Burdock

 Burdock

With so many abilities to offer, it is no wonder that burdock (Articum lappa) is a beloved ally of wise women and herbalists everywhere. Burdock's action is most profound on lymph, sweat, and oil glands, though its influence is felt in the liver, lungs, kidneys, stomach, uterus, and joints. Medicines made from the fresh burdock root are always preferable and superior to dried root preparations. Burdock is not for people in a hurry, or most acute problems; burdock works thoroughly and slowly.

 Use burdock root as a nourishing tonic, a skin clearer, a super cooler, a slick trick in the guts, and a guardian of your inner flows.

• Dose of fresh burdock root tincture is 30-240 drops a day, in water

• Dose of dried burdock root infusion is 1/2-2 cups/125ml-500ml a day.

• Dose of burdock root decoction is 1-9 teaspoons/5-45ml a day.

*

Learn more about Burdock in Susun's online course 

Easy Herbal Medicine & Natural Remedies in under 30 minutes per week.

www.wisewomanschool.com/p/easy-herbal-medicine

*

Comfrey Infusion

 Comfrey Infusion

Drinking comfrey infusion has benefitted me in many ways: It keeps my bones strong and flexible. It strengthens my digestion and elimination. It keeps my lungs and respiratory tract healthy. It keeps my face wrinkle-free and my skin and scalp supple. And, please don't forget, comfrey contains special proteins needed for the formation of short-term memory cells. Comfrey (Symphytum) leaf is free of the compounds (PAs) found in the root that can damage the liver. I have used comfrey leaf infusion regularly for decades with no liver problems, ditto for the group of people at the Henry Doubleday Research Foundation who have eaten cooked comfrey leaves as a vegetable for four generations. Comfrey is also known as "knitbone," and no better ally for the woman with thin bones can be found.. Its soothing mucilage adds flexibility to joints, eyes, vagina, and lungs. Comfrey leaf infusion used internally and as a sitz bath is excellent at easing hemorrhoids .

Read more:

www.nourishingherbalinfusions.com/Comfrey.html

*

'The Comfrey Conference - Time to End the Fear' is coming in April. Keep an eye out for more details soon!

* 

Sumac berries

 Sumac berries (Rhus typhina)

Reach up for the fruit with the highest vitamin C content: the fuzzy red berries of the sumac tree. Not the smooth red sumac berries (Rhus glabra); they taste bitter. And not the white sumac berries (Rhus vernix); those are poisonous. The fuzzy, velvety, ones. The best ones are dark red and leave a lemony taste on your fingers after you handle them. I put four big heads in a half-gallon jar, fill it to the top with cold water, wait 4-6 hours and enjoy sumac-ade. I keep adding water to the jar of berries until there is no more taste; then I start over with fresh berries. Enjoy!

Read more on Susuns Mentorship website: 

www.wisewomanmentor.com/healing-archive/harvest-time!

*

Ginger Compress

 Ginger Compress

Easy, effective, inexpensive, pain-relieving, and anti-inflammatory

This recipe is from Susuns book Breast Cancer? Breast Health! 

Ginger compresses are successfully used by many healers and women to reduce and eliminate breast lumps. Women who've dealt with many kinds of breast lumps tell me that ginger compresses reduced benign masses quickly But sometimes irritated cancerous ones. (It doesn't mean you have cancer if your skin gets irritated).

Grate 5 ounces/140 grams of fresh ginger root onto a clean piece of cloth. (I use an old cloth napkin, a handkerchief, a kitchen towel, or a clean diaper.) 

Gather the ends of the cloth together and secure them with a piece of string or a rubber band. 

Put the bundle into a pan with 2 quarts/2 litres water and heat to 158F/70C. 

Boiling will destroy much of the value of the ginger, So if you don't have a thermometer, heat only until you see bubbles forming on the bottom of the pan. 

Keep a low flame under the pot until the water turns a pale yellow, 5-15 minutes. 

Pull the bundle out of the water, and squeeze or press it to extract all its liquid. (Add to pan.)

Soak a small towel in the hot ginger liquid. Wring it out. (This is hard to do; your hands will get red and hot.) 

When you apply the hot wet towel, the breast skin will redden and there will be an intense sensation of heat, But you shouldn't be in pain. 

Cover the compress with layers of towels to retain the heat. When It cools, remove it, soak it again in the hot ginger water, and reapply.

Continue until the skin gets very red and warm. Repeat morning and night. 

If there is no active infection, the towel and ginger water can be used over and over again. If fresh ginger is not available, dried ginger may be used, But it will not be as effective. 

Fresh turmeric may be substituted for fresh ginger, But It stains everything.

*

Order Breast Cancer? Breast Health! here:

www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/breast-cancer-breast-health

*

Green Goddess Apprentice Week

 Green Goddess Apprentice Week

August 2 - 8, 2021 

A one-week apprenticeship for aspiring shamanic herbalists. My shortest apprentice opportunity. It is deep, intense, uncomfortable, and life-changing.   

During your week-long Green Goddess Apprenticeship you will:

* Learn how to identify plants

* Learn how to use common plants for food and medicine

* Take part in daily talking stick ceremonies

* Learn about plant families and botany

* Make one or more herbal remedies to take home 

* and so much more! 

Learn more:

www.susunweed.com/greengoddess.htm

New Mentorship website!

 Exciting news. 

I have a beautiful, new, custom-built mentor site and it rocks!

As a mentored student, you’ll open the door to exclusive content, special photos, new videos, private talks with me, bi-weekly group zoom meetings, recipes, bonus gifts, and lots more.  

The new site is a basket overflowing with green wisdom from my heart to yours: easy access to new and old workshop talks, lots of plant monographs, my radio show archives (including HealthyLife and Time Monk), and so much more. 

Everything you need to learn your way. 

Let’s explore green blessings together and have fun. 

Susun

Register here:  www.wisewomanmentor.com

Pain-relief Alternatives

 Pain-relief Alternatives

excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines

Generally best not to combine these with drugs.

Serenity Medicine: Meditation alters brain regions that process pain.

Mind Medicine: Acupuncture releases endorphins.

 * Alexander Technique is more effective than massage or exercise in relieving low-back pain.

Lifestyle Medicine: Regular exercise counters chronic pain.

Alternative Medicine: Reflexology releases endorphins.

  * A cold plunge alters pain perceptions, counters chronic pain.

Herbal Medicine (safest first):

* High CBD (Cannabis) - up to five drops of tincture of the fresh flowering plant, taken as often as every fifteen minutes - is my favorite non-addictive pain reliever. Often, a single dose will do. There will be some THC in the tincture, as all plants contain a mix of cannabinols, but this does not, in my experience and the experience of many students and friends, make you “high.” First choice as an ally for transitioning off opiates/opioids.

* Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) - 5 drops of tincture of the fresh flowering plant, taken as often as needed - is my favorite pain relief, especially when I need to sleep.

* Kava kava (Piper methysticum) - sips of the lightly-fermented infusion or dropperful doses of root tincture - offer fast, effective relief of musculo-skeletal pain, traumatic pain, chronic pain from injuries, heartache. Less likely to put you to sleep, too.

* Willow (Salix alba) - 1-2 dropperfuls of tincture as needed - is as effective as aspirin and contains the same active ingredient.

So does meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria).

* Wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa) - tincture of the fresh sap taken by the spoonful - may be as pain-relieving as poppy juice.

* Valerian - up to a teaspoonful of root tincture - counters chronic pain, puts you out, leaves you hung-over and groggy.

* Poppy (Papavera somniflora) is the source of opium, heroin, opiates, and poppy seeds. Opiates are addictive; poppy seeds aren’t.

A tea of the fresh poppy seed heads entices the brain to make natural opiates (endorphins). Do not combine with drugs or alcohol.

excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines

www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/abundantly-well-seven-medicines