Chicory: A Crucial Herb for Healing Leaky Gut

    Years ago, I lived in the Williamette valley of western Oregon.  It was July then and all along the road edges bloomed the bright blue flowers of chicory.  I knew little about plants then and even less about medicinal plants, but I loved those blue flowers.  Later I learned that chicory is native to the Mediterranean, but had been brought to America by early settlers.;  they used it as a coffee substitute.  I also learned that the Oregon trail pioneers brought chicory with them;  this included my own Oregon Trail ancestors Job and Elizabeth Hayworth, who came to the Williamette valley in 1847.  

   Chicory is related to dandelion and you can see the toothed edges of the flower petals, just like dandelion.  The roots are full of a water soluble plant fiber called inulin.  The human gut breaks down the inulin into a gelatinous, viscous goo that plays a crucial role in helping the normal bacteria in the gut prosper & flourish.  The inulin also helps clear out toxins, wastes, fat and cholesterol particles.  The end result: colon cancer prevention, healthier cholesterol and blood sugar levels and a healthier immune system.

     Chicory is not the only source of inulin:  foods such as leeks, onons, garlic, artichokes, yams, burdock and asparagas also have inulin.  But chicory root has a very high concentration of inulin so it is very useful.

     My favorite way to get inulin into my system is to take chicory powder - 1 TB daily mixed in juice.  While I can get it in the foods I eat, this powder supplement ensures that I am getting enough.  

     Last week I was on San Juan island;  once again the roadsides were full of chicory, those beautiful blue faces turned to the sun.  It reminded me again of my family history with this plant and also, its fabulous healing gifts.

Janet

     

Influenza Epidemic & Herbal Approaches

    ’Tis the season:  following the joyous events of the holidays, we all return to our adult lives and promptly come down with a miserable influenza bug.  Right now in Washington state influenza is circulating at epidemic levels:  one-third of school aged kids are currently sick.  You no doubt have heard a lot about how to manage this flu from a modern medicine perspective;  in this blog I will cover herbal & other approaches to keeping yourself healthy and protected.

     First of all, you need to have a sense of which viruses you are dealing with. Here’s a general overview:

• Influenza viruses such as H1N1 pandemic or seasonal flu influenza A: these flu viruses can vary in symptoms, but two symptoms are almost always found: flu viruses cause (in adults) a fever of 100+ that sticks around for a few days, AND some level of significant aches and pains, whether it is muscle aches, backaches, headaches, etc. These are key diagnostic features.  The virus that is currently circulating not only has fever and bad aches, but also runny eyes and nose, sore throat and often a hellacious cough.  When this virus first emerged, the cough was so bad that people were getting tested for whooping cough. This year’s influenza is more serious than usual and there have been more fatalities than normal.
• Gastroenteritis, or what we call stomach flu. These sorts of viruses cause primarily nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea, usually in a violent brief burst that lasts 24 hours. Usually there is no fever associated with these, or if so, it is brief. Muscle aches would not be expected here.  People with gastroenteritis feel icky, but it is not fatal as a rule.
• Cold viruses, also called rhinoviruses. These involve a wide range of possible symptoms (sore throat, congestion, runny nose, cough, etc.) but again it is rare to have a high fever or muscle aches with the common cold. 

     If in doubt, consult your primary care provider. 

     Here are some herbal approaches you can try: 

Prevention of Viruses:
     During peak cold/flu season of September through May I find it very helpful to take a daily dose of herbs that help build up the immune system, and keep the viruses at bay. My current favorite herbs for this include a blend of equal parts of astragalas and elderberry. You can find each of these herbs in a liquid tincture (alcohol) form, taking it that way. Herb Pharm is an excellent commercial brand.  You take 1 dropper (30 drops) of both herbs daily.

     The tincture approach can get expensive, so my preferred low budget method is to take powders of each herb, blend them together and take 1 tsp a day in tea, or put in capsules. Powdered astragalas and black elderberry are available at Mountain Rose herbs or Starwest Botanicals.  Sometimes your local herb store carries them as well.

     Another approach is to use medicinal mushrooms. These mushrooms are very effective at stimulating the immune system in the gut, making viruses less likely to succeed.  A mushroom blend I prefer is the 14 mushroom blend by Mushroom Harvest; this can be bought as a bulk powder, which you then take as tea, capsules, which is a lot cheaper. 

      Many people use echinacea very successfully. It has not worked well on me, so I tend to avoid it. Find the plants that work best for you.

Viral Raids: 

      If a virus sneaks past your herbal defense shield, here are some approaches that will help you launch an early raid and stop the virus before it can really get going. These raids have to be done within 24 HOURS OF THE FIRST SYMPTOMS in order to be effective. This requires a certain level of alertness on your part. 

     The viral raid approach varies, depending on which viruses you may be dealing with. 

• Influenza virus: my favorite remedy is a homeopathic formulation called Oscillococcinium (OSC). I have used this for years and it usually works very well. OSC comes in packets of three vials, which you are supposed to take every 6 hours. My homeopathic practitioner friends tell me you do not need to use three vials. Instead, take one vial, divide it in thirds, and take 1/3 every 6 hours. This works just as well, and saves money.

• Stomach flu virus: ditto Oscillococcinium. It usually works very well against stomach viruses.  Even if you wake up in the middle of stomach flu, OSC will shorten the course.

• Cold viruses: These viruses require a different approach. My first herbal teacher KP Khalsa taught me this approach and it works very very well. It requires three things:

1) Large doses of Astragalas: either tincture 12 droppers all at once, or capsules: 20 all at once, or 5 teaspoons of bulk powder, made into tea, or just chugged in water. This floods the system with a large dose of this herb, which is very effective at stimulating the immune system.

Astragalas root

     2) Vitamin C: I usually take 1000 - 2000 milligrams of this; some people take more. High doses can cause diarrhea, so you have to figure out what your level of tolerance is.

     3) Zinc lozenges: take ~15 lozenges, suck on them slowly over several hours. They coat the throat membranes, making it hard for viruses to replicate. Lots of zinc lozenge brands taste horrible; I have found Zand’s to be very effective and they taste great. 

     Finally, it is important to remember the things that keep our immune system well tuned up:
• Get to bed by 11 pm each night and get the hours of sleep that your body needs. This is crucial.
• Limit your intake of sugar: sugar is documented to suppress the immune system. This is crucial.
• Wash hands, cover coughs, stay home and get the rest and relaxation from stress that your body needs. 

When to see a medical practitioner

•  If you have a persistent fever greater than 103°.

•  If coughing is severe and you develop shortness of breath.

•  If symptoms are significant are not improving after seven days.

Janet

Resources:

Mushroom Harvest:  www.mushroomharvest.com

Herb Pharm tinctures:  available at most herb and supplement stores

Oscilliococcinium Homeopathic:  widely available in herb and supplement stores

Mountain Rose Herbs:  www.mountainrose.com

Starwest Botanicals:  www.starwest-botanicals.com

     

An Ancient Herbal Remedy for Modern Pain Relief

Boswellia serrata tree

   I was talking with my friend James the other day.  He is in his sixties and recently retired.  We go to exercise class together and try to keep each other motivated and on track.  But for him, keeping motivated is a real challenge, because of pain in his joints:  he has the usual wear and tear osteoarthritis that many people develop as they age. His shoulder, neck and feet are all affected, and this makes exercise difficult.

     He has relied on ibuprofen as a pain reliever for years, but recent blood tests showed that his kidneys were not doing well, so his physician recommended he discontinue the drug ( this is a common issue with medications like ibuprofen).  Tylenol is safer, but doesn’t seem to work for him, and he was getting a little panicked about what he could do.  He knew I was a professional herbalist, so he asked me for suggestions.

     I suggested three different herbs that he could try out.  Since every person is different, not every herb works for every person.  I provided some capsuled samples:  Willow bark, Chinese Corydalis and Boswellia serrata, also known as Indian Frankincense.  I suggested he try each herb, one at a time and see what worked best.  I expected Willow would be most effective, but was surprised when he reported that Boswellia was most effective.  He took it at bedtime and noticed that he was sleeping much better.  He finds that it is a good alternative to ibuprofen and also his doctor reports that his kidney function is much improved.  

    Boswellia is a medium sized tree with spreading branches;  it grows up to 45 high in its native northern India.  The medicinal part is actually a resin:  the wild crafters take off strips of bark.  The tree then oozes out copious amounts of a clear yellow resin, much like pine sap. This resin is allowed to dry and is then collected.  In India they typically powder the resin chunks, roll it up into little pills and swallow it.  Here in America it is probably best to take a capsuled product.

    Boswellia is also known as Frankincense; there are at least 45 different varieties of it.  Boswellia Serrata comes from India;  it is also the variety most commonly used in herbal healing.  Ayurvedic medicine in India goes back at least 4000 years and there are written records of Boswellia as medicine going back 2000 years.  So it has a long traditional use.  

    Modern medicine is beginning to do research on boswellia and results are promising: it seems to be effective in reducing pain and stiffness.  It may be useful for a wide range of musculoskeletal issues, including arthritis, bursitis & tendonitis, low back pain and more.  It may be especially useful for people who have autoimmune diseases with inflammation, such as colitis or rheumatoid arthritis.  Since it is a potent anti-inflammatory it may also play a key role in preventing cancer.  

     Chronic pain is a huge problem for many people and modern medicine is not fully effective in addressing it.  It is worthwhile to look at ancient remedies to see if we can find safer and equally effective alternatives.

Janet

Resources:

=Starwest Botanicals sells bulk powder:   http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/frankincense/

=The Capsule Connection sells a great capsule making machine here:  https://www.capsuleconnection.com/

=Youtube has a great video on how to make your own capsules:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo92dGCt1Rc

=Or you can buy pre-made Boswellia capsules:  two brands I recommend are Now brand Boswellia Extract and Source Naturals brand.  

    

     

At Tongue Point: Goodbye to Summer

     It is the end of September.  Glen and I are sitting on the viewpoint  at Tongue Point, a rocky finger of land poking  north into the Straits of Juan de Fuca, just west of Port Angeles.  We have been camping at this lovely site for a few days, enjoying the last days of a fading summer.

     Around dusk we decided to finish off our day by taking our camp-cooked bean tacos and sitting out at the  outlook.   This day  has been a dream of a sunny day, now fading into dusk.  The sunset in the west is sensational.  I remark that this is a watercolorist’s dream (I dabble in watercolors).  Glen shoots back, “Or a nightmare!”  And I have to laugh.  How is possible to catch and hold such unearthly colors?

     This place  is that rare thing along the the Washington seacoast: an easily accessible rocky shore.  This is  very different  than the long sandy stretches of Ocean Shores or Long Beach: here the salt water from the Pacific rides east for  60 miles in great rolling swells that crash upon the rocky shore.  All night, bedded down in our warm camp beds, we hear and feel the BOOM POUND THUMP of big swells pushing in a full tide and breaking at last on the stony reaches of the point.  

     These rocky beaches provide an excellent place for a sea garden of kelp to establish itself and flourish.  We were here last spring for a brief visit and there was no sign of this garden; we have the photo to prove it.   Upon our return this fall, the bull kelp is thick, floating and swaying  some 20 feet from shore. 

    During its summer life,  the kelp provides a floating mat island, and many birds take advantage of it; several gulls with crops  full after a day’s feeding, perch on the kelp, facing west and watch the sun sink into the hills.  A lone Great Blue Heron manages to balance itself on the mats !*! and continues to fish even in the last minutes of light.   The bobbing bulbs of kelp look like so many seal heads and we are fooled, over and over again.  

      The rocks provide another  feeding habitat that many rock shorebirds specialize in using. This is the country of Black oyster catchers: as we watch the sunset, they vocalize back and forth  from rock to rock, a mournful piping call.  

     This is a season of migration and transitions:  we watch Pigeon Guillemots in their white winter coats, getting ready to fly to the north Pacific for the winter.  Other birds come in to stay:  small bands of Scoters and other sea ducks move into the Straits for the winter.   

    This is a place of breathtaking beauty.  This is a time of saying goodbye to summer.  There are so many feelings:  a feeling of mourning for summer lost, of reveling in in the beauty laid out before us, of anticipation for  the change of the season.  My heart is full.  

      The sun continues to sink, painting the sky and the water, too, in ever-changing colors.   We watch and wait, until finally, the water turns black. 

Janet

Resources:

•  All photos by Glen Buschmann  

The Barrida

     As an energy healer, I am always keeping an eye out for good ways to clear out the energy field, cleansing and revitalizing it.  There are many ways that the shamanic healers know & use: the barrida is one of my favorites.  It is simple & effective and you can do with herbs right out of your own garden.

     Barrida is a Spanish word and refers to a broom.  In this technique, we take powerfully protective and cleansing herbs, bundle them together in our hand and use this makeshift broom

  

Barrida Herbs:  Rosemary, Bay, Rue & Mugwort

to sweep through our energy field.  We move from the top of the head down, directing the energy back into Pachamama, Mother Earth.  It is similar to smudging with burning herbs such as sage, but I prefer the barrida in many ways because I love the smell of the fresh plants.

    

    I have favorite herbs I put into the barrida.  Here are some of them:

 Mugwort:  this herb grows all over the planet, in different varieties.  And nearly everywhere it grows, the indigenous people used it for protection.  Here in the Pacific Northwest, our local variety is called Coastal Mugwort or Artemisia suksdorfii.  But any variety of mugwort does the job.

 Rosemary is one of three herbs that the curanderas of Mexico put into their barridas.  Though Rosemary came from the Mediterranean coast, the Spaniards brought it with them to Latin America, and the indigenous tribes immediately embraced it.  It is one plant I grow near my front door, for its protection qualities.

Rue is yet another key herb in the barrida, providing powerful protection.  It has a strong, almost noxious scent and thus it thought to repel harm.

Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis) is one of my personal favorite protection herbs.  It too grows near my front door, and I rely on it for to help keep me safe.

     Once you have used the barrida to sweep through your energy field, you then discard the branches.  I put them on the compost pile and simply leave them in the garden, where the earth

will cleanse and recycle them.

    This is a great technique. Give it a try!

Janet

Resources:

Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs               Scott Cunningham

A Kitchen Witch’s  World of Magical Plants & Herbs    Rachel Patterson

You Tube on Limpia & Barridas:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1zSFyN8I4M

The Cookie Lady

     Some years ago I got a call from a friend of mine.  She had just moved into an old house in Olympia;  this house was about 80 years old and throughout its long history, had been built and lived in by one family.  The last member of this family had lived in this house for most of her life, but had recently died.  So my friend was able to buy this wonderful old home, which sits on the Eastside hill of Olympia, overlooking Puget Sound.

    My friend was settling very nicely into this house and really enjoying her new space.  But one day she came home and went into the small office just off the kitchen.  As she walked into that room, she was very startled to smell the distinct scent of newly baked cookies.  She walked around the house, trying to figure it out.   The smell eventually dissipated and my friend went on with her house projects.

     However several times over the next few weeks she came home once again to the smell of fresh baked cookies.  My friend is a gifted intuitive and she began to wonder if her house had some sort of ghost presence.  So she gave me a call and I went to her house to do an energetic space clearing, but also to check in with the possible ghost.

     This sort of work is commonly done by shamanic healers.  We travel via shamanic journey into the Spirit World and invite the ghost in for a conversation.  Now this work should only be done if you have been well-trained and have excellent protection; not all ghosts are benign.  However, this ghost was.

     I met the spirit of a woman who had died very suddenly while living in that house.  Because of the unexpected nature of her death, she did not know she was dying, and she got lost between this world and the next world.  Her spirit was still waiting in the house, waiting for her family members to come home.  This woman was a very nurturing, hospitable sort of person in life;  in death she was making cookies to welcome her family home.  Only of course, they never came.  She was very confused and sad.

   We had a long conversation.  I gently explained to her that she had died.  I offered her the opportunity to make a crossing into the next world, where her family would be waiting for her.  She was happy to accept my help.  I took her to the crossing place and explained to her what to do.  I watched her cross the bridge into the next world. That world across the bridge was enveloped in clouds so I could not see it,  but I could hear the cries of welcome and joy as she made her way.  Her family was indeed waiting for her and they took her in with great love.

     Back here, in the old house in Olympia,  we finished the energetic space clearing.  The wind blew in through the open windows and doors and the sun shone in like a blessing.  My friend had a strong sense of welcome from the house, as if it finally was hers.  

      That was the last time my friend smelled cookies in her house.

Janet

Resources

•  The Unquiet Dead by Edith Fiore
•  Sacred Space by Denise Linn

•  Butterfly photo by Nancy Partlow

Chasing Winter's Cough Virus

Herbs for Cough Chasing

     At this time in the heart of winter a particularly nasty cold virus is racing around the planet.  In my bioregion in the Pacific Northwest, waves of this virus are knocking people off their pins.

This particular cold seems to start with a slight sore throat and immediately moves into the lungs.  Even people with strong, normally healthy lungs are complaining that they have a major cough:  the phrase I’m hearing is that “ it feels like I’m trying to cough up a lung”.  

     
     People also notice the usual over the counter cough remedies aren’t helping much.  The other issue is that this virus seems to linger much longer that the usual 7-10 days:  many people are reporting this virus is hanging on for three to four weeks.

      This is not influenza;  most people do not have a fever or achy muscles/joints which are two key symptoms of the flu.  However the nasty cough is obnoxious and really interferes with sleep, energy and people’s quality of life.  

      So here is a great herbal remedy that I’ve been recommending;  several people I know and work with have tried it and are getting great results. One friend remarked that her cough cleared 24 hours after using this remedy.  

                    Cold/Cough Chaser tea

•  take one fresh lemon and squeeze out the juice, putting in a sauce pan

•  take one thumb-size piece of fresh ginger and grate into the juice

•  take 3 cloves of garlic and mince or press into the juice.

•  Add two cups of water to the juice/pan.

•  Add honey to taste

       Bring this mix to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes so the ginger and garlic is well extracted.  Then cool the tea enough to be drinkable and drink it down.  A word of warning:  it doesn’t taste very good.  But it works!

     If you are concerned that the virus is moving into a bacterial bronchitis or pneumonia, you could also add:

•  1/2 teaspoon oregano

•  1/2 teaspoon sage

•  1/2 teaspoon thyme
•  1/2 teaspoon rosemary

       Though these will not improve the flavor, they are great antimicrobial herbs.  

     Now just a reminder:  if you develop a persistent high fever, chest pain or shortness of breath, seek medical attention.  Herbs can only go so far.  

Janet

The News of Winter

The News of Winter


9th Century Irish Poem

I have news for you
The stag bells, winter snows, summer has gone.
Wind high and cold, the sun low, short in its course.
The sea running high.
Deep red the bracken; its shape is lost.

The wild goose has raised its accustomed cry.

Cold has seized the birds wings;
Season of ice:   this is my news.  

Janet

Shamanic Egg Cleansing: a Gift from the Doñas

Tools for a Shamanic Egg Cleansing

       A few years ago I had a great opportunity to study with two traditional healers from northern Peru.  Given the name of the “Twins”, Doña Olinda and Doña Isabel were raised in the mountains and deserts near  Chiclayo, Peru; here they learned to work with the sacred lagoons of the Andes as well as the rich plant life in the desert along the sea coast.   They learned traditional healing from their indigenous heritage as well as some healing tools brought to Latin America by the Spaniards.  They blend all these things together in their medicine:  plants and prayers, energy healing, shamanic techniques.  They are curanderas and shamans.  

     As part of their teaching, I had the opportunity to participate in some of their healing work.  This is always part of the path of the healer: we learn by getting healing treatments and finding out what works for us.  We then take the best of what we have learned and use it with other people.

     I didn’t know it at the time but I really needed the work of Doña Isabel and Doña Olinda.  I had grown up not knowing how to take the best care of this body I had been given.  The idea of self-care was like a word in Swahili: a  foreign concept beyond my grasp.  I knew I needed to take much better care of myself, yet felt powerless about doing so.  There was low self-esteem at work:  I’m not worth the trouble.  There was a sense of futility:  what is the point when stuff is going to happen anyway?  In a weird way, it felt frivolous and self-indulgent to focus on self care when the world had so many other things at stake.  I had known for many years that I needed to take better care of myself, but I was stuck.  And so it went.

     It was in that weekend with the Doñas that this thinking started to shift.  In a shamanic journey around these questions, Spirit told me that my time on this planet is a journey of body as well as  mind and spirit.  It is a profound gift to have this human body and I have a responsibility to take good care of this gift I have been given.  I was also reminded that people who are dying often express great regret that they did not take better care of and enjoy their body more.  These ideas were very illuminating for me.  

     Perhaps the most transforming moment for me in that weekend came when the Twins did a shamanic egg cleansing (limpia) on me.  This is one of the most important healing tools they have:  they took a fresh (hen) egg, blew prayers into it and then moved the egg in circles all around my body, top to bottom.  As they did so, I could feel the power of their work, pulling out old stuck energy from me.  I started to cry and then could not stop.  For me it felt as if the egg was clearing old grief and pain that I had carried for 50 years.  Finally they finished by taking a branch of rosemary and sweeping down my energy field, in a process called a barrida.

     After they finished clearing my body, they broke the egg into a glass of clear water and did a reading.  From the photo here, you can see what this might look like: a  yolk sitting at the bottom of the glass, the egg white in a pattern above it and the water it sits in.  My egg was nowhere near so healthy:  the yolk was disintegrated and looked as if it had been in a blender.  If I hadn’t been crying before, I would have started then:  that egg was thrashed.  But the Twins sat with me and gently explained what they were seeing: old patterns from childhood, a near-death experience, my struggles with my parents.  They saw it all.  They helped me see it and understand my life and my choices in a powerful new way.

     And that work transformed me.  It was two weeks later that I woke up from a good night’s sleep and decided it was time to learn how to do better self-care.  I didn’t have a clue what that would look like, but I was no longer stuck in hopelessness.  I decided it was time to lose weight and in the process learned that it really does work (for me) to focus on calories and portion size.  After years of being sedentary, I started to exercise and found new pride in my increased mobility.  I learned Qi Gong and found great relief from the inflammatory arthritis I’ve had for 20 years.   I explored different stress management tools and found some that worked very well for me.  A nutritionist helped me realize that I have Celiac issues so I stopped eating wheat.

     Now two years later, my life has been transformed, in what my spouse calls the “new & improved Janet”!  I am 50 pounds lighter.  Sleep apnea is gone and high blood pressure has resolved.  My blood sugar is now normal.  I go to the gym 3 times a week for a Silver Sneakers exercise class and walk one mile without difficulty.  My energy is much better and I get through a normal day without exhaustion.  I can even dance a little and do some hiking:  all these things were impossible 2 years ago.  The horizons of my life were shrinking as I aged, but now they are expanding and I am exploring all the new things I can do.

     This is the gift from Spirit, offered through the skilled and loving hands of the Doñas.  This is the beauty of shamanic egg cleansing:  a powerful healing tool that finds that which is broken in us and helps make us whole.  

     Now this is work I do on others, passing the gift and the healing forward.  I offer it to you.

Janet

Resources

•  Shamanic Egg Cleansing by Kalyn Bastion Raphael

•  Woman Who Glows in the Dark  by Elena Avila

•  The Twin Shamans web page:  http://www.twinshamans.com/about_us.html

•  You tube of one healer’s egg cleansing:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akbK6jd-U8I

Herbal Amulets for Psychic Protection

Nine sacred herbs

     In my work as a shamanic healer, I often explore different ways in which we can keep ourselves well-protected from foreign energies.  This is what we call psychic protection.  I have written about several of my favorite tools in my ebook on A Shamanic Healer's Tools for  Psychic Protection;  you can find this book on Amazon.  But in the meantime, here is one tool from the book:

     Plants have spoken to me for many years, and carry powerful medicine for me.  So when I came across this idea for herbal amulets, I jumped on it.

      The word amulet was new to me so I looked it up.  An amulet is defined as a small object or charm worn to ward off illness, harm or evil.  It can also be used to bring good fortune.  In the Faery Doctoring traditions of Ireland, such charms are considered potent medicine.  This amulet/charm combines sacred herbs in blends of three or six or nine to provide its effects.  I learned about it from Mara Freeman’s book Kindling the Celtic Spirit. 

     

     Here are some of my favorite herbs.  In the Celtic world, multiples of three are considered very powerful, so choose 3 or 6 or 9 of these.  

•  Lavender has a powerful calming, relaxing effect.  It is a powerful protection herb as well.

•  Chamomile has a long use as an herb to banish all ills, and to promote well-being.

•  Comfrey is a powerful magic herb for all kinds of charm.  It provides energetic safety.

•  Sweet Woodruff is a powerful protection herb and helps us find strength in life’s battles.

•  Thyme helps us find our courage and strength when facing difficulties.  

•  Rue is commonly used in Latin America and is one of their first choice herbs for protection.

•  Rosemary is one of my first choices for protection.  I grow it right by my front door.

•  Mugwort is another top choice for protection.  I use it as an incense to cleanse my energy field

•  Plantain is used to bring protection to one’s home.  At my place, it grows in the front entrance area.

    Many of these herbs grow in the garden;  if you have these it is always best to use plants from your own land.   If you do not happen to have a well-stocked herb garden, you can visit a friend’s garden, a local nursery or farmer’s market.  Find these plants and give them a big sniff:  the ones that really attract you are the ones to choose.

    

     If the herbs are fresh, pick a few flowers or leaves and let dry.  I put my herbs on a window screen laid flat so the air can circulate above and below.  They are ready when they crumble to the touch.

    You can also buy these herbs dried:  again check your local herb stores. Or an excellent online source is Mountain Rose in Eugene, Oregon.

    Once the herbs are dried, take a pinch of each of the herbs you have chosen.  Hold it to your heart and say whatever prayers you wish to call in its protection.  Finish by blowing these prayers into that pinch of herbs, then placing them in the bag.  Continue until all the herbs you have chosen are in the bag.    

     Cinch the bag closed.  As an extra helpful step, you can wrap red thread or yarn around the bag:  this comes from the Irish tradition of thread magic and adds additional protection.

     Once your bag is complete, you can keep it in your pocket or wear it around your neck.  For women, you can tuck it into your bra, over your heart.  You could also hang it over the main door frame to your house, as a form of protection for the place you live.  

Janet

Making Medicine: Elderberries from the Kootenai river

The Kootenai River in northern Idaho

     Last week my spouse Glen and I were traveling in northern Idaho, visiting the donation land claim of my great-grandparents in Jewel Lake in Bonner County.  While this was a very rewarding family history journey, we also made a side trip to the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge, where we were treated to a gloriously sunny day.  Here you can see the Kootenai river in all its autumn glory.

     Though we were mostly tourists, it was still the third week in October and the herbalist in me had a keen eye out both for the changing weather, and also the opportunity to harvest medicinal plants, maybe for the last time for the season.

     When you go to the refuge, you take a five mile dike road in along the Kootenai river.  As we drove this road, the sun was shining beautifully on the still waters of the river, creating gorgeous reflections of the cottonwood trees leaning from the banks.  We were admiring the scenery when suddenly we started to see bushes and bushes full of elderberries, gleaming bluely in the strong sunlight.  Many of these shrubs were perched precariously down very steep dike banks and only Glen was courageous enough to try to reach them  (I cowered in the car and hoped he didn’t end up in the river).  But then we found a Blue Elderberry shrub in a nearby field and managed to collect several cups of fat, succulent elderberries.  This really warmed the cockles of this herbalist’s heart.

    I’d been thinking a lot about elderberries lately.  There’s been a lot of hoopla about the Ebola virus; while Ebola is a serious tragedy in Africa, I believe it is far less of a risk to the world population than a possible pandemic respiratory flu virus.  I have doing a great deal of study about what we as herbalists could do if a high mortality flu virus arrived;  I believe we have some good tools.  

     In my life before I was an herbalist,  I worked in two different Public Health Departments and have had a lifelong interest in community health issues, especially infectious diseases.  My great-grandfather HW Partlow was a general practice doctor and was in the middle of the pandemic flu epidemic of 1918.  He used medicinal herbs extensively in his practice;  he never caught the flu despite intense exposure and to me, that is a testament to his great herbal skills.  So following HW’s footsteps, I have been looking at herbs that might be helpful in fighting the flu virus.  This is especially important because from my experience in modern medicine, I simply do not believe that we have enough tools to manage these viruses.  Herbs may well provide a lifesaving alternative.

Blue elderberries steeping in honey

     Elderberry is one of these herbs, particularly in early stages.  Stephen Buhner in his excellent book Herbal Antivirals talks about how elderberries stop viruses from replication.  A key aspect to this is to use a syrup or tea to coat the mouth/throat in the early stages, which is where the virus gets a foothold.  If you can stop replication there, you can stop the problem entirely.  Should the virus succeed in entering the body,  elder can also actually kill viruses, can keep viruses from maturation, can bind them up so they are unable to infect human cells and in general make it difficult for the virus to prosper.  Our European ancestors knew that elderberry worked:  there is a long tradition in Celtic countries of making elderberry syrup in the fall and then taking one tablespoon daily in hot water throughout fall and winter as a preventative.  

Tinctures of Lomatium, Cordyceps and Astragalas

     There are other herbs as well.  Today I am making large amounts of tinctures of Lomatium, Cordyceps mushroom, Astragalas, Houttynia (Yu Zing Cao), Baical Skullcap (Huang qin), Isatis and Licorice.  These are all herbs that Stephen Buhner recommends, but also I have used many of them to good effect.  My plan is to have quart jars of these tinctured herbs put aside, in case the big one ever arrives.  I’m using tinctures because these have a very long shelf life.  But also, if someone is sick, tinctures are very easily absorbed.

     We may never need these herbs.  But I feel more comfortable in having them on hand, just in case.  

     Here is the recipe for elderberry syrup:

=2 cups of black or blue elderberries.  If fresh, dry out a few days by spreading over a screen in a dry, well-aerated area.

=Put in a double boiler pan and cover with your favorite honey to above 1 inch above the berries.  (Some recipes call for cane sugar, but this seems ridiculous to me as sugar is known to reduce an immune response).  Cover the pan, bring to a simmer and let the berries steep in the honey for several hours.  Periodically take the lid off and mop out any liquid that has collected on the underside of the lid (this reduces the risk of mold later on).  

=After about 4-6 hours, strain out the berries and save the honey.  Label and date; I  usually store it in the refrigerator though this may not be necessary.  

Janet

Resources

• Herbal Antivirals  by Stephen Buhner

• Herbalist’s Guide to Preventing the Flu  by Janet Partlow (check Amazon)

• Ist Chinese Herbs:  http://www.1stchineseherbs.com/   A good source for many of these herbs.

• Mountain Rose:  www.mountainroseherbs.com/   Another great source for these herbs.

Indian Summer

 It is now early September.  In my part of the world (Pacific Northwest), the mornings are cool, almost to the point of frost.  Thin wisps of fog filter through the trees and a heavy blanket of dew coats the browned grasses and leaves.  Innumerable webs full of FAT spiders are etched in dewdrops against a gray sky.  By midday, the fog will clear:  intensely deep blue skies and a warm sun make it necessary to shuck the jackets, switch over to shorts and bask in the last days of the season.

     This is Indian summer.  In this time the green grasses of July have turned golden, their seed heads desiccated and their tiny seeds dispersed to the winds.  The leaves of early emerging spring willows are now bronze-colored and getting ready to drop. There was a heavy rain two weeks ago and now mushrooms are rising, fruiting from their mycelia underpinnings.  Last month chanterelles were scarce and expensive in the market:  $24 a pound!   But two weeks after that soaking rain, the mycelia throb and hum underground and produce an astonishing surge of life, in the form of mushrooms.  The price of chanterelles drops to $9 a pound.

   
This is a time of pulling together our stores, to prepare for the cold times ahead.  My sister Nancy gathered in her summer’s harvest of tomatoes.  She had the idea to stuff them into a cornucopia and take a picture. I saw the end result and knew immediately that she had captured the essence of Indian summer:  the woven basket full of the late summer fruits of the year, glowing like jewels in the slanting light of late summer.

   We are also canning peaches and freezing berries for jam.  Some years we go to the Farmer’s Market to buy pounds and pounds of cucumbers to make bread & butter pickles.  We harvest mushrooms out of our Garden Giant bed;  they get sautéed and then frozen to use in the winter months ahead.  Some years we buy a whole king salmon, fresh out of Puget Sound.  We fillet it, ice and freeze it and feed from its beautiful red flesh for months to come.

    From my world as a healer, this is also a time of gathering in our own personal reserves.  I go to bed a little earlier and rejoice in the relief of cool sheets, even needing a warmer blanket to get through the night  (I never thought I’d be cold again!) The night falls much more quickly and as I turn out the light to sleep, I feel the blessed darkness wrap me up in its own blanket of safety and care, lulling me deep into the dreamtime.

     In Five Element Chinese medicine, we look at how the seasons change, and how we as humans adjust to these changes.  Many of us have difficulty in resetting our internal clocks to these seasonal changes;  however in Chinese medicine they have come up with great ways to help us do this.
     They have a series of acupoints that are called the Horary Points.  There are 2 points for each season;  by accessing these points we can help ourselves make these seasonal adjustments.
     The points for Indian Summer are Stomach 36, followed by Spleen 3.  You can google diagram acupoint  followed by the name of the point and find a good photo and description of these points.  Once you have found them, you can apply acupressure in the form of your fingers, first holding Stomach 36 on both legs, then Spleen 3 on both feet.  Do this on a daily basis until you feel as if you have come back into alignment with nature’s rhythms.  If your region has daylight savings time, you will need to repeat this after the clock shifts.

     Soon the wheel of the year will turn again.  The cold mornings will turn to killing frost;  the leaves will drop and begin to mold.   In my land, the rains will begin and will not cease for weeks to come.  This is Fall.  All too soon it will be upon us.

    But for me, now in this place,  I am living in the beautiful days that come at the end of summer, reveling in fog and sun alike.  Until the season turns again…

Janet Partlow
Resources:  all photos by Nancy Partlow
   

   

   

Garden giants

     I admit it:  I am a creature of enthusiasms.  My family and friends know this about me; they are never shocked when I come up with yet another wild hair idea.  There is a certain amount of eye rolling and sighing that goes on and even some heel-digging resistance to getting recruited into my enthusiasms.  But resistance is futile and many of them get swept away . 

     So it is with mushrooms.   They have been calling to me for some years and this fall in particular, I am heeding the call.  They are by nature wacko-weirdo, creepy, fascinating and downright beautiful.  My friend Rain spoke recently of walking with her two year old son around their wetland property.  They came across some mushrooms fruiting profusely.  Hawk leaned over and stuck his face in them  and said loudly: “What is THAT?”  You don’t have to be two years old and seeing mushrooms for the first time to feel the same way.

     For many years I was an armchair mushroom freak.  There are a lot of good mushroom resources:  I love David Arora’s book All that the Rain Promises.  Paul Stamets’ book Mycelium Running is another wonderful read.  But after some years of  reading about mushrooms, I decided it was time to get my hands in the soil and on the mushrooms.  So this spring, we planted a bed of Stropharia annulato  or King Stropharia aka Wine Caps or Garden Giants.

   We didn’t get started until early  May.  Ideally a stropharia bed should be in by March 1st.  But I struggled to find wood chips and finally bought some alder sawdust from the local bark store.
     For this  project we recruited our gardener friend David.   As a professional gardener he knew about plants, but had never put in a mushroom bed before.  I hadn’t either, but put together my best guess from all the reading I’d done.
     We put the bed in at the end of my herb garden. Stropharia likes to have plant friends nearby and lots of edges, so this seemed like the best place.  A place of dappled sunlight, up against the foundation of the house, and with a soaker hose laid in; all these factors seem to create a likely spot.
     So in a  4 foot by 3 foot space,  David dug out all the soil down the subsoil;  the idea here is to removed any other fungal elements that might compete with the stropharia.  He put down a layer of  alder sawdust, then sprinkled in the stropharia spawn, a commercial product that is full of the fungus to get started. He then repeated the process, topping off the bed with 2 inches of alder .  We then soaked the bed well; this being May in western Washington, we knew the rains would keep it well watered for several weeks, which turned out to be true.  By early July the dry season finally began and we switched over to using the soaker hose for an hour twice a week.  Then I sat back and waited.
     I went out regularly to the garden and saw  nothing.  Nada, zip. I was discouraged.  Paul Stamets says the soil needs to be at least 60 degrees for the mushrooms to pop up, so you can expect to see them in mid or late July.
    I checked in July.  Nada.  I checked in August.  Nothing.  I was getting depressed.  Then I put them out of my mind as a failed attempt.

     In mid September I needed to collect some mugwort.  I went out to the garden and OH MY GOD there were several clumps of stropharia, tangled in with branches of mugwort.  We had pulled it off!  We had put out an invitation to these mushrooms and they graced us with their presence.
   And how graceful it was.  Through early November in an unseasonably warm fall, Glen went out to the garden and regularly collected a half pound of mushrooms every two-three days.  We learned how to cook them:  sliced in a pan of butter & olive oil, sautéed 5-7 minutes until the pan is dry and the mushrooms are golden-brown with crispy edges.   We  put them in a sauce and poured them over roasted Delicata squash.  OMG.  Glen made polenta cakes and we poured the mushrooms over these.   We put them in stews and soups and stroganoffs.  OMG.  You get the point.
     And to  every  recipe that we made,  they added a rich, complex nutty flavor.  They were an excellent meat substitute.  And though not much is known about the medicinal qualities of Stropharia,  I believe all mushrooms at the very least provide important adaptogenic support to the immune system.   I think they keep our immune systems tuned up against all kinds of attacks.  As an herbalist, I believe that the best way to take herbs ( and mushrooms) is as food built into our daily lives.  And so it proved with our friend Stropharia.



Janet Partlow
 Resources:
photo of sawdust spawn from Field & Forest Products
"Beauty shots" of Stropharia by Pam Kaminski
All other photos by Janet Partlow and Glen Buschmann
Field & Forest:  www.fieldforest.net/
Fungi Perfecti:  www.fungi.com/
South Sound Mushroom Club: www.southsoundmushroomclub.com/
A fabulous YouTube video of stropharia growing in time lapse photography:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oq82zrQB04

Clearing Cooties

The Columbia River meeting the Pacific Ocean

     In the world of the shamanic healer, there are some basic techniques that are part of our daily work, part of the standard “job description” .  One of these techniques is called extraction work:  this means that we find and clear foreign energy from the field of our clients.  I refer to it (somewhat frivolously) as clearing cooties. 
  
      Energetic healers such as shamanic healers work with the human energy field.   This unseen field encircles the physical body.   Normally it flows like a powerful river;  I think of the Columbia river as it carves its way through dense columnar basalt in the Gorge.  That river is strong, goal-directed and potent.  It not only carves up rock,  it breaches into the Pacific ocean, making that sea give way before the power of the river.  This river  knows who it is and where it is going.  It is like the Wei Qi  energy field described by Chinese medicine practitioners:  a powerful protective surge of energy and life that helps keeps us healthy.

The Columbia carving through Basalt

     However, this energy field can be blocked.  Think again of the Columbia river:  the ancient landslide near the Dalles that filled the riverbed with huge boulders and nearly diverted its course.  Think of all the dams that have been built on the Columbia that block its flow.  Think of the Colorado river, whose flow has been so drained to fill the swimming pools of Los Angeles, that it can no longer feed the estuary at the mouth of the Sea of Cortez.  These blockages happen to rivers, and they can happen to people as well.

The Q’ero indigenous people of the high Andes in Peru called these dense energetic blockages hucha.  For them, people are normally beings of shining light.  But when  foreign energy intrudes, we can lose our light, and lose our way in life, as well.  Our light gets overwhelmed by the density of hucha.

The Holy Light of the Sun

     The most common way we pick up these blockages is simply through the course of ordinary life.  It’s like picking up the common cold:  you go to the mall on a busy holiday weekend and ten feet in front of you, someone with a nasty cold blows a big sneeze.  There is a five foot sneeze cloud left behind and if you walk through it, you can easily breath in virus particles. 
     Foreign energy blockages are like that.  If you hang out in bars a lot, you can be easily exposed.    If you spend a lot of time under the influence of substances, you can easily be vulnerable to hucha.  Other common places where stuff can be picked up are hospitals, cemeteries and courthouses.

       It happened to me that way.  I had just had major joint replacement surgery and was in the hospital for four days, recovering.  While lying on my bed, weakened from surgery and blood loss, and gorked out on pain meds, I picked up some energy that was not my own.
      I was sluggish, very exhausted and my mood was low.  I had trouble finding my usual enthusiasm for life.  My healing was slow, too.  It was easy to miss the energy intrusion, since all these things could have been part of the surgery recovery.
      As it turned out, shortly after I left the hospital I had an appointment with my teacher/healer Mary Blankenship.  She saw the problem and quickly cleared it.  After her work,  I started to feel great, to sleep great, to have better energy.  My healing from surgery took huge strides forward.  Best of all, life once again was worth living.

     People often ask how to do this work themselves.   The good news is that that Wei Qi energy field I spoke of earlier does do a good job of clearing out many minor energies before they can get a foot hold.  However if something has truly become stuck in one’s energy field, it requires a shamanic healer who does extraction work to clear it out.  It’s sort of like repairing your own car;  you can do routine maintenance, but you wouldn’t dream of doing an engine overhaul by yourself.  The same is true with this type of shamanic work.

     So how do shamanic healers do this extraction work?  It depends, of course, on each healer.  My approach is to sit and talk with the person,  looking at how their life is working, or not working for them.  Are things stuck?  Is their mood low? Are they having trouble sleeping, with intense/scary dreams?  Are they having trouble moving forward in life, bringing their vision to fruition?  As we talk,  I am tracking their energy field, sensing the places of blockage and planning how to clear them.
      After this conversation,  the client gets on the massage table.  I call in Great Spirit, my guides, my plant and stone medicine helpers, and together we work to clean out the “cooties” and restore the river of energy back to a more normal flow. 

      Most people notice a big difference afterwards.  They feel lighter, more buoyant and optimistic.  As the healer, I see their own clear and bright spiritual light shining out from their eyes.  In the next days and weeks ahead, the person  begins to see that they are moving forward in their life;  old stuck things are falling away and they start to move to the rhythm of their own season. 

      This is the power of “clearing cooties”.

Janet

Resources:
Photos by Nancy and Janet Partlow