Outdoor bath....

Ive been living here nigh on a year, and Ive gone all that time with no bath, but thats all come to an end, yeeeeehhhah! Went to local tip shop yesterday and purchased a metal tub with its enamel in real good knick for thirty bucks. Gotta love that. So today we unloaded it from a friends very large, and handy, vehicle and set it up in the garden bed out back. I bucketed hot water out from the laundry and test drove it this evening by candlelight, with gingers and bromelliads all about me and the sky above. A dash of lemon and lavendar essential oils and the scene was fittingly atmospheric. Tomorrow I can empty it again to water the gardens. I can see this is going to be habit forming, and may well help my tossings and turnings at night, as Im feeling pretty chilled post soak....

Sage....Salvia officinales...

Any plant that has officinales in its botanical name means that it has a history of being used medicinally and many eventually were included in the 'materia medica' or 'pharmacopeias' used up until the 1930's by, yes doctors and pharmacists. Although the later editions contain less and less 'common' plants and more exotic or potentially poisonous ones. Freaky eh? Pharmaceutical drugs are that young. Apparently the latin derivative word 'officina' originally referred to a workshop, later a monastic storeroom, then a herb store and finally to a pharmacy. 

Which brings us to Salvia officinales, common garden sage. Which comes in several models including red, grey and variegated.

I mostly use this plant, like its cousin 'white sage', Salvia apiana, for smudging (sagebrush or desert sage is a whole nother plant, being Artemisia tridentata). Burning to clear space, people, animals and objects. It can be wrapped tightly with cotton thread when green and dried into 'smudge sticks' or I simply dry and then grind it in a mortar and pestle, or simply between hands, to burn on charcoal blocks. Either way works and its earthy sweet smell as smoke, whisps its way into nooks and crannys, removing stagnant energy as it goes and shifting awareness into the sacred and liminal.
 
Ive also cooked with her in stews and soups, to make stuffings, added her to patties, sprinkled her on potatoes, made sage butter to spread on toast, used sage vinegar in salad dressings. She's a potent medicine, with essential oils that stimulate digestive enzymes and stomach acids making her an excellent food companion, but that can also accumulate, with daily use, in the liver and kidneys. So treat her temptingly assimilable, calcium rich self, with respect as a tea, vinegar or a small dose of infusion. Even a few crushed leaves set in water in the sunshine can make a mild tonic water.

As a toothbrush her leaves are antibacterial and can be rubbed onto infected or bleeding gums directly or made into a mouthwash tea by adding a few leaves crushed into a cup of boiling water and allowing it to steep for ten minutes.

Echinacea....

This flowerhead, not fully mature yet,  belongs to Echinacea, commonly known as 'purple cone flower' for obvious reasons. Three to four foot tall with dark green ribbed and trowel shaped leaves, she is a striking plant. The flower taking form to seedhead over some weeks.

Echinacea is a high profile plant as a natural alternative to antibiotics. Especially in treating acute colds and flus. I have never used Echinacea purpurea, or augustifolia, the two species best known for their medicine. Which is why Im so excited that my plant is doing well. Its the top purple flower although as I bought it unlabelled Im not sure which i have. The second one is an ornamental member of the genus, less medicine more simply 'my pretty' but sharing a similar 'form'.  

In reading up on Echinacea, augustifolia seems the stronger medicine, and some folks will take only her, believing purpurea to be less effective. Purpurea doesn't hold her medicinal qualities when dried, but she is easier to grow and self seeds.

When making your own tinctures the root is used, although some people do add flowerheads and leaves. A good tincture should zing on the tongue. I have heard that many commercial Echinacea preparations are made from flower heads only, to save the plant for another harvest. It seems a bit like the ginsing thing of the oldest roots being the best medicine, but because the older roots have been heavily harvested, people turn to the flowers, or the roots of purpurea. Its best to leave roots at least 3 years before harvesting only 1/4 and then you can reharvest annually.

A kindergarten teacher who constantly got colds took 30 drops daily of echinacea tincture and had her first cold free winter since she began to teach. Such stories are the basis of the demand for Echinacea tincture as the seasons turn cooler but there is discussion as to whether she can be stimulating to the immune system which isnt great if its already run down or exhausted.

I look forward to experimenting, I have a feeling she'd make a fine flower essence or protective amulet ingredient....

Journeying and reducing meds...

Its been a while since i typed, been busy. One of the things Ive been doing is seeing a contemporary shaman who's been taking me on some guided journeying. I really like sharing the experience, Ive been a solitary practicioner for so long, its pretty damn cool to be able to talk stuff through with someone who gets it without explanations. Mostly we've been working on building up an otherworld sanctuary that I can visit on a daily basis, part of which has been to reconnect with one guardian, and meet another. Animals I can call on if Im in an iffy situation, spirit backup. She's also taught me a few things to do when it comes to meeting lost, misplaced or plain ol pissed off spirits, while journeying.

As a woman who has a diagnosis of schizophrenia, its great to be working with a shamanic practitioner who has also worked for some 15 years in the public and community mental health systems, and has an understanding of medication, a tricky topic sometimes, but chosen to follow her current path. I know she's not going to pressure me to come off those hideous toxic chemicals (that everyone just loves being on) but at the same time one of my goals with this work has been to reduce them, and I have, so far by some 200mg. This process is also being followed by a psychiatrist and the local community mental health team. Its not a journey to be taken without support, if possible. Having said that the balls totally in my court and Ive been the one directing the changes and how fast they happen, as it should be. I have a medical diagnosis, Im not an imbecile and its refresing to have this acknowledged by all involved.

Ive been on a high dose of a sedating antipsychotic for some 2 years, after a period where I had several long hospitalisations and deaths in the family, in a short timespan. So this has been a long time coming and Im going to enjoy it. Reclaiming my practices has been crucial in all this, and journeying is part of that. As has been moving to a less urban environment. Its not always easy to discuss shamanism when you do have a diagnosis, it can often be clinicalised as delusion. Sad but true. 

Handy hints, combined with revisiting the otherworld sanctuary on a daily basis, and Ive been getting both feedback and inspiration for creative projects, like the childrens book, Ive been working on. There are little girls in spirit excited for this story to be told. As someone with trauma in my past its been a real healing process to connect with the vulnerability but also strength of the child. Infact its been pretty all consuming.

Hence little blogging. So just wanted to let it be known alls well, if busy, and that the gardens still growing away. The motherwort plants are looking a little nervous with their rapid growth spurts, knowing that their medicine is needed to make tinctures. Truth is they're pleased, and have even let me nibble on a leaf here and there....

Motherwort....Leonurus cardiaca....

I have two Motherwort plants, that Im mentally willing to grow, so that I can top up my tincture stocks. This plant is the 'in your pocket' remedy for anxiety. Take 5 drops of the tincture then rest for 10-15 minutes, if she's not kicking in for you take another 5 drops, upto 20 drops, you will then know your base dose for when nerves hit next time round. This herb is effective without being addictive and can be taken several times a day, if needed.
Her soothing nature can help to bring on menses which are held because of stress or tension, and to ease uterine cramping, but if your prone to heavy bleeding, she might not be the best ally for you.
She can chill out menopausal  processes, like the severity and length of hot flashes.
The 'cardiaca' part of her is that those with a rapid or irregular heart beat can slow it down with her help. 
Motherwort was demonised during the burning times for her part in midwifery, along with the women who worked with her.
As an incense she is specific to protecting women and children.

A mother of a herb...

Tangents....

Summers in full swing here. I set up a cut up mozzie net like a tarp to provide shade for the herb garden, between that and the sugarcane mulch, the green folk are doing just fine. Everyones about twice the size they were a month ago. Tropical weather will do that for you. We could do with more rain, but me n my watering can get pretty good coverage. I enjoy my pottering around checking in on plants as I water em. So the herb gardens coming along...

Been swimming in the tea tree lake of late, water stained brown by the leaves, now thats gotta be medicinal. Its surrounded by melaleuca and reed wetlands. People are getting more clued in as to the value of wetlands. Landscapers are incorporating them into swimming pools as an alternative to chlorinated water, or building them in to household grey water filtration systems.

Most of my energy has been going into playing with ideas for a kids book, for big and small, something I've wanted to do for years. The tangential illustrations are morphing into a world of their own and adjusting techniques is helping. Every reading Ive done says go for it. So I am playing away, although there's actually a lot of work in putting it together. Ive done a rough outline of a story and am now drawing up some more detailed images. Even managed to squeeze in something about leaving offerings when you harvest medicine herbs... 

 

 



 

shaman in the woods....