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February / March 2006
Morris Fishbein, AMA, Enemy of Health
by Christopher A. Shaw
Mixing Aromatherapy and Cancer
by Jennine Stromkins RA part three
BE YOUR OWN HERBAL EXPERT
by Susun S.
Weed part four of seven
EMOTIONS, THE MIGHTY MESSENGERS
by Carla Muth
Soy Protein Isolate Is Often Processed With Hexane
- a Gasoline-like Solvent
by Margaret I. Jang
WHEN A MAN REALLY LOVES A WOMAN...
by Colin
Hillstrom
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BE YOUR OWN HERBAL EXPERT
by Susun S. Weed part four of seven
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe,
effective, and free.
Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of plants for health
and well-being.
Our neighbors around the world continue to use local plants for healing
and health maintenance, and you can too.
In your first lessons, you learned how to “listen” to the
messages of plant’s tastes, how to make effective water-based herbal
remedies, and how to distinguish safe nourishing and tonifying herbs
from the more dangerous stimulating and sedating herbs.
In this lesson, you will learn how to how make herbal tinctures. You
will make tinctures from fresh and dried roots as well as from fresh
flowers and leaves.
Then you will collect your tinctures into an Herbal Medicine Chest and
begin to use them. Shall we begin?
TINCTURES ACT FAST
Tinctures are alcohol-based plant medicines. Alcohol extracts and
concentrates many properties from plants, including their poisons.
Alcohol does not extract significant amounts of
nutrients, so tinctures are used when we want to stimulate,
sedate, or make use of a poison. (Remember that nourishing herbs are
best used in water bases such as infusions and vinegars.)
The concentrated nature of tinctures allows them to act quickly. It also
makes them perfect for a first-aid kit or herbal medicine chest: a
little goes a long way.
I have dozens of tinctures in my cabinet. But these are the ones I carry
with me when I travel; they are the ones I don’t leave home without.
This is my traveling herbal medicine chest.
Echinacea tincture
Motherwort tincture
Skullcap tincture
Ginseng tincture
Dandelion root tincture
Wormwood tincture
St Joan's Wort tincture
Poke root tincture (danger)
Yarrow tincture
MAKING DRIED ROOT TINCTURES
I strongly prefer to make tinctures from fresh plants. But many people
have a hard time getting fresh plants. Most books therefore ignore fresh
plant tinctures and focus on making tinctures only from dried plants.
The only dried plant parts I use to make tinctures are roots and seeds.
All other plant parts I use fresh when making a tincture. And I actually
prefer to use fresh roots too.
To make a tincture from dried roots:
-Buy an ounce of dried Echinacea augustifolia or Panax ginseng root.
-Put the whole ounce in a pint jar.
-The dried root should fill the jar about a third full. If not, use a
smaller jar.
-Fill the jar to the top with the alcohol. Cap tightly and label.
Almost any alcohol can be used to make a tincture. My
preference is 100 proof vodka. A lower proof, such as 80 proof, does not
work nearly as well. Higher proofs, such as 198 proof or Everclear, can
damage the liver and kidneys, so I don’t use them to make medicine.
The tincture is ready in six weeks, but gets stronger the longer it
sits. I like to wait about six months before using my ginseng tincture
and a year before using my echinacea tincture.
MAKING FRESH ROOT TINCTURES
Roots generally hold their properties even when dried. But two of my
favorite root tinctures must be made from fresh roots are the dried ones
have lost much of their effect.
Making a tincture with a fresh root is similar to making one with a
dried root.
-With great respect for the plant, dig up its root.
-Gently rinse mud away. (For more about digging dandelion root, see
Healing Wise.)
-Chop root into small pieces and fill jar to the top with chopped root.
-Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
-Fresh root tinctures are ready to use in six weeks.
MAKING FRESH LEAF AND FLOWER TINCTURES
I use only fresh flowers and leaves in my tinctures. These delicate
plant parts lose aroma and medicinal qualities when dried.
Tinctures can be made from dried herbs, but I find them inferior in both
effect (how well they work) and energetics (how many fairies are in it),
not to mention taste (how many volatile substances remain) and somatics
(how something makes you “feel”).
What if the plants you need to make all the tinctures in your medicine
chest don’t grow where you live or you can’t find them? Try one or more
of these solutions.
-Take a vacation to a place where the plant you need does grow. And
make sure to go at the best time to gather it.
-Find an herbal pen-pal who lives in the area where the plant you want
to tincture grows. Have your pen-pal make a tincture of the
fresh plant for you. You could make a tincture of something you have
lots of to give to her, too.
Even if the plants do grow where you live, it may take a year or longer
for you to find them, harvest them and make tinctures. While you are “in
limbo”, it’s fine to buy tinctures to use in your herbal medicine chest.
When you finally find the plants you want, don’t be afraid to make
several quarts of tincture. Tinctures last for hundreds of years if
protected from heat and light.
St. Joan’s wort tincture: Eases muscles spasms, anti-viral,
pain-relieving.
-Pick yellow Hypericum perforatum flowers in the summer's heat.
-Fill - don’t stuff - a jar with the blossoms and leaves.
-Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label. (It will turn
bright red.)
-Your fresh St. Joan’s wort tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Motherwort tincture: Eases menstrual cramps, mood swings, stress.
-Pick Leonurus cardiaca flowering tops (leaves and flowers) in early
fall or late summer.
-Fill - don't stuff - a jar with coarsely chopped blossoms and leaves.
-Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
-Your fresh motherwort tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Skullcap tincture: Pain-relief, headache remedy
-Pick Scutellaria lateriflora flowering tops when there are seeds as
well as flowers.
-Fill - don’t stuff - a jar with the blossoms and leaves.
-Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
-Your fresh skullcap tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Wormwood tincture: Counters food poisoning and parasites.
-Pick Artemisia absinthemum leaves in the late summer or early fall,
when mature.
-Fill - don’t stuff - a jar, with the coarsely chopped leaves.
-Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
-Your fresh wormwood tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Yarrow tincture: Counters all bacteria internally and externally, repels
insects.
-Pick Achillea millefolium flowering tops, white ones only, when in
bloom.
-Fill - don’t stuff - a jar, with the coarsely chopped herb.
-Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
-Your fresh yarrow tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
DOUBLE AND TRIPLE TINCTURES
An herbalist in Austin Texas shared her special way of preparing a
tincture that helps her keep her cool in stressful situations. She
tinctures fresh lemon balm, gathered before it flowers, for six weeks,
in 100 proof vodka. She pours that tincture over a new jar of fresh
lemon balm leaves. After that sits for six more weeks, it's a double
tincture. She then pours the double tincture over another new jarful of
fresh lemon balm and lets that sit for six weeks. After which she has a
triple tincture. She uses: “A dropperful sublingually - works absolute
wonders for me when I’m stressed out and ready to scream.”
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PLANT POISONS
You remember that there are four types of poisons in plants: alkaloids,
glycosides, essential oils and resins. The first three are fairly easy
to move from plants to a tincture.
Resins, because they “fear” water (hydrophobic), are difficult to
tincture. When I want to tincture a resin I do use high proof alcohol.
Some examples would be: pine resin tincture, balsam bud tincture,
calendula flower tincture.
TAKING TINCTURES
I see many people put herbal tinctures under their tongues. I prefer to
protect my oral tissues from the harsh, possibly
cancer-causing effects of the alcohol.
I dilute my tinctures in a little water or juice or even herbal infusion
and drink them.
USING YOUR TINCTURES
Here are a few of the ways I use the tinctures in my herbal
medicine chest. For more information on using these tincture, see my
books and my website.
Acid indigestion: 5-10 drops of Dandelion root or Wormwood tincture
every ten minutes until relieved. I use a dose of
Dandelion before meals to prevent heartburn.
Bacterial Infections (including boils, carbuncles, insect bites, snake
bite, spider bite, staph): 30-50 drops Echinacea or Yarrow tincture up
to 5 times daily. For severe infections, add one drop of Poke tincture
to each dose.
Colds: to prevent them I use Yarrow tincture 5-10 drops daily; to treat
them, I rely on Yarrow, but in larger quantity, say a dropperful every
3-4 hours at the worst of the cold and tapering off.
Cramps during menstruation: 10 drops Motherwort every 20 minutes or as
needed. Used also as a tonic, 10 drops daily, for the week before.
Cramps in muscle: 25 drops St Joan’s every 25-30 minutes for as long as
needed.
Cramps in gut: 5-10 drops Wormwood, once.
Diarrhea: 3 drops Wormwood hourly for up to four hours.
Energy, lack of: 10 drops of Dandelion or Ginseng tincture in the
morning.
Fever: 1 drop Echinacea for every 2 pounds of body weight; taken every
two hours to begin, decreasing as symptoms
remiss. Or a dropperful of Yarrow tincture every four hours.
Headache: 25 drops St Joan’s plus 3-5 drops Skullcap every 10-15 minutes
for up to two hours. 5 drops of Skullcap may prevent some headaches.
High blood pressure: 25 drops of Motherwort or Ginseng
tincture 2-4 times a day.
Hot Flashes: 20-30 drops Motherwort as flash begins and/or 10-20 drops
once or twice daily.
Insect: prevent bites from black flies, mosquitoes, and ticks with a
spray of Yarrow tincture; treat bites you do get with Yarrow tincture to
prevent infection.
Nervousness, hysteria, hyper behavior: 15 drops Motherwort every 15-20
minutes.
Premenstrual distress: 10 drops Motherwort twice a day for 7-10 days
preceding menstruation or 10 drops daily all month.
Sore throat: Gargle with Yarrow tincture.
Swollen glands: 1 drop Poke root tincture each 12 hours for 2-5 days.
Viral infections (including colds and the flu): 25 drops of St. Joan’s
wort tincture every two hours. Add one drop of poke root tincture 2-4
times a day for severe cases.
Wounds: I wash with Yarrow tincture, then wet the dressing with Yarrow
tincture, too.
In the next installment of Be Your Own Herbal Expert, you will learn
about herbal oils, including infused and essential oils.
Future lessons will explore the difference between fixing
disease and promoting health, applications of the three
traditions of healing and using the six steps of healing to take charge
of your own health and make sense of medicine.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER ONE
Choose one plant and make several small tinctures of it using different
types of alcohol. Taste and smell each tincture every week or so for 6-8
weeks.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER TWO
Buy or make different tinctures of the same plant: dried herb, fresh
herb, timed with the moon, in different menstrums, made by different
people, harvested in different places. Can you taste differences? Are
the effects different? What else do you notice?
EXPERIMENT NUMBER THREE
Make a double or triple tincture of motherwort, skullcap, or lemon balm.
See if it relieves anxiety, hyperactivity, emotional distress,
headaches. I use a dose of 5-30 drops. Remember
skullcap can induce sleepiness.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER FOUR
Tincture four plants that are common to your area. Learn at least three
things they can each be used for and if at all possible, use them.
FURTHER STUDY
1. What is osmosis? Why does 100 proof vodka make stronger tinctures
than 80 proof?
2. What is a menstrum? What other menstrums are used to make tinctures?
3. Of the four plant poisons, which are present in each of plants used
in the medicine chest?
4. Why don’t I consider vinegars tinctures?
5. How is a glyceride different from a tincture?
ADVANCED WORK
-Make a tincture from a resinous plant.
-Make a glyceride.
-How is a standardized tincture made?
Study with Susun Weed in the convenience of your home! Choose from three
Correspondence Courses: Green Allies, Spirit & Practice of the Wise
Woman Tradition, and Green Witch - includes audio/video tapes, books,
assignments, special mailings, plus personal time. Learn more at
www.susunweed.com or write to:
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
For permission to reprint this article, please contact
susunweed@hvc.rr.com
Vibrant, passionate and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an
international reputation for her ground-breaking 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. She is one of
America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural
approaches to women's health. Her four
best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and
well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women
around the world.
Susan Weed’s books include:
Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year
Simple, safe remedies for pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and
newborns.
Includes herbs for fertility and birth control.
Healing Wise
Superb herbal in the feminine-intuitive mode.
Complete instructions for using common plants for food, beauty, medicine
and longevity.
NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way
The best book on menopause is now better. Completely revised with 100
new pages. All the remedies women know and trust plus hundreds of new
ones. New sections on thyroid health, fibromyalgia, hairy problems, male
menopause and herbs for women taking hormones. For more great info on
menopause, visit: www.menopause-metamorphosis.com
Breast Cancer? Breast Health! Foods, exercises and attitudes to keep
your breasts healthy. Supportive complimentary medicines to ease
side-effects of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or tamoxifen.
Order all of the above books at:
www.ash-tree-publishing.com. |
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