Ritual water treatments and limpias have unbroken links to ancestral health care practices in many places in the world today. Near lost here in the states with a fascination for ultra-pasteurized ways, thankfully there is a resurrection and a carrying forth in practice among us as we remember and put it all into practice again. We'll begin with the bath.

​With this practice of the ritual bath, we are creating beauty and restoration space for gathering up our soul and spirit pieces that can hide from a hard day or experience. These parts of us know these practices as safe and healing and respond quickly to the healing forces we enlist on behalf of supporting wholeness. Spiritual bathing and the ritual bath are meant to cleanse and protect us spiritually as well as within the other subtle and more physical levels. To create the desired effects, there are a few things to consider. When taking a spiritual, ritual bath, you don’t use soaps, shampoos, or do any leg shaving and such. Once the bath is prepared, you are entering a sacred healing experience and space so you’ll want to really think about separating your regular bathing with your spiritual bathing.

When we immerse ourselves in a spiritual, ritual bath, we engage an initiation process to open ourselves up to spirit, or that which we refer to as our Divine.

Ritual bathing implies that water and prayer wash away any spiritual grime — cleansing, clearing, and purifying our body and energetic field. It suggests that we are willing to listen to our higher self and begin to trust something outside of our rational mind and allow the wise inner knowing to emerge. There's an affirmation within the act of planning and preparing that speaks of our openness to ask the universe to assist and transform what we believe needs to be shifted within.
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Although spiritual baths can sometimes help alleviate certain physical ailments, especially skin conditions and muscle soreness, they are meant for spiritual healing through release and restore processes. This ultimately affects our physical healing.

If you have open wounds or have just had surgery, do not immerse the wounded area in the water for several days and if you choose to anyway, which is fine for surface wounds, it's wise to sprinkle a few cups of strong herbal infusions and a handful of epsom salt only.

​Consider Calendula flowers, Lavender flowers, White pine, Juniper, Oak leaf and bark, Witch Hazel Bark, Rosemary, Roses, Plantain leaf, or Yarrow leaf and flower as infusion choices for skin care to encourage closing wounds. Sea salt will sting any open skin areas with no harm other than it stings. Epsom salts does not. This with speed physical healing and gather the soul and spirit back after such a traumatic event. I suggest a spiritual foot or hand bath for the in-between situations where a full immersion bath must wait or you don't have a bath tub. 

A limpia is a spiritual cleansing that is based in the philosophy and practice of many if not all traditional healing practices of indigenous intact, and lost, cultures of humanity. We all have memory within our bones given through our ancestry of each every bloodline to know these practices and feel deeply drawn to them even in some inexplicable but comforting way. 

To perform a limpia, the curandera or shamanic practitioner uses herbs, flowers, prayers and songs, and the sacred sound of drum or rattle to help purify a person's mind, body and spirit.

Traditional healers work from a place of knowing that physical illnesses or 'conditions' are 99% rooted in the spiritual body. Fresh plant material is chosen and bundled together and swept over the body gently, and sometimes with a little more than gentle shaking and tapping (to whacking pretty good if needed) on the surface of the body from head to toe and front and back of the body. The herbs are regularly smudged through the process and prayers are softly spoken through the wafting, aromatic smudge smoke. Once completed, the energies are tapped into the Earth for composting and the spent herbs which can look quite black and dingy at times, are buried in a ceremonially reverent way.

My teacher Rocio, a born and betrothed shamanic healer from Ecuador, has traveled extensively teaching the power of daily limpias as part of one’s care for their body, mind, soul, and spirit. For times when the gardens sleep, there are the aromatic pines and fresh culinary plants which carry profound support for daily limpias. Rosemary and Thyme are favorites of mine.

Daily limpias are considered part of self care in many cultures and it's common to see limpia plants available in markets in other countries who retain this honoring of spiritual healing through profound, simple and sometimes daily practices.

​Another essential element of the limpia is the smoke of copal, palo santo, white sage, or other plant you consider deeply clearing and protective for this kind of work. Copal is a dried resinous tree sap, palo santo is an aromatic wood that is burned in many different Central and South American ceremonies, and white sage grows here in the states. Do consider tiny amounts for smudge as each of these plants are experiencing threatened existence due to over harvesting. A little goes a long way. 

So it's winter. How do we enjoy a plant limpia in winter? We can. There's always a way. So you have two components here: a bundle of fresh plants, and a bowl of infused water.

The Water:
We could Sun or Moon infuse fresh aromatics or any dried plant material that calls to us and place them in a beautiful bowl set in a window for as long as feels complete. With dried herbs, these can be slowly simmered for 10 minutes and stirred with spoken prayers before placing in the sun or moon light for cooling and infusing. Crystals, flower essences, essential oils, or drops of plant tincture can be added to the water. Do a little bit of research on crystals as there are some that are best left next to the bowl of water for infusing.  Follow your intuitive knowing. My midwife gathered tiny bottles of ocean water from different places around the world. She added 1/4 of the bottle with vodka to preserve it, labeled them and had they lined up near here bathtub to as add to a ritual bath or certainly here for making your waters for a limpia. For the record, one can just do a limpia without the water as well. So you decide what's needed. 

The Limpia:
Make a fresh plant wand for the limpia. It's simple. Bundle a handful of fresh plant material together, such as fresh soft needled pines, flowers that call, and aromatics such as any fresh spices or mint trimmings that you're growing or have purchased at a store. It's pretty easy to get organic Rosemary , mints, Oregano, Thyme and more these day. I also love parsley for my Yemaya ritual to honor the Ocean.   

​Then simply work out your logistics of bringing your infused water and plant bundle with you. You can decide to have infused water as part of this or just sweep the fresh bundle through your smudge smoke or essential oil mist and work the fresh plant material over your body. Bring your fresh plant medicine bundle and bowl of infused water to:

• stand in your tub or shower.
• stand on a towel in any room you feel safe.
• do outside anyway (yes even in winter many do this!) and return to dry by the wood stove. You can just work with the smudge and fresh plant bundle without the water for this. You decide. 
• into a sauna. Lovely! 
• bring your bundle to the waters of Nature and stand in the water, dip your bundle in with you and begin. 

Remember, we are creating beauty and restoration space for gathering up our soul and spirit pieces that can hide from a hard day or experience. These parts of us know these practices as safe and healing and respond quickly to the healing forces we enlist on behalf of supporting wholeness. 

If you've not experienced such things as this that may seem strange, know this practice is ancient and the knowing and memory of administering and receiving of such medicine is within each of us. Many are comforted and take to it quite easily. The aromatic plants release their oils for immediate relief and healing as they waft directly through our sinuses to assist the nervous system that is often atrophied or ramped-up and on edge. When participants studying the medicine plants come to class with me, we do this together each morning. Should intensity arise during sharing we may all move to the Mugwort patch and do another limpia on ourselves or pair up and help each other. There are many giggles among those new to this old medicine way but all take to this quickly and feel shifted near instantly. The plants can do this for us when we arrive in their presence open and receptive. I find my Plant Limpias alone or with Sacred Bathing take my self care just a little bit deeper than a smudge sometimes because sometimes life is that intense and demands a bit more from us to stay well. 

This is an excerpt from a lesson in "Birthing an Herbalist in 13 Moons" online herbal course. I hope you found this informative and helpful and do send along questions if you need clarification. The rules are rather simple. Follow your intuitive connection with the plants, trust and enjoy. Thank you for coming into my world for a bit today. Much Love, Jen

Thank you for visiting and may your journey be safe and we meet soon. Use Coupon Code: plantjourney10 for a 10% discount off you tuition for 'Birthing an Herbalist in 13 Moons" on-line course AND  "Walking the Herbal Path The Earth Medicine Way' live course that begins each year in May. xo-Jen

The ElderMoon Apothecary is slowly and steadily growing like a little carefully tended sapling here. Thank you for supporting creative small business herbalists you love and are drawn to. We are always around, out in the light, in the country and in the city (or hospital like me!), and off the beaten path where we're most comfortable and often sitting with our beloved plants.    

Time for some pleasure... the Lilacs are here! Lilacs are such a welcomed spring flowering shrub. There are about 25 different varieties, the main differences being flower color. Light purple is most common, and there is also white, dark purple, pink, variegated, and a double blossom. The flowers grow in a panicle cluster, and many varieties are fragrant. The leaves are opposite in arrangement and are heart shaped. Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is often planted as an ornamental shrub in yards. Make sure the bush has not been sprayed before you gather your flowers.

There are many recipes for 'Candied Lilac Flowers', 'Lilac Flower Syrup',  and 'Lilac Flower Jelly'. Candied flowers are made by brushing the individual tiny flowers with beaten egg white and sprinkling them with superfine sugar. Yes, a time consuming process, and should be done on a dry day. The results are pretty, and make lovely additions to sweet creations. Syrups are added to seltzer and other mocktails and cocktails for pleasure. Many require cane sugar and so limit who can or will make such recipes these days with cane sugar mindfulness and sensitivities. 

I love the floral scent, of course, and taste initially. This gives way to a subtle bitterness with hints of citrus. One would think, 'bitter'? Well yes, in spring we need bitter components in our diet to assist with the seasonal transitions. Bitter helps our kidneys, liver, and digestive systems make the shift and bring each major filtering organ a beautiful spring tonic too. 

Long respected and still whispering ancient wisdom through the two volume book "The Modern Herbal", Maude Grieves also speaks of lilac flowers, leaves, and fruit as having a long history of carrying medicinal qualities. "Used as a vermifuge in America and as a tonic anti-periodic and febrifuge; may be used as a substitute for aloe to treat skin issues and in the treatment of malaria". Vermifuges are for ridding the body of parasites, hence the bitter component it embodies. Febrifuges are a group of plants that help reduce fever. 

Lilac Flower Essence is easily made if you've been taught how or easily sourced as well. Matthias and Andrea Reisen of Healing Spirits Herb Farm provide one form their gorgeous organic and biodynamic farm and suggest it be called on for assistance with 'standing tall, uprightness with lightness: Helps those who burden themselves, refusing help from others. Brings in laughter, easing painful memories and restoring joy'.

Here are two of my favorite recipes for Springtime. ENJOY! xo-Jen

Ingredients:

• Fresh picked and removed from thems Lilac flowers of any color.
• Jar size of choice 
• Local Honey

Directions:
~ Fill jar with freshly picked flowers with a little room at the top.
~Pour over honey to the top, stir with a chopped stick to get the air bubbles up and out.  
~Now you have two choices on how to proceed:

• Option One: allow to infuse for at least 6 weeks stirring from time to time in warm place.
• Option Two: sit in doble boiler bath for 4 hours and warm chceking to be sure you can always handle the bottle with your bare hands. If not it's too hot and you can degrade the nutritive value of the honey. Once done I let it sit in a warm place for 1-2 weeks.

~ No need to strain afterwards – eat the flowers along with the honey! Great for adding to recipes, spreading on bread, or adding to teas.

Me too. I always think about the skin as our first line or boundary marker. It's like the line drawn in the sand where the landscape changes from what is outer to what is inner; what all can see to what no one can see. What rules these inner and outer landscapes changes too. Boundaries are so important, yes? So we can start with the physical level. What we eat and drink, how we rest and exercise, and more all make a difference in our skin quality. These choices we make are actually the easy part when it comes to boundary work! Keep it simple and turn to chemical free care of body and home. There are so many cosmetic and cleaning chemicals isolated in cancerous tumors today for the body has no idea how to break these substances down. Yes, I read labels or make products I can't find to fit this way of being. All you need are some very basic kitchen skills.

So here's one solution that works in our house. One quality I love about massaging this Shea Butter Plus into my moist skin after bathing is that it's not greasy at all. After a few minutes the skin drinks this deep into the lower layers of our protective barrier and you are left with a silky soft skin texture. The Rosemary is an anciently rooted skin healer meaning we have known for a long time that it will soothe chapped irritated areas, protect open areas from opportunistic microbes looking for an easy ride into our bodies, and strengthen the barrier structure of our skin so it can repair and do as it's designed to do by staying intact and protecting our inner landscape. 

​Shea butter comes from a nut from the African Shea Tree and is an off- white or ivory-colored fat extracted from the nut of this tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). It’s highly revered globally as a skin protectant and healer which began with the people who are profoundly fortunate to live among these trees. Shea butter is honored among drummers and dancers for protecting the integrity of overworked and overexposed skin. When blended into this butter, this can be massaged all over the body. This works for wherever you need it from tired, sore drummer-gardener-farmer-stonelayer-baker-worker hands, to massaging as a hair pomade into the scalp and hair, to massaging on tired feet from long hours of walking and working, to chapped cheeks from too much cold or wind or saltwater swimming skin. ​

Here's to nourishing your skin....  xo-Jen

INGREDIENTS:
4 tablespoon rosemary infused olive oil
3 tablespoon shea butter
1 tablespoon beeswax
1 tablespoon cocoa butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil 
30 drops lavender essential oil - or any essential oil you love (this is optional - this salve can stay unscented too if you prefer that by just leaving this out).

1. Make your rosemary infused olive oil.  Easy - warm fresh rosemary from the healthfood store or your garden in a double boiler with gentle boiling water underneath.  Add 4 tablespoons of fresh leaves to 1/2 cup of olive oil and warm, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 hours. You can chop up the leaves too and this will allow the medicine to come out more quickly. Carefully strain and pour into a glass container, label with the date, and store in cool shaded area. You will have enough for a two batches of this recipe now.

​2. Wipe out your double boiler and re-set on the stove with a pan of simmering water underneath and add all your ingredients to the pan and warm until all is just melted.

3. Pour into a wide mouth jar and allow to cool.  Make a funky personal label and enjoy! Yield 5oz. which is enough for one winter.