Magic Herbals

Gypsy Herb Magick

2006-12-08T06:13:00.000-08:00

The Gypsies are a nomadic people believed to have originally been “low-caste Hindu exiles” from northern India. Having absorbed the religious and folk customs of the many lands through which their caravans sojourned, the Gypsies came to incorporate elements of both Paganism and Christianity into their practices.

“Gypsies have been renowned practitioners of magical arts, and they have undoubtedly had a profound influence on the development of folk magic,” states author Rosemary Ellen Guiley in The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. There can be no denying that the tradition of these mysterious travelers of the world is abundant with superstitions and bewitchments.

other’s Gypsy Fertility Charm Being brought up in a Queens, New York, neighborhood not far from a Romanian Gypsy settlement that existed in Maspeth from the mid-1920s until 1939, my mother was both leery of, and intrigued by, the Gypsies. Like many other children growing up in the early decades of the 20th century, she was frightened by the old stories she heard of Gypsies stealing babies and was warned by her elders that the Gypsies were a people not to be trusted.

This, however, did not prevent her from later marrying a man whose paternal grandfather was a Gypsy from Bohemia. Herbal Cosmetics

Nor did it stop her in the spring of 1959 from seeking the counsel of a chovihani (a Gypsy-Witch) after her two consecutive attempts to have a child resulted in miscarriages.

According to my mother’s account, the Gypsy woman first read her palm and then her tea leaves in a cup that was marked all the way around with astrological symbols. After interpreting the signs, she then presented my mother with a small silk pouch that contained a root (which I strongly suspect was from a mandrake plant) and instructed her to keep it with her, day and night, throughout the entire term of her next pregnancy.

Desperate to have a child and willing to try just about anything at that point, my mother followed the Gypsy’s advice.

Two days after Christmas in 1959 as an afternoon snowstorm raged, I finally came screaming and kicking my way into the world. (This, incidentally, is how one of my magickal names, “Lady Mandragora,” came to be, although my mother always affectionately referred to me as her “little witchling.”)

In 1962 my mother tried a fourth (and final) time to have a child but failed to use the Gypsy’s fertility charm as she had done during her previous pregnancy, which led to my birth. In October of that year, while sitting in the living room with my father and watching a television news broadcast about the Cuban missile crisis, my mother suddenly took ill and lost the baby. Coincidence? You decide.

Not surprisingly, Gypsy folk magick and divination have long been two of my passions. An interest in old Gypsy customs developed early on in my life despite the fact that my father never discussed his Gypsy heritage. For whatever reason he had, whether it was a sense of shame instilled during his childhood or a fear of discrimination from the predominantly Irish community in which we lived, he made it a point not to let others know that his ethnic roots encompassed more than just Irish and Czech. In fact, I was not even aware that my paternal grandmother was a Native American hailing from the Hopi Tribe in Arizona until my bereaved grandfather mentioned it at her funeral. Around the age of 10 I found myself drawn to cartomancy (divination by cards), and by my early teen years, I was already experimenting with some of the spells contained in Charles Godfrey Leland’s Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling.

In Leland’s book, the Gypsies of England are said to be believers in Witches existing among their own people. These Witches are feared for their powers, but are not associated with the devil. Leland calls it “remarkable” that the Gypsies regard their Witches as “exceptionally gifted sorcerers or magicians” rather than “special limbs of Satan.”

Gypsy folk magick draws heavily upon the use of herbs and other natural amulets, particularly seashells, eggs, animal teeth, and human hair. It also seems that a great deal of Gypsy spells are aimed primarily at the attainment of love and the warding off of the evil eye, the power of which many Gypsies both believe in and fear greatly.

Herbal Amulets for Protection

There are a variety of herbs, and other amulets, used by a Gypsy chovihani for protection. Among the most popular is garlic, which is often placed under a woman in childbirth to keep her, as well as her newborn baby, safe from any onlookers who may possess the evil eye. Garlic is also rubbed upon the spines of horses during the waning of the moon to have them “always in good spirits and lively.”

Hungarian Gypsies believe that hanging the twigs from a thistle plant on a stable door will protect horses, as well as other animals, from bewitchment.

The wolf ’s bane is another plant believed to have great protective powers. Centuries ago, many of the Gypsies in Romania were said to have valued it as an amulet to guard against those with the power to shapeshift into wolves.

Gypsy Love Magick

Rye is a popular herb in Gypsy love magick. When baked into bread and then served to a loved one, rye seeds are believed to secure the affections of that person.

The pimento is another plant associated with Gypsy love magick. The continental Gypsies, according to Scott Cunningham, have used it in their amatory spells and sachets for hundreds of years.

When enchanted and secretly put in the food of another, it supposedly causes that individual to develop deep romantic feelings for him or her. A love charm popular among the English Gypsies is mentioned in Charles Godfrey Leland’s book of Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling. It calls for an onion or a tulip bulb to be planted in a clean and previously unused pot, while the name of one’s beloved is recited. Every day at both sunrise and sunset, the following incantation should be said over the pot:

“As this root grows
And as this blossom blows,
May his [or her] heart be
Turned unto me!”

As each day passes, “the one whom you love will be more and more inclined to you, till you get your heart’s desire.” There is an old belief among Gypsies that willow-knots (willow twigs that have naturally grown into a knot) are twined by fairy-folk, and to undo one invites bad luck. To recover stolen goods, a Gypsy man will often tie a string around a willow-knot and say: “With this string I bind the thief ’s luck!”

But if it is the love of a particular woman that he desires, he will cut the willow-knot and hold it in his mouth while, at the same time, turning his thoughts to the woman and reciting the following spoken charm:

“I eat thy luck,
I drink thy luck,
Give me the luck of thine,
Then thou shall be mine.”

To add even more power to the spell, the willow-knot should then be hidden in the desired woman’s bed without her knowledge of it.

If a man wishes to make a certain woman fall in love with him, an old Gypsy love spell instructs that he should secretly obtain one of her shoes, fill it with rue leaves, and then hang it over the bed in which he sleeps.

Magickal powers are attributed to the roots of trees, particularly the ash and the alraun, and it is said that many Gypsy-Witches cunning in the art of love enchantment know how to use them in the preparation of love philters (potions).

An old Gypsy recipe to make an aphrodisiac calls for the fresh roots of an asparagus plant to be boiled in red wine. It is said that if any man or woman drinks the wine for seven consecutive mornings (in place of breakfast), he or she will be overcome by lustful urges.

Many Gypsies also believe that beans are powerful aphrodisiacs when eaten, and function as sexual amulets when carried in one’s pocket or in a putsi, a special silk or chamois pouch or charm bag used by Gypsies in the same manner that a mojo bag is used by a hoodoo “doctor.”

A piece of orrisroot carried in a putsi is another common Gypsy love amulet, as is the mysterious human-shaped root of the European mandrake plant. In addition to arousing sexual passions, the mandrake is believed to ensure an everlasting love between a couple when both partners carry with them a piece of root from the same plant.

Fern seeds are also a staple in the art of Gypsy love magick. Men traditionally give love potions brewed from the seeds of a male fern to the women they desire, while women traditionally give those brewed from the seeds of a female fern to the men whose hearts they wish to win over.

Vervain is also another plant favored by the Gypsies for the drawing of love, as well as for the attraction of good luck.

It is said that vervain must be gathered on the first day of the new moon before sunrise or it will not be magickally effective.

Carry its dried flowers in a putsi or place them beneath your pillow before you sleep and, according to Gypsy legend, the love of another you will invite.

Gypsies are well aware of the intense powers that their love spells hold. Many who wish to keep themselves immune from such amatory bewitchments or counteract the magick of any unwelcome love enchantment used upon them have been known to wear over their heart a small putsi made of white silk and filled with seven leaves from the angelica plant.

Earth-Spirit Spell

It is believed among many Gypsies that if a baby refuses to feed from his mother’s breast, a “female spirit of the earth has secretly sucked it.” To cure this, according to Leland, an onion is placed between the mother’s breasts and the following incantation is repeated:

“Earth-spirit! Earth-spirit!
Be thou ill.
Let thy milk be fire!
Burn in the earth!
Flow, flow, my milk!
Flow, flow, white milk!
Flow, flow, as I desire
To my hungry child!”

Gypsy Witch-Drum Divination

In Hungary, Gypsies are said to be able to divine the death or recovery of any ill person or animal, as well as discover the location of stolen property, by special use of an instrument known as a “witch-drum.” Described by Leland as “a kind of rude tambourine covered with the skin of an animal, and marked with stripes which have a special meaning,” a witchdrum is traditionally made from wood that is cut on Whitsunday.

The way in which this instrument is used for divination is as follows: First, nine to 21 thorn apple seeds are arranged on top of the drum and then the tambourine is tapped by a small hammer that is held in the diviner’s left hand. (Some diviners simply use their left hand, instead of a hammer, to do the tapping.) After this is done, the position that the seeds take on the markings is then interpreted.

Tasseography: Divination on tea leaves

2006-12-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Tasseography (or tasseomancy) is the art and practice of divination by the reading of tea leaves. Known in Scotland as “reading the cups,” it is a popular method of prognostication among many Gypsy fortunetellers and modern Witches alike.

Tasseography is quite ancient in its origin. First practiced in China, it was eventually introduced to Europe and other parts of the world by nomadic Gypsies, who, in exchange for money, food, or favors, could read the fortune and future in the tea leaves of any woman or man who sought their counsel.

During the 19th century, teacup readings were all the rage throughout England and the United States, which, during that period, was experiencing an influx of Gypsy immigrants. To interpret the future through tea leaves, you will need any type of loose tea and a white (or light-colored) teacup with a wide brim and no pattern on the inside. Any ordinary cup can be used; however, many diviners have a special cup that is used only for tea leaf readings.

Traditionally, a spoonful of tea leaves is placed in the cup, and, before the hot water is added, the person whose fortune is to be told stirs the dried tea with a finger or a spoon while concentrating on a specific question that he or she would like answered. Boiling water is then poured into the cup. After it has cooled, the querent drinks all but one spoonful of the tea.

He or she then takes the cup in his or her left hand and thrice swirls the leaves in a clockwise direction before quickly turning the cup upside down onto a white napkin resting on top of the saucer. After counting to seven (or sometimes nine, depending on the diviner’s personal preferences), the cup is returned to its right side up position. The various patterns formed by the wet tea leaves clinging to the bottom and sides of the cup are then interpreted. Some diviners feel that a reading is not complete unless the tea leaves on the napkin are interpreted as well.

Traditionally, a teacup is read clockwise. According to Eva Shaw’s Divining the Future, “the handle represents the day of the teacup reading and the cup is divided into a years time, with the side directly across the handle indicating six months into the future.”

Most readers feel that the closer the tea leaves are to the brim of the cup, the greater their significance. Tea leaves on the bottom of the cup are believed by some to “spell tragedy,” and by others to indicate events of the distant future. In many cases, the clockwise or counterclockwise facing of a tea leaf pattern indicates a particular event about to happen or about to draw to a close, respectively. Examine the tea leaves carefully for any symbols, pictures, letters and/or numbers that are made, for each one possesses a divinatory meaning. For instance, if the leaves take on the shape of a heart, this indicates future happiness. If two hearts are seen, this is said to be a sure sign that wedding bells will be ringing for you (or someone close to you) in the near future.

News of a marriage proposal or a wedding will be forthcoming should the symbol of a church, a wedding ring, or a bride and groom be seen.

A dagger is generally perceived to be a warning of impending danger, while a coffin is said to be an omen of death. A moon represents a change soon to take place in one’s life, and a ring a change for the better. (However, some tea leaf readers interpret a circular symbol to mean failure!) Animal symbols are commonly seen in teacup readings. A snake is said to warn against treachery and betrayal. A bird portends good news or perhaps a journey soon to be embarked upon. A dog represents a faithful friend, and a cat a friend who is false.

Dots or dollar signs represent money soon to be received, and a broom traditionally portends a change of residence. A star is always a fortunate sign, and a horseshoe indicates good luck. A triangle or the symbol of a pyramid is one of the best omens to receive. Whenever one appears in a reading, it generally foretells great success.

According to Welsh Folklore by J. C. Davies, a good sign is portended if the tea leaves are scattered evenly around the sides of the cup, but an extremely bad one if “the bottom of the cup appears very black with leaves.”

The meanings that lie behind the designs and shapes created by the tea leaves can be highly symbolic in their nature, or they can be exactly as they appear. Symbols may hold different meanings for different people; therefore, as with all other methods of divination, the success of a reading rests heavily upon how finely tuned the intuitive powers are of the person conducting the reading.

If you are new to the art and practice of tasseography, do not despair if your first few attempts at reading the tea leaves are unsuccessful. Many readers see only vague shapes in the beginning. But, as the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect.”

This applies to all skills, including magickal and metaphysical ones as well.

A list of tea leaf symbols and their meanings can be found in the books Divining the Future by Eva Shaw (Facts on File, 1995) and Tea Leaf Reading Symbols by Harriet Mercedes McCrite (McCrite, 1991).

Tea ea Spells and Superstitions In addition to its role in divination, the tea plant (Camellia spp.) has long been linked to folk magick and superstition. Burned by Chinese sorcerers to attain wealth, the leaves of the tea plant are often added to money-attracting potions and sachets.

Various parts of the tea plant are also used in spells for increasing one’s courage and strength, and some modern Witches have been known to use infusions of tea as a base for mixing drinks designed to provoke lust.

A magickal method to keep evil spirits from invading a house or barn calls for tea leaves to be sprinkled upon the ground in front of the building’s main entrance. This old Pagan custom is said to be still practiced in some parts of the English Midlands.

Numerous superstitions surround the brewing of tea. For instance, the accidental spilling of tea while it is being made is said to indicate good luck for the mother of the house. However, brewing tea in any teapot other than your own invites bad luck, while forgetting to put in the tea indicates that misfortune is on the horizon.

To accidentally make the tea too strong means that you will make a new friend. But to accidentally make it too weak means that you will end up losing one. In England, where the drinking of tea is a national pastime, it is still believed that the arrival of a stranger is portended whenever someone accidentally leaves the lid off his or her teapot.

Take care to always put your sugar into your tea before adding the milk or cream, otherwise you will find yourself quarreling with your husband or wife before the day is done.

However, in some parts of England it was once believed that if a young girl added milk or cream to her tea before putting in the sugar, she would never wed.

It is extremely unlucky for two people to pour out of the same teapot, according to an old superstition, which can be found alive and well in many parts of the world. And never pour tea with another person unless you wish to become a magnet for bad luck.

Bubbles or a circle of foam on the surface of a cup filled with tea is said to be a sign that money will soon be received.

Some folks believe that money is indicated only if the bubbles or foam appear in the center of the cup. If they appear near the sides, this is a sign that you will soon be kissed!

If a piece of tea stem (known as a “stranger”) should float to the top of your cup of tea, this is said to be a sign that a visitor will arrive. If the stem is hard, this indicates that the visitor will be a man. If it is tender, the visitor will be a woman.

To determine which day of the week your visitor will come to call, place the stem on the back of your left hand and then slap it with the palm of your other hand. Each time you do this, recite one of the days of the week (starting with the current day). The day of the week that is recited when the stem either sticks to the palm of your right hand or falls off indicates which day it will be.

A similar divination method, which was popular in Victorian-era England, was carried out to determine the fidelity of one’s lover. A wet tea stalk or long tea leaf would be placed in the palm of the right hand, and then both hands would be clapped together once. If the tea stalk or leaf remained stuck to the palm of the right hand after being clapped, this indicated a faithful lover. However, if it adhered to the other palm, this indicated one who was fickle.

To avoid bad luck, always be sure to stir your tea in a clockwise direction, and never stir the leaves in a teapot prior to pouring. To stir your tea with a fork, a knife, or anything other than a spoon is to invite bad luck. And never stir another person’s tea, for to do so will stir up strife.

In addition to the numerous good and bad luck omens associated with tea, there are many tea-based superstitions concerning human fertility.

For example, if a man and a woman pour a cup of tea from the same teapot, they will end up having a child together. If a young lady permits a man to pour her more than one cup of tea, she will be unable to resist his sexual charms. A woman who pours tea in another woman’s house will soon find herself pregnant (or, according to another superstition, the recipient of very bad luck). Some folks believe that if two women should take hold of the same teapot at once, this will cause one of them to give birth to red-haired twins before the year reaches its end! And if more than one person pours you a cup of tea, this is also believed to result in the birth of twins (though not necessarily red-haired).

Regardless whether your tea leaves are used in the casting of a spell, the divining of the future, or simply the brewing of a cup of hot tea, you should never throw them away after you are finished using them. To do so is said to bring bad luck, according to some superstitious folks. Disposing of your used tea leaves by casting them into a fire not only prevents bad luck, but keeps poverty away.

Spell For Using Mugwort Tea by Lee Prosser

Mugwort is used to conjure visions, pursue dream quests, open the partaker up to the inner planes for astral travel, and to see into the future.

Prepare mugwort for tea, and then address the goddesses Bast and Durga in the following manner as the tea brews:

Bless this tea in the names
of Bast and Durga
that the goddesses grant
it vision and strength
for my mind.

Prior to drinking the tea, address the goddesses Bast and Durga in the following manner:

Beloved Bast, Beloved Durga,
Beloved Durga, Beloved Bast,
Bless my mugwort tea
with that which I need to
restore myself

so that I may once again be made whole.

Thank you Bast, thank you Durga,
So mote it be,
So will it be,
So it is done.

Herbal Divination (Part II)

2006-12-08T04:59:00.000-08:00

Cherry Tree Divination

If you desire to know the number of years you will live, perform the following divination on Midsummer Eve: Run three times clockwise around a cherry tree full of ripe fruit and then shake the tree with all your might as you repeat the following charm:

Cherry tree, I shaketh thee,
Cherry tree, pray tell thou me
How many years am I to live?
By fallen fruit thy answer give.

At the precise moment that you utter the last word of the rhyme, remove your hands from the tree. Count the number of cherries that have fallen to the ground while shaking the tree, and they will reveal to you what age you will live to be. Some diviners interpret the number of fallen cherries as an indication of how many more years one has to live.

Divination to Determine Number of Children

To discover the total number of children you will have in your lifetime, perform this old Scottish method of divination:

Go alone into a field of oats at the witching hour on Halloween. With your eyes tightly closed or your vision obscured by a blindfold, spin yourself three times around in a clockwise fashion and then reach out and randomly pull three stalks of oats. After doing this, open your eyes and count the number of grains there are upon the third stalk. This will tell you the number of children that you will father or give birth to. According to W. Grant Stewart’s 19th-century book, Highlanders of Scotland, “It may be observed, that it is essential to a female’s good name that her stalk should have the top-grain attached to it.” Should the top of the stalk be missing, this is taken as a sign that the woman will lose her virginity prior to her wedding day.

Acorn Divination

If you desire to know what fate has in store for you and your fiancée, perform the following divination on a night of the full moon:

Take two acorns and mark your initials upon one, and your fiancée’s initials upon the other. Place the acorns three inches apart from each other in a cauldron filled with water and then carefully observe their movements. If they drift towards each other, this is a sure sign that a wedding is in the offing. However, if they drift away from each other, this indicates that you and your fiancée shall part company before your wedding bells ring. If the acorns remain stationary, repeat the divination again at a later time.

Ribwort Marriage Divination

On the eve of Johnsmas (June 25th) or when the moon is full, uproot a ribwort and then place it beneath a flat stone. Allow it to remain there all night, and then carefully examine the root in the morning. If you are destined to wed within the next 12 months, the initials of your future husband or wife will be found upon the plant’s root. In England, where many of the love and marriage divinations used by modern Witches and diviners originated, it is traditional for females to divine using the dark variety of the plant, and males with the light.

Sage Marriage Divination

At the witching hour on Halloween, go alone into a garden and, without uttering a single word, pick 12 sage leaves - one at each stroke of the clock. As you pick the 12th leaf at the 12th stroke, the face of your future husband will materialize before you.

If a man’s face does not appear to you, this indicates that you will not marry within the next 12 months. (Do not repeat this divination until the following Halloween; otherwise you will invite bad luck!) If a vision of a coffin should appear to you while you are performing this divination, this is said to be an omen of an early death.

Bay Leaf Divinations for Lovers

The following method of divination, when performed on Saint John’s Eve, is designed to determine whether or not your lover has been faithful to you: Just before bedtime, take a bay leaf and prick your lover’s name or initials upon it with a pin.

After doing this, pin the leaf to your brassiere or nightgown so that it will be in place over your heart as you sleep. When you wake up, check the leaf to see if it has turned brown. If it has, this is a sure sign that your beloved has been true to you. But if the leaf is the same color as it was the night before, this is an sign that your lover has (or soon will) deceive you.

To find out if your sweetheart will marry you, prick his or her name or initials upon a bay leaf. Place the leaf inside your left shoe and wear it throughout the day. Allow the leaf to remain in the shoe overnight, and then observe the leaf in the morning. If the name or initials have become darker, this is a sign that your sweetheart will marry you. But if they have grown fainter (or have vanished), this indicates that he or she will not.

To experience a prophetic dream in which the identity of your future husband or wife is revealed to you, pin a bay leaf to your pillow on the eve of Saint Valentine’s Day just before going to bed.

The following is a Saint Valentine’s Eve love divination from the 18th century work, Aristotle’s Last Legacy: “Take two Bay-leaves, sprinkle them with Rose-water; the Evening of this day, lay them a cross under your Pillow when you go to bed, putting on a clean Shift and turning it wrong side outwards; and lying down, say: ‘Good Valentine be kind to me, In dreams let me my true Love see.’ So crossing your Legs, and go to sleep…you will see in a Dream the Party you are to Marry.”

Apple Peel Divination

To determine the first letter of your future spouse’s last name, peel an apple in one unbroken strip. By the light of an enchanted pink candle, take the paring in your right hand and recite the following charm three times:

Spirits all-knowing,
May thee reveal
My true love’s initials
By shape of this peel.

Turn around thrice and then cast the paring over your left shoulder. If it falls in the shape of an alphabetical letter, this will indicate the initial of your future husband or wife’s surname.

However, if the apple peel should break upon hitting the floor or ground, this portends that you will never wed.

Clover Divination

Pick a two-leaved clover and place it inside your right shoe. If you are a woman, the first young man you encounter will possess the same first name or initials as the man destined to be your future husband. If you are a man, the first name or initials of your future bride will be revealed by the name of the first young lady you encounter.

Divination by Dreams

If an unmarried woman wishes to dream about the man destined to be her future husband, let her sleep with any of the following herbs beneath her pillow: nine ivy leaves; a sprig of mistletoe taken from a church; or a sprig of myrtle that she has worn in her bosom throughout the day.

Holly Dream Divination

To have a dream about the man or woman destined to be your future husband or wife, perform the following divination on a Friday at the witching hour: Without speaking a single word and taking great care not to be seen, go into a garden and pluck nine leaves from a female (smooth-edged) holly plant.

After doing this, knot each leaf into a three-cornered handkerchief.

Return home and place the handkerchief beneath your pillow before laying yourself down to sleep.

Myrtle Marriage Divination

If a young woman wishes to find out whether or not her sweetheart will marry her, according to Sidney Oldall Addy’s Household Tales, the following divination should be performed on the Eve of the Summer Solstice (Midsummer Eve): “Let a girl take a sprig of myrtle and lay it in her Prayer Book upon the words of the marriage service, ‘Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband?’ Then let her close the book, put it under her pillow, and sleep upon it.” If the sprig of myrtle is nowhere to be found when she wakes the following morning and opens the book, this is said to be a sure sign that she and her sweetheart will soon be joined together in holy matrimony.

Yarrow Love Divinations

To experience a dream about the man or woman destined to be your future marriage mate, pluck 10 stalks of yarrow on Beltane Eve (April 30th), or on a night when the moon is new. Before going to bed, place nine of the stalks beneath your pillow and toss the remaining one over your left shoulder while repeating the following charm:

Good night, good night, fair yarrow,
Thrice good night to thee.
I pray before the dawn tomorrow
My true love to see.

A similar divinatory method from centuries gone by called for an ounce of yarrow to be sewn up in a piece of flannel or stuffed into a stocking and then placed beneath one’s pillow before going to bed. The following spoken charm (or one of its many variations) would then be recited three times:

“Thou pretty herb of Venus’ tree,
Thy true name it is yarrow.
Now who my future love must be,
Pray tell thou me tomorrow.”

A rather unusual yarrow love divination practiced in England in the Middle Ages instructed young ladies and gentlemen alike to insert a serrated leaf of the yarrow plant into each of their nostrils while reciting a spoken charm. If a nosebleed resulted upon blowing the nose, this was taken as a sure sign that the affections of one’s sweetheart were true. However, if the nose did not bleed, this indicated that the love was false.

Rose Dream Divination

Perform the following divination on Midsummer Eve, when the clock chimes 12 to usher in the witching hour: Without uttering a single word, walk backwards into a garden and gather the reddest rose in full bloom. Wrap it in a clean sheet of white paper, and then tuck it away in some secret hiding place where it will be undisturbed.

At sunrise on the day of the old Winter Solstice (December 25th), remove the rose from the paper and place the flower on your bosom. According to legend, the man who is destined to become your husband will then come and snatch it away.

Saint Agnes’ Day Divination

Aristotle’s Last Legacy (first published in the year 1711) contains a rather interesting divinatory ritual to enable a man or woman to dream about his or her future marriage mate: On Saint Agnes’ Day (a time long associated with love divinations and amatory enchantments), take one sprig each of rosemary and thyme, and “sprinkle them with urine thrice.” Put one sprig in your left shoe and the other in your right (it matters not which sprig goes in which shoe), and then place your shoes on each side of your bed’s head. As you lay yourself down to sleep, recite thrice the following incantation:

“Saint Agnes that’s to lovers kind,
Come ease the trouble of my mind.”

Hemp Seed Divination

To determine whom their future husbands will be, many young women throughout Europe have used the seeds of the hemp plant in a divinatory ritual that is centuries old. Traditionally performed at the witching hour on either Midsummer Eve or Christmas Eve, hemp divinations (if worked correctly) are said to make the image of one’s future husband manifest.

One such method calls for an unmarried girl to walk alone through a garden, field, or churchyard while tossing hemp seeds over her right shoulder and nine times reciting the following magickal rhyme:

“Hemp seed I sow,
And hemp seed I hoe,
And he to be my one true love,
Come follow me, I trow.”

A similar version of the hemp seed rhyme is as follows:

“I sow hemp seed,
Hemp seed I sow,
He that is to be my husband,
Come after me and mow,
Not in his best or Sunday array,
But in the clothes he wears every day.”

After repeating the rhyme for the ninth time, the girl is then supposed to see a materialization of her husband-to-be standing behind her with a scythe, looking “as substantial as a brass image of Saturn on an old time-piece,” according to William Hone’s The Year Book (1831). However, she must look at him over her left shoulder, otherwise his image will not be visible to her.

Should the girl be destined for a life of spinsterhood (or at least for the next 12 months, according to some traditions), she will not see the image of a man behind her. Instead, she is likely to hear the sound of a bell either chiming softly or ringing loudly.

In the rare event that she should gaze over her left shoulder and see a coffin, this is said to be an omen of an early death for the girl.

Holly Weather Divination

To determine what sort of winter weather lies ahead, according to an old and popular method of divination from New England, examine the number of berries growing on a holly tree. If there are many, this is a sign that inclement weather is in the offing.

But if there are few or none, this indicates that the weather will be mild.

Herbal Divination (Part I)

2006-12-07T04:58:00.000-08:00

The art and practice of divination by herbs is one of the oldest methods of prognostication known to mankind. Its formal name is botanomancy, which is derived from the Greek word botane, meaning “herb.”

Phyllomancy is a type of divination closely related to botanomancy. Diviners who employ this method typically interpret the patterns of veins on leaves to gain insight to future events or to reveal things of the unknown.

Causimomancy is another variation of botanomancy. It draws omens from the ashes produced by the burning of plants and trees. Deriving its name from the Greek word kaustos (meaning “burned”), this method of divination also draws omens from the rate at which a plant placed in a fire burns. Traditionally, if a plant smoldered and burned slowly or failed to burn altogether, this was taken as a bad omen. But if it burned rapidly, the omen was good.

Causimomancy has several variants, including capnomancy (the drawing of omens from the various patterns of smoke generated by the burning of flammable botanical material), crithomancy (the interpretation of grain and flour), daphnomancy (the drawing of omens from the smoke and sounds produced by burning laurel wood or leaves), and libanomancy (the divinatory interpretation of incense smoke).

The art and practice of capnomancy is said to have originated in the mysterious land of Babylonia, where it was carried out at certain times of the year when the positions of the planets were most favorable for prognostication. Cedar branches or shavings would be placed upon hot coals or cast into a fire and then priests skilled in the reading of omens would carefully interpret their smoke.

The Druids were said to have believed in and worshipped the spirits of trees and plants, particularly the oak, vervain, and mistletoe. Herbal divination (in addition to rune casting, geomancy, animal prognostication, and other methods) was a practice at which they were highly adept, and many of their divinatory rites were held within the sacred space of oak groves.

The type of herbal divination most commonly employed by the priestly caste of the ancient Celts was a form of capnomancy known as dendromancy. It called for oak branches or mistletoe plants to be ritually cut with a golden sickle and then cast into a blazing fire or set upon live coals. The color and direction of the smoke generated by the burning plant would then be carefully interpreted.

Typically, smoke that rose straight up to the heavens was interpreted as being a favorable omen for the tribe. However, smoke that hung close to the altar was seen as not so favorable.

And if it touched the earth, this was believed to be a warning from the spirits or the gods that a new direction or course of action be taken at once.

The early Romans and Greeks, who utilized the divinatory methods of daphnomancy and phyllorhodomancy, respectively, also practiced herbal divination. The art and practice of daphnomancy is believed to have been devised by the augurs of pre-Christian Rome and connected to a sacred grove of laurel trees planted there by various Roman emperors. In the year 68 A.D., the entire grove mysteriously withered and died, as if to portend the death of the Emperor Nero and the demise of the long line of Caesars, which occurred shortly after during that same year. Daphnomancy takes its name from the fabled Greek nymph Daphne, whom the gods changed into a laurel tree.

Libanomancy is a divinatory practice that can be traced back to the magicians of ancient Babylonia. According to the Three Collated Libanomancy Texts (translated by Irving L. Finkel), if when you sprinkle incense upon a fire and its smoke drifts to the right, this is an indication that you will prevail over your adversary. However, if the incense smoke drifts to the left, this means that your adversary will prevail over you. If incense smoke clusters, this is a favorable omen of success and financial gain. But if it is fragmented, a financial loss is portended.

Beware of incense smoke that “gathers like a datepalm and is thin at its base,” for this is a sign of hard times to come. If the rising smoke of incense is cleft (in two), this is said to foretell a loss of one’s sanity. In Greece, divination by observing the leaves and petals of roses (phyllorhodomancy) was a popular method of foretelling future events. Rosa gallica (more commonly known in modern times as autumn damask) is believed by many occult historians to have been the flower of choice among the diviners of ancient Greece.

A rose petal with a concave form would first be selected, a yes-or-no question asked, and then a state of meditation entered into. Afterwards, the diviner would place the rose petal in the palm of his or her right hand and then firmly clap both hands together one time. If the petal burst, this indicated an affirmative answer. But if it failed to burst, this was interpreted as a negative reply.

Forecasting the future or gaining answers to questions by interpreting the various sounds produced by the rose petal during the clapping of one’s hands is but one of the many variations of phyllorhodomancy.

Herbal divination continues to be practiced in our modern day and age, and in a variety of ways. The plucking of a daisy’s petals to determine the true feelings of one’s beloved, the picking of a four-leaf clover to attain good luck or to make a wish come true, and counting the number of breaths needed to blow all the fuzzy seeds off a dandelion’s stalk to determine how many years will pass before one’s wedding day arrives, are all examples of botanomancy in its simplest (and most popular) forms.

Insomnia - How to get agood night’s sleep

2006-12-06T03:35:00.000-08:00

What causes insomnia?

Many people have insomnia, or trouble sleeping. People who have insomnia may not be able to fall asleep, may wake up during the night and not be able to fall back asleep or may wake up early in the morning.

Insomnia isn’t a disease. It’s the body’s way of saying that something isn’t right. Many things can cause insomnia - stress, too much caffeine, depression, changes in work shifts and pain from certain medical problems, such as from arthritis.

Is insomnia a serious problem?

Thirty to forty percent of adults have some amount of insomnia in any given year. The rate of insomnia increases with age and is more common in women. Insomnia can become serious. It can make you feel less able to do your work and can make you feel tense and anxious. People who have insomnia may feel tired, depressed and irritable. They may also have trouble concentrating. Insomnia causing drowsiness may lead to motor vehicle accidents and other health risks or problems.

How much sleep do I need?

Most adults need about eight hours of sleep each night. You know you’re getting enough sleep if you don’t feel sleepy during the day. Some people may need only six hours of sleep a night. Others may need 10 hours.

Sleep patterns change with age. For example, older people may take naps during the day and sleep less at night. In general, how much sleep you need as an adult will probably stay about the same.

What can my doctor do to find out why I’m not sleeping?

Your family doctor may ask you and your bed partner (if possible) some questions to find out why you aren’t sleeping. These questions may concern your sleep habits (such as when you go to bed and when you get up), the medicine you take, the amount of caffeine and alcohol you drink, and if you smoke or chew tobacco.

Your doctor may also ask about events in your life that may be upsetting you and making it hard for you to sleep. These questions may involve your work or your personal relationships.

Other questions may include how long you’ve been having insomnia, if you have any pain, such as from arthritis, and if you snore or jerk your legs while you sleep.

If the cause of your insomnia is still not clear, your doctor may suggest that you fill out a sleep diary. The diary will help you keep track of when you go to bed, how long you lie in bed before falling asleep, how often you wake during the night, when you get up in the morning and how well you slept.

How is insomnia treated?

The treatment of insomnia can be simple. Often, once the problem that’s causing the insomnia is found and taken care of, the insomnia goes away on its own. The key is to find out what’s causing the insomnia so that it can be dealt with directly.

If your insomnia is related to stress, you may need to reduce your stress or learn how to manage it. If you’re depressed, your family doctor may suggest counseling or give you medicine to treat the depression.

Will sleeping pills help?

Sleeping pills can help in some cases but can also make insomnia worse. They’re only a temporary form of relief, not a cure. They’re best used for only up to a few weeks. Regular use can lead to rebound insomnia. This occurs when a person quits taking sleeping pills and the insomnia comes back. So instead of being a cure, sleeping pills can become a cause of insomnia.

Drugs you buy without a prescription often don’t work very well, and prescription drugs may change normal sleep patterns and may make you groggy the next day. Because sleeping pills don’t work as well over time, higher and higher doses are needed. For these reasons, you shouldn’t use sleeping pills for long periods.

Sleeping pills can also be unsafe if your insomnia is caused by certain health problems. Your doctor can tell you if sleeping pills would be helpful and safe for you.

What can I do to improve my sleeping habits?

Here are some things you can do to help you sleep better:

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even if you didn’t sleep enough during the night. This will help train your body to sleep at night.
Do the same thing every night before going to bed to help your body get ready for sleep. You might try taking a warm bath, reading or doing some other relaxing activity every night before going to bed. Soon you’ll connect these activities with sleeping, and they’ll help make you sleepy.
Use the bedroom for sleeping. Don’t eat, talk on the phone or watch TV while you’re in bed.
Make sure your bedroom is quiet and dark. If noise is a problem, use a fan to mask the noise or use ear plugs. You may hang dark blinds over the windows or wear an eye mask if needed.
Avoid trying to fall asleep. The more you try to fall asleep, the more trouble you may have. Don’t watch the clock. Turn it away so you can’t see the time.
Lying in bed and not being able to fall asleep can be frustrating. If you’re still awake after 30 minutes, get up and go to another room. Sit quietly for about 20 minutes before going back to bed. Do this as many times as you need to until you can fall asleep.

What is sleep apnea?

Some people feel tired not because they can’t fall asleep but due to the way they sleep. Snoring and pauses in your breathing during your sleep with daytime tiredness can be caused by sleep apnea. Talk to your doctor if you think this might be a problem for you.

Herbs Associated with Dream Magick

2006-12-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

The following list contains many of the herbs traditionally used by Witches and other magickal folks in dream magick, followed by their various applications:

Anise

To prevent nightmares, fill a white mojo bag with as many anise seeds as it can possibly hold, and then sew it to the inside of your pillowcase. This simple, yet effective, Witch’s spell from the Middle Ages is said to ensure pleasant dreams. Scatter the leaves of an anise plant around your bedroom to keep yourself protected against evil influences while you sleep.

Ash

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, place seven leaves from an ash tree beneath your pillow before going to sleep. The ash tree, which was sacred to the ancient Teutons and symbolic of their mythological “world tree” known as Ygdrasill, is also said to offer protection against nightmares, dreamcurses, and all psychic attacks that occur while one is asleep and most vulnerable.

Bay

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, place bay leaves beneath your pillow before going to sleep. It is said that bay leaves, when cast into a fire on a night of the full moon, can enable one to see the future in a dream. The use of bay in divinatory rites and dream magick can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, who believed it to be sacred to their god Apollo.

Bracken

If you are faced with a problem to which you cannot find a solution, an old magickal spell suggests placing the root of a bracken underneath your pillow just before you go to sleep. Occult folklore holds that the root of this plant will bring forth a dream that will contain the answer you seek. In addition, many Witches and other magickal practitioners use bracken for protection against evil and negative influences.

Buchu

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, mix a pinch of dried buchu leaves with a pinch of frankincense. On a night of the full moon, light a charcoal block (which can be bought at most occult shops and religious supply stores), place it in a fireproof incense burner, and then sprinkle a small amount of the herbal mixture upon it. For best results, do this in your bedroom prior to bedtime.

Cedar

When burned as incense, the wood of the cedar is said to “cure the predilection to having bad dreams,” according to the late author Scott Cunningham in his book, Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. Sleep with cedar twigs beneath your pillow to help awaken or strengthen your psychic powers. A cedar branch hung above your bed will protect you against evil forces while you sleep.

Cinquefoil

Also known by the folk-name “five-finger grass,” the cinquefoil is said to assure restful sleep when put into a blue mojo bag and suspended from the bedpost. Place a sprig of cinquefoil containing seven leaflets beneath your pillow before going to sleep in order to dream about the man or woman who is destined to be your marriage mate. This simple method of amatory dream divination is centuries old.

Heliotrope

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, place some heliotrope leaves beneath your pillow prior to bedtime. A full moon is the ideal lunar phase in which to do this. If you have had personal possessions stolen from you and desire to know whom the thief is, heliotrope may help to induce a dream that reveals the true identity of the culprit.

Holly

An old Witch’s method to induce prophetic dreams is as follows: Without speaking a single word, gather together nine holly leaves at the witching hour (midnight) on a Friday. Wrap them in a white cloth and then tie nine knots in it. Place the charm beneath your pillow prior to bedtime, and whatever dreams you experience during the night are likely to come true.

Huckleberry

According to Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, “To make all your dreams come true, burn the leaves [of a huckleberry plant] in your bedroom directly before going to sleep.” After seven days have passed, that which you have dreamt shall be made manifest.

Hyacinth For the prevention of nightmares, grow a hyacinth plant in a pot and keep it as close to your bed as possible. When dried and burned as incense prior to bedtime, the fragrant flowers of the hyacinth are said to help induce pleasant dreams. Should you awaken from a depressing dream or nightmare, the smell of a hyacinth in bloom will help to lift your spirits.

Jasmine

For restful sleep and pleasant dreams, sleep with a blue mojo bag filled with jasmine flowers beneath your pillow or sewn to the inside of your pillowcase. Scott Cunningham says, “the flowers are smelled to induce sleep.” To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, burn a bit of dried jasmine in an incense burner in your bedroom just before you go to sleep.

Lemon Verbena

For a dreamless slumber, fill a gray-colored charm bag with lemon verbena and wear it on a string around your neck when you go to sleep. Additionally, drinking a bit of the juice extracted from the plant is said to help suppress dreams.

Mandrake

The mandrake is unquestionably the most magickal of all plants, and the part of it most commonly employed in the casting of spells is its mysterious root, which bears a curious resemblance to the human form. It is said that sleep can be induced by the mere scent of a mandrake root, and when one is suspended from the headboard of a bed, the sleeper is guarded against all manner of harm—both natural and supernatural. Rub a mandrake root upon your Third Eye chakrabefore sleeping to induce a prophetic dream of your future lover or marriage mate. Caution: Mandrake possesses strong narcotic properties. Handle with care and do not ingest any part of the plant!

Marigold

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, scatter the flowers of a marigold under and around your bed before turning in for the evening. This plant is also said to induce dreams that reveal the true identities of thieves, as well as to offer protection against sorcerers who work their black magick through dreams.

Mimosa

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, fill a blue or yellow mojo bag with mimosa flowers and then place it beneath your pillow before you go to sleep. According to author Rosemary Ellen Guiley in The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, blue is the color associated with psychic and spiritual awareness, and prophetic dreams. However, in his book on magickal herbs, Scott Cunningham lists yellow as the color corresponding to divination, psychic powers, and visions. I, personally, have always used blue or purple for this purpose, but you may use whichever color feels right for you. In addition, anointing your Third Eye chakra with an infusion of mimosa prior to sleeping helps to facilitate dreams containing prophecies.

Mistletoe

When placed beneath a pillow at bedtime or put into a white mojo bag and attached to the bedpost or headboard, the leaves and berries of the mistletoe plant are said to prevent nightmares and insomnia from interfering with one’s sleep. In keeping with ancient Druidic tradition, use mistletoe that has been harvested with a golden blade on either Midsummer or the sixth day following the new moon.

Morning Glory

To safeguard your sleep against nightmares, according to occult tradition, fill a white mojo bag with the seeds of a morning glory plant and place it beneath your pillow just before going to bed. In addition, morning glory seeds can be added, either alone or with other dream-magick herbs (such as anise, mistletoe, mullein, purslane, rosemary, or vervain), to dream pillows for the same purpose.

Mugwort

Of all the herbs associated with dream magick, mugwort is by far the most popular and the most potent. To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, stuff a dream pillow with mugwort leaves and then rest your head upon it to sleep. Other ways in which to induce dreams that reveal the unknown or things that are yet to be include the drinking of mugwort tea and the anointing of the Third Eye chakra with a dab of mugwort juice. Mugwort can also be made into an incense, which, when burned prior to sleeping, aids in astral projection and lucid dreaming, and summons forth dreams that facilitate spiritual and psychic growth.

Mullein

To prevent nightmares, stuff a white mojo bag with mullein leaves and then place it beneath your pillow just before bedtime. According to herbal folklore from centuries gone by, mullein also protects a sleeping person from all manner of evil and negativity. Hang mullein over your bedroom door and windows to keep nocturnal incubus and succubus demons at bay.

Onion

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, place a white onion underneath your pillow before bedtime. This practice is believed to have originated in ancient Egypt, where the onion was at one time regarded as being highly sacred. For protection against evil influences while you sleep, cut an onion in half and keep it close to your bed. Many modern-day practitioners of herbal folk magick continue to subscribe to the old belief that halved or quartered onions work to absorb evil, negativity, and disease.

Peony

For protection against incubus demons, fill a white mojo bag with peony roots, coral, and flint, and then anoint it with three drops of myrrh oil. Pin the mojo bag to your nightgown or pajamas, or attach it to a string around your neck, and wear it throughout the night as you sleep. Rest assured that no incubus would be able to seduce you.

Peppermint

To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, many Witches stuff dream pillows with the fragrant leaves of the peppermint plant. According to an herbal from olden times, the scent of peppermint “compels one toward sleep,” which is beneficial should you happen to suffer from insomnia or other sleep disorders.

Purslane

To keep recurring nightmares from interfering with your sleep, place a handful of purslane flowers and leaves beneath your pillow prior to bedtime. According to occult tradition from centuries gone by, this herb also works to ward off evil spirits that prey upon sleeping mortals.

Rose

It is said that success in all matters of the heart awaits those who see a red rose in their dreams. If a single woman picks a red rose on a Midsummer’s Eve and sleeps with it tucked between her bosom, the man destined to be her future husband will appear to her in a dream.

Rosemary

To prevent nightmares, sleep with a mojo bag filled with rosemary beneath your pillow. It is said that he (or she) who sleeps with rosemary underneath the bed will be protected from all manner of harm while sleeping. To prevent a dead person’s restless spirit from haunting you by way of your dreams, cast a sprig of rosemary into his or her grave. According to occult lore, this will enable the spirit to rest peacefully.

St. John’s Wort

One of the most beloved magickal herbs of the ancients, the St. John’s wort has enabled many a young lady to capture a glimpse of her future marriage mate in a dream. To accomplish this, place this herb beneath your pillow before going to sleep. It does not matter which part of the plant you use, for all parts of the St. John’s wort are potent in magickal workings.

Tobacco

Many Native Americans believe that nightmares are capable of causing physical ailments and disease. To keep this from happening to you, go directly to a stream immediately upon waking from a bad dream and cleanse your body in the running water. Afterwards, in keeping with tradition, cast a handful of tobacco leaves into the stream as an offering to the spirit of the water.

Vervain

To prevent nightmares, place a handful of vervain leaves in your bed, wear them in a mojo bag on a string around your neck, or brew them into a tea and drink it just before bedtime. To induce dreams of a prophetic nature, anoint your Third Eye chakra with vervain juice on a night of the full moon. Close your eyes, open your mind, and allow yourself to drift off to sleep. Upon waking from your slumber, take care to write your dream down on paper (or use a tape recorder) to prevent it from later being forgotten. If interpreted correctly, it will provide you with an insight to events of the future.

Wood Betony

To prevent nightmares or unpleasant visions from interfering with your sleep, pick some leaves from a wood betony plant and then place them beneath your pillow just before going to bed. When scattered on the floor under and around your bed, wood betony leaves are said to keep all evil and negative influences at bay.

Yarrow

Witches and diviners alike have long used the yarrow plant in a number of different ways to induce prophetic dreams pertaining to future marriage mates. The divinatory power of this herb is legendary throughout much of the world, and its strong magickal vibrations have made it a staple of folk magick since ancient times.

Herbs and The Indian Method of Curing

2006-12-03T06:38:00.000-08:00

For Fever and Ague.

Take one pound of the bark of yellow birch, half pound sweet flag, half pound of tag alder bark, two ounces thorough worth, two ounces tansy, dry put to these four quarts of water, and boil slow, stir and boil the liquor down one half, then let it cool and add two quarts of sweet wine and bottle for use; dose one tablespoonful every two hours till the shake comes on, then no more that day, pursue this daily and you will be satisfied of its efficacy.

For Internal Ulcers.

Take two pound of blue flag, one of spignut, two ounces blood root, two ounces of coltsfoot, two ounces of Solomon's seal, two ounces of burdock seed, and one handful of peach kernels, boil these in four quarts of water three hours, then strain and add one pound loaf sugar, and one pint Holland gin, take one tablespoonful three times each day, before eating; this is infallible.

For Diarrhea or Flux.

First, take cordial, two scruples rhubarb, two of cinnamon, one of saleratus, one gill of boiling water, sweetened with loaf sugar, and one tablespoonful of best brandy. Second, syrup one part bayberry bark, one part cherry tree bark, one part white poplar bark, half part pond lilly, half part blackberry root, boil them and sweeten with loaf sugar, and a very little brandy. Third, injections, one pint mucilage of elm, one pint mucilage marsh mallows, one gill molasses, one pint sweet milk, half teaspoonful saleratus, and one fourth ounce of lady slipper. Fourth, wash the whole surface with saleratus and water, night and morning. Fifth, rubefacient to the bowels, one tablespoonful of spirits turpentine, and four of water, and flour of brandy applied warm once in four hours, and a warm flannel bandage applied round the body. Directions, give one tablespoonful of the syrup every hour, and a teaspoonful of the cordial at the same time, until the evacuations are healthy, then continue the syrup alone, give an injection once in four hours, after applying the rubefacient to the bowels; for drink use mucilage of elm, or marsh mallows, and virginia snake root, or ginger. This is infallible.

For Measles, Canker Rash or Chicken Pox.

Take equal parts of queen of the meadow, white snake root, coltsfoot snake root, marigold and saffron, steep them together and drink plentifully through the progress of the disease; a vomit of equal parts of thoroughwort and lobelia, is necessary once in about three days, keep the body from exposures of cold or wet, and let the food be light and easy of digestion.

For Small Pox.

Take half a pound of saffron, half a pound of spignut root, one pound sarsaparilla, one fourth of a pound of the seeds of young cedar, or one ounce of the oil of cedar, one fourth pound of sage and make into one mass, then steep strong as much as you think you can consume in one day in decoction, it is best make every day fresh as liquor of any kind is injurious and it will not keep longer in warm weather without spirits. This may be taken in any quantity and at any stage of the disease, and has never been known to fail when the patient is kept clean and warm. If the patient should by accident or imprudence take cold it is necessary to take 10 or 15 large onions, roast them, press the juice and let the patient drink the whole at once and apply the pressed pomice to the feet and he will soon be in profuse sweat. This is infallible.

For Coughs.

Take one ounce of meadow cabbage, one ounce of lobelia, half ounce of Indian turnip, one fourth ounce of blood root, handful of the whole of purified honey, pulverize the ingredients and mix them up, and let the patient take what the stomach will bear, till well.

For Whooping Cough.

Take equal parts of elecampane, skunks cabbage, horehound, and spignut, and boil till you extract the strength, then strain and boil down again to the consistence of tar, then add twice its weight of pure honey, and put it in a warm oven till well baked, let the patient take half teaspoonful often through the day. This is sure.

For the Croup.

This is very fatal among children. The best remedy for it is, equal parts blood root, lobelia, garlic, skunks cabbage, elecampane, sage, and thorough wort, or Seneca snake root, or if the whole cannot be had, lobelia tincture, will do alone, or lobelia, and Mullen roots, in decoction, give as much as possible, as the stomach will immediately eject any of these articles in this disease.

For Jaundice.

Take equal parts of white snake root, burdock, narrow dock, dandelion and cowslip blows, steep them together and drink as much as you can till well. This is a sure cure.

I hope you enjoy reading these old medical techniques. Someday who knows we just may have to use them ourselves. Thank You for all the help you have given me. If you would like to know more about the herbs just let me know.

Herbs craft in Herbal Magic

2006-12-03T06:17:00.000-08:00

Herbs have been used for centuries and the use of herbs for spells seem to be pushed aside, because of the saying do what thou wish as it does not harm anyone. I got news for you witches wanting anything is a start of a spell. If you want anything bad enough your thoughts create the energy to successfully get it. And in creating a spell using herbs just makes your thoughts stronger and the energy you project will cause an effect. A lot of neo pagans and other groups feel it is best to just leave spells alone, just because they seem to push themselves on other people, and to be used for cause and effect is frowned on. The neo pagan groups that seem to be growing, seem to be sweeping the old ways of the traditional witch under the carpet.

Most witches I run into at most gatherings think spells are the thing of the past, and the neo pagan witches seem be hopping on the new age band wagon with crystals and gems, which is just leading people into stripping our Earth it's own energy. People just tend to forget the most important thing in the craft is working with the rewards that nature gives us. And these rewards are given to us when we work with Mother Nature, when we take from the Earth and do not give anything in return, sooner or later we will feel the Earth's anger. Mother nature shows man again and again that he is no master of nature, when the rain falls and the floods come, nature wins.

Earth quakes erupting, Tornados, Hurricanes, and snow, we should work more with nature. Crystals and gems are becoming a little too important they are the spine and the bones of the Earth we live upon her skin. The rivers and oceans are her blood. life within her rivers and oceans. When man pollutes the rivers and the oceans causes impurity, man strips the mines for Earths treasures they leave behind hollow caves vast empty pocket in the Earth's skin man is like a cancer. Leave the crystals in the Earth; the true witch should know everything they can about what the Earth has to offer us in the aspect of herbs.

Mother Earth gives the knowledge on how to use what grows upon her skin the surface of the Earth. Because we are her children she tries to take care of us, we should show respect for her.

The knowledge of herbs has a spiritual side and a healing side and is used for motivation needs or wants that could be obtain threw herbs used threw ceremonial magic. Herbs uses in different ways were found to have different causes and effects. By mixing the spiritual side with ceremonial methods it was found to please the mother Earth or the Goddess.

She has past on to her witches as her teachers and has requested that for the knowledge of the Earth we must give thanks to the highest way and that is threw ceremonial magic and symbolic representation of the Goddess and the system of life. The casting of the circle and the use of the herbs during the ceremony and after are very important. The elements play their part as the system of life. Most cast a circle without symbolism because it is thought it was not needed, but in ceremonial magic it is part of creating a temple for the Goddess in the highest honor. This was part of the ceremony and is part of the spell of growth towards the union of your soul with the Earth and when you are initiated. So it is very important I think to be initiated by another to have a witness to this union makes one take this commitment more serious. That's probably why I do not think too much of self-initiation.

You can take back your commitment to easily and if it is witnessed you then to remember it more and take it more seriously, especially if it is made into a very spectacular event you will remember it always. Your ceremonies and learning’s of the craft, and symbolism with herbs are the spell of growth towards the union of your soul with the Earth and is a spell being weaved.

Spells have their purpose and should be remembered even if most is folklore. But I find most spells very useful. So the next time you see a rock and a herb side by side, take the herb that will grow back, but that shinny crystal and gemstone does not come easy to the Earth to replace as a plant.

Herbs and thier magical uses

2006-12-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

HERBS AND THIER MAGICAL USES

Acicia - Protection, Psychic Powers
Adam & Eve Roots - Love, Happiness.
Adders Tongue - Healing
African Violet - Spirituality, Protection
Agaric - Fertility
Agrimony - Protection, Sleep
Ague Root - Protection
Alfalfa - Prosperity, Anti-hunger, Money
Alkanet - Purification, Prosperity
Allspice - Money, Luck, Healing
Almond - Money, Prosperity, Wisdom
Aloe - Protection, Luck
Aloes, Wood - Love, Spirituality
Althea - Protection, Psychic Powers
Alyssum - Protection, Moderating Anger
Amaranth - Healing, Protection, Invisibility
Anemone - Health, Protection, Healing
Angelica - Exorcism, Protection, Healing, Visions
Apple - Love,Healing, Garden Magic, Immortality
Apricot - Love
Arabic Gum - Purify negativity and evil
Arbutus - Exorcism, Protection
Asafoetida - Exorcism, Purification, Protection
Ash - Protection, Prosperity, Sea Rituals, Health
Aspen - Eloquence, Anti-Theft
Aster - Love
Avens - Exorcism, Purification,Love
Avocado - Love,Lust,Beauty
Bachelor's Buttons - Love
Balm, Lemon - Love,Success, Healing
Balm of Gilead - Love,Manifestations,Protection,Healing
Bamboo - Protection, Luck, Hex-Breaking, Wishes
Banana - Fertility, Potency, Prosperity
Banyan - Luck
Barley - Love, Healing, Protection
Basil - Love, Exorcism, Wealth, Flying, Protection
Bay - Protection, Psychic Powers, Healing, Purification, Strength
Bean - Protection, Exorcism, Wart Charming, Reconciliations, Potency, Love
Bedstraw/Fragrant - Love
Beech - Wishes
Beet - love
Belladonna - astral projection *DEADLY POISON!!
Benzoin - Purification, Prosperity
Bergamot, Orange - Money
Be-Still - Luck
Betony/wood - Protection,Purification,Love
Birch - Protection, Exorcism, Purification
Bistort - Psychic Powers, Fertility
Bittersweet - Protection, Healing
Blackberry - Healing, Money, Protection
Bladderwrack - Protection, Sea Spells, Wind Spells, Money, Psychic Powers
Bleeding Heart - Love
Bloodroot - Love, Protection, Purification
Bluebell - Luck, Truth
Blueberry - Protection
Blue Flag - Money
Bodhi - Fertility, Protection, WIsdom, Meditation
Boneset - Protection, Exorcism
Borage - Courage, Psychic Powers
Bracken - Healing, Rune Magic, Prophetic Dreams
Brazil Nut - Love
Briony - Image Magic, Money, Protection
Bromeliad - Protection, Money
Broom - Purification, Protection, Wind Spells, Divination
Buchu - Psychic Powers, Prophetic Dreams
Buckthorn - Protection, Exorcism, Wishes, Legal Matters
Buckwheat - Money, Protection
Burdock - Protection, Healing
Cabbage - Luck
Cactus - Protection, Chastity
Calamus - Luck, Healing, Money, Protection
Camellia -Riches
Camphor - Chastity, Health, Divination
Caper - Potency, Lust, Luck
Carawy - Protection, Lust, Health, Anti-theft, Mental Powers
Cardamon - Lust, Love
Carnation - Protection, Strength, Healing
Carob - Protection, Health
Carrot - Fertility, Lust
Cascara Sagrada - Legal Matters, Money, Protection,
Cashew - Money
Castor - Protection
Catnip - Cat Magic, Love, Beauty, Happiness
Cattail - Lust
Cedar - Healing, Purification, Money, Protection
Celandine - Protection, Escape, Happiness, Legal Matters
Celery - Mental Powers, Lust, Psychic Powers
Centaury - Snake Removing
Chamomile - Money, Sleep, Love, Purification
Cherry - Love, divination
Chestnut - Love
Chickweed - Fertility, Love
Chicory - Removing Obstacles, Invisibility, favors, Frigidity
Chili pepper - Fidelity, hex Breaking, Love
China Berry - Luck
Chrysanthemum - Protection
Cinchona - Luck, Protection
Cinnamon - Spirituality, Success, Healing, Power, Psychic Powers, Lust Protection, Love
Cinquefoil - Money, Protection, Prophetic Dreams, Sleep
Citron - Psychic Powers, Healing
Cloth of Gold - Understand animal languages
Clove - Protection, Exorcism, Love, Money
Clover - Protection, Money, Love, fidelity, Exorcism, Success
Club Moss - Protection, Power
Coconut - Purification, Protection, Chastity
Cohosh,Black - love, courage,protection,potency
Coltsfoot - Love,Visions
Columbine - Courage,Love
Comfrey - Safety during travel, Money
Copal - Love, Purification
Coriander - Love,Health, Healing
Corn - protection,luck, divination
Cotton - Luck,Healing,Protection,Rain,Fishing Magic
Cowslip - Healing,Youth,Treasure Finding
Crocus - Love, Visions
Cubeb - Love
Cuckoo-flower - Fertility,Lover
Cucumber - Chastity,Healing,Fertility
Cumin - Protection,Fidelity, Exorcism
Curry - Protection
Cyclamen - fertility,Protection,Happiness, Lust
Cypress - Longevity, Healing, Comfort,Protection
Daffodil - Love,Fertility, Luck
Daisy - Lust,Luck
Damiana - Lust, Love, Visions
Dandelion - Divination,Wishes,Calling Spirits
Datura - Hex Breaking,Sleep,Protection
Deerstongue - Lust, Psychic Powers
Devils Bit - Exorcism, Love, Protection, Lust
Devils Shoestring - Protection, Gambling, Luck, Power, Employment
Dill - Protection, Money, Lust,Luck
Dittany of Crete - Manifestations, Astral Projection
Dock - Healing,Fertility, Money
Dodder - Love,Divination,Knot Magic
Dogbane - Love
Dogwood - Wishes, Protection
Dragons Blood - Love,Protection,Exorcism,Potency
Dulse - Lust, Harmony
Dutchmans Breeches - Love
Ebony - Protection, Power
Echinacea - Strengthening Spells
Edelweiss - Invisibility, Bullet-Proofing
Elder - Exorcism,Protection,Healing,Prosperity,Sleep
Elecampane - Love,Protection,Psychic Powers
Elm - Love
Endive - Lust,Love
Eryngo - Travelers Luck, Peace, Lust, Love
Eucalyptus - Healing,Protection
Euphorbia - Purification, Protection
Eyebright - Mental Powers, Psychic Power
Fennel - Protection, Healing, Purification
Fenugreek - Money
Fern - Rain Making, Protection,Luck,Riches,Eternal Youth, Health, Exorcism
Feverfew - Protection
Fig - Divination,Fertility, Love
Figwort - Health,Protection
Flax - Money, Protection,Beauty,Psychic Powers, Healing
Fleabane - Exorcism, Protection, Chastity
Foxglove - Protection
Frankincense - Protection, Exorcism, Spirituality
Fumitory - Money, Exorcism
Fuzzy Weed - Love,Hunting
Galangal - Protection, Lust, Health, Money, Psychic Powers, Hex breaking
Gardenia - Love, Peace, Healing, Spirituality
Garlic - Protection, Healing, Exorcism, Lust, Anti-Theft
Gentian - Love, Power
Geranium - Fertility, Health, Love, Protection
Ginger - Love, Money, Success, Power
Ginseng - Love, Wishes, Healing, Beauty, Protection, Lust
Goats Rue - Healing, Health
Goldenrod - Money, Divination
Golden Seal - Healing, Money
Gorse - Protection, Money
Gotu Kola - Meditation
Gourd - Protection
Grain - Protection
Grains of Paradise - Lust, Luck, Love, Money, Wishes
Grape - Fertility, Garden Magic, Mental Powers,Money
Grass - Psychic Powers, Protection
Ground Ivy - Divination
Groundsel - Health, Healing
Hawthorn - Fertility, Chastity, Fishing Magic, Happiness
Hazel - Luck, Fertility, Anti-Lightning, Protection, Wishes
Heather - Protection, Rain Making, Luck
Heliotrope - Exorcism, Prophetic dreams, Healing, Wealth, Invisbility
Hellebore,Black - Protection *POISON*
Hemlock - Destroy sexual drives *POISON*
Hemp - Healing, Love, Vision, Meditation
Henbane - POISON Not used
Henna - Healing
Hibiscus - Lust,Love, Divination
Hickory - Legal Matters
High John the Conquerer - Money, Love, Success, Happiness
Holly - Protection, Anti-Lightning, Luck, Dream Magic
Honesty - Money, Repelling Monsters
Honeysuckle - Money, Psychic Powers, Protection
Hops - Healing, Sleep
Horehound - Protection, Mental Powers, Exorcism, Healing
Horse Chestnut - Money, Healing
Horseradish - Purification, Exorcism
Horsetail - Snake Charming, Fertility
Houndstongue - Tying dogs tongues
Houseleek - Luck,Protection, Love
Huckleberry - Luck, Protection, Dream Magic, Hex Breaking
Hyacinth - Love, Protection, Happiness
Hydrangea - Hex Breaking
Hyssop - Purification, Protection
Indian Paint Brush - Love
Iris - Purification, Wisdom
Irish Moss - Money, Luck, Protection
Ivy - Protection, Healing
Jasmine - Love, Money, Prophetic Dreams
Jobs Tears - Healing, Wishes, Luck
Joe-pye weed - Love, Respect
Juniper - Protection, Anti-theft, Love, Exorcism, Health
kava-Kave - Visions, Protection, luck
knotweed - Binding, Health
Ladys mantle - Love
Ladys slipper - Protection
Larch - Protection, Anti theft
Larkspur - Health, Protection
Lavendar - Love, Protection, Sleep, Chastity, Longevity, Purification,
Happiness, Peace
Leek - Love, Protection, Exorcism
Lemon - Longevity, Purification, Love, Friendship
Lemongrass - Repel snakes, Lust, Psychic powers
Lemon Verbena - Purification, Love
Lettuce - Chastity, Protection, Love, Divination, Sleep
Licorice - Love,Lust, Fidelity
Life Everlasting - longevity, Health, Healing
Lilac - Exorcism, Protection
Lily - Protection, Breaking Love spells
Lily of the Valley - Mental Powers, Happiness
Lime - Healing,Love,Protection
Linden - Protection, Immortality, Luck, Love, Sleep
Liquidamber - Protection
Liverwort - Protection
Liverwort - Love
Looestrife - Peace,Protection
Lotus - Protection, Lock-Opening
Lovage - Love
Love Seed - Love,Friendship
Lucky Hand - Employment, Luck, Protection, Money, Travel
Mace - Psychic Powers, Mental Powers
Maguey - Lust
Magnolia - Fidelity
Mahogany,mountain - Anti-Lightning
Maidenhair - Beauty, Love
Male Fern - Luck, Love
Mallow - Love, Protection, Exorcism
Mandrake - Protection,Love, Money, Fertility, Health
Maple - Love, Longevity, Money
Marigold - Protection, Prophetic Dreams, Legal Matters, Psychic Powers
Marjoram - Protection, love, Happiness, Health, Money
Master Wort - Strength, Courage, Protection
Mastic - Psychic Powers, Manifestations, Lust
May Apple - Money
Meadow Rue - DIvination
Meadowsweet - Love, Divination, Peace, Happiness
Mesquite - Healing
Mimosa - Protection, Love, Prophetic Dreams, Purification
Mint - Money,Love,Lust,Healing, Exorcism,Travel, Protection
Mistletoe - Protection, Love, Hunting, Fertility, Health, Exorcism
Molukka - Protection
Moonwort - Money, Love
Moss - Luck,Money
Mugwort - Strength, Psychic Powers, Protection, Prophetic Dreams, Healing, Astral Projection
Mulberry - Protection, Strength
Mullein - Courage, Protection, Health, Love,Divination, Exorcism
Mustard - Fertility, Protection, Mental Powers
Myrrh - Protection, Exorcism, Healing, Spirituality
Myrtle - Love, Fertility, Youth, Peace, Money
Nettle - Exorcism, Protection, Healing, Lust
Norfolk Island Pine - Protection, anti hunger
Nuts - Fertility,prosperity, love, luck
Oak - Protection, Health, Money, Healing, Potency, Fertility, Luck
Oats - Money
Olive - Healing, Peace, Fertility, Potency, Protection, Lust
Onion - Protection,Exorcism, Healing, Money, Prophetic Dreams, Lust
Orange - Love, Divination, Luck, Money
Orchid - Love
Oregon Grape - Money, Prosperity
Orris - Love, Protection, Divination
Palm,Date - Fertility, Potency
Pansy - Love,Rain Magic, Love, Divination
Papaya - Love, Protection
Papyrus - protection
Parosela - hunting
Parsley - Love, Protection, Purification
Passion Flower - Peace,Sleep, Friendship
Patchouly - Money, Fertility, Lust
Pea - Money,Love
Peach - Love, Exorcism, Longevity,. Fertility, Wishes
Pear - Lust, Love
Pecan - Money, Employment
Pennyroyal - Strength, Protection, Peace
Peony - Protection, Exorcism
Pepper - Protection,Exorcism
Peppermint - Purification, Sleep, Love, Healing, Psychic Powers
Pepper Tree - Purification, Healing, Protection
Periwinkle - Love, Lust, Mental Powers, Money, Protection
Persimmon - Changing Sex, healing, luck
Plot Weed - Protection
Pimento - Love
Pimpernel - Protection,Health
Pine - Healing, Fertility, Protection, Exorcism, Money
Pineapple - Luck, Money, Chastity
Pipsissewa - Money, Spirit Calling
Pistachio - Breaking Love Spells
Plantain - Healing, Protection, Strength,Snake Repelling
Plum - Healing
Plumeria - Love
Poke - Courage, Hex Breaking
Pomegranate - Divination, Luck, Wishes, Wealth, Fertility
Poplar - Money, Flying
Poppy - Fertility,Love, Sleep, Money,Luck, Invisibility
Potato - Image Magic, Healing
Prickly Ash - Love
Primrose - Protection, Love
Purslane - Sleep, Love, Luck, Protection, Happiness
Quassia - Love
Quince - Protection,Love,Happiness
Radish - Protection, Lust
Ragweed - Courage
Ragwort - Protection
Raspberry - Protection, Love
Rattlesnake Root - Protection,Money
Rhubarb - Protection, Fidelity
Rice - Protection, Rain, Fertility, Money
Roots - Protection, Power, Divination
Rose - Love, Psychic Powers, Healing, Love, Divination, Luck,
Protection
Rosemary - Protection, Love, Lust, Mental Powers, Exorcism,
Purification, Healing,Sleep, Youth
Rowan - Psychic Powers,Healing, Protection,Power, Success
Rue - Healing,Health, Mental Powers, Exorcism, Love
Rye - Love, Fidelity
Saffron - Love, Healing,Happiness, Wind Raising, Lust, Strength, Psychic Powers.
Sage - Immortality, Longevity, Wisdom, Protection, Wishes
Sagebrush - Purification, Exorcism
St.Johns Wort - Health, Power,Protection,Strength, Love, Divination, Happiness
Sandalwood - Protection, Healing, Exorcism, Spirituality
Sarsaparilla - Love, Money
Sassafras - Health, Money
Savory/Summer - Mental Powers
Scullcap - Love, Fidelity, Peace
Senna - Love
Sesame - Money. Lust
Shallot - Purification
Skunk Cabbage - Legal Matters
Slippery Elm - Halts Gossip
Sloe - Exorcism, Protection
Snakeroot - Luck Money
Snakeroot/black - Love,Lust,Money
Snapdragon - Protection
Solomons Seal - Protection,Exorcism
Sorrel Wood - Healing,Health
Southern Wood - Love,Lust,Protection
Spanish Moss - Protection
Spearmint - Healing,Love,Mental Powers
SpiderWort - Love
Spikenard - Love
Squill - Money,Protection,Hex Breaking
Star/anise - Psychic Powers, Luck
Stillengia - Psychic Powers
Straw - Luck,Image Magic
Strawberry - Love,Luck
Sugar Cane - Love,Lust
Sumbul - Love,Luck,Health,Psychic Powers
Sunflower - Fertility,Wishes,Health,Wisdom
Sweetgrass - Calling Spirits
Sweetpea - Friendship,Chastity,Courage,Strength
Tamarind - Love
Tamarisk - Exorcism,Protection
Tansy - Health,Longevity
Tea - Riches,Courage,Strength
Thistle - Strength,Protection,Hex Breaking,Healing
Thistle/holy - Purification,Hex Breaking
Thistle/milk - Snake enraging
Thyme - health,Healing,Sleep,Psychic Powers,Love,Purification,Courage
Ti - Protection,Healing
Toadflax - Protection,Hex Breaking
Toadstool - Rain Making
Tobacco - Healing,Purification
Turmeric - Purification
Turnip - Protection,Ending Relationships
Uva Ursa - Psychic Workings
Valerian - Love,Sleep,Purification,Protection
Vanilla - Love,Lust,Mental Powers
Venus Flytrap - Protection,Love
Vervain - Love, Protection, Purification, Peace, Money, Youth, Chastity, Sleep,Healing
Vetch/Giant - Fidelity
Vetivert - Love, Hex Breaking, Luck, Money, Anti-Theft
Violet - Protection, Luck, Love, Lust, Wishes, Peace, Healing
Wahoo - Hex-breaking, Courage, Success
Walnut - Health, Mental Powers, Infertility, Wishes
Wax Plant - Protection
Wheat - Fertility, Money
Willow - Love, divination, Protection, Healing
Wintergreen - Protection, Healing, Hex Breaking
Winters Bark - Success
WItch Grass - Happiness, Lust,love, Exorcism
Witch Hazel - Protection, Chastity
Wolfs Bane - Protection, Invisibility
Wood Rose - Luck
Woodruff - Victory, Protection, Money
Wormwood - Psychic Powers, Protection, Love, Calling Spirits
Yarrow - Courage, Love, Psychic Powers, Exorcism
Yellow Evening Primrose - Hunting
Yerba Mate - Fidelity, Love, Lust
Yerba Santa - Beauty, Healing, Psychic Powers, Protection
Yew - Raising the Dead
Yohimbe - Love,Lust
Yucca - Transmutation, Protection, Purification

Thus completes the list of the herbs most commonly used in magickal workings.

The Complete Book of Herbal Teas: A brief history of tea.

2006-12-03T05:54:00.000-08:00

By Marietta Marshall Marcin

Introduction

A few years ago some pesky mint appeared in my garden and began to spread, crowding out carefully cultivated annuals and perennials. I was beginning to plan a massive eradication program, when I came across a recipe for mint tea. Well, I thought, why not try it? The raw ingredients certainly were available. So I pulled up a few handfuls of mint and brewed my first cup of home-grown tea. It tasted great. So great, in fact, that the endangered garden mint took on new significance and was spared. The following year I planted lemon balm, fennel, marjoram and thyme, and tried those recipes, too. The result? I became hooked on herbal teas.

Later, I learned tea is drunk more than any other liquid except water. Throughout recorded history tea has been used to sustain life, enhance sleep, restore health, and ease conversation, to name just a few of its uses. Some people like it hot. Some like it cold. Some like it mixed with sugar, lemon, honey, milk, or with stronger stuff, such as gin or brandy. And some like it straight.

In the narrowest sense of the word, tea refers to the leaves or flower buds of shrubs in the genus that was named Thea sinensis by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. Since Thea sinensis tea is a close relative of the camellia flower, it is sometimes referred to as Camellia thea or Camellia sinensis. Broadly speaking, however, tea is any drink made from steeping fragrant leaves, berries, seeds, flowers, roots, or bark in boiling water.

Imported Thea sinensis teas all come from evergreen plants of the same genus. Lapsang souchong tea is a smoked version of Thea sinensis leaves, and black, green, and oolong teas can also be made from leaves of the same plant. They differ only in the degree of fermentation they have undergone during processing. Most imported teas are grown at high altitudes where it is continually hot, wet, and very humid. Darjeeling tea, for example, comes from the mountains of Darjeeling, in India.

Imported Thea sinensis teas traditionally have been served side by side with teas made from herbal leaves plucked from the garden. Indeed, the decision to serve Thea sinensis teas rather than herbal teas has often been made more for reasons of prestige than for taste.

As coffee prices have gone sky-high, so too has the price of store-bought teas escalated. But as I found, you can easily grow and brew exotic herbal teas, full of tastes and aromas you never believed possible. The cost to you is a few pennies a cup; the experience is priceless. Herbs that make exciting teas can be grown in your garden or in flowerpots on your windowsill, whether you live in southern California or northern Nova Scotia, in London or Sydney.

This book gives you all the information you need to brew the perfect cup of herbal tea. It spells out how to grow the plants, harvest the tea components, prepare and store the ingredients you'll need, and mix them for interesting blends. You'll learn where to buy seeds and plants. You'll even find where to buy bags and containers in which to package your own "private label" blends. Sound complicated? It's really easy once you know how. And, while you're harvesting herbal teas either on a small or grand scale, you can also use them as potpourris, fabric dyes, garnishes, and seasonings for the cooking pot.

People have always sworn by the medicinal qualities of herbal teas. While health authorities, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration frown upon claims that herbal teas can actually cure ailments, millions of people maintain they do. I'll outline some of the medicinal uses to which herbal teas have been put. But by no means are the herbal teas described in this book presented as prescriptions for medical ailments. Clearly, as with any medical problem you may have, it's important to consult a professional practitioner for diagnosis and treatment.

This book is the only guide you'll need to take the journey of taste discovery that comes from brewing herbal teas. Let us take that trip together.

1. A brief history of tea

Deep in the misty mountains of China, the Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, sat in a garden near the emperor's palace, meditating on the perfection of Buddha. Called Ta'Mo' (White Buddha) by the Chinese, the swarthy, rotund saint had come to China from India bearing the sacred bowl of his ancestors. Ta'Mo' vowed to demonstrate his devotion to Buddha by sitting before a wall and meditating for nine years.

Spring turned to summer; autumn came with crisp air and colored, falling leaves. Still Ta'Mo' meditated. Winter came and covered the saint's cloak with snow as he sat unblinking and unsleeping. Finally, after many years had passed, the Bodhidharma's attention wavered, his chin dropped, and his eyes closed in sleep.

When Ta'Mo' awakened-perhaps a day, perhaps a year later-he was so angry with himself for neglecting his meditation that he took out a knife, sliced off both his eyelids, and threw them to the ground. The saint's eyelids took root in the rich soil and grew into a tea bush, the symbol of wakefulness.

This is the most popular of the legends about the origin of Thea sinensis, the botanical name for what is commonly called the tea plant, which we associate with black, green, oolong, and orange pekoe teas. Like other stories about the origin of tea and the rituals of tea drinking, fact and fiction are intertwined so thoroughly that it is hard to separate them.

The discovery of Thea sinensis tea

Ta'Mo' died about 530 A.D., but the Chinese claim they discovered the tea plant much earlier. They called it "the gift of heaven," and it was mentioned, along with other herbs used for medicinal purposes, about 2737 B.C. in the writings of the legendary emperor Shen Nung.

According to legend, Shen Nung observed that people who boiled their drinking water remained healthier than those who didn't, so he always made sure his water was boiled. On a trip to a neighboring province, the emperor's servants started a fire to boil water for him. As the water was heating, a breeze blew some of the tender leaves from the uppermost twigs of the firewood into the pot. Attracted by the fragrance of the resulting liquid, the emperor "tasted it and found it good," as the saying goes. Thus began a tea-drinking custom that has persisted to this day.

Originally the tea made by infusing the Thea sinensis herb was used only as a medicinal brew, as were teas made from many other herbal plants. Thea sinensis tea soon became a popular beverage because of its flavor, and the word tea came to be associated with this plant. Although the cultivation of tea began in China, it gradually spread to Japan and the rest of the Far East. It was not cultivated in India until 1832, when the British introduced it there, long after it had become a popular beverage in England and the United States.

Derivation of the word tea

The word tea has an interesting history. When Thea sinensis tea was first introduced in England it was pronounced cha or tcha from the Mandarin and Cantonese dialects spoken in Macao, the port from which the tea was shipped. When a Cockney housewife says it would be nice to have "a cup of char," she is speaking perfectly respectable Chinese, a holdover from the original word. Later tea was imported to England from the Chinese port of Amoy. In the Amoy dialect, it was called t'e, and it was from this word that the word tea was derived.

The word tisane came from the Latin ptisana and the Greek ptisane. Originally, tisane meant pearl barley and barley water, but over the years it has come to mean any infusion of herbal leaves in boiling water.

Tea comes to England

No one knows for sure exactly when Thea sinensis tea was first brought to England, but in 1658, an enterprising merchant named Thomas Garway placed an advertisement in the publication Mercurius Politicus announcing that: "The excellent and by all Physitians approved China Drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee,

can be procured at Sultaness Head Cophee-House in Sweeting's Rents by the Royal Exchange." Garway extolled the medicinal qualities of tea as a stimulant. He wrote that "tea removeth lassitude, vanquisheth heavy dreams, easeth the frame, and strengtheneth the memory. It overcometh superfluous sleep, and prevents sleepiness in general, so that without trouble whole nights may be passed in study"

Dutch ships from the Orient brought tea, along with other "riches of the rising sun" to Holland, and from there Lords Ossory and Arlington began bringing consignments of tea to England. What started as an infant trade quickly became a rage. Soon Thea sinensis teas were being served in all of England's most famous coffeehouses.

As the popularity of tea drinking grew, tax revenues from the sale of beer and wine declined. To compensate for this loss of income, in 1660 Charles II imposed the first English tea taxes, paving the way for a thriving black market in tea.

The earliest American settlers did not share the English passion for drinking imported teas. Tea drinking was probably introduced to the colonies somewhat later, by the burghers of New Amsterdam. William Penn brought Thea sinensis tea to the Quaker colony he founded in what is now Delaware in 1682. But by the 1750s, American colonists were quaffing tea as heartily as the English.

Early recorded uses of herbal teas

Herbal teas, other than Thea sinensis, have been brewed for thousands of years. The earliest records talk of using herbs for healing rather than flavoring. In 410 B.C., Plato mentioned herbal teas in his writings. Seventy years later, Aristotle discussed herbal teas, and his disciple Theophrastus wrote a detailed work, "On the History of Plants," which described the uses of herbs. Herbals with detailed illustrations, and instructions for brewing herbal teas, have been revised and expanded ever since.

The Roman statesmen Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny the Elder practiced advanced forms of horticulture and wrote about their experiences. Pliny's Natural History (77 A.D.), affirms the importance of growing herbaceous plants both for kitchen and medicinal uses. He outlined how to plant, transplant, and harvest them. Pliny also spelled out the medicinal uses of each herb, and also how to administer each one -as lotion, powder, or tea. Many herbal teas were to be brewed with water and vinegar, he said, which may explain why herb teas weren't popular as beverages until later, when they came to be brewed in water alone. His descriptions of the juices and flavors of each herb characterize savory and wild marjoram as having "an acrid taste," others as being "sweet" or "pungent."

Pliny catalogued the germination times of many herbs, noting that some plants continued to appear every year, while others had to be newly sown from seed if they were to come up again. "No seed is more prolific than basil," he said. "They recommend sowing it with curses and imprecations to make it come up more abundantly."

Wealthy Romans took their herb culture seriously. The mild Italian winters still were not quite warm enough to keep some tender herbs from being destroyed, so plants were placed under thin sheets of mica (plate glass had not been developed yet) to protect them from the chill. And warm water was often piped around the roses, which were particularly admired for both their beauty and medicinal qualities.

Herbal teas in the New World

In England, herbal teas were widely cultivated and used. When the Pilgrim fathers sailed to the New World, they brought seeds or plants of their favorite herbs with them. Most larger houses had both an herb garden and a "still room" for cultivating herbs.

While the tea of Thea sinensis remained the favorite herbal beverage, those who couldn't afford it continued to make teas from other, more easily accessible herbs. Chamomile, peppermint, and elderflower teas were especially popular.

One herbal tea beloved of the colonists was Oswego tea, made from the dry flower heads of American wild bergamot (Monarch didyma), also called bee balm. (The resulting liquid tastes like one of the scented Chinese teas.) Some say the colonists learned to make Oswego tea from the Indians, others that it was devised as a New World version of a European tisane.

After the Boston Tea Party, patriotic ladies banished imported teatermed "the baneful herb" by the clergyman and educator John Andrews-from their tables and turned to domestically grown herbal teas. They called these beverages "liberty teas." Some of their herbal combinations-made from mint, balm, rosemary, and sage-are still favorites today.

After the Revolutionary War, the Americans imported tea directly from China, and Thea sinensis became easily attainable and inexpensive once again. A few of the more flavorful herbal beverages were still used, but most home-grown teas were returned to the medicine chest. Imported herbs were now also easy to come by, for those who wanted them, so the cultivation of herbs declined, too.

It wasn't until the outbreak of World War I that England and America were faced with the unpleasant realization that they had become largely dependent on German sources for medicinal and cooking herbs. There ensued an upsurge in home-grown herb cultivation.

Recent growth in the herbal tea market

The use of herbs in cooking has never been as great in England and America as in France. Recent interest in gourmet cookery, however, has meant that more people are using herbs in the kitchen. Along with this development has come a marked increase in the consumption of herbal teas.

The natural foods movement has also contributed to the growing appreciation of herbs-they have no food additives, artificial coloring, chemically produced flavors, or caffeine. The discovery that caffeine is not only an artificial mental and physical stimulant but also an addictive substance has caused the health-conscious to turn more and more to herbal teas. For while coffee, cocoa, and Thea sinensis teas contain caffeine, herbal teas do not.

For many years a favorite only with health-food devotees, herbal tea is becoming universally popular. In Europe, herbal tea sales have soared from 5 percent of the tea market several years ago to more than 60 percent today. In the United States, growth has been more moderate, but sales have improved each year.

Packaged herbal teas now account for about 10 percent of the United States tea market, up from virtually nothing fifteen years ago. Twenty years ago, the industry leader, Celestial Seasonings, Inc., wasn't even in business. In 1975, five years after it began marketing colorful little boxes of herbal teas through health food stores, the company broke the $1 million mark in sales. Sales doubled in 1976. In 19$1, gross revenues rose to over $23 million. Celestial now sells about 4 million pounds of herbs a year.

Sensing a sharp inroad into the China tea market, the two large American tea companies, Lipton and Bigelow, recently jumped onto the herbal tea bandwagon. Sales of herbal products in the United States are now estimated at between $150 and $200 million a year, with packaged herbal teas accounting for about $90 million of the total. The Food and Drug Administration entered the herbal tea picture a few years ago, ordering two companies to stop producing sassafras tea, an age-old prescription for upset stomach and for nerves. When boiled, sassafras releases a substance called safrole, a known carcinogen which the FDA has banned as a food additive. Researchers later discovered a person would have to ingest more sassafras tea in a day than most people do in a year in order to get the same concentration of safrole that had produced some cancers in laboratory animals, so the ban on sassafras tea has been lifted. There is no doubt, however, that excessive use of certain herbal teas can be injurious to your health.

Dr. James Duke, head of the Medicinal Plant Resources Laboratory of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, believes stevia and catnip are hallucinogens if taken in excess. He also maintains that arnica, belladonna, bittersweet, helbane, hemlock, and secuda, commonly sold for herb teas, are poisonous, and that bloodroot contains some of the same alkaloids as opium. This has made it a rage in some circles for making "high" tea.

Despite these gloom-and-doom announcements, however, most herbal teas are beneficial, not poisonous, if drunk in moderation.

One of the most highly touted herbal teas is ginseng. Tour any herb store or Chinese emporium and you will see a hefty display of it. Ginseng is believed to increase sexual potency, lengthen lifespan, and produce a feeling of well-being. Korean red root ginseng, Korean white root ginseng, Manchurian ginseng, Manchurian red ginseng, Canadian ginseng, and, for the connoisseur, Imperial Chinese ginseng, are considered the finest ginseng teas available. They are thought so potent that they are usually taken only once or twice a year. One variety of ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, is grown in the United States, although it is difficult to cultivate.

The FDA concerned itself with ginseng for a while, but doesn't anymore. FDA laboratory tests indicated ginseng has no effect on the body whatsoever, though satisfied ginseng users beg to differ.

Producing enough herbs to meet the new demand for herbal teas has become something of a problem. Since they must be picked by hand, most herbs are grown in Third World countries where labor costs are low. Many herbs are also picked wild, or are purchased from small growers with backyard plots.

Controlling quality by growing your own herbs

Harvesting, processing, and shipping delicate herbs grown in many different places can make quality control difficult. You can surmount these problems, though, by growing herbs yourself. You won't be growing them in such great quantities that pickers will be hard to find. You can sort and prepare them, keeping their quality as refined as your taste. And you can experiment with blending them, augmenting the blends with a few ingredients from your local herb supply store.

Herbs you grow for tea also make good additions to salads, soups, or main dishes. Extras can be used in potpourris, sachets, herbal butters, and vinegars, or to make decorative, long-lasting floral displays that scent your home long after the growing season is past.

People with vegetable gardens-and it is estimated that close to one-half of all families in the United States now grow some of their own food-find herbs are easy to grow. In fact, mint, bergamot, chamomile, and dandelion have been growing around us, wild, all along. So let's move on to the practical business of growing these herbs, and many others, and discovering just how easy it is to brew your own herbal tea delights.

Making sense of herbal remedies - ultimate herbalism guide

2006-12-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

Herbal medicine uses plant medicines, in many forms, to promote good health and to treat ill health. This booklet offers an introduction to Western herbal medicine, gives information about basic self-help and describes some of the herbs you can use. It also tells you how to find a herbal practitioner and offers sources of further help.

Why do people choose herbal medicine?

People try herbal remedies for all sorts of reasons: because they hear from others that it has worked, because they feel it's natural and believe it's likely to have fewer side effects, or because they prefer its holistic approach. People also like the idea of having more control over their own treatment. Others turn to herbal remedies because conventional medicine has let them down, or because they want to relieve the side effects caused by the prescription medication they need to take.

The popularity of herbal medicines is clear now that herbs are much more widely available over the counter. Also on the increase is the number of qualified practitioners and those choosing plant medicines, in their many forms.

Herbal medicines can be used to treat health problems that are short-lived (acute) or firmly established (chronic), as part of a holistic approach to health. In other words, when looking at the person as a whole, and working out whether there are underlying medical, emotional or lifestyle factors that may be having some influence on the outbreak of symptoms.

How is it best to use herbs?

It's important to recognise, first of all, that herbs don't have a specific and limited purpose, in the way that conventional medicines do. Each person should have their individual needs identified, so that herbs prescribed specially for him or her, at the time, can address these.

For example, not only are there different types of depression, but they can also vary in intensity. A person may go through a depression that is altogether different from their experience of depression on a previous occasion. It may also involve a whole range of physical symptoms – lethargy, stomach problems (constipation and diarrhoea) and headaches, to name just a few – that are individual to that person.

A herbalist will take into consideration the whole picture of someone’s symptoms, and use an individually tailored combination of plants to address those symtoms and to restore health. Combining two or more herbs can enhance the individual effects of each one. This is known as synergism. Herbs for the nervous system fall into a number of categories. They can be used to strengthen a system, to relax or sedate a system, or to stimulate it.

How should I take herbal remedies?

At home, the easiest way is to make a tea or 'infusion', by leaving the plant material in boiling water for 5–10 minutes, before straining and drinking it. Herbal remedies come in many other forms, however. They can be bought over the counter as:

fresh herbs (such as, garlic cloves or peppermint leaves)
capsules or tablets (powdered herbs)
extracts (a concentrated form that comes as liquid tinctures, solid pills or capsules)
tea
in foods
as essential oils (for external use)
as creams and ointments (for applying to the skin).

The potency and quality of all of these vary widely. The herbs need additives to make them into extracts, which come in a range of strengths. Tinctures are more readily absorbed and solid extracts (pills or capsules) are the most concentrated and perhaps the best value.

Some products are (or contain) 'standardised extract'. This means that the manufacturer guarantees that the product contains a certain amount of a particular ingredient, so that you know how much (by weight) of that ingredient is in each day's dose. Different manufacturers produce remedies in different strengths and to different qualities. Prices will vary, and may not necessarily reflect the quality of the product.

Herbalists themselves prefer to use herbs in their natural state, or as close to it as possible, with nothing added and nothing taken away. They prefer this 'full spectrum' to standardised extracts

because they feel that preparations with added or boosted components influence the effectiveness and safety of plants, for no good reason.

How do I shop for them?

Remedies are now available in health food shops, chemists and supermarkets, and directly from herbalists. (Some can even be bought via mail order.) Supplements can be useful, but it’s always better to get an individual prescription rather than just guessing which herbs to use.

Herbal remedies aren't covered by a standard licensing procedure (although some do have product licences). They are either classed as food supplements, or come under section 12 of the Medicines Act, which makes them exempt from licensing. They don't have to undergo the same testing procedures as pharmaceutical drugs.

When buying herbs,

Choose remedies carefully – do a bit of research before you buy anything, and compare manufacturers as well as different forms of the herb. Don't choose on the basis of price alone.

Buy your herbs from a reputable supplier to ensure high quality.
Check the expiry date.
Choose single herbs, not combinations. (Remember that herbs act synergistically. See page 5.)
Check the recommended dosage – different manufacturers have different recommendations.
Always read and follow the instructions on the label, carefully.
Don’t overuse products. With all herbs, if you are self-prescribing, follow the instructions on the product, or the recommendations of a qualified herbalist. Start with the minimum dosage recommended.
Be aware of any side effects you experience. If you feel a herb does not suit you, stop taking it and seek advice from a qualified herbalist.
Many of the herbs available are user-friendly and have clear instructions. If you are self-prescribing but are unsure what to buy, contact a herbalist for advice.

Do herbs have side effects?

A herb, like any other chemical compound, may have side effects. Being 'natural' doesn't make something automatically safe. But, on the whole, the side effects seem to be much milder and more infrequent than for pharmaceutical drugs. Most of the herbs that may have side effects in high doses aren’t readily available to buy over the counter. Where problems have been reported, this seems to have been caused by very poor-quality products or by extreme misuse.

Sometimes, people do take the wrong remedy for the wrong reason – mistakenly believing, perhaps, that taking a higher dose will make it work better. Not only might they do themselves harm, they also miss out on the real benefits of the remedy. That's why it's vital to know what you're taking and why you're taking it.

Is it safe to treat my family or myself using herbs?

Most people can safely treat themselves for problems that are normally fairly short-lived, but for any long-standing condition, or one that doesn't go away, you should consult a qualified herbalist, and make sure that another form of treatment isn't also necessary. With self-diagnosis, it's important to know if and when to consult a doctor.

If your child is under five or has a tendency to allergies, seek help from a qualified practitioner. Otherwise, using herbs for children is relatively straightforward, with chamomile perhaps being the mainstay of the first-aid cabinet. When giving children herbs, mix them in yogurt with a little honey or dilute fruit juice, to help them.

For safe and accurate treatment, follow these guidelines:

Don't overuse products. Use the minimum dosage for all herbs, if you are self-prescribing.
Be aware of any side effects you experience. If a herb doesn’t suit you, stop using it.
The more severe the problem, the more cautious you should be about self-treatment, as a general rule.
Don't use herbal remedies if you are trying to have a baby, or if you are already pregnant or breastfeeding, without first consulting a qualified herbalist or your GP.
Never use herbs for babies or small children without seeking professional advice.
Don't take herbs alongside other prescribed drugs without consulting a qualified herbalist, because some herbs may strengthen the effects of drugs or make others less effective. With consultation, it may be possible to reduce your conventional medication.
Don't make the mistake of switching from your existing pharmaceutical drug to a herbal remedy without consultation. Herbs are medicines that work in complex and subtle ways and won't always have exactly the same effect.
If you have long-standing health problems, see a herbalist who can work with you in a holistic and effective way to treat the underlying causes and achieve the best outcome.
If you have a short-lived condition and the symptoms aren’t getting better within a few days, get professional advice.

In what way can a herbalist help me?

Herbalists see people of all ages, who are trying to cope with short or long-term problems. People often ask for help when they haven’t been able to find relief from long-standing problems, or when they are taking prescription drugs, which have unwelcome side effects. Often, herbal remedies can help reduce these. Medical herbalists also see many children with common and ongoing conditions, such as eczema, asthma and problems sleeping or with digestion.

Herbalists treat symptoms affecting many systems of the body. Frequently, people have a batch of symptoms that can all be addressed by a trained practitioner. The same person could have a problem with their kidneys (recurrent cystitis), digestive system (irritable bowel syndrome or diverticulitis), heart and circulation (high blood-pressure), gynaecological problems (period pains or menopausal problems), nervous system (insomnia or nerve pain) and joints (arthritis).

What happens during a consultation?

Herbalists want to tackle the underlying causes of ill-health, as well as to relieve the symptoms that brought you to see them in the first place. So, a first consultation will take between an hour and an hour-and-a-half. It will cover, in detail, aspects of your medical, dietary, and emotional history and lifestyle, as well as getting a good account of your current state of health. He or she may do a physical examination, if that's necessary, and will usually check your blood pressure. This is especially useful if you haven’t been to see your GP for a long time. It's also important for a herbalist to decide whether you should see your doctor, or whether a different system of health-care could be helpful.

Herbalists don't dispense standard remedies for symptoms. Following a consultation, a herbalist may prescribe herbs for a period of two to three weeks. After this time, the prescription will be reviewed, depending on what the outcome has been.

Remedies can take time to work or may work quickly, depending on the symptom and health picture. A qualified herbalist will give you an indication of timescales in which to expect changes and improvements to your symptoms, and how this will be evaluated.

How do I find a good herbalist?

To be confident about someone treating you, you should check whether they are qualified members of a recognised, professional body, and find out details of their training and experience. For instance, members of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (established in 1864) have undergone a rigorous, four-year training, including subjects such as Western medical sciences, pharmacy, nutrition, the therapeutic actions of plants, and therapeutics. They have a strict code of ethics and full professional insurance. The letter MNIMH or FNIMH after the name indicate that someone is a member of the Institute.

Most herbalists have a sliding scale of fees, which they can apply according to whether you are working or on a reduced income.

Unfortunately, not everyone can afford herbal medicine. Many GPs are open to the idea of herbal remedies (some are even practising herbalists themselves). Although they have general guidelines for referring patients to complementary practitioners, they don't have standard criteria for doing so. In some areas, herbalists work within GP practice settings, alongside other health professionals who may work with complementary or conventional medicine.

Which herbs are used for mental and emotional health?

Practitioners approaching mental or emotional problems frequently choose from a class of herbs that includes those known as the nervous trophorestoratives. In other words, these are herbs that

feed and nourish a system. Herbs usually have a primary action, but may also have additional influences. It's therefore important to use herbs that synergise, or enhance each other's activities. Such herbs may include St John's wort, lemon balm, damiana, passionflower, hops, valerian and kava kava.

Herbalists need to take care that the herbs they use do not over-stimulate an individual. In the short-term, the herbalist may use additional prescriptions of regular doses of herbs throughout the day to regulate sleep or alleviate panic attacks, for instance.

This will go on until the main prescription begins to make an impact. The time-scale will depend on the choice of treatment and individual needs.

Scientific research on the herbs St John's wort, kava kava and valerian has confirmed good results in treating, variously, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and memory problems. It has also provided much more information about side effects that might be associated with them. (See opposite for detailed information on individual herbs.)

There are other herbs traditionally used for emotional problems:

passionflower, reishi and hops, for anxiety and stress sage, hyperzine and peony, for memory problems chamomile, lemon balm and passionflower, for sleep.

Recently, there’s been greater focus and interest in treating problems relating to sexual function. Here, herbs are seen as a safe option when compared to the medications frequently prescribed. Self-help is probably of limited value however, because problems of this kind can have so many origins. It’s best to speak to a qualified practitioner about this, if possible.

St John's wort has been successful as a safe treatment for many people who have mild or moderate depression. But this has fuelled a mistaken idea that a particular herb can 'fix' a particular problem, and that all people need do is go and buy a bottle. This contradicts the core principles of herbal medicine, and creates false expectations. It's important to remember that what works for one person may not work for another, in just the same way that someone may try several conventional antidepressants before finding one that works.

Awesome guide to making healthy soap at home

2006-12-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

So, you want to make soap? Good! I'll try my best to tell you how. I'm Elaine White, author of "Soap Recipes: Seventy tried-and-true ways to make modern soap with herbs, beeswax and vegetable oils".

These instructions are very condensed and cannot possibly contain the details included in "Soap Recipes." Nonetheless, I believe you will have a good overview after you read these instructions. Once you learn basic safety precautions, soapmaking procedures and termonology, you will be able to make soap from any recipe. The outline for these instructions is:

A) Safety precautions in handling lye, lye/water and freshly-made soap
B) The equipment list
C) The procedure of combining ingredients and molding soap
D) Herbal soap
E) Superfatting soap

Once you read these instructions and if possible, join the soapmakers at America Online. Go to "The Exchange" click on "Crafts and sewing" then "other crafts" and you will find "soapmaking." AOL gives me free time online to help soapmakers and I often join the discussions. I am glad to help you in any way.

A) Locating lye and safety precautions in handling it.

(The following may frighten you, but I promise that thousands of people make soap everyday without mishap. You need to know all the dangers present in order to avoid trouble. If you can get past the following warnings--you are destined to make soap!)

Look where drain cleaners are sold and buy 100% lye (Red Devil is onebrand). Don't bother looking at liquid drain cleaners and don't try Draino (it contains metal). If you aren't sure the product is 100% lye, then order lye from a soapmaking or chemical supplier (addresses listed). Most good soap recipes list lye by weight for accuracy: lye in granular form (drain cleaner) measures differently than lye in flake form (the form of lye from laboratory chemical suppliers, pool chemical suppliers, etc). Scales are a necessary part of successful soapmaking and allows you to use any type of lye.

Lye can be nasty if handled improperly. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is also known as caustic soda. Upon opening a container of lye, the lye crystals absorb water from the air, which can weaken the strength of the lye and cause it to form a solid lump. When not in use, keep lye closely capped.

Lye reacts with some metals: aluminum, zinc, and tin. Safe containers include heatproof stoneware, glass, enamel, stainless steel and plastic.

Lye can be fatal if swallowed. Always keep it out of the hands of children.

Lye can remove paint. If lye, lye/water or freshly-made soap splatters onto a painted surface, wipe it off immediately. Wash the area with water and detergent; wash it with clear water, then wipe it dry.

Lye, lye/water and freshly-made soap can burn and irritate skin. Burns from lye are not instantaneous. It takes awhile for lye to irritate skin. Chances are you will notice if lye splashes on you. You'll notice itching before burning. Lye/water on skin is first noticed by a slippery feeling. Rinse your hands with vinegar and immediately rinse them with running water.

Since lye can burn skin, you can imagine what it does to eyes. It's difficult to rinse your eyes while they're burning and you can't see. This painful and dangerous situation in entirely avoidable. Always wear eye protection!

You may wonder why anyone wants to bathe with soap that contains something as harsh as lye. Well, the good news is that soap is *made* with lye, but soap doesn't *contain* lye. Lye reacts with fats, creating roughly three molecules soap and one molecule glycerin. The lye is no longer present--only great soap and glycerin.

B) The equipment list:

one 4-to-6 cup mixing container made of lye-resistant material (I use a stainless steel mixing bowl)
one heatproof container that holds at least 2 cups (I use a Pyrex measuring cup)
stainess steel, plastic, wooden spoon or a rubber spatula
two thermometers made of glass or stainless steel (candy and meat thermometers work well)
eye protection (wear sunglasses if you have to!)
rubber gloves (optional)
scale to weigh the fats and lye
soap molds (any flexible plastic container works well)
a clock with a second hand or other type timer
wire whisk (optional)
pot holders or oven mitts
measuring spoons

C) The procedure

1) Put the fats in a lye-resistant container and place a glass or stainless steel thermometer into the fats. Be sure the thermometer doesn't touch the bottom of the container and give a false reading. Heat the fats and optional ingredients to the temperature specified in the recipe.

2) Put on eye protection and rubber gloves.

3) Dissolve the lye in cold water (use distilled water if your water is hard). Wait for it to reach the temperature specified in the recipe. Use a heat-proof container to measure the amount of cold water (70 to 75 degrees F) specified in the recipe. Cold water is important.

If you add lye to hot or boiling water, the water could "boil-up" out of the container; if you add lye to *really* cold water, the lye/water might not reach the high temperatures required to make some recipes.

Stir the water and slowly add the lye. The water will get hot and turn cloudy. Continue to stir until the lye dissolves. Don't breathe or intentionally smell the fumes coming from the cup because they are quite "chokey." If you wait too long to stir the water, the lye could harden in the bottom of the container. This is not a problem. You can still stir it, but it will be more difficult. Add a glass or stainless steel thermometer to the lye/water and wait until it reaches the temperature specified in the recipe.

4) When both the fat and the lye/water reach the temperature specified in the recipe, add the lye/water to the fat. I's sometimes a balancing act to get the fat mixture and the lye/water mxiture to specific temperatures at the same time. Never place lye/water in a microwave (the cup could break). It takes lye/water longer to cool than it takes fat to heat. Most soapmakers wait for the lye/water to cool to about five degrees above the desired temperature, then heat the fat.

When both the lye/water and the fat are within five degrees of the temperatures specified in the recipe, use a pot holder and move the bowl to a sink (to contain splatters). Slowly pour the lye/water into the fats while stirring. (Note: Temperatures for small one-pound batches of soap poured into individual molds aren't critical. As long as the lye/water and fats are between 120 and 140 degrees F you will have good success. Larger batches or batches poured into a single mold, require the lower temperature range.)

5) Stir the soap until it "traces." When lye, water and fat first combine, the mixture is thin and watery. Gradually, as the lye and fat react chemically to form soap, the mixture thickens and turns opaque. "Tracing" is a term to describe the consistency (thickness) of soap when it's ready to pour into molds.

To test for tracing:

a. Drip some soap onto the surface of the soap in the stirring bowl. It should leave a "trace" or small mound.
b. Draw a line in the soap with a spoon or rubber spatula. If a "trace" of the line remains for a few seconds, the soap has traced.
Tracing is easy to recognize, yet it causes new soapmakers a lot of worry. Relax and know that the soap will trace eventually. Just stir the soap constantly for the first 15 minutes or so, then stir the soap every fifteen minutes until it thickens and traces, no matter how long it takes.

6) After the soap traces, add up to one tablespoon essential oil (if desired) and stir a few minutes longer to incorporate the oil. About the only soap that remains totally scent-free is the Pure Soap Recipe that follows. Other fats result in soap that has a "fatty lye" smell. Essentials oils are necessary for a pleasant-smelling product.

7) Pour the soap into molds and wait for it to harden.

8) Unmold the soap, Soap is still harsh when it's time to remove it from the molds. Put on rubber gloves and press the back of each mold compartment to release the soap. It's a lot like removing ice cubes from a tray.

Sometimes the soap doesn't release easily from the mold. To overcome this problem, leave the soap in a freezer for a few hours. Freezing soap causes it to contract slightly, become hard and release from the plastic mold.

9) Wait the time specified in a recipe for the soap to "age." (usually 3 weeks). During the aging time the pH of the soap decreased (the soap becomes mild) and the bars harden.

It's a good idea to write the following information on a piece of paper and place it with the soap: the date you made the soap, the date the aging time is over, and the recipe name.

10) Step 10 is *enjoy your soap!*

As soap ages, a fine, white powder may appear on the surface. This is soda ash (sodium carbonate) formed by a reaction of lye with carbon dioxide in air. This white powder is mostly on the surface exposed to air while the soap was in the molds. Soap that contains wax develops little or no soda ash. There are three ways to deal with soda ash:

a. Try to prevent it. Immediately after pouring soap into molds, cover the soap with plastic wrap or waxed paper. Press the wrap or paper onto the surface of the soap to prevent air contact.
b. Cut it away. Overfill the molds slightly. Later, when the soap hardens, take a knife and cut the soap level with the mold. This also cuts away the soda ash.
c. Wash it away. Wait until the soap ages and hardens. Wash the powder away by rubbing the soap with your hands under running water or by rubbing the soap over a wet dishcloth. Set the soap aside to dry

D. Herbal soap

You can replace the water in soap recipes with herbal tea, but to be honest, most of the properties (color and fragrance) are lost.

The best way to use herbs in soap is to add dry, finely powdered herbs to the fats before adding the lye/water. Use anywhere from 1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup dried herbs to 1 lb soap. Coarsly ground herbs should be restricted to about 1 or 2 tablespoons per lb soap because they contribute a coarseness to the soap that sometimes makes it uncomfortable during use.

The nicest way to add properties of herbs to soap is the addition of pure essential oils. Use anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons essential oil per lb soap (depending on the strength of the oil).

Color is an illusive thing as far as soap is concerned. Natural colors can be obtained by adding 2 tablespoons red clay, calendula petals, or palm oil from Lorann Oils (yellow). Strong, true color can be obtained from Pourette's dye recommended for soap. Use up to 1/8 teaspoon Pourette dye per lb soap.

E. Superfatting soap

The following recipes have the exact amount of lye to make soap that contains very little excess fat. This soap leaves skin perfectly clean and smooth feeling. The Pure Soap without essential oil is a good laundry product, dishwashing soap etc.

Some people like excess fat in recipes. For this I recommend 2 to 4 tablespoons castor oil added when the soap traces. Castor oil is emollient and contributes to soap lather. Adding castor oil after tracing along with 1 tablespoon essential oil also seems to help retain the soap fragrance.

Easy natural shampoo handmade at home!

2006-12-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

Very simple natural shampoo can be made with dried Soapwort (Saponaria)

You need approximately:

1 oz of dried soapwort
1 to 1 1/2 pts of water (pure/spring/distilled)
1 oz herbs of choice (based on what type of shampoo-see * note below)
Put boiling water on the dried soapwort and soak overnight.

Bring mixture to boil (in an enamel pan) and simmer, covered for about 15-20 minutes. Stir in herbs, and store it, covered, until it is cool enough to use. Strain before using.

* note: choose one or combination of herbs for properties desired.

Examples:

Marsh mallow is used for dry hair
Peppermint/Lavender used for oily hair
Marigold/Calendula for red hair
etc., etc., and so forth and so on and on and on

Herbs that may be used for mental health

2006-12-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

Although there have been tests on many herbs, there is often no conclusive information about what side effects may occur and how likely they are. However, in comparison to the majority of pharmaceuticals, herbs are well tolerated.

It’s worth remembering that herbal remedies have been used safely for a very long time.

Damiana

A herb, Damiana Turnera diffusa. ( Plant family: Turneraceae.) Comes as a leaf, powder, capsule, tincture or fluid extract.

What's it for?

A tonic herb to strengthen the reproductive and nervous systems. For mild to moderate depression and anxiety associated with fatigue. Also for lack of sexual desire.

Possible side effects

No reported side effects.

Caution

Turnera can be very stimulating, so, if you are self-prescribing, use the minimum dosage.

Gingko biloba

Extract from a Chinese tree. (Plant family: Gingkoaceae.) Comes as tablets, liquid or tea.

What's it for?

Memory and other age-related mental effects. Can be helpful for depression, and when an antidepressant reduces interest in sex. Gingko has a powerful influence on the circulatory system, and research has been undertaken into how it affects Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Possible side effects

Rare. Stomach upset, headache, allergic skin reactions, or slight dizziness, on occasion.

Kava kava

A shrub, Piper methysticum, a member of the pepper family. (Plant family: Piperaceae.) Comes as pills, capsules, liquids, tea, tincture or spray. Currently unavailable in the UK.

What's it for?

Anxiety and stress. May also be helpful for sleep, pain and depression. Used for chronic irritation of the urinary tract and for some arthritis.

Possible side effects

Generally well tolerated. Exceptionally, people have experienced stomach discomfort, headache, tiredness and wobbliness.

Caution

Consult your doctor if you are already taking sedatives.

Lavender

A herb, Lavendula officinalis. (Plant family: Labiatae.) Available as a tea, essential oil and in some over-the-counter preparations.

What’s it for?

A safe herb, generally used to influence the nervous system, digestive system, circulation and skin. Aids sluggish digestion and sleep, and relieves tension headaches. Also used by herbalists to help people with mild to moderate depression, and to ease pain.

Possible side effects

No reported side effects.

Lemon balm

A herb, Melissa officinalis. (Plant family: Labiatae.) Available as a tea and essential oil.

What’s it for?

Anxiety, irritability, insomnia, headaches and period pains.

Possible side effects

No reported side effects.

Peppermint

Mentha piperita. (Plant family: Labiatae.) Comes as herb, powder, capsule, essential oil, tincture and fluid extract.

What's it for?

Commonly used by sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome. Useful for those who experience nausea due to emotional disruption, for digestive spasm and pain, mild diarrhoea, headaches and migraine.

Caution

Do not use medicinally in children under five. Do not use during pregnancy or when breastfeeding.

St John's wort

A herb, Hypericum perforatum. (Plant family: Guttiferae.) Comes as tablets, capsules, liquid, tea, tincture, ointment and oil.

What's it for?

Depression. Clinical trials confirm its benefits for treating mild depression. May also be helpful for anxiety, sleep problems and seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It can influence the nervous system, the body's defences (the immune system) and the glands, and can be used, internally and externally, for a wide range of symptoms. Herbalists may use St John’s wort to influence a number of health problems, including nerve damage, menopausal symptoms and viral infections.

Possible side effects

Mild nausea, headaches, sleepiness, dry mouth, constipation, itchiness, restlessness, dizziness, mania (in manic depression) and sunburn. Has been shown in scientific trials to have fewer side effects than older antidepressants.

Caution

Do not use it if you are taking medication (including the contraceptive pill) without seeking professional advice. May thin the blood. The Medicines Control Agency suggests it should not be used with drugs such as Warfarin, anticonvulsants and certain antidepressants. Increases the skin's sensitivity to sun.

Valerian

A common plant, Valeriana officinalis. (Plant family: Valerianaceae.) Comes in capsules, pills, liquid extracts, tinctures, infusions, and tea.

What's it for?

Anxiety and stress. It may be helpful for depression and for sleep problems. Herbalists may use valerian in combination with other herbs for pain management and to influence a whole range of health problems that may be exacerbated by disruption of the nervous system.

Possible side effects

Mild headaches, feeling sick, nervousness, palpitations, grogginess on waking. Long-term use at large doses may increase the range and severity of side effects.

Superfatting soap recipes for home crafting

2006-12-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Superfatting soap

Pure Soap

16 oz coconut oil
2.8 oz lye
1 cup water (8 fluid ounces)
Fat and lye/water temperature about 120 degrees F
Time in molds: 48 hours
Age: 3 weeks

Pure Soap II (softer style)

16 oz weight coconut oil
2.9 oz lye
3/4 cup water (6 fluid ounces)
Oil room temp
Mix and use lye
Estimated tracing 1 to 2 hours

When the soap traces, add 4 tablespoons castor oil to superfat the soap. Makes a smoother texture. Leave the soap in the mold 24 hours, freeze 3 hours, then remove from the mold. Age: 3 weeks.

Soap III

6 oz coconut oil
6 oz olive oil
5 oz vegetable shortening
2.6 oz lye
1 cup water (8 fluid ounces)
Fat and lye/water temperature about 120 degrees F
Time in molds: 48 hours
Age: 4 weeks

Soap IV

9 oz vegetable shortening
4 oz coconut oil
3 oz lard
2.4 oz lye
3/4 cup water (6 fluid ounces)
Fat and lye/water temperature about 120 degrees F
Time in molds: 24 hours
Age: 3 weeks

Soap V

10 oz vegetable shortening
6 oz coconut oil
2.4 oz lye
1 cup water (8 fluid ounces)
Fat and lye/temperature about 120 degrees F
Time in molds: 48 hours
Age: 4 weeks

Soap VI & VII

16 oz lard or beef tallow
2.3 oz lye
3/4 cup water (6 fluid ounces)
Estimated tracing 45 minutes
Fat and lye/water temperature about 120 degrees F
Time in molds: 24 hours
Age: 3 weeks

Soap VIII

Beeswax Castile
13 oz weight olive oil
2 oz beeswax
1 oz palm oil
2.1 oz lye
1 cup water (8 fluid ounces)
(melt the beeswax with the fats)
Fat and lye/water temperature about 150 degrees F
Tracing time: about 12 minutes FAST!
Time in molds: 48 hours
Place the soap in a freezer for 3 hours, then remove it from the molds
Age: 6 to 8 weeks for the bars to harden

Beeswax Soap IX

(follow directions at "Soap VII)
16 oz weight olive oil
2 oz weight beeswax
2.2 oz weight lye
1 cup water (8 fluid ounces)

I really hope you feel confident enought to prepare your first batch of soap. Good luck and happy lathering.

Principles and Practice of Nature Cure

2006-11-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

Nature Cures, not the Physician.
- Hippocrates

Nature cure is a constructive method of treatment which aims at removing the basic cause of disease through the rational use of the elements freely available in nature. It is not only a system of healing, but also a way of life, in tune with the internal vital forces or natural elements comprising the human body. It is a complete revolution in the art and science of living.

Although the term ‘naturopathy’ is of relatively recent origin, the philosophical basis and several of the methods of nature cure treatments are ancient. It was practised in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Hippocrates, the father of medicine ( 460-357 B.C.) strongly advocated it. India, it appears, was much further advanced in older days in natural healing system than other countries of the world. There are references in India’s ancient sacred books about the extensive use of nature’s excellent healing agents such as air, earth, water and sun. The Great Baths of the Indus Valley civilisation as discovered at Mohenjodaro in old Sind testifies to the use of water for curative purposes in ancient India.

The modern methods of nature cure originated in Germany in 1822, when Vincent Priessnitz established the first hydropathic establishment there. With his great success in water cure, the idea of drugless healing spread throughout the civilised world and many medical practitioners throughout the civilised world and many medical practitioners from America and other countries became his enthusiastic students and disciples. These students subsequently enlarged and developed the various methods of natural healing in their own way. The whole mass of knowledge was later collected under one name, Naturopathy. The credit for the name Naturopathy goes to Dr. Benedict Lust ( 1872 - 1945), and hence he is called the Father of Naturopathy.

Nature cure is based on the realisation that man is born healthy and strong and that he can stay as such as living in accordance with the laws of nature. Even if born with some inherited affliction, the individual can eliminate it by putting to the best use the natural agents of healing.

Fresh air, sunshine, a proper diet, exercise, scientific relaxation, constructive thinking and the right mental attitude, along with prayer and meditation all play their part in keeping a sound mind in a sound body.

Nature cure believes that disease is an abnormal condition of the body resulting from the violation of the natural laws. Every such violation has repercussions on the human system in the shape of lowered vitality, irregularities of the blood and lymph and the accumulation of waste matter and toxins. Thus, through a faulty diet it is not the digestive system alone which is adversely affected. When toxins accumulate, other organs such as the bowels, kidneys, skin and lungs are overworked and cannot get rid of these harmful substances as quickly as they are produced.

Besides this, mental and emotional disturbances cause imbalances of the vital electric field within which cell metabolism takes place, producing toxins. When the soil of this electric filed is undisturbed, disease-causing germs can live in it without multiplying or producing toxins. It is only when it is disturbed or when the blood is polluted with toxic waste that the germs multiply and become harmful.

Basic Principles

The whole philosophy and practice of nature cure is built on three basic principles. These principles are based on the conclu sions reached from over a century of effective naturopathic treatment of diseases in Germany, America and Great Britain. They have been tested and proved over and over again by the results obtained.

The first and most basic principle of nature cure is that all forms of disease are due to the same cause, namely, the accumulations of waste materials and bodily refuse in the system. These waste materials in the healthy individual are removed from the system through the organs of elimination. But in the diseased person, they are steadily piling up in the body through years of faulty habits of living such as wrong feeding, improper care of the body and habits contributing to enervation and nervous exhaustion such as worry, overwork and excesses of all kinds. It follows from this basic principle that the only way to cure disease is to employ methods which will enable the system to throw off these toxic accumulations. All natural treatments are actually directed towards this end.

The second basic principle of nature cure is that all acute diseases such as fevers, colds, inflammations, digestive disturbances and skin eruptions are nothing more than self-initiated efforts on the part of the body to throw off the accumulated waste materials and that all chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, rheumatism, asthma, kidney disorders, are the results of continued suppression of the acute diseases through harmful methods such as drugs, vaccines, narcotics and gland extracts.

The third principle of nature cure is that the body contains an eleborate healing mechanism which has the power to bring about a return to normal condition of health, provided right methods are employed to enable it to do so. In other words, the power to cure disease lies within the body itself and not in the hands of the doctor.

Nature Cure vs Modern System

The modern medical system treats the symptoms and suppresses the disease but does little to ascertain the real cause. Toxic drugs which may suppress or relieve some ailments usually have harmful side-effects. Drugs usually hinder the self-healing efforts of the body and make recovery more difficult. According to the late Sir William Osler, an eminent physician and surgeon, when drugs are used, the patient has to recover twice - once from the illness, and once from the drug.

Drugs cannot cure diseases; disease continues. It is only its pattern that changes. Drugs also produce dietary deficiencies by destroying nutrients, using them up, and preventing their absorption. Moreover, the toxicity they produce occurs at a time when the body is least capable of coping with it. The power to restore health thus lies not in drugs,but in nature.

The approach of modern system is more on combative lines after the disease has set in, whereas nature cure system lays greater emphasis on preventive method and adopts measures to attain and maintain health and prevent disease. The modern medical system treats each disease as a separate entity, requiring specific drug for its cure, whereas the nature cure system treats the organism as a whole and seeks to restore harmony to the whole of the patient’s being.

Methods of Nature Cure

The nature cure system aims at the readjustment of the human system from abnormal to normal conditions and functions, and adopts methods of cure which are in conformity with the constructive principles of nature. Such methods remove from the system the accumulation of toxic matter and poisons without in any way injuring the vital organs of the body. They also stimulate the organs of elimination and purification to better functioning.

To cure disease, the first and foremost requirement is to regulate the diet. To get rid of accumulated toxins and restore the equilibrium of the system, it is desirable to completely exclude acid-forming foods, including proteins, starches and fats, for a week or more and to confine the diet to fresh fruits which will disinfect the stomach and alimentary canal. If the body is overloaded with morbid matter, as in acute disease, a complete fast for a few days may be necessary for the elimination of toxins. Fruit juice may, however, be taken during a fast. A simple rule is: do not eat when you are sick, stick to a light diet of fresh fruits. Wait for the return of the usual healthy appetite. Loss of appetite is Nature’s warning that no burden should be placed on the digestive organs. Alkaline foods such as raw vegetables and sprouted whole grain cereals may be added after a week of a fruits-only diet.

Another important factor in the cure of diseases by natural methods is to stimulate the vitality of the body. This can be achieved by using water in various ways and at varying temperatures in the form of packs or baths. The application of cold water, especially to the abdomen, the seat of most diseases, and to the sexual organs, through a cold sitting ( hip) bath immediately lowers body heat and stimulates the nervous system. In the form of wet packs, hydrotherapy offers a simple natural method of abating fevers and reducing pain and inflammation without any harmful side-effects. Warm water applications, on the other hand, are relaxing.

Other natural methods useful in the cure of diseases are air and sunbaths, exercise and massage. Air and sunbaths revive dead skin and help maintain it in a normal condition. Exercise, especially yogic asanas,promotes inner health and harmony and helps eliminate all tension: physical, mental and emotional. Massage tones up the nervous system and quickens blood circulation and the metabolic process.

Thus a well-balanced diet, sufficient physical exercise, the observation of the other laws of well-being such as fresh air, plenty of sunlight, pure drinking water,scrupulous cleanliness, adequate rest and right mental attitude can ensure proper health and prevent disease.

Herbal Magic: Herbs terms to know

2006-11-29T06:23:00.000-08:00

DECOCTION: Place one ounce of herb in one pint of water. Make certain that roots are put in to boil before leaves. Once the water has come to a boil, simmer for about 30 minutes covered, then leave to cool completely. Strain and use as directed.

INFUSION: The original form of a potion, an infusion is not unlike a tea in quality. Pour boiling water over the herb in the proportions of one ounce herb to one pint water (although you may need much less for herbs that infuse quickly in water). Steep for fifteen to thirty minutes until a tea is formed. Use as directed.

MACERATE: To steep an herb in fat, such as done with salve and ointments. Best oils to use are almond and sesame. Warm one cup of oil over a low flame and place onehalf ounce herbs wrapped in cheesecloth to soak. Continue until the herbs have lost their color and the oil is rich with their scent.

OINTMENT: A fatty substance such as lard to which herbs are added. Choose herbs according to the effect you desire, or enchant them, or both. For healing ointments, choose according to physical ailment. Three teaspoon of herb to one cup of fat, steeped and heated several times should prove very nice. Vegetable shortening will work very well, especially almond and saffron. All ointments should be kept cool and in air tight containers for best results. For magic, ointments work best when applied to pulse points or charkas.

POULTICE: A portion of herbs placed in an equal amount of boiling water to steep. Once herbs have been fully dampened, strain the water and place the herbs in gauze or cheesecloth applied directly to the affected area. This can be a little messy, so have a towel handy. It works fairly well, especially for rashes and other mild skin disorders.

TINCTURE: For ounces of herb steeped in eight ounces of alcohol for about two weeks gives a reasonable tincture. The bottle should be sealed and left in a dark area, and the liquid strained when the tincture is ready. WASH: A tea or infusion meant only for external use. A mild form of a wash would be 1/4 ounce of herb to one pint of boiling water, steeped until lukewarm, then applied.

Fasting - The Master Remedy

2006-11-28T07:19:00.000-08:00

Fasting refers to complete abstinence from food for a short or long period for a specific purpose.

The word is derived from the old English, ‘feastan’ which means to fast, observe, be strict.

Fasting is nature’s oldest, most effective and yet least expensive method of treating disease. It is recognised as the cornerstone of natural healing. Dr. Arnold Eheret, the originator of the muscusless diet healing system, describes it as "nature’s only universal and omnipotent remedy of healing" and "nature’s only fundamental law of all healing and curing."

The practice of fasting is one of the most ancient customs. It is followed in almost every religion.

The Mohammedan, the Buddhists, the Hindus and many others have their periods of strict fasting. The saints of medieval times laid great stress on this method.

Fasting indisease was advocated by the school of natural philosopher, Asclepiades, more than two thousand years ago. Throughout medical history, it has been regarded as one of the most dependable curative methods. Hippocrates, Galen, Paracelsus and many other great authorities on medicine prescribed it. Many noted modern physicians have successfully employed this system of healing in the treatment of numerous diseases.

The common cause of all diseases is the accumulation of waste and poisonous matter in the body which results from overeating. The majority of persons eat too much and follow sedentary occupations which do not permit sufficient and proper exercise for utilisation of this large quantity of food. This surplus overburdens the digestive and assimulative organs and clogs up the system with impurities or poisons. Digestion and elimination become slow and the functional activity of the whole system gets deranged.

The onset of disease is merely the process of ridding the system of these impurities. Every disease can be healed by only one remedy - by doing just the opposite of what causes it, that is, by reducing the food intake or fasting.

By depriving the body of food for a time ,the organs of elimination such as the bowels, kidneys, skin and lungs are given opportunity to expel, unhampered, the overload of accumulated waste from the system. Thus, fasting is merely the process of purification and an effective and quick method of cure. It assists nature in her continuous effort to expel foreign matter and disease producing waste from the body, thereby correcting the faults of improper diet and wrong living. It also leads to regeneration of the blood as well as the repair and regeneration of the various tissues of the body.

Duration

The duration of the fast depends upon the age of the patient, the nature of the disease and the amount and type of drugs previously used. The duration is important, because long periods of fasting can be dangerous if undertaken without competent professional guidance. It is, therefore, advisable to undertake a series of short fasts of two to three days and gradually increase the duration of each succeeding fast by a day or so. The period, however, should not exceed a week of total fasting at a time. This will enable the chronically sick body to gradually and slowly eliminate toxic waste matter without seriously affecting the natural functioning of the body. A correct mode of living and a balanced diet after the fast will restore vigour and vitality to the individual.

Fasting is highly beneficial in practically all kinds of stomach and intestinal disorders and in serious conditions of the kidneys and liver. It is a miracle cure for eczema and other skin diseases and offers the only hope of permanent cure in many cases. The various nervous disorders also respond favourably to this mode of treatment.

Fasting should, however, not be restored to in every illness. In cases of diabetes, advanced stages of tuberculosis, and extreme cases of neurasthenia, long fasts will be harmful. IN most cases, however , no harm will accrue to fasting patients, provided they take rest, and are under proper professional care.

Methods

The best, safest and most effective method of fasting is juice fasting. Although the old classic form of fasting was a pure water fast, most ofthe leading authorities on fasting today agree that juice fasting is far superior to a water fast. According to Dr. Rangar Berg, the world – famous authority on nutrition, "During fasting the body burns up and excretes huge amounts of accumulated wastes. We can help this cleansing process by drinking alkaline juice instead of water while fasting ... Elimina tion of uric acid and other inorganic acids will be accelerated. And sugars in juices will strengthen the heart ... juice fasting is, therefore, the best form of fasting. "Vitamins, minerals, enzymes and trace elements in fresh, raw vegetable and fruit juices are extremely beneficial in normalising all the body processes. They supply essential elements for the body’s own healing activity and cell renegeration and thus speeding the recovery. All juices should be prepared from fresh fruit immediately before drinking. Canned or frozen juices should not be used.

A precautionary measure which must be observed in all cases of fasting is the complete emptying of the bowels at the beginning of the fast by enema so that the patient is not bothered by gas or decomposing matter formed from the excrements remaining in the body. Enemas should be administered at least every alternate day during the fasting period. The patient should get as much fresh air as possible and should drink plain lukewarm water when thirsty. Fresh juices may be diluted with pure water. The total liquid intake should be approximately six to eight glasses.

A lot of energy is spent during the fast in the process of eliminating accumulated poisons and toxic waste materials. It is, therfore, of utmost importance that the patients gets as much physical rest and mental relaxation as possible during the fast. IN cases of fasts in which fruit juices are taken, especially when fresh grapes, oranges or grapefruit are used exclusively, the toxic wastes enter the blood -stream rapidly, resulting in an overload of toxic matter, which affects normal bodily functions. This often results in dizzy spells, followed by diarrhoea and vomiting. If this physical reaction persists, it is advisable to discontinue the fast and take cooked vegetables containing adequate roughage such as spinach and beets until the body functioning returns to normal.

The overweight person finds it much easier to go without food. Loss of weight causes no fear and the patient’s attitude makes fasting almost a pleasure. The first day’s hunger pangs are perhaps the most difficult to bear. The craving for food will, however, gradually decrease as the fast progresses. Seriously sick persons have no desire for food and fasting comes naturally to

them. The simples rule is to stop eating until the appetite returns or until one feels completely well.

Only very simple exercises like short walks may be undertaken during the fast. A warm water or neutral bath may be taken during the period. Cold baths are not advisable. Sun and air baths should be taken daily. Fasting sometimes produces a state of sleeplessness which can be overcome by a warm tub bath, hot water bottles at the feet and by drinking one or two glasses of hot water.

Benefits

There are several benefit of fasting. During a long fast, the body feeds upon its reserves. Being deprived of needed nutrients, particularly of protein and fats, it will burn and digest its own tissues by the process of autolysis or self-digestion. But it will not do so indistriminately. The body will first decompose and burn those cells and tissues which are diseased, damaged, aged or dead. The essential tissues and vital organs, the glands, the nervous system and the brain are not damaged or digested in fasting. Here lies the secret of the effectiveness of fasting as a curative and rejuvenative method. During fasting, the building of new and healthy cells are speeded up by the amino acids released from the diseased cells. The capacity of the eliminative

organs, that is, lungs, liver, kidneys and the skin is greatly increased as they are relieved of the usual burden of digesting food and eliminating the resultant wastes. They are, therefore, able to quickly expel old accumulated wastes and toxins.

Fasting affords a physiological rest to the digestive, assimilative and protective organs. As a result, the digestion of food and the utilisation of nutrients is greatly improved after fasting. The fast also exerts a normalising, stablising and rejuvenating effect on all the vital physiological, nervous and mental functions.

Breaking of Fast

The success of the fast depends largely on hos it is broken. This is the most significant phase. The main rules for breaking the fast are: do not overeat, eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly; and take several days for the gradual change to the normal diet. If the transition to eating solid foods is carefully planned, there will be no discomfort or damage. The patient should also continue to take rest during the transition period. The right food after a fast is as important and decisive for proper results as the fast itself.

Woods: their types and uses herbal magic

2006-11-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

The ancient Celtic tree alphabet was used by the followers of the Old Religion to construct a language of the trees that could be used in conjunction with the occult symbolism of each of the trees. When translated from the ancient tongue we find the following trees referenced often: Elm, Birch, Hazel, Oak, Aspen, Alder, Ivy, Yew, Rowan, Ash, Pine, Willow, Elder, and Spindle.

These trees, along with others, will be covered. From early times, there have been the sacred groves and the sacred tree.

Individual trees of particular species have been revered, the kind varying with the divine force represented. Oak and Cedar are obvious examples of father emblems as Willow and Hazel are mother emblems. The androgynous Pine and the world bearing Ash also have their place in our folklore. The symbolism of the woods is very important in the construction of any magical tool. A complete description of the various woods and their uses is impossible in a limited space but we will cover as much as possible.

OAK

The oak tree is the tree of Zeus, Jupiter, Hercules, The Dagda (The Chief of the Elder Irish gods), Thor and all other Thunder Gods. The royalty of the Oak needs no enlarging upon. The Oak is the tree of endurance and triumph, and like the Ash, is said to count the lightings' flash. The Oak is a male wood, which is ideal for the construction of any tool that needs the male influence such as Athames, certain wands and staffs. The midsummer fire is always Oak and the need fire is always kindled in an Oak log.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Endurance, triumph, strength, power, dominion, prosperity,

sacrifice, guardian, liberator.

BIRCH

With the exception of the mysterious elder, the Birch is the earliest of the forest trees. The Birch is used extensively in cleansing rituals. Throughout Europe, Birch twigs are used to expel evil spirits. Birch rods are also used in rustic rituals to drive out the spirits of the old year.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Controlled by the Lunar influences. Birth, healing, Lunar workings, and protection.

HAZEL

The Hazel is a tree of wisdom. In England, all the knowledge of the arts and sciences were bound to the eating of Hazel nuts. Until the seventeenth century, a forked Hazelstick was used to divine the guilt of persons in cases of murder and theft. We have retained the practice of divining for water and buried treasure.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Wisdom, intelligence, inspiration, wrath.

ALDER

The Alder is the tree of fire. In the battle of the trees, the Alder fought in the very front line. It is described as the very "battle witch" of all woods, the tree that is hottest in the fight. from the alder, you can make three different dyes, red from its bark, green from its flowers, and brown from its twigs; this symbolizes the elements of fire, water and earth. The Alder wood is the wood of the witches.

Whistles may be made of this wood to summon and control the four winds. It is

also the ideal wood for making the magical pipes and flutes. To prepare the wood for use, beat the bark away with a willow stick while projecting your wishes into it. The Alder is a token of resurrection.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Controlling the four winds, banishing and controlling elementals, resurrection. Making magical dyes.

IVY / VINE

The Ivy was sacred to Osiris as well as to Dionysus. Vine and Ivy come next to each other at the turn of the year, and are jointly dedicated to resurrection. Presumably, this is because they are the only two trees that grow spirally. The Vine also symbolizes resurrection because its strength is preserved in the wine.

OCCULT ASPECTS: (VINE) Faerie work, Joy, Exhilaration, Wrath, Rebirth. (IVY) Fidelity, Constancy, Love, Intoxication.

YEW

The Yew is known as the death tree in all European countries. Sacred to Hecate in Greece and Italy. Yew wood makes excellent bows, as the Romans learned from the Greeks. This strengthened the belief that Yew was connected with death. Its use in England is recalled in Macbeth where Hecate's cauldron contained:” Slips of Yew, slivered in the moon eclipse. "The Silver Fir of birth and the Yew of death are sisters. They stand next to each other in the circle of the year and their foliage is almost identical.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Destructive workings concerning death. Not recommended for magical tools "...for I am the tomb to every hope.

ROWAN

The Rowan is seen as the tree of life. It is also known as Mountain Ash, Quickbeam, The Witch or Witch Wand. In the British Isles, Rowan is used as a protection against lightning and magical charms of all sorts. In ancient Ireland, the Druids of opposing forces would kindle a fire of rowan and say an incantation over it to summon spirits to take part in the battle. The Rowan is also used for many healing purposes. The "Quickbeam" is the tree of quickening. Another use was in metal divining. In Ireland, a Rowan stake was hammered through a corpse to immobilize the spirit.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Divination, healing, astral work, protection.

ASH

The Ash is sacred to Poseidon and Woden. The Ash is considered to be the father of trees. The Ash is the tree of sea power, or of the power resident in water. Special guardian spirits reside in the Ash; This makes it excellent for absorbing sickness. The spirally carved druidical wand was made of Ash for this purpose.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Sea power, karmic laws, magical potency, healing,

protection from drowning.

PINE

External symbol of life and immortality. It is one of the few trees that are androgynous. It was also worshiped by the ancients as a symbol of fire because of its resemblance to a spiral of flame. It is regarded as a very soothing tree External symbol of life and immortality. It is one of the few trees that are androgynous. It was also worshiped by the ancients as a symbol of fire because of its resemblance to a spiral of flame. It is regarded as a very soothing tree to be near.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Strength, life and immortality, rejuvenation

WILLOW

The Willow was sacred to Hecate, Circe, Hera, and Persephone, all death aspects of the Triple Moon Goddess, and was often used by the Witches in Greece. The moon owns it. Female symbol. It is the tree that loves water most and is sacred to the Moon Goddess who is the giver of dew and moisture, generally. The Willow is the tree of enchantment. Can be made into a tool to make wishes come true.

OCCULT PURPOSES: Moon magic, psychic energy, healing, inspiration, fertility

ELDER

A waterside tree, the Elder has white flowers that bloom to their peak in midsummer (as is also true for the Rowan) thus making the Elder another aspect of the White Goddess. The Elder is also said to be the crucifixion tree. The inner bark and the flowers have long been famous for their therapeutic qualities.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Witchcraft, banishment, magical art, waters of life.

HAWTHORN

The Whitethorn or Hawthorn or May Witch takes its name from the May.

It is a generally unlucky tree and its name, translated from the Irish Brehon Laws, had the meaning "harm". The Goddess, under the name Cardea, cast spells with the Hawthorn. In many cultures, the month of the Hawthorn (May) is a month of bad luck for marriages. The Hawthorn blossom, for many men, has the strong scent of female sexuality and was used by the Turks as an erotic symbol. The monks of Glastonbury perpetuated it and sanctified it with an approving tale that the staff of Joseph and the Crown of thorns were made of Hawthorn.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Purification, enforced chastity, male potency, cleansing.

HOLLY

Holly means "holy". The identification of the pacific Christ with the Holly is poetically inept a it is the Oak king, not the Holly king that is crucified on a T shaped cross. The Holly has many uses form making a dye from its berries to being used as an aphrodisiac.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Holiness, consecration, material gain, physical revenge, beauty

WHITE POPALAR

The tree of the Autumn Equinox and of old age, is the shifting leaved White Popular, or Aspen, The shield makers tree. Heracles bound his head in triumph with popular after killing the giant Cacus (the evil one). The Black popular was a funeral tree sacred to the Mother Earth. Plato makes a reference to the use of Black popular and Silver Fir as an aid in divination. The Silver Fir standing for hope assured and the Black Popular for loss of hope. In ancient Ireland, the coffin makers measuring rod was made of Aspen, apparently to remind the dead that this was not the end.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Hope, rebirth, divinations.

This concludes trees referenced to be in use in Europe. However, I thought there may be interest in a few local trees.

ALMOND

Almond has a very sweet natural being. Aids in self-protection.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Fruitfulness, virginity

APPLE

It is an old English custom to drink to the health of the Apple tree with a good glass of cider all in hopes of encouraging the tree to produce a good crop next year.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Fertility

COCONUT

The Coconut is feminine and very fertile. The shell represents the womb, and the milk, fertility.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Protection from negative psychic forces.

FIG

The Fig is androgynous. The fruit representing the feminine and the triple lobed leaves suggest the masculine force.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Balance

MISTLETOE

The mistletoe was sacred to the Druids and to the Norse. It was considered to be the great healer and has both male and female qualities. It was so well regarded by the Norse (because it was sacred to Freya) that they refused to fight in the vicinity of Mistletoe. The custom of hanging Mistletoe in the house to promote peace comes from this. Generally regarded today as a symbol of love and purity.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Love, fertility, sexual potency.

PALM

Is regarded as particularly powerful because of its incredible durability and because it is self renewing, never changing its leaves. Aids in rejuvenation. OCCULT ASPECTS: Resurrection, and the cycle and matrix of life

PEACH

The Peach is an emblem of marriage.

OCCULT ASPECTS: Abundance, fruitfulness, happiness

This concludes this short treatise on the various woods, their types and uses. This information was passed to me through various sources, and no claim is made as to its accuracy.