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Aug / Sept 2007
Be Your Own Herbal Expert (Part 8) by Susun S Weed The Twilight before a new Dawn by Shelley Yates Regular Columns: with Judy LeBeau Horoscopes for August and September (pdf file format) by Laura Marketing for Healing Professionals by Juliet Austin, MA, Marketing Coach <Nutrition by Lisa Marie Bhattacharya (Whitaker) by Yoga Teacher Sheri Kauhausen Inspirations - Magic Doorways by Devrah Laval Advertorials: Struggling with a Serious Illness?
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Be Your Own Herbal Expert (Part 8)Healing Sweets: herbal honeys, syrups & cough drops by Susun S Weed
In our first lesson, we learned how to “listen” to the plants by focusing on how they taste. In lesson two, we explored simples and water-based herbal remedies. In the third lesson, we learned how to tell safe (nourishing and tonifying) herbs from more dangerous (stimulating and sedating) herbs. Our fourth lesson dealt with poisons; we learned how to make a tincture and we put together our Herbal Medicine Chest. The fifth lesson found us making herbal vinegars, and the sixth, making herbal oils. In our last lesson together, we looked at our thoughts about healing; we discussed the Scientific goal of fixing the broken machine, the Heroic intention to cleanse the toxins from our polluted bodies and the Wise Woman desire to nourish the wholeness of the unique individual.
In this, the eighth lesson, we return to the herbal pharmacy, to make healing sweets: herbal honeys, syrups, and cough drops.
In our next lesson, the ninth and last of this series, we will continue our exploration of the ideas behind healing with a tour of the Seven Medicines. (The above lessons, one thru seven, can be found here: www.v1.thehealingjournal.com/articles.htm - they start at October/November 2005.) Honey has been regarded as a healing substance for thousands of years. Greek healers relied on honey water, vinegar water and honey/vinegar water as their primary cures. An Egyptian medical text dated to about 2600 BCE mentions honey 500 times in 900 remedies. What makes honey so special? First, honey is antibacterial. It counters infections on the skin, in the intestines, in the respiratory system, or throughout the body. Second, honey is hydroscopic, a long word meaning “water loving”. Honey holds moisture in the place where it is put; it can even draw moisture out of the air. A honey facial leaves skin smooth and deliciously moist. These two qualities - anti-infective and hydroscopic - make honey an ideal healer of wounds of all kinds, including burns, bruises and decubita (skin ulcers), an amazing soother for sore throats, a powerful ally against bacterial diarrhea, and a counter to asthma. Third, honey may be as high as 35 percent protein. This, along with the readily-available carbohydrate (sugar) content, provides a substantial surge of energy and a counter to depression. Some sources claim that honey is equal, or superior, to ginseng in restoring vitality. Honey’s proteins also promote healing, both internally and externally. And honey is a source of vitamins B, C, D and E and appears to strengthen the immune system. Honey is gathered from flowers and individual honeys from specific flowers may be more beneficial than a blended honey. Tupelo honey, from tupelo tree blossoms, is high in levulose, which slows the digestion of the honey making it more appropriate for diabetics. Manuka honey, from New Zealand, is certified as antibacterial. My “house brand” is a rich, black, locally-produced autumn honey gathered by the bees from golden rod, buckwheat, chicory and other wild flowers. Raw honey also contains pollen and propolis, bee and flower products that have special healing powers. Bee pollen, like honey, is a concentrated source of protein and vitamins; unlike honey, it is a good source of minerals, hormonal precursors and fatty acids. Bee pollen has a reputation for relieving and with consistent use, curing allergies and asthma. The pollens that cause allergic reactions are from plants that are wind-pollinated, not bee-pollinated, so any bee pollen, or any honey containing pollen, ought to be helpful. One researcher found an 84 percent reduction in symptoms among allergy sufferers who consumed a spoonful of honey a day during the spring, summer and fall plus three times a week in the winter. Propolis is made by the bees from resinous tree saps and is a powerful antimicrobial substance. Propolis can be tinctured in pure grain alcohol (resins do not dissolve well in 100 proof vodka, my first choice for tinctures) and used to counter infections such as bronchitis, sinusitis, colds, flus, gum disease, and tooth decay. WARNING: All honey, but especially raw honey, contains the spores of botulinus. While this is not a problem for adults, children under the age of one year may not have enough stomach acid to prevent these spores from developing into botulism, a deadly poison. HERBAL HONEYS USING YOUR HERBAL HONEYS MAKE AN HERBAL HONEY FRESH PLANTS THAT I USE TO MAKE HERBAL HONEYS MAKE A RUSSIAN COLD REMEDY
Fill a small jar with unpeeled cloves of garlic. MAKE AN EGYPTIAN WOUND SALVE MAKE A REMEDY TO COUNTER DIARRHEA MAKE DR. CHRISTOPHER’S BURN HEALER HERBAL SYRUPS |
USING HERBAL SYRUPS MAKE AN HERBAL SYRUP MAKE HERBAL COUGH DROPS MAKE THROAT-SOOTHING LOZENGES PLANTS THAT I USE TO MAKE HERBAL SYRUPS COMING UP EXPERIMENT NUMBER ONE EXPERIMENT NUMBER TWO EXPERIMENT NUMBER THREE EXPERIMENT NUMBER FOUR FURTHER STUDY ADVANCED WORK Vibrant, passionate and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative. Susun Weed’s books include: Learn more about Ms. Weed’s books at: www.susunweed.com & www.ashtreepublishing.com. The Wise Woman Center, founded in 1984, is a safe place in up-state New York for women around the world to gather together to celebrate the wise woman within and to study herbal medicine and spirit healing with Susun and notable teachers such as Brooke Medicine Eagle, Z Buda pest, Vicki Noble and Merlin Stone. Learn more about Wise Woman classes with Susun Weed or take correspondence courses such as the Green Witch Course (This thirteen month course is designed to draw out and empower your healing and magical abilities and is designed primarily for personal growth. Nonetheless, serious students of herbal/alternative/energy medicine will find it highly beneficial.
Ms. Weed has been called a backwards pioneer. She agrees: “I’ve gone backwards into pre-history, into herstory, to rediscover and rename something as ancient as humanity, but something which is perfectly relevant, indeed critical to our survival, today.” That “some thing” is the Wise Woman tradition; a unique viewpoint from the distant past that she be lieves will help us find answers for our collective future. The Wise Woman viewpoint that we are all connected and that a health crisis is symbolic as well as physical – characterized by some as shamanic, by others as superstitious – still exists in our society today, both in lay healing and in professions such as midwifery and psycho-therapy, but it usually goes unnamed. “One of the characteristics of this tradition is its integration into everyday life. By healing through nourishment, whether it is a hug or a special dinner, the wise woman acts invisibly whenever possible.” This is in marked contrast to other traditions of healing, according to Weed, who differentiates three major healing traditions: the Scientific, the Heroic, and the Wise Woman. In the Scientific tradition the doctor is highly visible and the patient is reduced to a body part or a disease designation. In the Heroic or Holistic tradition, the healer is the one who knows theright way to do things and the patient must follow the rules in order to get well. In the Wise Woman tradition, illness is understood as an integral part of life and self-growth, with healer, patient and nature as co-participants in the healing process. Much of today’s alternative medicine comes from Heroic traditions, which traditionally emphasize fasting, purification, colonic cleansing, rigid dietary rules, and the use of rare botanicals in complicated formulae. Even much of metaphysical healing is applied this way: It views illness as a failure rather than a natural and potentially constructive process. Susun Weed sees herself as a teacher, not a healer. “A healer is someone who does for you, while a teacher shows you how to do for yourself. When I work with a correspondence course student or an apprentice, for instance, I’m working with the intention of helping her to know herself better, to learn how to listen to and nourish all parts of herself, which will allow her to become more healthy/whole/holy.”
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