The Healing Medicine of Trees....Part Five Focuses on Oak......

OAK is the ogam Duir or Dair, the door. It holds the center place in the ogam of the thirteen moons. The words Druid and dairy are derived from the same root as Duir.

Oaks (Quercus) are one of the most common trees of the temperature regions. I’ve been told that North America was so densely covered with oak forest five hundred years ago that a squirrel could travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River without ever setting foot on the ground. Oak forests also covered Europe several thousand years ago.

One might say civilization was possible due to oak. It provides heat, tans hides, heals wounds and infections, and can easily be fashioned into bows, spears, oars, boats, and houses. When green it bends well. Once dry, it becomes as hard as steel, and is exceptionally durable. (If the second little piggy had built his house of oak, no wolf would have been able to blow it down.)

Oak is not the hardest wood. (That’s ebony.) Nor is it the toughest. (That would be ash.) But it is the hardest tough wood. Oak logs submerged for more than a thousand years have been used in modern buildings. Oak was once valued due to its ability to be worked into rot resistant ships, barrels, and wagon wheels. We rarely use those things today, but oak is still prized: for furniture, musical instruments, firewood, and floors. It burns for a long time, puts out a lot of heat ,and leaves a bed of coals that lingers.

To the botanist, oak is Quercus, which means, literally, “a fine tree.” Oaks are roughly divided into red oaks and white oaks. The leaves of the red oaks are pointed; the leaves of white oaks are rounded. The acorns of the white oaks are the best to eat.

Acorn meal was a staple food of the Native Americans of the west coast of North America. I prepared it once; once. Not only is the labor of picking up acorns literally back-breaking, the process of leaching them, drying them, and grinding them – before they can be cooked, which is a tricky business itself – is more than my modern self wants to endure. Acorns are still important food for livestock. My goats love to (over) eat them. In Spain, I was introduced to “black leg ham” from pigs fed only on acorns. Delicious.

Magically, the oak wand is used to maintain a strong center under adverse conditions. Or, in beneficial circumstances, oak wands are used for help in creating openings to new realms of understanding. Acorns are magical, of course, and are featured in many European fairy tales.

Oak bark is used medicinally as an antiseptic, astringent, and tonic. The tea – four tablespoons of bark per half-gallon of water simmered for ten minutes, and taken half a cup at a time – is said to shrink goiter, reduce glandular inflammation, stop diarrhea, restore loss of voice and ease coughs, dry up mouth sores, and bring down fever.

The Iroquois considered oak an aid for “when your woman goes off and won’t come back.” To cure sinus problems and infections, they smoked the leaves and exhaled the healing smoke through the nose. A strong infusion of the bark or leaves is used as a sitz bath to ease hemorrhoids, fistulas, vaginal discharges, and chronic pelvic pain. Poultices of the leaves are applied to heal stings, bruises, ulcers, broken bones, swellings, and painful joints. Oak is also of value as a wash to remove dandruff and encourage hair growth, and to heal varicose veins, sore eyes, umbilical stumps, burns, and oozing sores.

Oak trees are sacred to Taranis, Indra, Jupiter, Yahweh, Ukho, Rhea, Cybele, Thor, Artemis, Brigid, Balder, the Erinyes, and the Kikonian Maenads.

“My roots touch the Earth’s heart.
My leaves touch the Bear’s heart.
I am the Queen, I am the oracle,
I am the center of the whirling Universe,
I am the door of the year.
I am the mill shaft; I am the axle.
Around my stillness all is motion.
I am fullness and promises fulfilled.
I am love’s memory; I am love’s grandchild.”

Building Better Bones the Wise Woman Way http://ping.fm/pqHsh

Susun Weed will be in Ashland, Oregon Feb 24-26, 2011. Booksigning, workshop, lecture: http://ping.fm/95tip

The Healing Medicine of Trees.....Part Four Focuses on Linden.........

LINDEN is one of my favorite trees. It goes by many names: basswood, lime blossom, and tille. To the botanist it is Tillia; and this is the name most of the world knows it by. It thrives in many places and is harvested from China to France for commercial sale.

            Euell Gibbons said linden is the tree you find by listening. When linden blooms, its fragrance is so sweet that the bees flock to it. Their buzzing is the sound one must tune in to if identifying linden by sound. (I usually find them by smell!) When I harvest linden blossoms, I am careful to wait until after the bee has left the flower, so I don’t get stung.  

“I smell fairies at my feet, I’m sitting under a linden tree;

Bees abuzz and birds atweet, linden blossoms sure smell sweet.

Linden, linden heal my heart,

You can bring me a brand new start.”

Linden blossoms hang from a green strap-like structure that looks a little like a leaf, but isn’t. The green structure is part of the remedy and needs to be harvested along with the cluster of flowers dangling under it.                       

I reach for linden when I want to quell inflammation. A student lowered her C-reactive protein (C-rP) levels, and her risk of suffering a heart attack, by drinking linden infusion for three weeks. C-reactive protein is a measure of the amount of inflammation in the blood vessels specifically and the overall body in general. With the licensing of a drug (Crestor, rosuvastatin calcium) to lower C-rP levels, we are going to be hearing lots more about this substance in the near future. (Find out why you don’t want to take this drug at www.worstpill.org)

Lowering inflammation is key to achieving a happy, healthy old age. Toward that end, I drink at least two quarts of linden infusion a week. I believe that most chronic diseases are the end result of inflammation. Joint pain is inflammation. Dementia is inflammation. Blood vessel disease is inflammation. And adult-onset diabetes is inflammation. It seems to me that many cancers are a response to inflammation too. A recent study found women who taken NSAIDs regularly are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Linden is the world’s leading anti-cold and anti-flu herb. It prevents and heals all respiratory distresses (but is not an anti-infective). It is a cooling and strengthening herb. Linden is considered safe for children and elders.

Linden is primarily used as a tea, though I prefer the curative powers of a strong infusion.  I use one-half ounce of linden blossoms to a quart of water and steep for four hours. I strain off the first brew and refrigerate it, then rebrew the wet linden flowers by adding two cups of cold water to them in a saucepan. I bring this rebrew to a boil, cover, and let sit for four hours to extract the healing mucilage that is triggered by the cold water. 

            Linden flowers are the usual medicine, but the leaves are medicinal as well. They are heart-shaped and even more mucilaginous and anti-inflammatory than the blossoms.. A student who had been kicked by a horse found relief from a nasty wound (already more than a week old) by applying chewed up linden leaf. If I didn’t have so much plantain at hand, I am sure I would use more linden leaf poultices.

            Linden grows well in cities; I have rarely been in a city in North America or Europe that does not a Linden Avenue. A highlight of my love affair with linden come with a visit to Linderhof in Bavaria. The day I got there, the three-hundred-year-old linden tree was blooming and buzzing and throwing off a scent that made me swoon with delight. My local lindens are tall at fifty feet. This giant was over a hundred feet.

Catch the YouTube of me harvesting linden with my apprentices in the parking lot of the local mall. We attracted many interested people, including one adventurous man who sawed off an entire branch of the tree we were harvesting from, so he could try it out!



Hot on the Trail of Wild Foods with Sunny Savage-Susun interviews Sunny Savage on Wise Woman Radio http://ping.fm/9iEhy

Vaginal Health the Wise Woman Way........

The vagina is a muscular, mucus-lined passage that connects a woman’s outer genitals with her uterus. When we speak of sexual penetration, it is the vagina—not the cervix, the part of the uterus which projects into the vagina, or the uterus itself—that is penetrated. During sexual arousal, the vagina lengthens, opens, and raises a sensitive bump called the G spot.

For thousands of years, men have perpetuated the belief that the vagina is an inert, hollow receptacle which can be penetrated and filled at their will and whim. But tens of thousands of years ago, when women told the stories, the vagina was honored. (And a universe of thanks to Eve Ensler for The Vagina Monologues which has, at least, made it acceptable to say the word “vagina.”)

This vagina, it goes without need of saying one would wish, is alive and sensitive. It is responsive and inherently capable of letting its wishes and desires be known. The vagina, and its health or lack thereof, is deeply connected to a woman’s sense of safety.

Modern women are trained to view their vaginas as dirty and smelly. That’s another misconception. A healthy vagina has a pleasant odor, a slightly sour taste, and is naturally “self-cleaning.” A healthy vagina secretes clear or milky fluids which protect the delicate vaginal tissues. These fluids are heavier and more slippery during ovulation.

The vagina contains health-promoting micro-organisms, as well as microbes that can overgrow and cause symptoms. In the healthy vagina, glucose exuded from the blood serum is eaten by vaginal flora and metabolized into lactic acid. This acidifies the vagina, promoting healthy flora and depressing the disrupters. If there is too much glucose or too few flora, the acidity of the vagina is compromised and infection—from inherent organisms or transmitted organisms—is likely. For health, wash your vaginal area only with plain water, or very dilute vinegar, not soap, which is alkaline.

Antibiotics and antibacterial agents including antibacterial soaps and essential oils kill protective vaginal micro-organisms. Taking antibiotics doubles the risk of developing a vaginal infection.

Celibacy, lesbianism, and double monogamy are life-style choices that cut down on the number of infectious organisms introduced into the vagina. But nuns, lesbians, and monogamous women can still get vaginal infections.

Vaginal Problems

There are at least thirty different bacteria, fungi, and parasites that can cause infections in the vagina. Some live naturally in the vagina, some are introduced through intimate contact, some can be acquired without sexual contact, as well. Many vaginal infections cause discharges, itching, and inflammation. But several are virtually symptomless and can progress to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which leaves half of infected women sterile.

The vaginal tissues are sensitive to estrogen and stress hormones. When the estrogen mix changes at puberty, menopause, during pregnancy, and throughout the menstrual cycle, the vagina responds, sometimes with pain, dryness, and eventually, infections.

If the vaginal environment becomes alkaline, or if the tissues receive too much sugar, or if antibiotics kill beneficial flora, then a variety of micro-organisms which live in the vagina, such candida and gardnerella, overgrow and cause an infection. These innate infections make it much easier for other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)—including gonorrhea, syphilis, trich, and herpes—to take hold. Frequently, several organisms overgrow together, causing multiple concurrent infections. In a European study, thirty percent of the women diagnosed with trich also had a gonorrhea infection.

Things that alkalinize the vagina are listed below, along with remedies to help re-acidify. Vaginal infections generally cause irritation and burning of the vulva as well as the vagina—in some cases, the thighs too. The severe alkalinity and highly increased volume of the vaginal fluids produced during an infection can burn the tissues, like when your nose runs during a cold and leaves the area under it raw and red.

Less common, but more dangerous, is vaginal cancer, of special concern to DES daughters. And a few women will have vaginal ulcers or Bartholin gland cysts, painful blockages at the entrance to the vagina.

These can make the vagina more alkaline and more susceptible to infections:

■Birth control pills

■Menopausal and postmenopausal hormone therapy

■Hormonal changes preceding menstruation

■Menstrual fluids

■Pregnancy

■Locia (the flow that follows childbirth)

■Male ejaculate, including sperm and seminal fluids

■Diabetes, high blood sugar

■Antibiotics

■Unusual stress, even positive stress

■Bubblebath

■Washing your vagina with soap

■Anything that allows feces into the vagina

■Douching regularly

■Feminine hygiene sprays

■Artificial sweeteners, diet sodas

■Raw fruit, fruit juices

These restore healthy acidity to the vagina:

■Yogurt orally and vaginally

■Acidophilus inserted in the vagina

■Ascorbic acid inserted in the vagina

■Meditation

■Sitz bath, finger bath, or douche with:

2 tblspns/30 ml of white vinegar in one qt/ltr of water, or 1 cup hydrogen peroxide in 3 cups/750 ml water, or

2 tblspns/30 ml of Betadine solution in one qt/ltr water

Note: Betadine is iodine; it dries out vaginal tissues.

■Sitz bath, finger bath, or douche with astringent herbs



Susun Weed's forthcoming book Down There: Sexual and Reproductive Health the Wise Woman Way is coming soon!!

To learn more about Susun Weed please visit http://www.susunweed.com/.

Please visit our bookstore: http://www.wisewomanbookshop.com/ for the entire Wise Woman Herbal series as well as a collection of other wonderful books, cd's, videos and much more.

Susun will be at the 19th Annual Women of Wisdom Conference.......

Susun will be at the 19th Annual Women of Wisdom Conference Feb 17-21, 2011. Please visit: http://ping.fm/4WpAt