Welcome Herbalist - Herbalist In The Works - Plant Lover - Fierce Beauty Walker Anyway in an Intense World that Calls To and Needs Us...

​This month in our Monthly Herbal Council at EMS of Herbs, we'll sit together to peek deeper into the practice of 'Plant Dieting', also called 'Sacred Plant Initiations'.  Deepening our practice in relationship with the plants and Earth by drawing wisdom from ancient tools such as 'Plant Dieting' is the goal. These coined phrases encompass the paradoxical simple and profound act of working with or dedicating one's practice to one plant deeply by ingesting only that one plant for period of time. Consider 12 hours to 4 days as the window of time often considered.

We'll explore in council the why's and how's of this practice and how it embodies a feminine form of a  'Questing' in it's deepest expression based on how we prepare and move through it as a practice to deepen consciousness. Dedicated nourishment is woven into the practice here versus intense deprivation. So we'll speak to the elements of a 'Quest' through connecting, preparing, and retreating for self healing and growth.

Preparation is everything (wink wink) meaning you get out of it what you put into it. It's all connected to how we show up. And yes, 'dieting' means we ingest small amounts of just that one plant for a predetermined amount of time while engaging our supportive consciousness shifting tools. 

My desire is for this to be informative and inspiring to deepening your practice of walking strong with the plants and to raise awareness around this ancient way that indigenous cultures put into practice as part of their sacred tending to life. It's worded as 'fasting on one plant'. It can be that, but it's so much more. 

The Why? 
​As an herbalist, or plant lover who turns to plants for healing support where possible, (the same thing), our work with the plants as medicine requires a dedication practice and creative fire to be tended regularly within us. Plant Initiations ~ Plant Dieting can be that bit of lighter fuel to make this fire within jump up for us.

While it may not be for everyone in this moment, I do believe eventually it is for all plant lovers seeking deeper connections and relationships with the plants and Earth. (Jen's take. Leave it at the door if it doesn't feel true for you.) Plus, the benefits of fasting are beautifully researched and gaining awareness and practice for healing all levels of our being. Yes, ancient practices consider spiritual are now proving to heal the physical. Imagine that! 

Consider these as some of the reasons why you might consider embarking on plant dieting. Add your voice to this:
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• You're intuitive. You know it and want to engage this gift further for your walk with the plants, as a beginner or seasoned one, for understanding your unique gifts for personal, family, community and  global expression.

• You desire exploring Earth Medicine based healing and spirituality that's grounded in personal growth, humor, and the simple act of showing up with more of your authentic self. And you know that no other spiritual practice can keep pace humans better than Nature. 

• You're a curious beginner and first timer to the herbal world or are circling back around with a beginner-again mindfulness for a deeper walk on the spiral path of your relationship with plants.

• You're feeling a call to exploring how your relationships, energy, and soul growth can create healing change in the deepest places within you. 

• You believe in the unexplained and so called magical forces of the plants and Earth and want to lean in closer for listening and engaging.

• You know devotional work is the foundation to building your relationships and knowledge with the plants. 

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• It's a soul call with no need for explanation.  ​

​The How?
As stated, preparation is the key. There can be a longer, steady preparatory movement into retreat and return. There can also be a more narrow window with a deep drop and return. Either way can be an incredibly informative experiential ride into unknown terrain where developing our unique skills will be called into action. You know you. Being guided by a space holder seasoned in Plant Initiations is available and resources will be shared for this. But there are those who know this a solo journey and trust their skill set to begin on their own. We'll speak to the creation of this as well.

The What?
What is plant dieting actually? To give the simplest explanation we partner with one plant that calls to us. It begins with the 'yes' in your heart. We then prepare. This includes exploring intentions for healing. Consider one circumstance you know you are seeking support with. Another way is to come to this from a place of deep trust that what comes up is what is needed. 

An elixir or syrup is curated from this one plant you're called to and made in a sacred way. It can include and combination of honey, liquor, tinctures, vinegars, juices, infusions, decoctions, flower essences and even edible honey pastes. A little math to calculate how much you will need based on how long you plan to diet needs to be done (we'll cover this). Space and time are consulted, altars and sacred space worked, journey, meditation, artistic expression, song and sound, writing, dreaming, bathing, limpias, pilgrimages to sacred places, and much more can be woven in. 

It can be a community experience (I've been with 25 people sometimes). It can be created with a partner, a sister circle, or on your own. The rules are loose in these many choices meaning the alchemist within rules here in weaving a ceremonial plant diet that supports you. 

The Apprehensions?
Yes, they come up. Considering all the choices above, and there are more, one can get overwhelmed and easily think 'I can't' but I will ask you to hold that in your right hand and set it down over there, by the side of the road. Thank you for considering coming to infuse with something new and different, or considering a new way to this, if you're already a seasoned plant dieter. 

Then there's the idea of no food for a period of time. No coffee or tea. No Sugar. Yes, plenty of water and a supportive infusion can be taken in freely. What comes up when you close your eyes and feel into this? Mmmmm.... there's good medicine there. Light fare for those who medically cannot fast are often provided or outlined. This would be a good place to start to ease the apprehension of those who have never fasted before. It's like working a new muscle. It takes time. 

​Cautions? You bet with stronger herbs or poisonous plants but there are ways to work these beauties. We'll speak to this too. ​

Saying 'No' is completely fine. Remember, you know you best. As you feel into this idea of embarking on a plant dieting experience consider journaling to get behind the "no" and see if there's some medicine there for you sequestered in the shadow. How does your body feel and how can you partner with this from a place of just honestly looking for a place of loving self versus judging self. Maybe there's no more to the discussion. Maybe there is. Only you know you here. 

I also consider stepping behind the 'Yes' too for mining the medicine we are seeking in saying yes. If you're sitting with curious intrigue laced with a little nervousness, this is a 'yes' for me. What say you? 

The Monthly Herbal Councils are free if you're enrolled in other courses at
ElderMoon School of Herbs

​Medicinal Plant Part: Leaf, Flower

Medicinal Actions:
Demulcent, emollient, astringent, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, pectoralis, expectorant, and relaxant properties, which makes it beautifully helpful in pectoral/respiratory complaints and bleeding of the lungs and bowels. The whole plant seems to possess slightly sedative, mild narcotic properties.

Common Names:
White Mullein. Torches. Mullein Dock. Our Lady's Flannel. Velvet Dock. Blanket Herb. Velvet Plant. Woollen. Rag Paper. Candlewick Plant. 

Habitat, Description, Harvest:
Mullein is a widely distributed plant, being found all over Europe and in temperate Asia as far as the Himalayas, and in North America is exceedingly abundant as a naturalized weed in the eastern States. This plant is biennial and there are many species too. I stay with the ones that have a white mid vein and white hairs along the flower stalk. The leave can get huge, up to 2 feet long when happy, but the plant starts as a small and fuzzy rosette each spring that grows larger and larger the first year. The second year rosette emerges large and the flower stalk quickly rises from the center by late spring of the second year. Leaves are harvest through the summer of the first year to spring of the second. Flowers are harvest in the summer of the second and final year.

Herbalists seek these easily found abundant medicine plants for they provide through efficiency and potency for the relevant conditions of our times, and also provide teachings of the power of simplicity and ease through their actions. 

Traditional Medicine Preparations:
For year I’ve harvested fresh Mullein leaf for tincture, dried Mullein leaves for infusions, teas and for smoke blends, freshly wilted flowers (leave out on a towel for a day so some of the water evaporates off) for Mullein Flower Infused Olive Oil. 

Carefully examine each leaf to check for mold or decay on the leaf undersides as these should not be harvested for medicine making. ​Once harvested, I either dry them whole in bundles of 4-6 stalks, or I cut the leaves cross-wise and dry in 3-5 days and store away from moisture and light. When harvesting both first and second year mullein leaves. The hairs are prominent so have a good straining method before ingesting to prevent irritation in the throat.

Mullein is found in all formulas addressing the lungs for any respiratory ailments from coughs due to colds and flus to management of asthma. Less often noted but just as potent are the GI Tract benefits of toning and supporting digestion while soothing irritation to mucous lining. Taken as infusion, homemade syrup, or tincture, many feel the expansion of the entire chest cavity and a lengthening of the spine as breathing muscles of the diaphragm and between the ribs are relaxed so they can work more efficiently in a regular healing breath rhythm that improves air flow, oxygenation, and expectoration of excessive mucous and/or infection lodged and festering in our lung tissue. Coughing is good. But we want efficient deep coughs to clear the lungs well. The calming and expansiveness of these actions is specific for easing the spasms associated with asthma. Mullein is safe for long term dosing for such chronic conditions as this. Recover from irritated and inflamed GI tract conditions is hastened in the presence of the demulcent and astringent properties of Mullein that encourage toned well-functioning mucosa to get back on tract.

These delicate yet potent flowers are harvested for making oil for the ears for impacted ear wax mobilization and for inflammation and infection, though I tend to combine with garlic to enhance the antiseptic properties. I suggest just Mullein flower oil for impacted ear wax, any visible lesions, or abscesses in the ear canal. Please drop NOTHING in the ear canal if the ear drum is ruptured, draining mucous with a bit of blood, and already in a healing process. Before rupture, the pain is of course excruciating, but is relieved instantly with the pressure release of rupturing. The ear drum is designed to do this, and quickly, and needs no help other than keeping the outer ear clean and dry with warm soapy cloth as it drains. I encourage the person to lay affected ear down and allow the ear to naturally drain with the help of gravity onto a towel. It looks much like blowing your nose through your ear with a little blood show. Nasty, yes… but so good it’s draining away and they have found comfort from the pain! You will do more harm than good putting anything into the ear at this time. Treat the immune system internally instead, along with rest, ample hydration, and simple nourishing soups.

It is easy to find traveling otoscopes (to look inside the ear canal) for less than 15$ today and it’s a great simple tool for the practice of visualizing the ear canal when healthy and sick. It’s the only way to truly learn what an infection looks like. We must know the tissue when well for comparison so I encourage regular peeks inside the ear canal to learn. It's not hard and one can get quite good at it quickly with a little practice. Inner ear infections versus outer ear infections of the canal are easily discerned as well, though treatment is the same with localized instilling of an oil, pain management, and immune support with herbs, rest hydration and simple nourishing soups. 

Pain is managed best with nervine herbs such as Chamomile, Skullcap, or Valerian root (there are others too), and hot salt packs I learned years ago from Rosemary Gladstar. Simply warm 2 cups of dry salt in a dry pan until warm to the wrist, but not too hot to touch. Pour into a bowl lined with a clean hand towel, gather up the corners and tie closed and place over the infected painful ear. Sometimes I add a few drops of Eucalyptus or Lavender essential oil. This stops pain almost instantly while other therapies are kicking in, increases circulation to the area and speeds drainage of the infection through opening the Eustachian tubes and sinuses. So simple and works great. 

"The flower stalk oozes a brown protective, self-healing resin for the plant that was once used in baking like Vanilla is today for it has a faint vanilla aroma and has also a great history in fermentation of stouts and liqueurs.  

Rotenone is a fish poison and very effective insecticide originally of plant origin but now synthetically produced by our government.  It occurs in mullein seeds and seed capsules, and leaves. Mullein seeds and seed capsules have been used as fish poison in the past.  Mullein seeds and flowering stalks were also used to get rid of lice and scabies. Rotenone is water insoluble, but readily soluble in ethanol, acetone, and other organic solvents such as olive oil. Fatal rotenone poisoning causes respiratory failure, ironic, huh?  Mild rotenone poisoning from inhaled mullein smoke may be spasmolytic (reduces spasms) for asthmatics and chronic bronchitis. It may suppress the cough reflex, and, act as a local anodyne (pain killer) for inflamed ear canals. Rotenone is more toxic when inhaled than when ingested. Once again, the poisonous substances of plants in low doses produce some of our strongest medicines." – Thank you to Ryan Drum.

My first year in herbal school I received visions from Mullein as the tall flower stalk superimposed as the spine within our human form. Mullein had me see and feel this in my body so I could truly know this expansion and lengthening as my cells, tissues, and bones as they made more space within my body for movement both physical and energetic. Grief work, which was in my lap back then, I learned would be a healer and teacher who would be present all through life, not just for me, but we all have this work in our lap. While I sat with these gentle giants, I learned how Mullein deeply assists us with re-patterning our stance in the presence of the grief we attempt to carry. It allows the protective heart posture of collapsing our shoulders forward with a rounded back as we pull our heart away from the world to open, to expand. Mullein supports movement, flow, and the release of the tears behind the rage, which is often one of the many masks of grief, as we re-learn a new posture, a new stance, in the presence of our grief as teacher. Solidified and held grief makes us sick. It must move. Mullein is often communal in how it grows and this mirrors the medicine of grief that also needs community. We are learning still. 

Asthma, respiratory, ear and GI tract lessons have all been learned on the job as a mom of three sons who each gave me the lessons I needed on how to assess and treat such conditions as I nudged their bodies back to health. And yes, our children carry their own grief too, sometimes lineage, personal, or collectively rooted. Mullein has always been in my home apothecary since my very first creation of an apothecary. It’s easily found in herb and health food stores for reasonable prices due to abundance and ease of harvest, or found when away from home in wild places where newly disturbed soil encourages the seeds to germinate as one of the first plants to do so in such places. Each mother plant in seed makes thousands of tiny black round seed on the huge stalks that can get up to 10 feet tall. If you find yourself on new land without Mullein there are two ways I love to entice Mullein closer. One is to call to Mullein deep within. Make an offering too. It will always come to those who wait and our work is to remain poised and ready to receive. Many are surprised at how Mullein shows up too. The other way is to find stalks in seed and carefully transport to your land in some creative way. Then wave and whack these as massive wands over areas you think Mullein will love, partly to full sun is preferred. I sing softly and speak praise to this beauty too. I imagine I’m quite a sight and it makes for great conversation from non-gardening or non-herbalist neighbor folk!  
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Thank you for wandering through here. Much love, Jen

COMMON NAME: Usnea
Other Names: usnea lichen, old man's beard

BOTANICAL NAME: Usnea barbata, Usnea longissima, Usnea hirta. Usnea plicata, Usnea fillipendula, (there are 600 known species but these are the most commonly studied and utilized species for medicine).
Plant Family: Usneaceae

CONSTITUENTS: Usnic acid, essential fatty acids, mucilage, sterols, and many more not being listed here at this time.

PARTS USED: dried thallus, also called lichen strands.

PREPARATIONS: Tincture, liniment, compress/fomentation, poultice, cough syrups, cold lozenges, decoctions, wound washes, wound packing & powder, douches, sitz baths. Taken internally and applied externally. Tincture can be applied as liniment to skin full strength or added to mister bottles with water and essential oils for skin fungus and infections. To bathe sinuses add 2-3 drops of tincture to netty pot washes.
 
MEDICINAL ACTIONS: Analgesic, Antimicrobial, (Antifungal, Antibacterial, Antiviral, Antiparasitic, Antiprotozoan), Antiseptic, Antiproliferative (cancer), Immunostimmulant, Anti-inflammatory, Antineoplastic (cancer), Antioxidant

PRECAUTIONS: Not for use during pregnancy is often reported by many. No other known precautions exist. I will share that with flu and pregnant, I did enlist the support of Usnea with great results. My rule with plants where we just don't know the effects during pregnancy and yet there seems to be good reason for it to be fine is to take 1/4 the dose to start. The pregnant body is very sensitive and requires very small doses and can work with this well because of the heightened state we are in when pregnant. You get to decide for you and your baby. This is not based in any research nor is it a suggestion. I only share what I've experienced. 

Walking through the forest is where one will encounter Usnea. Did you know know that the inconspicuous gray-green fuzzy plant covering many of the trees is one of the gentlest yet strongest immune tonics and antimicrobials in the herb world?

Usnea is a lichen; a combination of an algae and a fungi growing together symbiotically on the surface of the tree. Also known as Old Man's beard, it grows in little hair-like tufts, with the green algae covering the white string like fungi. The best way to identify Usnea is to pull a string apart and look for this white thread. No white thread means it's not Usnea. I do recommend showing a sample to a knowledgeable person to confirm you've got the right plant. Some people say that the Usnea lichen likes to grow in old growth forests. It must be true but I've seen it on younger trees too. Stephen Buhner has suggested that Usnea serves as the lungs of the forests they grow within, and in some way supports the overall health of the ecosystem. I believe this to be true. It carries the energy of a wise elder, maybe a grandfather for me. 

This plant grows profusely in wet climates, like the Pacific Northwest, where tufts can be up to a foot long. The species that grow here in the northeast tend to be smaller, which can make gathering it a tedious task. I find gathering after a big wind storm good because the wind will blow down the Usnea from the higher branches. I grew up in orchards and the old abandoned apple trees had lots of Usnea growing on them.

Usnea is an immune system tonic that can be used in acute situations as well as for long term immune enhancement and general prevention. It has no side effects or contraindications, and is safe for children and animals. It can be taken along with or instead of Echinacea. Usnea is more specific for strep and staph infections than Echinacea, and the antibiotic properties are most specific to the respiratory and urinary systems. We take to help heal respiratory and sinus infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, strep throat, colds, flus, as well as urinary tract, kidney, and bladder infections. Usnea is also beneficial for women with yeast infections, trichonomosas, bacterial vaginosis, and chlamydia. It can be helpful as part of the plant-based remedies taken for people with chronic fatigue, HIV, herpes, and other chronic conditions related to depressed immunity, especially when taken in a pulsed fashion for acute flare-ups within the chronic condition expression.

Usnea can also be used externally for outbreaks of staph, cellulitis, or infected wounds. I generally use the powdered herb, strong decoctions applied with a cloth, or the diluted tincture for open skin and straight tincture for closed skin. The moistened herb also makes an excellent bandage to be used directly on the wound or affected area. Should you have the great fortune of being near this one fresh when an injury happens, packing the wound with fresh plants after bleeding has been addressed is perfect for keeping the wound tended until you can get to a better situation for cleaning the wound.

This tough yet delicate looking little plant (not plant, lichen) doesn't make much of a tea due to having so little water soluble properties, so I recommend using it as a tincture. The heat required to make many medicines will however take the place of the alcohol so you may stay water-based in your preparation if alcohol is a concern. Increase your dose by 1/4-1/2. I've made a throat spray by diluting the tincture with water, Essential Oil of Eucalyptus, and Honey. It was a spontaneous creation that works great and seems to have the ability to kill microbes on contact. I also, as stated above, place 2 drops of tincture into a full netty pot for sinus irrigation. I do this when I know I've been around the flu or have started active symptoms. I also take it internally 30 drops 3-5x/day and add to cough syrups too.

I've found it to be quite effective with serious cases of bronchitis and pneumonia. Dosing will be increases from 2-3x/day to every 4 hours 30-60 drops to 1/2 teaspoon of tincture with convalescence and bone or medicinal mushroom broth based soups for a few days. Let’s be wise my friends. If someone can no longer walk well or maintain their oxygen levels so they look pale and grey (awful), seek medical attention. These are advanced distress signs of a very weak system so unless you are comfortable with what this looks like and what to do, seek help and learn. Watch closely so you can learn well from the experience. And yes, one can treat with plant medicines and modern medicines together. Seek guidance on how if you are inexperienced. 

Herbalists were ordered with threats to be silent by the FDA during the Anthrax scare. This was the first plant turned to for protection from inhaled life threatening situations; second to quarantine. Hypothetically speaking, dilute the tincture in a spray bottle with Eucalyptus essential oil and mist in front of the face for inhaling. I add 60 drops of Usnea tincture to 2oz. of water with 20 drops of the Eucalyptus essential oil. It could be called, hypothetically speaking, an "air purifying spray". Also use the netty pot with 2-3 drops of tincture only (more than this burns the sinuses).

For Weight Loss? NO.
It was reported to help with this by isolating Usnic acid and concentrating it and people were hurt most likely due to toxicity from receiving the plant in compound isolated form. Work with the full spectrum of whole plant preparations for safety reasons. The FDA was considering banning the plant due to this but it has fallen away a bit thankfully. Do educate that this is not a way to work with Usnea. 

Usnea has water soluble and non-water soluble compounds and so there are suggestions by herbalists to provide a two part preparation for making the tincture in order to extract the full spectrum of the medicine offered. For alcohol sensitive people, a syrup or glycerite made with heat will provide a good option but I would suggest larger dosing (double the dose).
The polysaccharides are found in the fungi portion of Usnea (white inner core) and are part of the water soluble medicine. The alkaloids and acids found in the outer green algae part of Usnea are extractable in 90-95% alcohol, this being the non-water soluble parts. There are other compounds identified and unidentified but by making your tincture in this two part process you will be getting the full spectrum of what Usnea has to offer for healing.  
 
Making Usnea barbata Tincture – A Two Part Extraction Process
Usnea Tincture at 1:5 dried 45% alcohol – Adult Suggested Dose: 1-2 dropperfuls 1-4x/day depending on the health condition and presenting symptoms.

PART 1: You’ll need 3-4 oz dried usnea, Everclear 90-95% Alcohol + 1 quart jar

1. Chop up your ½ of the Usnea you have into smaller pieces with a good knife or clippers. Loosely fill a clean quart jar with the Usnea.
2. Pour organic 90% alcohol over the Usnea until it’s completely covered. Seal jar, label and date, and store in cool dark place.  Shake twice a day for at least 3-4 weeks.

PART 2: You’ll need a strainer, cheese cloth, filtered water, + crock pot on lowest setting.

1. Strain the Usnea from the tincture using a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth.  Make sure you give it a good squeeze to get out all the tincture. I compost this and use the other ½ of fresh dried Usnea.
2. Measure the volume of tincture that you just strained, then set it aside in a sealed jar (you’ll be using it in a couple of days).
3. Measure out filtered water that is double in volume to the amount of tincture you just measured. Place the fresh dried 2nd portion of Usnea into a crockpot and cover it with the filtered water.
4. Turn crock pot to its lowest setting and let the Usnea and water cook for 48 hours. Keep an eye on it and add a little water if it gets too low. Keep cooking as we need this long slow cook to get all the medicine. We’ll measure again later once strained.  
5. After 48 hours, allow to cool to room temperature, strain the Usnea from the water. At this point the water should have cooked down to half the amount, so it should be equal in volume to the alcohol tincture you have saved. If less that’s ok, but if more you can simmer to reduce it more.
6. Combine the alcohol extract (tincture) with the cooled water extract (decoction). Bottle in brown glass, label and date, and add to your apothecary. 

CONGRATS! You now have a dual-extracted, highest potency Usnea tincture made by you!  ​

I also do this cook process for other healing herbs such as Astragalus root, all medicinal mushrooms, Ginger root, and a few other tinctures to honor their water soluble compounds as well as their converted-by-heat compounds they have. Cannabis is proving to fit into this category of healing plants/lichens/fungi as well with it's need for decarboxylation to potentize certain compounds. Some herbalists now do this two-part extraction with all dried roots and barks to be tinctured. I’m grateful to Stephen Buhner, Ryan Drum, and Christopher Hobbs for pioneering the simple techniques of a two part process to make a more potent tincture. 

Usnea is also an indicator plant to the health of an area as far as pollutants are concerned. Christopher Hobbs has shared many a time on how Usnea will recede from highly contaminated places because it absorbs such toxins easily due to the nature of it's growth pattern. We would not want to make medicine from this and this wise medicine lichen will not allow it either. This is surely another way the wise protection held in the medicine reaches through. And so to find it is a great reason for ceremony and rejoicing for me. 

Processing Usnea for External Use
Usnea has very tough cell walls!  Therefore, you need to break up its surface area— by grinding, mashing, or chopping to make its medicine more bioavailable. For an herbal powder which can be used to clean and treat wounds, simply air dry the Usnea (it dried so fast and often in a few days just sitting around in basket), and then grind it into a fine consistency using a mortar and pestle or an electric grinder. This powder can be sprinkled directly into wounds, or you can simmer for 30 minutes, and add other antimicrobial plants (love rosemary, plantain, yarrow, calendula to name a few), steep, strain, and wash wounds or apply compresses with the warm to cool tea.

​Harvesting Usnea
Usnea takes a long time to grow. Therefore, I only harvest it from dead fallen branches rather than from living trees.  Make sure you’re harvesting the right lichen!  One distinguishing feature of Usnea is the presence of a thin, thread-like, white central “cord” that is revealed when you pull apart the outer sheath of the thicker main strands of the lichen.  These cords have an elastic consistency to them, so when you pull them apart, they should be rather springy/snappy.
When harvesting Usnea, look for the vibrant, brighter colored specimens as opposed to those that have been hanging out on the ground for a long time and look semi-decayed and brownish.  I like to harvest Usnea using a knife or clippers, that way I can easily separate the lichen from the branches that they’re growing on and leave any bark or other debris behind. This also leaves the “roots” of usnea embedded in the tree where it can continue with its own life process. Make sure you harvest away from roadsides or developed areas as Usnea can absorb toxins and heavy metals from the environment.

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When in Ecuador high in the Andes Mountains hiking in the forest, tufts of Usnea floated down into my hands one morning. It was one of those moments that stops you for it's undeniable how plants can come to us in seen and unseen ways, calling our attention deep in our heart and soul to connect. To make and honor that bond deeper than before. Thank you so much for wandering through here with me. Much Love, Jen

I've been working with Cacao in a new way of late and wanted to share what Cacao is teaching me to support your discovery of Cacao as a healing addition to your world in a ceremonial way that can remain among your more private practices. Yes, Cacao supports bonding in groups. While there are many heading to Cacao Ceremonies these days, and I for one have hosted them and attended them too, I find the deepest and most meaningful way for me to work with a plant closely is to bring this work to the personal and intimate level by inviting ceremonial work through out my life in increments of dedicated time that are so very private. Let me explain. 

Where and When Did Cacao Ceremonies Start? 
It’s thought cacao was first taken as a health elixir and ceremonial medicine as far back as 1900 BC by the ancestors of Central America, the Olmec people, before becoming a ritualistic medicine used by the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Signifying both life and fertility, it was ingested by Royalty in ceremonial God worship and in sacrificial ritual. Of course it depends on where you go in Central and South America for the true beginning stories change from place to place (wink wink).  

As with many things that involve practice, we only get better with time. I suggest enjoying opening to this practice by choosing a week and drinking it daily to start. Some are drinking it daily and I do hope with much intention for something that requires such tending. For me I feel seasonal changes are a good time to engage cacao's healing for a week, or more if called, within the container of being a dedicated practice. Your experience of cacao in ceremony will likely evolve over time as you do. This is a natural and integral part of the process. The important thing is to make sure you set enough time aside to really allow yourself to dive in. I suggest anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours each day. But only you will know what time frame works best for you.

Here's the rhythm that unfolded organically for me with Ceremonial Cacao in my everyday. 
My commitment is often for one week and Cacao teaches me to visit each chakra each day for this practice. I drink my Ceremonial Cacao Dose (we'll cover this below) first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. This is traditional with Cacao, first thing in the morning with an empty belly. I love the seasonal pulsing to help me shift more smoothly. For me it's likened to meeting an honest lover for a beautiful romp from time to time (wink wink). So once taken in slowly, then I sit quiet for 20-30 minutes and just allow my feelings and mind to wander to see where I'm taken along with checking in with my physical state of being. Review of the previous day can filter in since I take for many days in a row. Spontaneous knowings come up usually within two hours. Visions and dreams through awake and asleep time drift in as the cumulative effect takes hold, and this begins usually by day three. I journal cryptically when taking my morning dose for the in-the-moment feelings but also for a review of the unfolding of the previous day and night that have happened. It's like reviewing a movie with a deeper seeing clearer lens. Here's the honest part. The first two to three days can, but NOT always, be really hard to bordering on down right sucking sometimes. But if you stay with the practice it shifts. Our sequestered residual emotional debris can be unearthed. But only if we want this and are willing to work with it. Pull up, and dust off if need be, your self care skills here too. I retreat to paint, drum, go to Nature, build altars and work them, medicine make, adjust my diet and sleeping, spiritual bathe, yoni steam, sauna, take other plants in as directed intuitively, and basically follow Cacao's inspiration through this process.

Are you following me on this? I hope so. It's a personal and intimate quest of sorts. Do send me questions if they arise. 

Oh I laugh my friend. It IS this and more. This is so individual based on right where we are. Ceremonial cacao works almost magically at opening up the heart.  For some people this will mean FEELING YOUR FEELS. So this looks different for each of us depending on where we are. Maybe what surfaces is your deep and intimate connection to Mother Earth, your guides, or what you hold as Divine. The Spirit of Cacao may present strongly from the plant world. For others, it may mean connecting with your inner-child, or with sabotaging archetypes you've created for survival that need integration, or for grief work around loss of beloveds or more, and feeling emotions that have been suppressed, avoided, or misunderstood for years. And still for others, this may mean tapping into a level of gratitude and abundance beyond that which you have ever experience before. You may make sudden decisions and abrupt life changes with precision and clarity too. 

This Cacao Ceremony round that I'm just completing has brought up some of the deepest grief around the death of sweet and dear sister, more than 20 years ago, and Cacao is sweeping the cracks from that time in my life when the perceived loss of her stimulated a tsunami that changed the course of my life  and all my relations on every level. Cacao is our ally for deep transformation core work. Calling in the medicine for support is our natural course of action. Cacao is there whenever I ask. We need only ask.   

Whatever comes up for you to feel during your time with cacao, it's important to remember that the Spirit of Cacao is your personal partner on this journey, and being your partner, Cacao will assist you in processing your emotions when and where you invite this. Bliss can happen. And it does. But sometimes painful growth comes too in the form of grief work, release work, and expansion of our understanding. Then the bliss can rise. I have to be straight with you on this. Cacao meets us where we are and supports growth. Know you are supported even if it might seem hard at first. 

Sometimes we do need the sort-of mundane, practical side of things spelled out for us. Drinking cacao for ceremonial purposes invites us to slow down and to intentionally set time aside for ourselves. This means stepping out of the daily 'to do' as much as you can and stepping into our self in a more expansive way. So often we rush from one experience to the next without even understanding why we're doing what we're doing. Cacao ceremony invites us to tune in to our inner-knowing, our inner-self, our inner-guidance system, and to take action from a place of inspiration rather than by habit or unconscious, even manic 'doing' places we all can fall into. Set your intentions and begin with baby steps. Choose the number of days you'll drink your Cacao (I like 7 days). Source good Cacao paste, which means you'll want 7-14oz. of cacao paste to cover this time for yourself. Make sure you have a scale to weigh your paste, a natural sweetener, and spices that resonate with you. Consider why you're wanting to do this. Make an altar dedicated to this practice, even if just a tiny one near your bed. Engage determination no matter what to see it through. Have a journal ready too and just a little retreat space of 30 minutes to two hours is good per day. Closely watch or observe yourself throughout your day to see what comes up and what needs attention. Trust Cacao has a process for you that is uniquely yours and within your own personal synchronous healing. Watch for magic to jump up too. So amazing how it truly does.

For the scope of this article I'm avoiding analyzing the individual chemicals in detail that we know of in Cacao. It's fascinating! It's well-studied thus far too and continuing to be further studied as well. Do follow this research if you're intrigued. But reducing Cacao to chemical parts is not my favorite way to introduce or speak of a beloved. Plant or human. Cacao contains a whole host of natural "feel good" chemicals known to influence the body and brain in subtle ways, so don't be surprised if you start to feel the effects of this too. You may notice feelings of warmth rise up the trunk of your body, and have feelings of calm, tranquility, peace, bliss, or others rise up. Maybe your face is hot, you feel flushed, your heart flutters a little. Relax into this. Find comfort in your body through moving to positions of comfort. Twinges and such happen. Trust and move to comfort and breathe deeply. Cacao is a great partner for journey and meditation practice too.  

There are many sources for organic cacao paste so do your homework and feel into the integrity of the company. Central and South America have many beautiful suppliers and then some who are questionable but you will see this with a few questions. One good question is where are the trees from and are the people passionate about their cacao and forthcoming on how they work and tend the land around the trees? If not, move on. 

A Ceremonial Cacao Dose is 1oz. per person per day.
No more than 2oz. per day if you're moved to have more but do space the doses out a bit until you understand how Cacao works with you and your body. These are adult doses so offering to children means smaller amounts please. Sometimes just a spoonful is plenty. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 4oz water per person by volume - you may have 4 oz. Lemon Verbena tea here as a traditional option too.
• 1oz cacao per person by weight
• Pinches of cayenne pepper
• Pinches of cinnamon 
• Honey, Agave, Maple Syrup, or other sweetener to taste (keep it on the bitter side and acclimate to this taste) Black Sugar is traditional but hard to find here in the states.
• Optional: cardamom powder, vanilla to taste
• The ratio of cacao to water is simply a matter of the consistency you like. If you want it thinner, simply add more water.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Start with the cacao block. Chop with a knife into fragments about 1/4 inch  or smaller and weigh and measure out your water and cacao.
2. Heat water with chili to not quite a boil. It should be just too hot to the touch and around no more than 180 degrees.
3. Add the cacao shavings and turn the heat very low or off completely.
4. Use a whisk to stir the brew until all the chunks are blended in and a bit frothy.
5. After the cacao has ‘dissolved’, add whatever sweetening and spices you want. 
6. It’s helpful to have a spoon or stirring stick to keep the consistency even as you consume it. The cacao will settle at the bottom over time. Sometimes I put it all in a small mason jar with a lid so I can shake it well between my tiny sips. This keeps the lovely froth stirred up too. 
7. Sip slowly over 10-15 minutes on an empty stomach while you unplug and relax. Effects are felt almost instantly to hours after with a cumulative effect when working for days in a row. 
8. I like my second dose around 2-3:00pm in the afternoon if I'm home and will unplug. I currently do not take Cacao daily. Some do. It's a precious medicine to me that takes so much time and work to bring to us in the states and so I choose to save it for the deeper connections of soul work. 

How do you know if you're too sensitive, at least for today, and need to slow your dose down? 
Simple. Read the language of your body. I am super sensitive to meds, herbs and just about anything. It's just how I am. Know you and adjust accordingly. This is not a competition and has nothing to do with body size either. Besides, isn't it fabulous to get there with less?! I find the overdose symptom picture looks like this: shaky, sweaty, antisocial, racing pulse, racing thoughts, disconnected feeling (we are), slow moving, heart palpitations, anxious, nauseated to mild and intense vomiting. Not fun! If these symptoms begin to appear during drinking your first dose slowly, then stop for now, drink plenty of water, and lay down. I keep stronger sedating nervine plants as companions on hand such as Skullcap, Chamomile, or Kava Kava root to sip as a tea or take in tincture doses of 10-20 drops with plenty of water and rest. I've not felt these effects with 1oz. but I have with a second  1oz. dose close to the first. And this can happen to anyone and anytime for it's dependent on you and Cacao and the work together in the time you are together. One session can have you feeling this come on half way through your first dose and another session you drink the whole dose with no symptoms at all. Listen to your body as it speaks and adjust your practice. Start low and go slow is my take for safety as these compounds in Cacao are quite powerful, stimulating, bitter, and have potent detoxifying compounds. These symptoms are a strong liver and heart response and we can work with this gently, with care and awareness. 

Contraindications to Consider
If you take anti-depressant medications or cardiac medications of any kind, are pregnant or breast feeding then I ask that you prepare 1/4 of the dose 1/4 oz in 2oz. or more of water will do). Take with extra water and no more Cacao for the day. Some say none at all. I have seen this very low dose to be very safe time and again. The connection is made with a very small amount to none at all and just holding the seeds will do. You decide.  Pure cacao can be fatal to dogs, and possibly horses and parrots, so be sure to keep it away from all pets to be safe.

​Cacao is a powerful heart-opener, increasing blood flow significantly with these small ceremonial doses. It increases focus so that meditation, yoga, and therapeutic work are more accessible. It’s gentle, supportive energy allows me to expand and experience heightened states as well as drop safely into the shadows to clear out some murky heaviness my soul just does not want to carry any longer. We always smile after some good tears fall. Thank you for witnessing what I'm exploring which is a deeper, private, ceremonial way with Cacao. I hope this inspires you to weave Cacao medicine into your medicine bag and apothecary as a healer of self who continues to be medicine for Earth too. So much love to you, Jen

Self-observation and self-reflection are definitely forms of self care that I'm finding absolutely require we keep our humor about us. For one, it's not as painful as the self-judgments we toss around so easily. I often laugh more these days as I catch myself in any form of sabotage mode. Then I adopt a third person conversation which delivers quite the therapeutic effects of kind self-talk, even if stern, that has that element of humor. "Oh, look what you're doing now, Jen!", is my chat with a curious and inquisitive laugh. With Valentine's Day here and all the social media and commercialization that surfaces, it's easy to get lost or lulled to sleep in the lousy chocolate, mass produced over priced roses that die in days, moving blood diamonds around more, and yeah, some seriously bad cards with ridiculous prices. I walked away years ago from this. Sorry but it's true. Now visiting flowers and trees wherever they're alive, visiting sacred waters of the Earth and other landscapes that heal us, making handmade gifts, and sourcing cacao from kind stewards of the land, plus other ways that really feel true, well that's another story all together (smile).

The truth is this time of year is triggering for many. Many struggle this month around the heart. What's heavy in the heart for you? Are tears trying to move in that self-cleansing way? Is there a struggle to find the space or language to actually feel into it all and therapeutically convey in some creative way what is happening on the inside? Addictions of all sorts are included in a mass of coping skills we've masterfully honed over the years as avoidance tactics and they rear their head often this time of year in place of embracing dropping deeper into the heart to do some dusting and cleaning. Growth hurts. But the truth is holding on takes far more energy than letting go of heart pain. 

As spring walks closer and stirs our subtler bodies, I know for me I feel this as either as a scattered way or a sluggish can't get focused way. Obsessive behaviors, irritation, anxiety, and poor timing crop up among my people too. Complaining and whining are at an all time high. So how do you clock this unique way in yourself and own that there's some simple good medicine for this? The number one medicine for this for me is to get outside, anyway, no matter what the weather is doing to re-calibrate with the natural forces. Bundling up for us cold weather dwellers means pulling out the hardy weather garb, again, but let's face it, 40 degrees feels like spring after this much winter and most of us don a thick sweater instead!

"Go to the Water" is the mantra of my ancestors and I seek this inside and out with hikes to natural water places and also through more spiritual bathing in the tub, and sauna. I also sit with my drum and rattle more, journey and make sounds that carry what I cannot find words for. And I paint for visual release and inquiry. Of late I've turn to our food choices too for my body is giving subtle clues to lighten it up. Salads, raw foods, and fruit look more appealing now. Here's another way that I like to re-calibrate on the inside. Jay and I are starting a Kitchari Cleanse this week, Cyrus is not so game for this yet but he's watching as we prepare for a short 3-4 day one to start. We'll go longer if we want to at the end. 

This simple, soupy Ayurvedic cleansing dish is made primarily of rice, split mung beans, seasonal veggies and spices. Sometimes I have to start at the physical and walk step by step. This satisfies that in me. It changed my whole outlook on cleansing and transformed my relationship with food and my body. Instead of feeling deprived, it made me feel nourished. Instead of frazzled and delirious with a headache or nausea, I felt grounded, safe, and secure. Coming off it I feel clear and connected. The idea is to stimulate your natural cleansing processes in a slow, sub-radar like cleanse that doesn't stimulate chelation toxicity (releasing too much too fast for our elimination systems). This is hard for the body and a stress that is not good for us. Seasoned fasting lovers know that this is a muscle that must be exercised slowly or one pays dearly. 

The beauty of this dish and cleanse is that you can eat. You can eat Kitchari for a single meal to give your digestion a break or do a full cleanse of 3-7 days where you really begin to release stored toxins and accumulation for safe release from the body. It’s a great introductory or seasonal cleanse because you still get to eat something throughout the day but at the same time it's the most effective tool I've found for healing and soothing the digestive system, increasing digestive fire, reducing bloating, clearing the mind, healing attachments to food, sleeping deeper, and kick starting the body’s natural ability to heal itself. While weight lose is not the goal, that just might happen too.

I follow this cleansing diet for days before the plant diet initiations I go to with my teacher where we sustain ourselves on a few ounces of a single plant elixir every four hours for three days and vision quest with one plant. Eating kitchari from one pot prepared each morning reduces our focus and energy demands on food. Think about how much time we spend on food alone from making the money to getting it or growing it, to planning meals, preparing, eating, and cleaning up. It's all good and communal supporting, yes, but a break to focus elsewhere is also so good for us. This eliminates much and frees up so much time. This is also a great diet for a day or two upon returning from questing or fasting of any kind to support integration and landing back in well.  

Determine the number of days you will cleanse for with 3-7 days being a good place to start. You can always go longer if you feel you want to. Trust yourself on this. 

• Begin to eliminate common foods that cause imbalances for you a few days before the cleanse such as alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, meat, processed foods, and foods you know affect your unique physiology. 
• Make kitchari daily (if possible) and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seek organic ingredients and stock up. 
• Drink warm water and warm herbal teas of nettles, red clover flower, oatstraw, milky oats, chamomile (deeply calming and clearing), or peppermint (gives a 'pep').
• Get plenty of rest and take time for self care (warm oil massage at the start or end of the day, warm baths, steams, saunas, yoga, meditation)
• In the mornings drink a cup of warm water with lemon followed by another glass of warm water to flush the system
• If you need to eat something other than kitchari try some fresh, seasonal fruit in the morning, handfuls of nuts and seeds, or cooked grains with ghee and a sprinkle of sea or rock salt
• Set an intention. Remind yourself of why you're doing this re-calibration cleanse and dig in for your higher purpose for this. For me, I like to set an intention to heal and connect to my deepest self. Often I observe myself swaying away from self and this whole practice reels me back in. Setting an intention brings the practice from the ordinary to the sacred.
• Clear out your calendar as much as you can and involve willing family  or friends either to share with you or at least inform them of what you're doing. Let this be a time for total self-love, reflection, and connection. Having someone to share this time adds a depth to the process but is not a prerequisite by any means. It's amazing how much time and energy we have when we don’t need to think about food and preparing it! Use that time to connect to spirit, your Divine, and the deepest part of you.

​

I love adding the ghee and salt later in the process because it makes the flavor jump up more for me. I do this with simple tomato sauce too by infusing olive oil with garlic, basil, salt and pepper, and pinch of rosemary and stir in just before serving. It's amazing how these late additions retain and pull forth the essential oils in the dish. 

This makes about 4-6 servings. Double it if there's more people in your home joining you or to eat throughout the week, though I do recommend making it daily if that's a possibility for you. To accommodate my work schedule I I make enough for 2 days at a time. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup split mung beans - these can be found at most natural food stores or online. You can use whole mung beans but I soak them over night, or at least for a few hours, in cool water with a little whey or buttermilk if you have. Discard that water in the morning and proceed.  
• 1/2 cup organic basmati rice
• 1 3x2 inch strip of kombu (kelp), cut into small pieces
• 6-8 cups of filtered water
• 3-4 cups fresh, organic and seasonal veggies - use at least one green veggie and one orange or root vegetable such as carrot, sweet potato or squash
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed ground 
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed ground
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed ground
• 1/8 - 1/4  teaspoon asafoetida powder
• 1/2  - 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger root
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup loosely packed chopped, fresh organic cilantro and reserve some for serving
• 2-3 tablespoons ghee, coconut oil, or sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon rock salt and more to taste if needed at serving time
• fresh lime wedges for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse the rice and split mung beans in the 2:1 ratio of rice to beans and then put them in a pot with the kombu and water enough to cover by at least an inch or 2.
2. Boil until soft 20-30 minutes roughly with the lid ajar. Chop veggies and cilantro and grind spices in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder dedicated to herbs (if using whole spices) as the rice and beans cook.
3. Add the veggies (keep kale or quick-cooking veggies like zucchini out for now), add 2 more cups of water and cover. Cook 3-5 minutes or so until the water boils veggies are starting to soften. Add more water and adjust temperature as needed.
4. Once veggies start to soften, add the diced ginger, coconut and spices of cumin, coriander, fennel, asafoetida and turmeric. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of black pepper in the Winter.
5. Add the kale, spinach or other quick-cooking veggies and the fresh cilantro. Stir adding more water if needed.
6. Then I turn off the heat and add the ghee, coconut oil or sesame oil, and the rock salt.
7. Serve with fresh cilantro and coconut garnish and a thick wedge of fresh lime. 

Enjoy! Thank you for coming in for a read and may your day be blessed and your re-calibration plans be underway as Spring approaches.
Much Love, Jen

Are you ready to gently infuse your heathcare with simple green plants for healing? It truly is easier than many think because we hold this knowing through our ancestral lines. Beginning anyway is a beautiful way. xo-Jen

Making good food as our medicine is often a big hit when it comes out of our kitchen.  Years of playing and experimenting in the kitchen make it all happen. We took up our best knives and chopped, stirred, consulted knowledge, experience, and the intuitive forces present and came up with this simple yet potent, satisfying soup for deep winter support. after many requests, we thought we'd give it a proper write-up. Enjoy from our kitchen to yours. 

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lb - 3/4 lb chopped fresh shiitakes - or reconstitute 1/4 lb dried
1 large chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
2-3 garlic cloves chopped
3-4 yellow potatoes chopped
3-4 garlic scapes (we had frozen garlic scapes - optional when ya have)
1 TB fresh thyme leaf or more if you like - plus extra for serving
1/8 -1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper or to your liking
2 TB dried nettles
3 TB of oil or butter to your liking
2 TB arrowroot or tapioca powder (for your rouge)
8 cups bone or veg broth 
6-8oz. 1/2 & 1/2 cream or coconut milk if dairy free needed
 
A handful of chopped scallions, squeezes of fresh lime juice, sprinkles of fresh cracked pepper and thyme leaves for serving

DIRECTIONS:
- sauté the shiitakes for 5 minutes in oil or butter until a bit of browning happens
- add onion, ginger, garlic, thyme, nettles, and pepper; saute a few more minutes
- add potatoes and continue to stir adding more oil or butter if needed
- add arrowroot or tapioca powder and cook a few more minutes stirring constantly to make a light brown rouge
- add  bone or veggie stock you love, bring to simmer for 10 or so minutes just until the potatoes are done, turn off the heat and allow to sit for about 10 minutes for flavors to infuse
- stir in 8oz of 1/2 n 1/2 cream (or heavy cream), or coconut milk for non-dairy options; adjust salt and pepper to your taste. 

​Serve with more fresh thyme, fresh squeezed lime, and sliced green onion. A good load of bread or cornbread goes great with this. Enjoy!

​In our home 1 bowl equals a 'therapeutic dose' of medicine.
Have 2-3 bowls per day for active cold & flu symptoms! Perfectly fine for daily health care intermittent use by having random bowls throughout your life (giggling with toes wiggling because it's that delicious to me). Enjoy and may you stay strong through these darker months where all is brought to the table for review. Keep shittakes around always. Have soup ready. Thank you shittakes and all for your deep care of us here. xo-Jen 

Making your home apothecary your primary health care is not that hard. Consulting the plants first is a safe, effective, and potent part of healing that requires a little bit of learning since our near relatives may not have been given these skills to pass along to us. We do it anyway under these circumstances. May we meet in class one day... Blessings Always, Jen

I said yes again to it all. It takes time to cultivate a community apothecary but it's happening. There's around 70 medicine plants in house now handcrafted as tinctures and a few more to come (plus much more to come) that I just know demand space on the shelves here. Seedling leaves unfurling... Thank you for your support. -Jen

 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.
​
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.    

I so love this topic and so did many herbal students at EMS of Herbs that I wanted to offer some of the content here for daily care of our teeth and gums from an herbal healing perspective. Let's talk the plants first!

The Shiny Ones - Oral Care Medicine Plants That Stand Out
This list is not complete but is a good beginning for our time with this topic. Do add your knowledge and more favorites to this list.

Plants To Consider Here Are:
Calendula Flower, Plantain leaf and root, Echinacea Root and Leaf, Orgeon Grape Root, Goldenseal Root, Myrrh resin, Propolis, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Fennel seed, Caraway seed, Peppermint, Spearmint, Elecampane root, Cinnamon, Blood Root, Chamomile flowers, Comfrey leaf, Yarrow leaf & flower, Eucalyptus, Neem, Clove, Horsetail, Violet leaf, Spilanthes, Oak leaf, Witch Hazel bark,...  

TOOTHBRUSH CHOICES
Most conventional toothbrushes are made with plastic nylon bristles, which scrape our teeth more so than brush. This can weaken enamel and irritate sensitive gums. Natural bristles are softer and gentler – they actually brush teeth rather than scraping them. If staying with nylon then do pick soft bristle ones. Do stay away from medium or firm brushes which harm gums and teeth. Twice a day brushing is enough, then add flossing and/or water pick use, and tongue scraping daily. These are good daily habits to be consistent with.  
And like all good tenders of the hearth and home, wash your tooth brushes occasionally. Simple Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap and water rubbed between your fingers with the bristles for a few minutes, rinse well, and allow to air dry. 

TONGUE SCRAPING
The fastest and easiest way to get bacteria out of your mouth is with a tongue scraper. A traditional technique in Ayurveda, tongue scraping cleans bacterial build-up (called a biofilm), food debris, fungi, and dead cells from the surface of the tongue. This helps to not only clean the mouth, freshening the breath, but it also stimulates the metabolism as well for the entire map of our body is on the tongue. So we massage and stimulate healing pathways all through the body through this simple daily act of scraping our tongue. I do it morning and night but once a day is fine too. 

OIL PULLING
A simple swish and swirl or 10-15 minutes a day of your favorite oil is the answer to fresher breath, whiter teeth and a toxin- free body. The practice of oil pulling literally pulls toxins from the oral cavity, which is then spit out and cleared from the body. Many research studies indicate that oil pulling reduces plaque-induced gingivitis, and the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, which is known to cause cavities. So grab a jar of coconut or neem oil from the kitchen counter, and get pulling oil. This is also great for active oral infections if you add a drop or two of essential oil of clove. 
NON-TOXIC TOOTHPASTES, POWDERS & MOUTH WASHES
Toothpaste is key to maintaining good oral health, acting as an antibacterial, but what type are you choosing? We’ve chosen to commit ourselves to toxin-free living, which means detoxing our toothpaste as well. Eliminate Fluoride, Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate, Triclosan, Sodium Hydroxide, and other nasty chemicals. These chemicals are damaging to the body as a whole, many are endocrine disruptors as well, and can even reduce the healthy bacteria (probiotics) in the mouth. Opt for a toothpaste that uses natural antibacterial agents and breathe fresheners such as neem, licorice, eucalyptus, clove, cinnamon, and peppermint instead. Or create your own… see recipes below. 

GREEN TEA, BONE BROTHS, NETTLES & SEAWEEDS
Drinking green tea and eating regular seaweeds not only protects against radiation, boosts your re-mineralization and helps you to optimize the best body weight for you while it also can improve your oral health. Research has found that the frequent consumption of green tea may help promote healthy teeth and gums, reducing periodontal disease. It is believed that green tea’s mode of action is through its high levels of the antioxidant, catechin. Previous studies have demonstrated catechin’s ability to reduce inflammation in the body, as well as the indicators of periodontal disease, thereby reducing bad bacteria in the mouth. Seaweeds provide trace minerals often missing from farmed foods in amounts we need, even with good farming practices. A little seaweed as a super food supplement is recommended even with a strict organic diet. This is true for regular consumption of bone broths to supplement deep mineral restoration of our bones from the long slow cooking of animal bones. Vegetarians and vegans can stick to lots of Nettles and seaweeds. 

ORAL PROBIOTICS
We’ve get beautifully focused on balancing the good bacteria in our gut with fermented foods and Kombucha and this also benefits the mouth through good immune functioning doing repair and maintenance work there too. Keep this up! The mouth needs good bacteria too, which is why taking oral probiotics part of our healthcare can be extremely beneficial, especially if cavities are a frequent occurrence. The more good bacteria you have, the more of a defense you have against the bad bacteria, reducing the incidence of inflammation and infection. I only recommend this with more severe oral disease cases. Check on-line or at your local health food store for resources. 

CAMU CAMU OR VITAMIN C
In efforts to not only boost our immune system, but to keep our gums happy too, we keep up with a daily dose of vitamin C. Rather than getting it from a synthetic vitamin tablet, some are using the superfood Camu Camu. Camu Camu contains 250mg of Vitamin C per teaspoon, containing more Vitamin C than any other known botanical source. Vitamin C is needed for healthy gums, reducing the incidence of bleeding gums, gingivitis, and even periodontal disease. Camu Camu goes far beyond a healthy gum line, helping to improve immunity and the texture of the skin, while repairing and maintaining cartilage, bones, and teeth. You get to decide where the Vitamin C comes from but do consider daily doses for repair of soft tissue and bone, which includes the mouth. 

TEA TREE OIL (or Peppermint, Cinnamon) FLOSS
There is just no way around it – flossing is an integral part of keeping our mouths fresh and clean, so why not add an extra bonus with plant oils that smell and taste good too. These all have natural disinfectant actions that reduce bad oral bacteria. Research indicates that tea tree oil significantly reduces gingivitis and bleeding of the gums. That white ‘stuff’ we scrape from between the teeth is a biofilm of bacteria having a good time thriving on the surfaces within our mouth. Physical gentle scraping with floss deep between the teeth is part of good oral care. Some dentists argue on whether flossing or water picking is better. We do both here. 

BREATHE FRESHENING IDEAS
Chew on herbs and seeds instead of gum. I must admit, I do love a fresh pack of gum, especially when working long hours at the hospital. But most gums contain lots of different nasty chemicals that are certainly not at all good for my body. The solution? Chew on some fresh parsley, mint, fennel, or caraway seeds. These herbs help to fight odor-causing bacteria, leaving your mouth feeling fresh and clean. These also contain antibiotic properties to help fight bad breath. The best part about these spices is that they’re totally portable. Carry a small container in your purse and chew all day long.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR: Added to you water (1-2 tablespoons per pint) will keep your breath fresh and the bacterial film that covers the tongue and teeth during the time between cleaning to a minimum. Highly recommended for those with severe halitosis (bad breath) history. This is a start but this condition requires deep internal cleansing practices as well.  

WATER PICK
We go back and forth with a water pick and floss each day. I find that even with good flossing I still wash out food particles with the water pick, and even after using the water pick I still scrape a biofilm from between my teeth with a good floss. So I suggest both, maybe not every day but maybe sometimes. With travel I floss and oil pull because they are easier to travel with, of course. I add my herbal mouth rinse to the water pick water, 2 droppersful, to help get the herbs deeper into pockets between the teeth and around the gums.
​
TOOTH WHITENING 
COCONUT OIL:  Trade in your teeth-whitening gel for coconut oil. If you haven’t tried oil pulling yet, I suggest you do so the first chance you get. Swishing coconut, neem, sesame, or olive oil in your mouth for about 20 minutes each day can help pull toxins from your mouth — and possibly even your whole body. It can help whiten teeth, prevent dryness of the mouth, prevent cavities, strengthen teeth, kill infection, and a whole lot more. 
ACTIVATED CHARCOAL: Brush with the powder charcoal – YUP! Sounds scary but this black powder lifts stains and absorbs toxins from the enamel and mouth mucosa. Try working into your recipes for daily care if inspired.

Support Immune System function with increased hydration, rest, stress reduction, superfoods (seaweeds, bone broths, spirilina to name a few), and clean simple easy to digest foods, and herbs (see our list above).

Direct drip straight tincture along infected gums once per day of Echinacea root, Bloodroot, Goldenseal root, Propolis, Myrrh, or Oregon Grape Root. Have a loved one help for upper teeth by hanging your head over the edge of the bed and add a few drops along the gum line.

Daily Intensive treatments are required. Consider these:

• Oil pull with coconut oil twice a day with two drops of clove, sage, rosemary, or peppermint essential oil added.
• Make green mouth swish with fresh herbs of Calendula, Sage, Rosemary, Plantain, Violet Leaf, Yarrow leaf and flower,  Comfrey Leaf (or any combination of these) and add a small amount of water to using a food processor to make a thick slurry and swish twice a day for 15 minutes. Store in refrigerator. It's good for 3-4 days with two handfuls of herbs used for a batch. In the winter, try fresh thyme, rosemary and sage and add white pine needles and hot water to get the pine essential oils mobilized for healing the gums.
• Add grapefruit seed extract 3-6 drops to 1 oz of water or sage infusion and swish for 5 minutes twice a day. 
• Consider seeing a dentist you trust and can work with for an honest assessment if concerned. Infection so close to the brain is a loud call to action. Do not let this fester. 

Work on all levels as the healer.

• What needs to be said?
• What doesn't anymore?
• Consider bodywork your drawn to for support and craniosacral therapy sessions for direct support.
• Learn to shamanic journey skills and travel into your tissues for deeper work on what is happening for you. Some oral and throat conditions are personal and some are lineage rooted. 
• Learn facial and neck lymphatic self massage and steams for daily care during active infections.  

ELDERMOON’S HERBAL MOUTH WASH 
(FROM LESSON #8 IN BIRTHING AN HERBALIST IN 13 MOONS ON-LINE COURSE - have a read through first)

This can be added you the water pick water, or straight into the mouth. 2 droppersful, which I swish around while I go about my business for 5-10 minutes and then spit out. 
This is a strong yet mild tasting, and effective mouth rinse particularly for those with periodontal disease. Also helpful for toning gums tight to the teeth, for cold sores, and sensitive gums and teeth. The festering infections up around the tooth roots that cause periodontal disease have been linked to heart disease and stomach cancers. Insurance companies still won’t pay for the preventative care needed which completely disturbs me. Treating our gums is far more cost effective than treating heart disease and cancer.

I’ve made this and given the recipe out for years with great reports of great results. You begin by making a full strength tincture. When done, it has a few additions to ease the alcohol content but keep it stable and improve taste. Those with alcohol dependency issues cannot use this remedy and so I suggest salt water and baking soda gargles daily for them which work great too. We have to tend more to the openings in our body that are more susceptible to microbes from the outer world. 

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

1. Pack a quart sized jar with equal parts of fresh Echinacea root and leaf, Horsetail, Sage, Calendula, Yellowdock or Oregon grape root (I’ve removed Elecampane because my kids hated the taste but you can add that too.) You can use dried herbs too and fill your jar ½ full if dried. Add vodka, cover and shake often for two months or more.
2. Strain your full strength tincture and rebottle and label for your apothecary.
3. To mix your finished product, measure out 10 oz. of Distilled Water* (from pharmacies) into a large measuring cup with a pourable spout or a pitcher will do.
4. Add 5oz. of your finished tincture, 2 oz of organic vegetable glycerin (health food stores have this) and stir gently.

You can bottle and use just like this or add 30 drops of Spearmint essential oil and 10 drops of Tea Tree Essential oil. Shake well and shake before each use to keep the oils dispersed well.
Taste and swish! Find the perfect bottle to pour it into and enjoy! Remember to label it. 

You can search the web for other recipes too. Find one you love and make it yours with a bit of tweaking. This the one I work with at the moment. This recipe will last a family of 4 for about 1 month.
INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tablespoons bentonite clay; I’ve used white clay too but you can experiment
• ½  teaspoon unrefined powdered sea salt, or fine grain such as Celtic, Himalayan, or any other natural sea salt (grind in mortar & pestle or dedicated coffee grinder for herbs).
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 4 – 6 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil, melted; more or less depending on desired consistency
• you may also want to add some powdered herbs/spices such as clove, in that case use 1/8 tsp. and add it with the clay.
• Sweetener Options: I don’t sweeten ours and have spent years deprograming my tribe from oral care having to be sweet. You get to decide.  Simply drizzle of a small amount of vegetable glycerin (1/8-1/4 teaspoon if you need a measurement) – OR add a very small sprinkle of stevia powder (it’s 40x sweeter than sugar so be careful or it will taste awful! Try 5-10 drops of tincture) – OR -  ½  – 1 teaspoon raw honey
• Flavors: 10 drops of any of the following: peppermint essential oil, wintergreen essential oil, sweet orange essential oil, tea tree oil (Avoid swallowing. Leave out if a small child might swallow.)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Melt coconut oil over a very low heat until completely melted. DO NOT overheat.
2. Add clay, salt, baking soda, powdered herbs in a small wide mouth glass jar that your tooth paste will be stored in.
3. When the coconut oil is melted, add it to the jar with the rest of the ingredients; mix well, cap quick to keep your essential oils in there, and let cool completely before using.
4. To use: do NOT put your tooth brush in this jar or you will introduce bacteria and it will be most counterproductive! Instead keep a small spoon handy or a wooden popsicle stick in there so you can scoop a small amount out to your hand and then wipe your moist toothbrush into this and brush gently as usual.

Today many people rely on cranberry’s antioxidant power, thanks to a high level of proanthocyanidins, a class of polyphenols that gives the berry it's red color and are also associated with helping to prevent just about every chronic disease we can think of. In fact, cranberry has one of the most powerful antioxidant loads of any food and our busy scientists are creating units of measure for such things: so "1750 ORAC units per 100 grams of cranberry" is considered "off the chart". The anticancer activities of cranberry proanthocyanidins are currently under study and recent reports suggest that apoptosis (programmed cell death) may play a key role in cranberry’s ability to limit tumor cell growth. This is so interesting to me because the 'programmed cell death' of apoptosis, which is in the functioning of all of our healthy cells,  is often shifted in cancer cells so they don't die. Could it be that cranberries help our cells (yes even our cancer cells for they are 'ours' too) get back on line as part of the whole? Is it possible, and that simple, for plants to remind our cells of such things when things are going awry? I actually believe this to be true and that it happens all the time. And you? 

Yes, it's also true that when you go to the ER or many doctor's offices today with a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) it's becoming routine to be asked when you started taking cranberry. This is what progress looks like! However, they're usually unaware of the best ways to work this sour red jewel into our bladder healing dose wise and sweetener wise too. It has to be sour my friends, and this is not a favorite taste among many. Our kidneys love sour. The medicine travels to them via our blood stream through the sour components that are anti-inflammatory, astringent, and antimicrobial. This deters bacteria from staying attached to the mucous linings and making their way deeper up to the kidneys where we can court urosepsis (bacteria entering the blood through the urinary tract) if allowed to fester even further. 

So in speaking to cranberry as a medicine, finding ways to get cranberry into the body in a sour form begins with dropping the need for comfort through taste as the top priority. Too much sugar or corn syrup is added to many cranberry products. Read labels. My children were schooled early on this over-rated flavor thing when it comes to 'medicine'. Chug it down with a water and grape juice chaser if need be. Capsules are an option but yes, it's expensive. You need at lease twelve 500mg caps per day for a week or more. They work. Tinctures are an option too but many nutrients do not translate through the extraction process like they do with apple cider vinegar, and I do believe this is part of the medicinal qualities. 

The good news is cranberry doesn't always have to be taken in medicinal doses. Of course you already know this with all the ways it's woven into holiday seasonal foods. It all comes back to the beauty way of Nature here too. Intense antioxidant power offered ripe at a time of year when needed most. Perfect, eh? One year I made a cranberry gin, which is basically a cranberry tincture, and we enjoyed it with spicy ginger beer and fresh lime. So delicious! Period. Even gin haters tried it and loved this one.

So we created a holiday oxymel recipe (oxymels are apple cider vinegar and honey based herbal elixirs) this year that can be taken in small sips or diluted in sparking or warm water as a way to support restoration at the end of the year while we enter deeper hibernation ways of the mind, the body, and the soul. This is potent too in higher doses if needed for something like a UTI or adrenal and kidney fatigue. Yes, I know it's too late to drink this now if you haven't made it for the Solstice, but when you follow the old calendars set to Nature's rhythms, you celebrate a holiday every 6 weeks! It seems the soul needs this as a good medicine way to off set the harsh realities we weather in life and to stay entrained with the cycles of Nature. So the next holiday is Imbolc on February 1st or 2nd and this would be great for that night of true intention setting for the year. New Year's eve, and all of January for that matter, are to help us get clear on what we really want to say, create, and commit to at Imbolc. So I say start a batch of this as part of the Winter Solstice celebration and it will be ready for then at Imbolc. Just a thought on how to keep it simple. Drink a newly created one each holiday while putting up a fresh new one for the next holiday sounds good. 

Intention: Restoration and rejuvenation of all adrenals and kidneys within our home this winter. Yes, we're more than these parts but we're honoring then upfront today by speaking kindly, honoring rest, adjusting what we 'do', and making medicine for them. It's been a busy, long, turbulent year here, and for many this calls for some good easy restorative medicine that can fall into 'tasting good' too.
​
Dosing:

• 1-2 TB per day in food or drink per person for restoration/rejuvenation.
• This can be doubled for chronic adrenal and kidney fatigue.
• 2 TB every 3-4 hours in 1/2 cup of warm water while awake for acute UTI. There would be more suggestions too but for this article just know my next suggestion would be get in bed so your immune system can have some good energy to heal this. 
• We add to warm water, cool water, and sparkling water. 

Yield: Makes just shy of one quart and you can easily double it to get your whole household supported to spring time.  

INGREDIENTS: (helpful properties)

• 1/3 fill your jar with ground Cranberries - pulse in food processor or blender (urinary/renal tonic, astringent, antiseptic, sour, nutritive)
• 1 slice Astragalus root - dried - or  2 TB cut/sifted* (adaptogen, sweetness)
• 2 TB Juniper Berries - dried* or fresh (renal tonic, astringent)
• 1 TB Dandelion root - dried* (bitter, renal tonic, nutritive)
• 1 organic Orange* - zested and fruit chopped (bitter, tonic, sweetness, nutritive)
• Apple Cider Vinegar* (organic raw) to cover all herbs by 2 inches (tonic, sour, nutritive)
• Honey to taste (keep it with more of sour tang and learn to love sour) - support raw honey from local beekeepers you love*  (tonic, nutritive)

DIRECTIONS:
So Easy! Takes 15 minutes to put together and most of that is some wait time. Read through before starting so it's super clear.

1. Warm your vinegar on the stove (no microwaves) until you just see steam but can touch it without getting burned. Add dried herbs - astragalus, dandelion root, and juniper berries, cover the pot, and set aside off the heat. [Why do we do this? It's allowed as long as you don't over heat and kill your live vinegar to help the herbs open up from their dried state and release their medicine to the vinegar.]
2. Allow to sit for 20 minutes to cool a bit while you fill a heat safe mason jar with the ground cranberries 1/3 full, plus your orange zest, and chopped up orange fruit. 
3. Pour your warmed-cooled herb infused vinegar plus all the herbs into your jar and make sure there's at lease 2-3 inches above the plant material. Get a larger jar if not and add more straight vinegar as needed so there's room in there. 
4. Cap with non-metal lid or use waxed paper to protect your liquid from a metal lid (will corrode and spoil all your good efforts). Shake daily or a few times a week. Store away from light in a cabinet.
5. Decant after one month or so through a strainer or cheese cloth, squeeze gently, and discard solids. 
   
6. Stir raw honey in to taste keeping it tangy/sour/sweet. Label your jar and store away from direct sunlight.

Enjoy! Our third son Cyrus was born today 14 years ago. Sweet memories with tangy sweet notes all along the way to now infuse this tribe with the real essence of who he is. We're sipping this one together like the good old times. I love him forever.

May your Solstice be tangy and sweet with a bit of something extra you love. xo-Jen 

With millions of articles and books on how to tincture and all the different nuances of this form of medicine making, I completely overlooked actually adding my two cents to this well covered topic. Seems fitting to have a post and an herbal council this month dedicated to keeping this kind of medicine making in the home apothecaries I so want to see all of you have at your fingertips. Thank you for venturing in for a bit to take in some medicine tending.

So, the oldest and best way in my experience to make medicine from plants is to add them to water. Yup. So gorgeously simple! And you already know some or all of this I bet. These would be called teas (steep 5-10 minutes), infusions (steeped 1-8 hours), and decoctions (simmered 20 minutes or more). Cooking the plants in water is my first and favorite way of medicine making and links me up to my ancestral path for we all have a great auntie or grandparent who knew the plants for medicine and were most likely a well known healer in their time. The smell and taste takes me there. 

There are times, however, when a later form of medicine, called a tincture, or plant extract, really shines. These are concentrated plants extracts taken by the drop using a menstruum (vinegar, glycerin, or alcohol) to extract the medicine and sometimes some of the nutrients too, depending on the menstruum chosen. Here's why tincture making skills jumped into the healer's medicine bag as we traveled through time:

1- Longevity and Stability:
An herb, once tinctured, will retain its medicinal qualities far longer than in most other preparations. Alcohol tinctures will last for many years. I do make smaller batches and use them up, and make new. Plus they're heavy to move and we moved twice with a ridiculous number of jars! I suggest making small batches for home apothecary tending. This way you can increase your variety of plants at your finger tips.

2- Easy to Administer and Travel With:
Once prepared in tincture form, the herb is ready to administer with no further preparation. The tinctures are dispensed directly under the tongue or mixed with warm water, tea, or juice and can be tucked into travel bags easy. Just be sure you know the rules for flying with liquids or they'll confiscate your precious medicines.

3- Ease of Preparation:
Anyone is capable of making high quality tinctures. All one needs is good quality herbs, a high quality solvent or menstruum (your solvents are alcohol, vinegar, or glycerin), a measuring cup, jar, labels, a dark place to store them, and a little time with lots of love for the process. You're making medicine. It's truly amazing when you step back and look at it all.

4- Storage:
Easy if you contain your excitement and make small batches! Tinctures store compactly and conveniently in a small space, always ready to use. They're excellent for first aid kits too.

5- Cost Effective:
Tinctures are becoming extremely expensive to purchase today making it prohibitive for people to afford their medicine. This is “the people's medicine" – our original medicine and is a birthright to have access to it. So I teach how. Period. It's not hard and so much better to make yourself if you can. What you're paying for is more about the person’s time to make it for you. If this may be what you need, I make for people too. But know you can do it too anytime you want to.

6- Personalized Formulas:
As you learn to work with various herbs, you'll develop favorite ones that just call to you. Your needs will change over time and making your own gives you the creative freedom to design tincture combinations and formulas from your home apothecary.

7- Selecting the Herbs:
Almost all herbs tincture well with the correct solvent. Herbs can be tinctured as a ready-made formula or tinctured as single herbs and combined later into formulas. Most herbalists prefer to tincture herbs as single extracts. This gives them greater control of the water/alcohol ratio for individual herbs and their constituents. It also allows greater flexibility and creativity when crafting formulas. I do make formulas this way professionally but for my family I make smaller jars of the herbs mixed together fresh and they tincture all together. It’s easier and keeps me humbly rooted in tending to my loved ones. I love, love, love the way they turn out. You get to decide what works for you.

8- Selecting the Menstruum:
The menstruum is the solvent used to extract the biochemical constituents (yes, fancy lingo for the medicine and nutrients) of the plant, and to preserve the resulting solution. There are basically three menstruums used in tincture preparations: alcohol, vinegar, and glycerin. Like anything, there are pros and cons to each (more below on this); and like anything, everyone has their personal favorite and considers it the best. There are some intricate things to consider for each. Alcohol sensitivity (means vinegar and glycerin options only), after the nutritional properties (these extract better in vinegar and glycerin), when to utilize heat for better extraction (I warm glycerites), longest shelf life and extraction stronger compounds without heat (alcohol shines here), and dosing considerations (I increase doses with vinegar and glycerin tinctures).  

(Here's a little excerpt from "Birthing an Herbalist in 13 Moons" at ElderMoon School of Herbs on-line herbalist training journey with the medicine plants.)

The following is a list of the solvents (mentsruums) commonly utilized in making herbal tinctures and some guidelines for what plant constituents they most effectively dissolve:


1. ALCOHOL
Alcohol has both prolonged keeping power and serves as a powerful solvent or extractor. It has the ability to break down, absorb, and preserve much of the plant material. There are many varieties of alcohol used, though every herbalist has their favorite: brandy, rum, vodka, gin, Everclear, and 190 proof grain or potato. Alcohol that has a natural water constituent (such as those listed above) is called 'Aqueous Ethanol' and generally has a water to alcohol ratio of 40-95% alcohol. Aqueous Ethanol dissolves: alkaloids (limited), organic salts, organic acids, most glucosides, sugars, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, tannins, bitter compounds. Absolute Alcohol, or Pure Grain Alcohol, is more effective for dissolving resinous and waxy material. It is used to dissolve: wax, resin, fat, balsam, oleoresin, glycosides, some alkaloids, sugars, vitamins, volatile oils.
Easy Starting Point: Begin tincturing with 100 proof potato vodka. (50% alcohol and 50% water). 

2. GLYCERIN
Glycerine is a chemical constituent of all the fatty oils from both animals and vegetables. An excellent nutritive solvent, glycerin does not have quite the versatility of either water or alcohol, but its advantages are that it tastes good because it’s sweet, is safe and effective for children, and is in and of itself very nourishing and soothing. It dissolves: sugars, enzymes (dilute), glucosides, bitter compounds, saponins (dilute), tannins, minerals, vitamins. Glycerine also has excellent preservative qualities. It’s great for children’s preparations and for those refraining from alcohol where the use of alcohol in tinctures would be prohibitive. Be sure to request Vegetable Glycerin when buying; it is of a much higher quality. Vegetable Glycerin is available at many natural food stores and herb stores. These tinctures require a period of warming and a slight dilution with water in making them.  Quick note for the curious: we dilute 4:1 with distilled (mineral hungry) water, chop herbs small using the same proportions given above, and warm the closed jar in a water bath for a few days at the start and again at the finish (we use a crock pot on lowest setting) with a total of 6-8 weeks of sitting and shaking occasionally. These are also light sensitive so tend well to preserve the medicine. 


3. VINEGAR
I used to teach a FOUR hour class on vinegar and herbs! Water is the first and made by the Divine which is why it's the best solvent to start with as a budding herbalist. Vinegar, especially apple cider vinegar, is one of the oldest solvents used. However, it's not highly regarded today by many herbalists or medicine making companies and is considered secondary to alcohol as a solvent due to the greater strength of and shelf life of alcohol. Though not as strong as alcohol, it has other definite advantages and should not be ignored. Apple Cider Vinegar contains minute quantities of trace minerals our bodies crave and has a mild acidity that balances and aids digestion. The acetic acid and potassium content help to activate the friendly bacteria in the digestive track. I highly recommend Vinegar as a solvent for tonifying/nutritious herbs and for preparations that are taken over a long period of time for health maintenance, such as in high vitamin mineral formulas and tonic formulas. Vinegar is an excellent solvent for children’s formulas and for alcohol sensitive folks too. Vinegar tinctures are excellent for extracting some plant alkaloids (such as lobeline from Lobelia), but are not as good for extracting the more acidic biochemical ingredients and so doses are usually doubled as a general rule for making sure one gets the proper amount of the more medicinal compounds.

A commonly taught thing about Vinegar Tinctures is that they “will not last very long”. Most say 6 months. I disagree and have not had one spoil yet and many herbalists I know agree. What I teach is make enough to get to the next harvest (plus a little extra is my practice). When a vinegar tincture goes bad (and you WILL know) it's usually the quality of the vinegar and it will smell sour and have fermentation bubbles forming around the edges. Non-pasteurized live vinegar will sometimes form a mother and this is fine. It means it's alive, not spoiled, and you just have to remove “the mother” at the surface – which can be used to make more vinegar. Using the rule of one season to the next keeps your stock moving and freshness then remains at the top of your practice too. 

This month we are deepening our tincturing skills at ElderMoon School in our Monthly Herbal Councils. We'll cover weight-to-volume tincturing as another step beyond this traditional way. While the traditional folk way is absolutely enough, some want to deepen their practice with medicine making. We'll cover the climate within the herbal circles as they attempt to justify and legitimize their existence by standardizing. There is a place for this as herbalism evolves. In the end we all usually come back around to water based preparations made from plants we tended and stored in our own apothecary (smile) but it's so good to travel the road anyway and come back to that and be in community too all along the way, eh? We'll speak to all of this in council. 

​Do check out the recorded and archived herbal councils each month (BTW free if you're already a student in other courses here at ElderMoon School). It's so worth the low commitment simple hour a month to plug in and enjoy 'talking plant' in community.  Much Love, Jen