Be Your Own Herbal Expert - Pt 6
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is
simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors used - and our neighbors
around the world still use - plant medicines for healing and health maintenance.
It’s easy. You can do it too, and you don’t need a degree or any special
training. Ancient memories arise in you when you begin to use herbal medicine -
memories which keep you safe and fill you with delight. These lessons are
designed to nourish and activate your inner herbalist so you can be your own
herbal expert.
In our first session we learned
how to “listen” to the messages of plant’s tastes. In session two we
learned about simples and how to make effective water-based herbal remedies.
The third session helped us distinguish safe nourishing and tonifying herbs
from the more dangerous stimulating and sedating herbs. Our fourth session
focused on poisons in herbs and entered the herbal pharmacy to herbal
tinctures, which we collected into an Herbal Medicine Chest. Our fifth session
found us still in the pharmacy, learning how to make and use herbal vinegars
for strong bones and healthy hearts.
In this, our sixth session, we
remain in the herbal pharmacy and turn our attention to herbs in fat bases.
We’ll explore fresh infused oils, ointments, salves, and lip balms, essential
oils, and even herbal pestos.
Herbal
Oils: Infused vs. Essential
I make and use many infused herbal
oils. I use little or no essential oils. Why?
Infused herbal oils use a small
amount of plant material; essential oils require tons of plant material.
Infused herbal oils are safe to use internally or externally; essential oils
are poisonous internally and problematic externally. Infused herbal oils are
good for the skin; essential oils can cause rashes, burns, and other skin
reactions. Infused oils are used full strength; essential oils are diluted
before use. Infused herbal oils have subtle scents; essential oils have
powerful scents.
The scent of an essential oil can
kill gut flora just like antibiotics do, according to Paul Bergner, director of
the clinical studies program at the Rocky
Mountain Center
for Botanical Studies. He told me that breathing the oils puts them into the
blood stream very quickly and can be a major disturber of intestinal health and
contributor to poor immune functioning.
Massage therapists are embracing
Natural Scent Therapies such as growing live aromatic plants in their treatment
rooms and using pillows of dried aromatic herbs instead of essential oils.
Their skin and their immune systems are thanking them for the switch.
Making
Infused Herbal Oils
To make an infused herbal oil you
will need the following supplies:
- Fresh plant material
- Scissors or a knife
- A clean dry jar with a tight lid
- Some olive oil
- A label and pen; a small bowl
Harvest your plant material in the
heat of the day, after the sun has dried the dew. It is best to wait at least
36 hours after the last rain before harvesting plants for infused oils. Wet
plant materials will make moldy oils. To prevent this, some people dry their
herbs and then put them in oil. I find this gives an inferior quality product
in most cases.
Coarsely chop the roots, leaves, or flowers of your
chosen plant. Fill your jar completely full of the chopped plant material. Add
olive oil until the jar is completely full. (Patience and a chopstick are
useful tools at this point.)
Tightly lid the jar. Label it. Put
it in a small bowl (to collect seepage and over-runs). Your infused oil is
ready to use in six weeks.
Fresh Plants That I Use to Make Infused Oils
Arnica flowers (Arnica montana)Burdock seeds (Arctium
lappa)Calendula flowers (Calendula off.)Comfrey leaves or roots (Symphytum uplandica)Dandelion flowers (Taraxacum off.)Plantain leaves (Plantago majus)Poke roots (Phytolacca americana)Spruce needlesSt. Joan’s wort flowers (Hypericum perforatum)Yarrow blossoms (Achillea millefolium)Yellow dock roots (Rumex crispus)
Using Your
Infused Herbal Oils
I use my infused herbal oils to
heal and ease the pain of wounds, bruises, scrapes, sprains, burns, rashes,
sore muscles, insect bites, and aching joints. I make my infused oils into
ointments, salves, and lip balms. I use my infused oils in rituals, to anoint.
I use my infused oils after bathing, to moisturize. I use my infused oils as
stunning salad dressings. I use my infused oils as sexual lubricants. I use my
infused oils to nourish my scalp and hair.
I apply my infused herbal oils
directly to the body. I rarely take infused herbal oils as internal medicines
although it would be safe to do so. I use my infused oils to make salves,
ointments, and lip balms.
Making
Salves, Ointments and Lip Balms
When herbs are infused into animal
fat, they form a natural salve, without need of thickening. But herbs infused
into oils are drippy and leaky and messy.
They need a little beeswax melted into them to make them solid. The more
beeswax added, the firmer the oil will be. A little beeswax will make a soft
salve. A medium amount will make a firm ointment. And a lot will make a stiff
lip balm.
- Pour one or more ounces of infused herbal oil into a
saucepan or double boiler. - Grate several ounces of beeswax.
- Put a small fire under your oil.
- When it is slightly warm, add one tablespoon (more or
less) of grated beeswax. - Stir, preferably with your finger, until the beeswax
melts. - Test the firmness by dropping a drop on a china
plate. It will solidify instantly.
- Too soft?
Add more beeswax, a little at a time.
- Too hard?
Add more infused oil (if possible) or plain oil.
- Pour your finished salve or ointment into
wide-mouthed jar. - Pour lip balms into little pots or twist tubes.
Pestos
The simplest pesto is green leaves
pounded with salt and garlic. I don’t put cheese or nuts into my pestos when I
make them, as these ingredients spoil rapidly.
I use a mini-size food prep
machine for the “pounding”. A
blender will work too, but watch that you don’t burn out the motor.
The oil in a pesto both preserves the antioxidant
vitamins in the fresh green herbs and also softens the cell walls so minerals
become more available. With the added health-benefits of garlic, herbal pestos
are great medicine as well as superb eating.
Basic Herbal Pesto
Stays good for up to two years in a cool refrigerator; up to five years
in the freezer.
- Start with half a cup of extra virgin olive oil.
- Add 2-4 coarsely chopped cloves of garlic.
- Add a good sprinkle of sea salt.
- ·Add a large handful of prepared herb leaves and
blend. - Continue adding leaves and oil as needed. Perhaps
more garlic and salt? Blend. - When all is blended to a fare thee well, pack your
pesto into a skinny jar. - Leave some space between the pesto and the top of the
jar and fill this with olive oil. - Cap, label, and refrigerate.
Green Herbs for Pesto
Catnip (Nepeta cataria)Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)Garlic mustard (Alliaria officinalis)Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella)Violet (Viola species)Yellow dock (Rumex crispus)
Coming up
In our next sessions we will learn
how to make herbal honeys and syrups, how to apply the three traditions of
healing, and how to take charge of our own health care with the six steps of
healing.
Experiment
Number One
Make three or more infused herbal
oils from different plant parts, such as leaves, roots, and flowering tops.
(See list for suggestions of plants to use.)
Experiment
Number Two
Make several infused oils from the
same plant at the same time using at least three different kinds of oils and
animal fats, including ghee. Label carefully. After six weeks, decant and
compare.
Experiment
Number Three
Make a salve, ointment, or lip
balm. Beeswax is sold at farmer’s markets, health food stores, and craft shops.
Experiment
Number Four
Treat at least three injuries with
an herbal oil or ointment that you have made. Record your observations.
Plantain, yarrow, calendula, or comfrey are good choices for this experiment.
Experiment
Number Five
Make an herbal pesto. (See list
for suggestions.)
Further
study
1. Buy a small bottle of essential oil. Also buy the
plant the oil is made from. Lavender and mint are good choices for this
experiment. Smell the plant, then smell the essential oil. How do you feel
afterwards? Taste the plant, then taste a drop of the essential oil? What do
you perceive? Put a drop of the
essential oil on your skin; rub the plant vigorously on your skin. Are there
differences?
Extra credit: Make an infused oil of the same
plant and repeat this experiment using your infused oil in addition to the
essential oil and the plant.
2.
Use organic animal fat to make an herbal preparation.
Keep the fat barely warm - in the sun or by a pilot light - until it is
infused. No need to add beeswax. The fat will solidify at room temperature.
Advanced
work
- Read about the production of essential oils.
- How is a hydrosol different from an essential oil?
-
Can you make a hydrosol? (Jeanne Rose is a good
resource on this.)
Study
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About the author
For
permission to reprint this article, contact us at: susunweed@herbshealing.com
Vibrant,
passionate, and involved, Susun Weed
has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures,
teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional
medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of
herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures
are engaging and often profoundly provocative.
Tags: ancient memories, essential oils, fifth session, full strength, health maintenance, herbal medicine chest, herbal oils, herbal pharmacy, herbal remedies, herbal tinctures, herbal vinegars, herbalist, lip balms, plant material, plant medicines, poisons, salves, scents, sixth session, skin reactions