LynSusun January, 2009

Hot Colds and Cold Colds - Winter Health

Winter is coming. So are colds and the flu. Here are some tips for preventing these viral illnesses. And for getting well fast if you do get sick.

Preventing colds and the flu can be summed up in three words: Wash your hands. The viruses that cause colds and the flu most readily enter our bodies by means of our hands. Wash your hands after shopping. Remind your children to wash their hands as soon as they come home from school. A little “hysterical hygiene” goes a long way to keeping colds at bay.

Of course, there are herbs that can be used to help thwart colds and the flu. Yarrow is a clear favorite, especially as a tincture. Teachers, moms, and wise children find a dose of 5-25 drops of yarrow tincture in the morning in some liquid reduces the likelihood of getting sick by more than half.

Astragalus is gaining fame for its ability to support strong immune system functioning. I throw a few tongue-depressor-like pieces in my soups, where they infuse their goodness without imparting much flavor. Powdered astragalus can be added to almost anything, from oatmeal to pancakes, soups to gravies. And there is always the tincture, which works well in doses of 1-3 dropperfuls a day. (If at all possible, use domestic astragalus, rather than that from China.)

Eleuthero, which used to be called Siberian ginseng, is another immune system nourisher, used in the same ways as astragalus: cooked into food or taken as a tincture.

And don’t forget honey. A spoonful at the first sign of a sore throat or runny nose can kill the bacteria responsible and help you get better fast. (Note: Do not give honey to babies under 12 months old.)

And if you do get sick, here’s my favorite way to get well fast.

* Treat a cold cold with heat.
* Treat a hot cold with cold.

This may sound too easy, but it is actually one of the most effective ways I know of to minimize the severity and duration of a cold (or the flu). I first learned about cold colds and hot colds when I was studying Five Element Theory with a sweetheart who was attending acupuncture school.

It is important to remember that “cold” and “hot” don’t refer to temperature; they refer to what we might call metabolism. Thus, the person with a cold cold could very well have a raging fever and the person with a hot cold may have no fever at all. Similarly, hot foods and herbs are not necessarily cooked, and cold foods and herbs need not be refrigerated.

So how can we tell the difference between a cold cold and a hot cold? And what are cold herbs and hot herbs, cold foods and hot foods?

The person with a cold cold (or a cold flu) is pale. Their bodily fluids are copious and without color: The nose runs with clear or white mucus; the bowels are loose and the feces are light in color; urination is profuse and colorless. The tongue may be coated with a white moss. If there is fever, it is accompanied by chills. The person with a cold cold seeks heat and hot foods.

The person with a hot cold (or a hot flu) is ruddy; the face, or at least the cheeks, are very red. The eyes may feel dry and irritated. Their bodily fluids are scant and dark: nasal mucus is dry, yellowish, or “stopped up;” the bowels slow and feces are hard; urination is infrequent and highly colored. The tongue may be red or coated with a yellow moss. If there is a fever, it is “raging.” The person with a hot cold seeks coolness and has little appetite.

When you have a cold cold, indulge your desire for heating foods and herbs: Drink lots of hot spicy herbal teas with honey*, such as ginger tea, cinnamon tea, or any of the spicy “Yogi Tea” type blends. Nourish yourself with chicken soup, beef broth, miso soup. Enjoy baked winter squash, baked potatoes, baked yams, baked garlic. Eat lots of olive oil, ghee, butter, olives, and avocados. Eat beans and eat the warming grains: kasha, rye, oats. Stay warm; take a hot bath or a hot shower and wrap up snugly before going to sleep.

When you have a hot cold, indulge your desire for frozen fruit smoothies. Drink lemon and honey* water, iced nettle infusion, hibiscus and mint teas. Nourish yourself with seaweed salads, cucumber sandwiches, and fresh tomatoes with basil. Enjoy berries and melons, green salads, and roasted fowl. Eat the cooling grains: corn, millet, spelt. Eat a little something even if your appetite is small. Stay cool; take off your shoes and socks and put your bare feet on the ground. But keep covers handy when you go to sleep.

You see, cold colds turn into hot colds and vice versa. They don’t stay the same the whole time you are sick. So be prepared to pull the covers up to your chattering teeth and flowing nose even if you went to bed stuffed up and sweltering. Or to throw off the pile of covers you clutched hours earlier. The real beauty of this idea of hot colds and cold colds is the premise that everything, even a cold, will change and so the cure comes not from knowing the right answer, but in following the flow of the sickness and offering appropriate treatments. I imagine a balance scale, swinging back and forth between hot and cold, with me gently damping the swings, making each one a little less severe, until single-pointed stillness - health - is regained.

Whether dealing with a hot cold or a cold cold, you can eat as much of the neutral nourishing foods - rice, wheat, fish, honey*, and yogurt - as you wish. But, beware of taking vitamin C while harboring a cold or the flu; it is extremely cooling.

I hope these tips for preventing and dealing with colds and the flu help you, and those you love, stay in glowing good health all winter long.

Green Blessings.

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

Tags: colds, healing, hebal remedies, herbal

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Tammye Dunn October, 2008

No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.  If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time.  Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. ~Epictetus (c. 50 - 120)

Every now and again I get glimpses of my Granny’s kitchen window.  Her kitchen was red and white – red cherries on the curtains – I think.  It was a small kitchen but always full of warmth and light, maybe because so much love came out of that tiny little room.

If you looked out of her window you were privy to an enchanted world, where dragonflies and fairies played among the leaves of an enormous fig tree.  She was such a captivating woman that as children - her word was above any god.  And she said that figs were fairy candy.  So be it.  We ate more figs than our stomach could handle.  Those were the sweetest fruit!

Now I have a fig tree in my side yard….and ya’ know the dragonflies and fairies really do dance on the leaves…..and the birds chirp merrily as they nourish themselves on the freshly fallen figs, which makes the cats tail swish vehemently to and fro, which attracts the dogs…which inevitably causes havoc.

Figs are one of the oldest fruits recognized by man. It’s no wonder the fig has been enjoyed for centuries. Its sweet, delicious flesh, long used as a sweetener before the advent of refined sugars, enhances both savory dishes and desserts.  High in potassium, iron, fiber and plant calcium, figs are also used for medicinal purposes as a diuretic and laxative.

Figs have been cultivated in the Eastern Mediterranean area for thousands of years. Archaeologists think it was one of the first fruits domesticated–as early as 4000 BC! Sumerian scribes writing on clay tablets around 2500 BC in the reign of King Drukagina mention figs, as do the earliest books in the Bible. Some scholars believe the forbidden fruit picked by Eve was a fig rather than an apple.

The fig tree figures in the founding of great cultures and religions. Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were suckled by a she-wolf under a fig tree, which later, in the time of Pliny, was revered as a sacred tree. While sitting under a fig tree, Siddhartha Gautama had the revelation that formed the foundations of Buddhism. Figs have been prized for both medicinal and dietary value. Mithridates, the Greek king of Pontus, heralded figs as an antidote for all ailments and instructed his physicians to consider its uses as a medicine. The early Greeks so highly prized figs that it was considered an honor to bestow the foliage and fruit. In the original Olympic games, winning athletes were crowned with fig wreaths and given figs to eat. Pliny of Rome said:

“Figs are restorative. The best food that can be eaten by those who are brought low by long sickness and are on the way to recovery. They increase the strength of young people, preserve the elderly in better health and make them look younger with fewer wrinkles”.

The fig tree can live as long as 100 years and grow to 100 feet tall ….. Aha! No wonder the fairies love that tree.

Blessings Be!
Magikal Martha

Magikal Fare

Stuffed Fresh Figs

Fill stemmed fresh figs with:
Cultured sour cream and grated orange peel

Figgie Pudding

½ c. butter
2 eggs
1 c. molasses
2 c. dried figs
½ tsp grated lemon
1 c. buttermilk
½ c. chopped walnuts
2 ½ c. flour
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (ginger may be a substitute)
½ tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325. Beat butter until soft. Add and beat eggs until fluffy, and molasses. Add finely chopped dried figs, grated lemon rind, and buttermilk and black walnuts. Sift all-purpose flour. Resift with baking soda.  Add baking powder; salt, cinnamon (or ginger) and nutmeg. Stir the sifted ingredients into the pudding mixture. Bake in a greased 9-inch tube pan about one hour.

Fig Preserves
This recipe comes from my great-great grandmother.  It is at least 100 years old.

5 lbs peeled figs
5 lbs sugar
1 lemon sliced

Peel and quarter figs, add sugar and sliced lemon. Let stand two or three hours to draw juice, stir occasionally.

When sugar has softened, begin cooking. Bring to a rolling boil. Boil 25-30 minutes, stirring constantly so liquid doesn’t stick to bottom of pot.

After foam disappears and juice has thickened, ladle into hot jars and seal.

Magikal Abilities

Ruler: Jupiter

Type: Tree

Element: Fire

Magikal Form: The Fig tree is androgynous.  The fruit represents the feminine and the triple lobed leaves the masculine.  Use for balance.  Fig adds enlightenment, fecundity, love, power, and wisdom to beverages.

Deities: Isis and Ra

To cause a man to view his future bride
Mix together magnate dust; powdered coral with the blood of a white pigeon to form a dough. Enclose it in a large fig, wrap it in a piece of blue cloth, and then wear it around your neck when you go to sleep.

Fairy Magic

The Apsaras, also called Sky Dancers, are fig tree fairies – actually they are Devas, who come from Hindu mythology.

They bless humans at important stages of in their lives. They have been known to seduce scholars and scientists, and sexually exhaust them so that they will not discover things which are better left alone.

Evoke the Apsaras for blessings, sex magic, good luck and protection for gamblers.

And A Little Bit of Gypsy Magick

Write a question on a fig leaf.  If the leaf dries slowly, the answer is yes, or it is a good omen.  If it dries quickly, the meaning is no or a bad omen.

To charm the pants off of someone, give them a fig.  As long as they keep the fig they will be spellbound by your presence.

Tags: figs, healing, herbal

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Administrator August, 2006

An Hebalist’s Guide

Greetings herb lovers, I am Lugh Khan. I am here to pass on to you the knowledge I have accumulated over the many years I have been a practicing Herbologist. Hopefully, my notes, recipes and little stories will bring some enlightenment to you on the many uses of herbs.

I have thought long and hard on how I want to do this column and have decided the best format would be to devote each month to two areas. I will break the body down to the basic systems (ie: digestive, respritory, ect.)

and focus on one system at a time. Every month I will tackle a condition of the system I am featuring, giving you insight as to what symptoms to look for, the best recipes for that condition, the doses to use and any red flags to look for (ie: diabetics should never be given Angelica due to the high glucose content).

The second area I will focus on each month is for those who use herbs for magical purposes. Here I will go over the herbs required for certain ceremonies and what they are used for (ie: as incense, in a bath, etc.).

Aside from the main body of my article, I will also end each month with a little story of my experiences with herbs to show the light and serious side of being an Herbologist.

I truly hope you enjoy perusing these words.

Since this is my first column, I have decided to start with a few ineresting insights into the history of herbal use and the close conection to the pharmacuticals sold over drug store counters.

Herbs have been used since before the documentation of civilized history. No one really knows who it was that first noticed that certain plants aided the body in recovering from the ailments that disrupts normal everday life. What we do know, from knowledge passed on from generation to generation, is that Mother Nature (Danuih <dan-oo-ee> on Atlantis) has provided us with all we need to battle the diseases we face. All we need to do is discover what herbs to use, how much to use and what works and does not work together. The rest is up to our body’s remarkable regenative properties and our own mind set (if one chooses to give up, all the help in the universe will not do a thing).

Herbs work by kicking certain systems and glands into high gear. The chemical components within the herbs are recognized by the body as triggers that set our body into a yellow to red alert stage. Some of these components trigger our immune system to focus on whatever is causing the imbalance, others inform glands to produce (and even over produce) the enzymes and flora needed to battle certain conditions and others are seen as a poison that the body immediately starts to purge; along with the impurities in the body. All of this, along with unaddictive properties, what more does a body need! Even the Western Medical profession has known of the wonderful qualities of herbs since it was first inducted. Every prescription drug a doctor prescribes you has a base from one or more herbs (they just refuse to acknowledge this so the pharmacutical companies; which pay a lot of the hospitals costs; will not go out of business). Let’s face it, who would pay the high prices for chemically tainted medicine when herbs are so cheap and work just as well, if not better!

Now that we have finished our little bit of a history lesson, let’s get down to the fun! Since this IS my first column, I feel the best place to start is where all Herbalists should start; cleansing the blood.

No matter what the problem in a body is, the first thing you should do is clear out the blood of any foriegn impurities. This is done by a cleansing of the blood. This will ensure that the circulation of the blood will be clean, thus making it easier to diagnose what the real problem is. It will also make the patient feel a little better while the process of discovery goes on.

There are many different recipes for herbal infusions (teas) for cleansing the body. There are some for each of the body’s systems, however I will focus on a simple cleansing of the blood (this also strengthens and cleans the liver and kidneys).

Blood Cleansing Tea

2 parts: Echinacia

1 part : Cleavers

1 part : Golden Seal

1 part : Dandilion Root

This tea should be taken 3 times per day for 4 days. (for 1 tea: 1 tsp. of combined herbs)

** Do not over use this recipe. If matters do not improve after the 4 days, consult a physician.

** Be prepared for your bladder and bowels to kick into overtime as this is the way your body eliminates

the impurities causing the discomfort.

Magical Uses of Herbs

Anyone who practices magic (any style) knows how valuable herbs are to your ceremony. Every ceremony uses herbs as incense, in bathes, as ground sprinkles or in teas. With the many uses in magical ceremonies, I am glad this is a monthly column as I could write a full length book on this topic. For this month let’s have some fun!

Meditation is the base to all magic proceedures and threfore any help to maintain a state of meditation would be extremely valuable. While there are many recipes for meditational teas, each one is used for a specific purpose. The recipe for this month is a visionary tea to be used in conjunction with whatever divination tool you prefer (ie: Tarot Cards, Crystal Balls, Runes, etc.). This tea could also be used for straight vision-seeking meditations.

Visionary Tea

3 parts: Damiana

1 part : Angelica

1 part : Mugwort

This tea can be used anytime you work in meditation looking for answers.

To finish this month, I will relate a little story on how herbs have helped in my life.

The tale takes place in a secluded valley in Northern British Columbia; Bella Coola Valley. My wife and I spent a winter down in this beautiful, but very secluded valley (1 road in and out) and a bunch of kids rounded up some kittens out of the woods. We ended up taking a lovely orange and white, long haired kitten who we named Mouse (his meow was just a squeak). Shortly after we took him into our family, one day he was completely lethargic; he couldn’t stand or walk, he wasn’t eating and he had us very worried. My wife, who is a Vet Tech (animal nurse), came to the conclusion that Mouse was extremely dehydrated due to his long hair and the lack of moisture in the hotel we were staying in. After several tension filled hours trying to find a solution to our problem (there is no Vet in the valley and only comes in once per month), we decided the only thing we could do was take care of the situation ourselves. Our treatment was this: we fed him cooled Chamomile tea mixed with thawed Pedialite freezies. It took a few hours, but our little guy is still here and could tell you the story himself (if you understand Cat-ese).

This story just shows you that herbs are not only great for humans, but for animals as well!

May Peace and Harmony Constanly Surround You

***

author bio:

Lugh Khan

I am a 47 year old Atlantean Mage who has been a practicing Herbologist for over 15 years and am in the process of becoming a Master Herbalogist from Wild Rose College. My wife, myself and our 4 cats (3 black and 1 orange and white) reside in Alberta, Canada and are both seeking to start our own businesses (my wife is a Vet Tech and I am a certified Natural Health Consultant).

Aside from my studies and herbs, I also read tarot cards, I Ching readings and am a certified Astrologer and Parapsychologist, so you can see I spend a lot of my time delving into the mysteries.

Since I love to exchange ideas and energies with like minded positive people, feel free to drop me a line at chronics@shaw.ca. Ask any question you have on herbs or just drop a note with your views on life in general and I will answer you as soon as I can.

Tags: guide, herbal, herbalism, herbs, Lugh Khan

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