benefit to be gained from befriending the weeds is the strengthening of your liver function.

Dandelion, Yellow Dock, or Burdock roots are used in tinctures (20 drops, 2-3 times a day) or vinegars (1-2 large spoonsful on salad daily); Red Clover is best taken as an infusion; Plantain leaves are eaten in salad or infused in apple cider vinegar.
Blood Builders

Yellow Dock builds strong blood. Strong blood is rich in iron and other minerals needed for health. Strong blood is nutrient-rich – so vital organs get the nourishment they need for optimum functioning. Strong blood helps muscles work well without cramping and aching. Strong blood is low in cholesterol and moves easily through the circulatory system. Strong blood is packed with plenty of energy: for life, for work, and for sex.

Other green allies that build strong blood are Dandelion leaves, Red Clover blossoms, and Plantain leaves. (And for strong veins, Burdock root vinegar is a trusted ally.) Daily doses of Yellow Dock root – vinegar (see below) or tincture (5-20 drops once or twice a day) – often increase iron levels in the blood twice as fast as iron supplements.  If you wish to avoid alcohol, soak chopped fresh Yellow Dock roots (or any of the other plants mentioned here) in vinegar to cover for 6 weeks. I use 1-2 tablespoons a day of the resulting medicinal vinegar to build strong blood.
Counter Colds and the Flu

Throughout the orient, Honeysuckle flowers are steeped in water and the resulting strong tea – scientifically established as antiseptic, anti-microbial, and anti-infective – drunk to ward off colds and the flu.  (An injectable form of Honeysuckle is used in Chinese hospitals to counter severe infections.)  Red Clover blossoms mixed with ordinary mint and steeped in hot water for several hours is an effective “cold remedy” passed down from Colonial housewives.
Increase Vitality, Even Prevent Cancer

The leaves of Violets and the blossoms of both Honeysuckle and Red Clover are renowned as safe, life-enhancing tonics. In addition to enhancing vitality and rejuvenating fertility, they have proven effectiveness against pre-cancerous conditions. Red Clover especially is noted for its ability to reverse in situ breast cancers, cervical dysplasia, and pre-cancerous polyps of the colon. Violet, whether drunk in infusion or applied as a poultice, has a reputation as a dissolver of breast lumps and a protector of the lungs, even checking the growth of tumors.
Anti-Cancer Agents

The most amazing thing about these seven humble plants is that each of them has been associated with cancer prevention. Plantain is an important Latin-American folk remedy against cancer. Burdock as a specific cure for breast cancer dates back to at least 1887 in the Ukraine. Around the world, Red Clover is a widely used folk remedy against cancer and is known as “The herb of immortality.” Dandelion is known to stop the promotion of oncogenes. (When damaged or turned on, an oncogene initiates cancer.) Violet slows tumor growth. Honeysuckle is a popular anti-cancer agent in China. Yellow dock is one of the original plants in the Native American anti-cancer brew now known as Essiac.

As you can see, these seven plants are not useless weeds by any means. Even if you don’t reach out and pick them from your yard (or that nearby vacant lot), I know you’ll be more aware of the abundance of green blessings surrounding you.

For more information on how to prepare and use herbs consult any of my books including Healing Wise and Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way. (Available in book stores and health food stores, or by calling 1-800-356-9315)
How To Use These Amazing Plants

Burdock:

* Dig first-year roots in autumn; use mature seeds.
* Used internally, it resolves chronic skin problems; fresh root binds and removes heavy metals and chemicals.
* Use daily for six or more weeks;  it is not unusual to take burdock regularly for 2 to 3 years.
* Dried root infusion: 1 to 2 cups.
* Cooked, dried, or raw root: eaten freely.
* Fresh root vinegar: 1-4 tablespoons.
* Tincture of fresh roots or seeds: 30-250 drops.
* Infused oil of seeds: as needed on skin or scalp to encourage growth of new hair.
* Burdock is slow acting but miraculous.

Dandelion:

* Leaves are nourishing, roots are tonifying.
* Improves outlook, improves digestion and appetite, relieves food allergies.
* Can use daily for prolonged use.
* Fresh leaves and flowers: eaten freely.
* Cooked greens: ½ to 2 cups (125 to 500 ml).
* Dried root infusion (tea) 1 to 3 cups (250-750 ml).
* Tincture of fresh plant, including root: 15-120 drops.
* Wine of fresh flowers: no more than 6 oz (200 ml).
* Infused oil of fresh flowers: as needed.
* Dandelion is a superb ally for liver and breasts. Regular use – internally before meals and externally before sleep – helps keep breasts healthy, reverses cancerous changes. Digestion is settled and strengthened a few minutes after taking a dose. Results in breast tissue are slower, taking six weeks or more to become evident.

Honeysuckle:

One of the most vigorous vines known, Honeysuckle makes an excellent complementary medicine for many Western drugs, moderating or eliminating many of their damaging side-effects. The flowerbuds are harvested in May or June, dried quickly in the sun without turning or handling, infused in water overnight (one ounce dried blossoms to one quart boiling water in a tightly sealed jar steeped for 4-10 hours), and drunk freely.
Plantain:

* Use leaves, harvested any time, or ripe seeds with hulls.
* Internal use:
* Seeds: anti-microbial, against thrush;
* Leaves: promote blood clotting, increase in iron, strengthen digestion.
* Used externally: leaf poultice or oil reduces cysts, heals skin and connective tissues, stops itching and prevents scars.
* Daily use: no limit.
* Raw leaves: 3-20 chopped in salad.
* Fresh leaf vinegar: 1-2 tablespoons (15-30 ml).
* Fresh leaf oil/ointment or poultice: as needed.
* Internal response is prompt; noticeable improvement in blood iron is seen in two weeks of daily use. External response is also rapid: itching ceases, bleeding stops, pain abates, and swelling recedes in minutes. Plantain promotes quick, scarless healing from all wounds.

Red Clover:

* Use the just-opened blossoms with a few leaves clinging.
* Internally: alkalinizes, builds blood; helps prevent the recurrence of cancer, protects liver and lungs, improves appetite, relieves constipation, eases anxiety; relieves symptoms of menopause, increases fertility.
* Externally: softens and reduces breast lumps; is antifungal.
* Daily use is without limit.
* Fresh blossoms: eaten freely.
* Infusion (tea) of dried flowers: up to one quart (1 liter).
* Tincture/mother tincture of fresh blossoms: 15-100 drops.
* Fresh flower vinegar: 1-4 tablespoons (15-60 ml).
* Note: Over consumption of blood-thinning coumarins, which are present only in low amounts in red clover but found in greater amounts in other clovers such as sweet clover, can lead to the breakdown of blood cells and increase risk of hemorrhage.
* Red clover (legume family) shares with its sisters, lentil and astragalus, the ability to repair damaged DNA, turn off oncogenes, and reverse both pre-cancers and in situ cancers.  According to J. Hartwell, author of Plants Used Against Cancer, medical literature has reported and confirmed hundreds of cases of remission of cancer after consistent use of red clover. I agree.

Violet:

* Use the leaves, harvested any time, even during flowering.
* Externally: Eases pain and inflammation, heals mouth sores, softens skin, antifungal.
* Daily dose: Use without limit, non-toxic.
* Fresh leaves: in salad, as desired.
* Dried leaf infusion: up to one quart (1 liter).
* Fresh or dried leaf poultice: continuously.
* Internal and external use of violet can shrink a breast lump in a month.

Yellow Dock:

* Use roots of a plant at least two years old, dug after autumn frosts, or very early in the spring; leaves, harvested at any time, use ripe seeds.
* Internally: as root tincture or vinegar, yellow dock builds healthy blood, protects liver, and acts as a laxative. As a seed tea, it heals mouth sores and checks diarrhea.
* Externally: Poultices dissolve lumps, counter tumors and kill fungus infections.
* Can be used daily for up to 12 months.
* Tincture of fresh roots: 10-60 drops per day.
* Fresh root vinegar: 1-2 tablespoons (30 ml) per day.
* Dried seed tea: no more than one cup (250 ml) per day.
* Fresh root oil/ointment: liberally, as needed.

Tags: backyard, garden, healing, health, Herbal, herbs

• Herbal

OSusun S. Weed June, 2009

Healthy Bones The Wise Woman Way

Every woman I know is concerned about osteoporosis. Frightening stories equate it with broken hips, bent spines, wheelchairs, and death – things we all want to avoid. What can we do? Should we take calcium supplements? Hormones? Fosamax? Can we rely on our green allies?

The Wise Woman tradition maintains that simple lifestyle choices – including, but not limited to, regular use of nourishing herbal infusions, medicinal herbal vinegars, yogurt, and seaweed – are sufficient to preserve bone and prevent breaks. And, further, that these lifestyle choices produce multiple health benefits, including reduction of heart disease and breast cancer, without the problems and risks associated with taking hormones. As for supplements, as we will see, they do more harm than good.
Forget Osteoporosis

First, we must rid ourselves of the idea that osteoporosis is important. In the Wise Woman Tradition, we focus on the patient, not the problem. There are no diseases and no cures for diseases. When we focus on osteoporosis, we cannot see the whole woman. The more we focus on disease – even disease prevention – the less likely we are to know how to nourish  health/wholeness/holiness.

In fact, focusing our attention narrowly on the prevention of osteoporosis actually increases the incidence of breast cancer. The postmenopausal women with the highest bone mass are the most likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Women who take estrogen replacement to prevent osteoporosis, even for as little as five years, increase their risk of breast cancer by twenty percent; if they take hormone replacement, the risk increases by forty percent.

These risks might be vindicated if we could show a correlation between bone density and bone breakage, but there isn’t one. When I found myself at dinner in 2000 with Susan Brown, director of the Osteoporosis Information Clearing House, I asked her to point me in the direction of any study that shows a clear relationship between osteoporosis and broken bones. She smiled.   “There are none.”

“In a recent study,” she continued. “Researchers measured the bone density of people over 65 who had broken bones. Twenty-five percent had osteoporosis. Twenty-five percent had high bone density. And fifty percent had normal density.” Notice that those with high bone density broke their hips as frequently as those with osteoporosis.
Get Flexible

If osteoporosis isn’t the problem, what is? In a word: inflexibility. Flexible bones bend; stiff bones break. This holds true even if the flexible bone is thin, even if the stiff bone is thick. Think of a piece of dead pine wood. Though it may be thick, it is brittle and breaks easily. Think of a green pine twig. Even a small one is nearly impossible to break. Flexible bones, whether thick or thin, bend rather than break.

Flexibility is synonymous with health in the Wise Woman Tradition. It is created by nourishing and tonifying. Bone flexibility is created by nourishing the bones and tonifying the muscles around them. Tonifying is as important as nourishing, but because we are herbalists, let’s focus on the benefits nourishing herbs offer to women who wish to have strong, flexible bones.
Nourishing Our Bones

Old age does not make weak bones. Poor nutrition makes weak bones.

What are bones made of? Like all tissues, they contain protein. They are rich in minerals, not just calcium, but also potassium, manganese, magnesium, silica, iron, zinc, selenium, boron, phosphorus, sulphur, chromium, and dozens of others. And in order to use those minerals, vitamin D must be present and the diet must contain high-quality fats.

* Bones Need Protein

I have heard, and no doubt you have too, that animal protein leaches calcium from the bones. This is only half true. All protein, whether from meat, beans, soy, grains, or vegetables, uses calcium in digestion. Protein from soy is especially detrimental to bone health; soy is not only naturally deficient in calcium, it also directly interferes with calcium uptake in the bones. Traditional diets combine protein and calcium (eg, seaweed with tofu, tortillas made from corn ground on limestone with beans, and melted cheese on a hamburger). Protein-rich herbs such as stinging nettle, oatstraw, red clover, and comfrey leaf provide plenty of calcium too, as do yogurt, cheese, and milk (which also provide the healthy fats needed to utilize the minerals). Limiting protein limits bone health. Increasing mineral-rich proteins increases bone health.

* Bones Need High-Quality Fats

Hormones are kinds of fats, and cholesterol is the precursor to many of them. Post-menopausal bone problems do not, to my mind, arise from a lack of estrogen, but from a lack of fat. If the diet is deficient in good-quality fats, hormones will be produced in inadequate amounts. And vitamin D, a hormone-like vitamin, will not be utilized well. Further, mineral absorption is dependent on fats. A low-fat diet, in my opinion, makes it quite difficult to have healthy bones.

* Bones Need Minerals

Bones do need calcium, and they are the last to get it, so our diets need to be very rich in this mineral. But to focus on calcium to the exclusion of other minerals leads to broken bones, for calcium is brittle and inflexible. Think of a piece of chalk, calcium carbonate, and how easily it breaks. A six-and-a-half year study of 10,000 white women over the age of 65 found that “Use of calcium supplements was associated with increased risk of hip and vertebral fracture; use of TumsÔ antacid tablets was associated with increased risk of fractures of the proximal humerus.” The other minerals found in bone lend it flexibility. When we get our calcium from herbs and foods (containing a multitude of minerals) we nourish healthy bones.

* Extracting Minerals

From the Wise Woman perspective, the perfect way to maintain bone health, bone flexibility, and resistance to fracture is to use mineral-rich herbs and foods. Because minerals are bulky and do not compact, we must consume generous amounts to make a difference in our health. Just as eating a teaspoon of carrots is laughable, so is taking mineral-rich herbs in capsule or tincture form. Because minerals are rock-like, we need to break open cell walls to get at them. Raw, fresh foods do not deliver minerals to our bodies.

To extract minerals, we need heat, time, and generous quantities of plant material. I prefer to extract minerals into water or vinegar. To make a nourishing herbal infusion, I pour one quart/liter boiling water over one ounce/30 grams of dried herb in a canning jar, covering it tightly, and letting it brew overnight. In the morning, I strain out the mineral-rich liquid and drink it – over ice or heated, with honey or milk, mixed with black tea, seasoned with mint, spiked with rum, however you want it. You can drink the entire quart in one day, but do finish it within two.

My favorite nourishing herbal infusions are made from oatstraw (Avena sativa) or nettle (Urtica dioica) or red clover (Trifolium pratense) or comfrey leaves (Symphytum uplandica x). I sometimes add a little bit of aromatic herb such as peppermint (Mentha pipperata), lemon balm (Melissa off.), or bergamot (Monarda didyma) to change the flavor.

To extract minerals from fruits and vegetables, I cook them for long periods of time, or until there is color and texture change, evidence that the cell walls have been broken.  Kale cooked for an hour delivers far more mineral to your bones than lightly steamed kale. Fresh juices contain virtually no minerals. Cooking maximizes the nutrients available to us, especially the minerals.

* Herbs Are Mineral Powerhouses

Eating a cup of cooked greens every day is difficult, even for the most motivated woman. But drinking nourishing herbal infusions, eating seaweeds, and using medicinal herbal vinegars is easy. They are tasty, fun to prepare and use, and add a big nutritional plus with virtually no calories attached. Nourishing herbs and garden weeds are typically far richer in minerals than ordinary foodstuffs. Not only are nourishing herbs exceptional sources of minerals, their minerals are better at preventing bone breaks than supplements.

The ability of herbs to counter osteoporosis may be more complex than their richness of minerals, however. The minerals in green plants seem to be utilized more readily by the body and to be ideal for keeping bones healthy.  Dr. Campbell, professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, has done extensive research in rural China where the lowest known fracture rates for midlife and older women were found. He says, “The closer people get to a diet based on plant foods and leafy vegetables, the lower the rates of many diseases, including osteoporosis.”
In Summation

My own experiences in helping women regain and maintain bone density and flexibility have led me to believe that life-style modifications work exceptionally well for motivated women who wish to avoid the risks and expense of long-term pill use. Nourishing herbal infusions, mineral-rich herbal vinegars, yogurt, and seaweed, combined with attention to tonification of the muscles, unfailingly increases bone density and creates flexible, healthy bones and women.

Green blessings to you all.

8 Keys to Healthy Bones

1. Good nutrition for your mother while pregnant with you.
2. Good nutrition for you during the formation of your bones.
3. Monthly menses throughout your fertile years, especially before 30.
4. Special attention to maintaining high levels of protein, fat, minerals, and vitamins from herbs and foods in your diet when menses cease during pregnancy, lactation, or after menopause.
5. Regular rhythmical movement, the faster the better, daily.
6. Consistent practice of yoga, tai chi, or any strengthening, opening, flexibility-building discipline.
7. Chop wood, carry water.
8. Eat yogurt.

Tags: bones, health, wise woman, woman

• Herbal

Moss Bliss February, 2009

Getting CHEESy

…and written over the Door are the words:  Choice.  Hope.  Empowerment.  Environment.  Spirituality. This is the door we walk through together this month.

I spent two weeks in school this month (January 2009).  The class was called Peer Employment Training, and the end result was to be a certificate as a Peer Support Specialist, making the twenty of us in the class eligible for employment in the fields of mental health and substance abuse.

The twenty of us walked in with our Superman capes and bulletproof Spandex, waiting to be empowered to lift and carry all our charges into a new world.  We were very disappointed, but in a joyful way.

In just the first hour of the class, we were taught how to take off our capes and fit them for each and every person we were (will be) assigned to, and teach them how to learn to use it themselves.  Instead of Advocacy, we were trained in how to make each person we serve into their own expert, empowering them to take control of their own case and not live down to their labels.

You know how psychiatry has been these past 40 years.  You walk into the doctor’s office, you tell him what’s wrong, and he doesn’t hear but a few key words of what you tell him.  He then uses those key words to decide upon a diagnosis, and that diagnosis tells him what drugs to prescribe you.  There is little or no talk therapy, and after being given a label, you are never treated as a full human being again.  They can take you to court and force you to take the medications, or force you to receive electro-convulsive therapy, or force you to go to and stay in a “hospital”, all in the name of Your Own Good, to keep you from Doing Harm To Yourself Or Others.

Voila, you are no longer a person.  You are a label, a diagnosis, a stigma.

I’ve been beating my own head against that barrier for most of my life.  I knew I was still a person.  I knew the drugs were hurting me.  Over five years ago, I told the doctors where to go, and they didn’t have enough on me to commit me somewhere.  In those five years (and in the two prior years), I learned how to take care of myself, how to get well, how to recover.  My recovery is not complete, but I am at least 80% better than I was under their “care”.

I walked into this class expecting to get more bruises on my head from beating against the same old wall… and they moved the wall!  They had even begun to dismantle it!  I grabbed my sledgehammer and did my own best Berlin imitation.

From the first, the word “recovery” was used.  We were told that we were people, not labels, and were not to be defined as less than human ever again.  We were told about our choices, and we learned that this new paradigm has already been in use in a few areas.  There is a new hospital about 40 miles west of Asheville which mimics another hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where there are no physical restraints, there are no labels, and there are more peer support specialists than doctors.  The treatment area is called the “Living Room” and is furnished accordingly.  People are recovering, and are welcome to come and go as they choose, and are never ignored.

Wow.  Add another wow to that.  We learned about the CHEES Priniciple, which is:

CHOICE: One choice is no choice.  Mental health can be achieved through the use of drugs, supplements, talk therapy, meditation, acupuncture, chiropractic, traditional Chinese medicine, and many other routes, and withholding information on any of these is dishonoring the individual.

HOPE: You are never hopeless.  Sometimes you can feel so far down that you need someone to hold your hope for you until you can hold it yourself.  The twenty of us were trained to do just that.

EMPOWERMENT: You are the expert on your problems and your solutions.  We will help you find those sources, but you will lead us through that process.  We can give suggestions, but only with your permission and only after trying to get you to see what is already inside you.  We will listen to you; we will do our best to empower you to get your “treatment team” to listen to you.

ENVIRONMENT: You need to be in a place that suits you, not a “treatment center” and not on the streets.  You know what is best for you.  We will help you discover the options and find ways to get into what you need.

SPIRITUALITY: This was the big one. We are using the S-word again, and even the L-word (LOVE).  No more impersonal decisions made on your behalf.  Each of us has our own spirituality, and we peer support specialists are being trained to honor that.

Peer Support Specialists are experts, but it’s a different kind of expert:  We are experts in not being experts (and that takes a LOT of expertise!).  We are learning how to listen to you, how to lead you to listen to yourself.  We do not know what is Right For You – only you know that.

Are you beginning to see why I am so excited about this?  Are you beginning to have hope that the System will die and leave something better behind?  If not, I would be happy to hold that hope for you until you are ready.

To me, the things I learned in this class were more miraculous than if we ever were to elect a black President… oh, wait, we just did, didn’t we?  Damn.  Am I still in the same world I was last year?

I sure hope not.  I like the world I’m in now.  And if we work together, praise Goddess, we will all have something good to think back on.  Why wait for 2012?  The old world is ending now.  We can, we will create the new one together, in peace, love, and all those old sixties things (minus the drug busts).  Remember CHEES and all those bad memories will start to fade.

Let’s walk through another Door together… next month.

Tags: health, mental, self help

• Articles

Moss Bliss December, 2008

Hope and Audacity

Ah, my friends, the door once again beckons.  Let us push on.

“The bad news is, there is no key to happiness.  The good news is, the door was never locked.”

- Swami Beyondananda

Hope.  With it, we can do anything.  Without it, or with the perception of being without it, we feel lost, and many of us choose this time to attempt to “end it all”.  Sometimes we need attention, sometimes one of our friends catches us and kicks our ass and we get back to it.

There is hope around us.  For some of us, it may be the first time we have allowed ourselves to hope.  With every glimmer, there is a rock in our path.  Are we going to step over the rock, or are we going to howl about stepping on it and refuse to go further?

If there was ever a time for not just thinking outside the box but destroying the whole damned box, this is it.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called several times for the formation of a National Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment; MindFreedom International has now done so, only on an International level, and has even hired (the real) Patch Adams, M.D. (not Robin Williams) to run the organization.

Crazies like us power the imagination of the world, and we now have an umbrella organization to deliver that power.

Some of that power went into the recent US Presidential Elections.  While the results were, for most of us, highly encouraging, we have not yet seen the end of the dismal jimmies and control freaks.  The election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States is not even the end of racism in our country.  We all hope it is the death knell, but dying organisms stink a lot until you bury them.  (For those conservatives among you, this event is also not the end of  America… for those racists among you, get over yourselves.)

America has never dealt with its inherent racism.  It merely stitched the wound closed without treating it, leaving it to fester.  This election opened the wound — hopefully to clean it out and let it heal — but the deep infection is exposed, and it smells awful.  It is up to each of us to pray for real healing, rather than reseal the wound in its untreated condition.

I am reminded of something I learned while working in wastewater treatment in my youth.  Most treatment ponds tend to attract vegetation and other life.  Since the vegetation tends to grow roots through the sealing layer of the pond, they present a problem, in that the contents of the pond could infiltrate the local groundwater.  So for years, people in the business of wastewater treatment would poison these plants.  What they discovered was that dying plants suck up many times more oxygen than living ones, and most times the whole pond and all the life in it died from not having enough oxygen in the water to breathe.  A dead treatment pond provides no treatment, it just sits there smelling like something died (Can you say “anaerobic bacteria,” boys and girls?  Didn’t think so.).

Who in this world can inject life (air) into a conversation, into a whole paradigm, better than we?  Look for the humor in the situation, and whisper it to somebody.  Watch it catch fire.  Laugh it up, and be gentle with it.  Always remember that the only tested, proven way to dissolve hatred is laughter — good, rollicking, loving laughter, entirely empty of ridicule.  My battle cry is: “PUNS OVER PUTDOWNS”.  Rid yourselves of jokes AGAINST yourself and others — find something loving to laugh about.  Find the silly chink in the subject, and break out your prybars.  HATE STINKS.  That goes for hatred of yourself, hatred of the “other guy”, “other gender”, in fact, of anything “other”.  Whenever any one person is not equal, there is no such thing as equality.  THERE IS NO THEM, nobody here but US.  Go ye therefore and heal likewise.

We have been hospitalized, drugged, tortured, and stigmatized, but we find a way to keep going, even to laugh about it.  I don’t want anyone, ANYONE, treated the way I have been treated… it’s all wrong and it keeps us apart.  And there is SO MUCH we could do together.

I hope I’m preaching to the choir.  And I further hope the choir takes the word out into the world.

Come with me and join the Right-To-Laugh Party.

“Serious Crime: Sure, serious crime is up. But why not look on the bright side? Humorous crime is down.”
- Swami Beyondananda

Until next we walk through the Door together, Metaphors be with you!

Hugs

Tags: health, mental

• Articles

Dea November, 2008

The Great Pumpkin…Seed

Pumpkins are one of Mother Nature’s many gifts.  It is easy to take this gift for granted especially, when we see them adorning walkways and porches in honor of Halloween.   In fact many of us throw out the most important part of the pumpkin, the seed.  Pumpkin seeds are one of nature’s perfect foods.  The nutritional value of pumpkinseeds makes them a powerhouse of nutrients packed with most of the B vitamins, as well as C, D, E, and K. They contain essential minerals including magnesium, calcium, potassium, niacin, zinc and phosphorous.  Holistic practitioners have used Pumpkin seeds for centuries to eliminate various types of intestinal parasites, support male reproductive health, and aid in digestion.  In recent years many herbal or “folk” remedies have come under the scrutiny of modern western medicine.  I am please to report that Pumpkin seeds continue to withstand the tests of clinical trial.  Studies have found that Pumpkinseeds can assist in treating enlarged prostates, reduce the occurrence of kidney stones, has anti-inflammatory properties, and improve bladder & urethra function.  Some even say it can help lower cholesterol.

How to eat them? Well you put them in your mouth of course.   But, they really should be consumed whole, shells and all. You did read that right, whole, shells and all.  I have tried to do this a few times (ok twice to be exact) and let’s just say it was not exactly a pleasant dining experience.  I wanted to reap the benefits of pumpkin seeds and I have found that there is pumpkin seed oil (which should be refrigerated) or pumpkin seed supplements that are pills which you can find at your local health food store or online.  Pumpkin seeds and their supplements have been known to motivate the digestive system if you catch my drift.  You may want to limit the amount you ingest the first time.

How to make your own pumpkin seeds. If you find yourself hollowing out a pumpkin and think better of wasting those little gems you can simply wash them and place them on a cookie sheet and lightly roast them at 160-170ºF for 15-20 minutes. Roasting them for a short time at a lower temperature can preserve their healthy oils.   I would recommend that you store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Roasted or toasted pumpkins seeds are a nutritional powerhouse and no matter how you sneak them into you diet your body will thank you.

I am a Certified

Herbal

• WiseWoman Traditions

ist, Aroma therapist, and Qi Gong Practitioner.  I was diagnosed with a rare form of Lymphoma and felt that the treatment options prescribed by my Oncologist really did not resonate with me.  In fact the thought of pursuing treatment frightened me.  Thus began my study of “alternative” treatments and I have not looked back.  I have not had a re-occurrence of my lymphoma since being diagnosed 9 years ago.  My decision to decline treatment was the best decision for me and may not be the best decision for everyone.  The information that I provide is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or health care provider.  I still visit with my oncologist annually.  You should not use the information I provide as a means of diagnosing a health problem or as a means of determining treatment.

Tags: health, herbs, kitchen, pumpkin seeds

• Recipes

Moss Bliss October, 2008

Rest & Recovery

Last month we talked about action.  In this month’s walk through the Door, we are walking to our campsite, blowing up our air mattress, and climbing into our sleeping bags, in the company of our Family.

There are two things to remember about community action – 1. Always work FOR something, and 2. never do more than you can, which includes resting up.  If you have pagan Family or good friends to rest up with, you get a double recharge over doing it alone.

I’m writing this on a tiny Netbook in my tent.  My closest friend is getting handfasted tomorrow, and I’m “best man”.  The Drum Circle is sounding great; our best drummer, Greyfix, is back after a long absence.  The crickets and tree frogs are adding their music.  There are probably over 100 people here, it’s Friday night, and more are coming in tomorrow.  I’ve given-and-gotten more good hugs in the past 8 hours than in the previous 5 months.  (I haven’t been to a Gathering since Litha.)

Each time I come to a Gathering, my Family comments on how much better (more well) I look than when they last saw me, which is needed feedback; each time I return, my local friends comment on how much more relaxed and recharged I seem.  It’s a great cycle to have going.  I think I’ve mentioned before how this Family has stood by me through times when it was all I could do to lay in my tent and whimper.  By contrast, I am now working two of my own non-profits, putting in time on a third, writing several websites, doing this article, and working professionally as an editor.  This is not being said to puff myself up, but to show you how much improvement is possible, to give you hope in dealing with your own recovery if it is needed.  It was not a rapid recovery – I came to SerpentStone in 1996 after years of mixed rejection and acceptance elsewhere.

There are lots of good Families out there, and lots of local and regional Pagan Festivals.  I recommend finding the “family” gatherings over the “whoopie Wicca” festivals, but that is my choice.  (There is a lower chance of long-term rejection among people who want to be together, rather than those who are looking for a good time.)

Every step along then path was magick.  The magick involved asking for help, finding it, and accepting it.  Wanting to change is the first step, being willing to change comes next, and then accepting the opportunities to change,,, and accepting the length of time it takes to walk the path.  I found my Family 12 years ago; found the people who wanted to start the ALT-therapies4bipolar Yahoogroup 7 years ago; started taking some supplements 6 years ago… and got totally off psych drugs November 5, 2003, almost 5 years ago.  Each step was an act of magick, each step required some amount of faith on my part, and I was not taking these steps alone… but having Family would not have helped a bit if I were not willing to take the risks, to do the magick.

It wasn’t a straight path lined with constant successes; probably far more failures than successes.  I took offense many times when none was intended, and gave offense often when that was not my intention.  Most of the time I was sure nobody could screw up as badly as I was doing… (Ever feel like that?  Then you’re probably bipolar.)  Some people helped me feel like that, but it’s not like I needed a lot of help.  But I knew I didn’t want to feel that way, and kept trying to do better.

There were a lot of setbacks.  I didn’t give up, but I sure took some long breaks before getting my resolve up to try again.  It will likely be just about as hard for you.  (I truly hope some of my readers are ahead of me, and can pat themselves on the back for doing it better than I did.)  “Try, fail.  Try, fail.  Try, succeed.” – A. Low, M.D.

“She changes everything She touches, and everything She touches changes.”  Nobody has the power to prevent Goddess from helping you, and even the power you have to keep Her from helping you is limited.  As the Hindu teachings state, Grace (Anugraha) is unlimited and always available; the only thing you need do is believe yourself worthy of asking for it – and then ask.

I’m aware that perhaps not everyone’s path involves totally discontinuing psych drugs, but be aware that it can be not only possible but quite safe, with help and support.  Part of that support will come straight from Goddess, but it won’t happen if your love of yourself does not eventually catch up with your love of Goddess.  Don’t be hard on yourself along the way, but give yourself a huge pat on the back for each step you take, no matter how small you think it was.  Every step adds up.

And soon you will join me walking through yet another Door:  The door to freedom and mental health.  I will see you next month.

Tags: health, mental, recovery, rest

• Articles

Moss Bliss May, 2006

Introduction

     Merry Meet, my name is Moss Bliss. I have been an Initiated Wiccan since 1983, the middle part of my spiritual trek. (The Third Movement, so to speak, is developing as I learn to integrate all spirituality into one through my studies in Kashmir Shaivism, adding a couple thousand years’ worth of written works to my pagan beliefs.)

     I have also been considered "weird", "sick", "disturbed", etc. since about the age of three (due to a period of sexual abuse by my uncle and brother, which my mother has begun to accept recently). I went from doctor to doctor, my parents trying to find some medical excuse for what was "wrong" with me.

     Many of you will recognize this pattern; some of you will identify with it. Most of you won’t even bother to ask the question, "What has that got to do with paganism?"

     The answer, unasked or no, is that many of us don’t feel like we fit in to the "normal" society, especially with all the negative judgments we receive from whatever church to which our parents caused us to attend. You start looking around. You find other churches, which is almost safe for you, but they don’t fit any better, just more strangely. In the 1960s and 70s, there didn’t seem to be any other options, so you either stopped going to church or stopped believing (whether you continued to attend or not). My own path to Wicca culminated in 1982.

     But that’s not the whole story, is it? Even though you find a group of people who accept you as being "different", even if they’re the same kind of "different", you are still being judged by the people around you. In my time, I was diagnosed as some form of "mentally ill" long before I found the Goddess (or rather, before She found me), and paraded through legions of social workers, therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists before learning how to ritualize – both to rid myself of the "bad" and to celebrate the "good" (and learn what the heck the rest of it was and how to deal with it). Guilt and shame are not effective tools for healing these issues.

     By the time I was 12, I was on Mysoline (primodone), an anti-convulsant. Another doctor put me on Valium. The medications started to add up. One neurologist said I was "borderline epileptic", but if any doctor had bothered to read a medical journal I could easily have been labeled "ADD" and put on Ritalin. These drugs made others think I was "better", but they only made me feel like I was about 2 feet underwater, scratching for the surface.

     It wasn’t until I was 31 that I was given a psychiatric label – "mild cyclothymic disorder" – and placed on lithium (carbonate). That was the first ANYTHING I had been given that made me actually feel better.

     And when I was 48, my kidneys failed from too much lithium. The carbonate form is such that the effective level and the toxic level are so close as to keep the doctors monitoring your kidneys, but unable to tell anything until you’re in great danger.

     My doctors began what I call the "Medication Guinea Pig Dance", changing me from one drug to another, using drugs that were toxic only to my liver to give my kidneys a break. I have taken just about every psych drug on the market. None of them felt as good as lithium, all of them had "side" effects that made me hurt again. All the doctors repeatedly told me there were no alternatives, and these drugs would "cure" me.

     In mid-2003 I was directed to the ALT-therapies4bipolar Yahoogroup, and learned that there were natural alternatives. By early November 2003 I was entirely off all medications and felt better than ever. My doctor told me that they would no longer treat me or meet with me, until such time, as he cheerfully predicted, that I relapsed and needed their drugs again.

     As that prediction has not been fulfilled, I thank Goddess for showing me the nutritional deficiencies I had and what I can do to help myself heal.

At the present time, I am functioning as Owner of ALT-therapies4bipolar and am also a Moderator of Bi-Polar_Pagans Yahoogroup, and am also a co-founder of the Asheville Radical Mental Health Collective. I also have training as a leader in Recovery, Inc., which provides a number of helpful tools in keeping one from making one’s symptoms worse (or preventing them in the first place), and have been a group leader in NAMI CARE.

     It is my opinion that all cases of "mental illness" are caused by nutritional deficiencies coupled with traumatic experiences. If you take care of the nutritional aspects, you will be much better equipped to deal with putting your brain back together. I do believe in talk therapy, although I know there are probably as many good therapists as bad ones, and there are always other ways to work things out if you know where to look. I have also learned that at least 90% of the diagnoses themselves are based on politics, to allow doctors to sell you drugs – and that a lot of people are afraid to hear that. My opinion should not be taken as Law, and I support everyone who tries to heal from or control their "disease" regardless of the method they choose to employ.

     Just as in religion, there is no One True Right and Only Way to heal from "mental illness". I hope to provide information on some of the easier ones to find and use. Most of my information applies mainly to "bipolar disorder", although I have known it to work equally well in cases of schizophrenia, PTSD, "unipolar" depression, and even multiple personality disorder (or whatever the "in" term to use may be).

     A good High Priestess will help, as much as a bad one may hurt. I have known both – those who understand, and those who refuse to even talk to you because they are afraid of you (or your diagnosis).

     That should be enough for an introductory article. If you are curious as to some of the methods I employ, you are welcome to visit my website, Hippo Haven, http://moss.witchesgathering.com, or join one of the groups mentioned above. Write me at zaivalananda@yahoo.com if you would like more information or an invitation. If you need a hint, the magic words for you may be, as for me, "fish oil".

Bright Blessings

Tags: health, mental health

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