Herbs

[heilwotan]

Does any one practice herb-magic or study Herb-lore that might add their 2cents worth here?

[aud_friggsdottir]

Does any one practice herb-magic or study Herb-lore that might add their 2cents worth here?


I practice herbal medicine, which in a way is "magic", I suppose. I am rather skeptical about "magic" or "magik"...or whatever...probably because it has been fluffied. If one thinks about it...it is quite magic how the constituents of our food or plants heals us. How the smells affect our moods or how the we can lay a leaf on our skin and see benefits.

I think it is more scientific than magic. Magic to me is weaving spells...ala harry potter or wicca. I think that is a conception of medieval christianity and not a true Folkway. Just my opinion though...

[gwynyvyr]

I do herbalism as well. Is there any specific thing you want to do with herbs that you have a question about? Or is this just a general inquiry? :p

[Skaukatt]

:) I grow many herbs in my garden and use them mainly for culinary and medicinal purposes.

[camie cosser]

I have read a little about herbs and the different uses. I would like to know more.

[Loki's Advocate]

I know a bit.

First learn what you've got to work with locally, then find out what it all does, then find out how to administer it, that's the way to learn.

Oh, and it's not 'magic'.

Perhaps back before the effects of certain natural hallucinogens (for example) on the human body were understood, one could make a claim to being a 'magician' by inducing visions of demons and other supernatural things by burning a few bundles of herbs or feeding people a 'magical potion'. The fact that people were being murdered in quite large numbers, supposedly for being witches and warlocks (And who knows? Maybe the bastards actually believed it?), would only have confirmed the existence of witches and warlocks to the majority of people at the time.

[pinlighter]

Oh, and it's not 'magic'.


We talk about "Laws of Nature", but do we think that when a stone falls it must first whip out a book of rules and consult them before it "obeys" the "law" of gravity??

People may have talked about, for example, "demons" entering and leaving their patents, but was their language any less consciouly allegorical than the language of science today????

[Loki's Advocate]

You always chide me when I start to sound the least bit condescending; ta mate. :)

Slightly different example: communities all eat bread containing ergot, all have mass hallucinations of Mary and Jesus. Laugh if you want, it's happened in the past, still happens, and will probably continue to happen into the future.

Now, one of the things about strong hallucinogens is that what one sees under their influence is highly changeable by what one would like to see, what one might perhaps dream about or what one may have already dreamed about. There's a pyramid: particular drug, internal conditions, external conditions.

Another interesting thing about hallucinogens is, people take them communally, for the most part, because one's hallucinations can to some extent suggest and be suggested by those of the people you've taken the drug with.

Now... one of the big things which has led to the downfall of the Church in the West over the last 100 or so years, I'd say, is the relative lack of such 'divine visitations' in the West and the relatively larger amounts of 'divine visitations' in Latin America, for example. Where have all the divine visitations gone, the churches lament?

Well, if you consider such things to be what they appear to be (that is, actual angels, saints...), it is difficult to come up with some kind of fully coherent explanation.

But, if you consider the nature of hallucinogens, you can come up with a fully coherent and fully supportable explanation.

That being, that the communal faith of the West in Christianity and the iconography representing it has been eroded by one thing after the next, after the next, over that time and even before (but the process sped up a lot last century, it can't be denied), until such time as the 'collective unconscious' of the West can hardly be said to have any real Christian basis. Why would people hallucinate Gods and Virgin Mothers and Saints up the walls, if they didn't already have them inside their head?

Also, 'processed foods'- say what you like about them, but the chances of finding some ergot in a 1 kilo thing of plain white flour (if you're into that sort of thing...) are pretty slim. By way of example of one notorious processed food. The West has gorged itself insipid on all manner of processed foods over that time; I can't speak for Latin America but I doubt the same goes for them to the same extent! Why wouldn't there be proportionally more ergot poisonings in Latin America now, than over here?

Another big difference is, people seem to care (or at least, want to appear as if they care...) much more about reasoning everything through these days than they did in the past; one can still see this attitude in those ugly Christians* who, confronted with the whole evolution debate, refuses to accept any argument, any proof, any logical process as secondary to what it literally says in some antique book of foreign religious belief written thousands of years ago. The difference is, these ugly Christians might have been distinguished from their fellows 200, 400, 600 years ago by virtue of being natural arseholes anyway, but their reasoning would not have been, for the most part.

*: Mark me well: I have no problem at all with -most- Christians. Most Christians are good and decent, and couldn't care less what gods you believe in if you're also good and decent to them. That's all I ask from a person. :D

[pinlighter]

You always chide me when I start to sound the least bit condescending; ta mate. :)


I would never presume to chide you!!!!!




Now... one of the big things which has led to the downfall of the Church in the West over the last 100 or so years, I'd say, is the relative lack of such 'divine visitations' in the West and the relatively larger amounts of 'divine visitations' in Latin America, for example. Where have all the divine visitations gone


IN A SENSE .... to jump off on a tangent - they have flown away in flying saucers.

I do believe that the persistent belief in "flying saucers", crop circles, "greys", etc, is one expression of people's yearning for the divine visitors from above, which conventional religion no longer satisfies on any level.

So you see, it's still there, bubbling away, even in whitebreadandnoErgotville :)

.

[Loki's Advocate]

Yeah, and 'flying saucers' have been appearing in the skies (at least) since the Middle Ages. So perhaps there is a common thread from then 'till now in the collective unconscious? These things may have been tied up with Christianity's iconography, but they take on a life of their own in people's minds soon enough. Maybe they always did have a life of their own, and just use whatever vehicle is useful to get into as many people's heads as possible?
_____
From Flying Saucers (Jung, C.G.), pg 95-96:

PLATE V: Basel Broadsheet, 1566
'This is from a broadsheet written by Samuel Coccius, "student of the Holy Scripture and of the free arts, at Basel, in the Fatherland," in August 1566. He reports that on August 7 of that year, at the time of the sunrise, "many large black globes were seen in the air, moving before the sun with great speed, and turning against each other as if fighting. Some of them became red and fiery and afterwards faded and went out."

As the illustration shows, this sighting was made in Basel. The dark colour of the UFOs may be due to their having been seen against the light of the rising sun. Their speed and irregular motions are typical UFO features.

PLATE VI: Nuremberg Broadsheet, 1561

This broadsheet relates the story of a "very frightful spectacle" seen by "numerous men and women" at sunrise on April 14, 1561. They saw "globes" of a blood-red, bluish, or black colour, or "plates" in large numbers near the sun, "some three in a row, now and then four in a square, also some standing alone. And amongst those globes some blood-coloured crosses were seen." Moreover there were "two great tubes"- three in the picture- "in which three, four, and more globes were to be seen. They all began to fight one another." This went on for about an hour. Then "they all feel- as one sees in the picture- from the sun and sky down to the earth, producing a lot of steam." Underneath the globes was a long object, "shaped like a great black spear." Naturally this "spectacle" was interpreted as a divine warning...
_____

[aud_friggsdottir]

As much as this is interesting....could we get either back on topic or start a new one?

Thanks guys :)

FFF

[llllissallll]

I'm going to college in a few months to become a doctor of Natural Health which will include such things as herb lore. I know quite a bit about herbs now and have been using them in my daily life to better it. I'm more on the line of thinking with aud_friggsdottir. Its not really magic but the effect of herbs and their smells.

[aud_friggsdottir]

I'm going to college in a few months to become a doctor of Natural Health which will include such things as herb lore. I know quite a bit about herbs now and have been using them in my daily life to better it. I'm more on the line of thinking with aud_friggsdottir. Its not really magic but the effect of herbs and their smells.

Awesome!! We need more Naturopaths! In the future, I will definitely be bugging you for info :D!

FFF

[llllissallll]

LOL I wont mind at all. Hved was saying I could then write some articles about healing and other things about herbs and lore. Feel free to contact me. Hopefully I'll be starting my schooling within a month.

[heilwotan]

I do herbalism as well. Is there any specific thing you want to do with herbs that you have a question about? Or is this just a general inquiry? :p

This topic was for a general inquiry to see others opinions and etc., so-far-so-good.

[Zelda]

I grow an herb garden - mostly because I love to go around and smell them!! And so many have pretty flowers. I use most of the herbs in cooking and would like to know more about how to use them medicinally. I have some books that talk of "tinctures" and "salves" but it doesn't really go into how to make those - just says what herbs are good for what. Like I have some yarrow which I grew "by mistake" because it was mis-labeled at the nursery but I have no idea if there is a practical use of yarrow. Looks like the flowers can be dried and preserved though! "Tickseed" and "Bee Balm" are two others I don't if they have a use. Someone told me that the flowers of my Linden tree (which smell amazingly great!) have a use as well. ??? I'm open to information but also am content to grow and enjoy the looks and smells. Zelda

[aud_friggsdottir]

Yarrow is a great herb! It is one of the 10 essential herbs from the book "10 Essential Herbs" by Lalitha Thomas...great book :).

Yarrow tea can do several things: lower fever, regulate womans cycles, fights colds and flu, and reduces fever. I use it the most for reducing fever, but I have also used it on chicken pox to get rid of the itching. It also works good on bug bites, but I only use it if I don't have onion or honey with me.

I highly suggest the above book :)

FFF

[Hengest]

Here is an article about Yarrow you may be interested in.
Yarrow (http://www.********rite.org/yarrow.html)

In the next couple of weeks the OR will be launching a new site dedicated to articles about Health, Environment, Nature and Heritage. If anyone would like to contribute to this please PM me.

[Zelda]

Thank you for the yarrow information!! It's like discovering a treasure in my garden! Zelda

[Zelda]

Here is an excerpt from an article I read about "lavendar wands."

"Together, my grandmother and I probably created several dozen of the charming little wands - enough to slip between virtually every piece of sheet, pillowcase and blanket in her linen press.

The real bonus was the opportunity for the two of us to spend time together, talking about the future and reminiscing about the past.

I still think of my grandmother every time I smell lavender. And now the tradition of lavender wands is being passed along to my daughter, who loves the results as much as I do.

To make a lavender wand, you'll need an odd number of lavender stalks loaded with nice, plump semi-opened buds. About 15 stalks makes a perfectly sized wand.

Gather the stalks together and secure them tightly with a rubber band, twist tie or string just below where the buds start. Holding the bundle with the stems pointing upward, carefully bend each stem back down and over - you'll end up with the buds enclosed in a "cage" of stems.

Tie the stems together just under the enclosed cage with a narrow band of purple ribbon, leaving about a foot of ribbon hanging from one end.

Take the long end and begin to weave it over and under the stems, working your way up the cage with a basket-weave effect.

Wrap in tissue paper to conserve scent and protect from breakage after the wands are completely dry.

These are easy enough for kids to create, and make terrific homemade holiday or birthday gifts. " (By Sarah Robertson in the Eugene, Oregon Register Guard)

[sonofodin_3/75]

I use most of the herbs in cooking and would like to know more about how to use them medicinally. I have some books that talk of "tinctures" and "salves" but it doesn't really go into how to make those - just says what herbs are good for what. Zelda

I was raised like many of us to use certain herbs, roots and plants as a child and for the past three years I have worked as a SERE instructor where I have been trained in plant use for survival and survival medicine. We use several books for identification, but our "bible" for herbal medicine is the...


PDR (Physicians Desk Referance) for Herbal Medicine.

It is a costly, large red book and it can be dificult to use at first but on the up side it will tell you How to:
*How to collect the plant
*how much is used
*how to prepare it
*how to addminister it
*known side affects
*other drug interactions
*and so on, and so on

It will also tell you what studies were done and there conclushions and all the site information so you can research it yourself it you were so inclined.

When you look stuff up in the PDR it is broken down either by plant or by ailment.

It realy is indispensable