Kitchen Witch

Nymph of the Lymph- Poke Root

Down by the stream, a miniature grove of otherworldly trees has risen from the tangle of cleavers and sedge grasses. The new arrivals have shot up within two moons, and their branches are already so tall that they form a soft green atrium around me. I have brought my camera, hoping to capture the unusual color of the stalks, hued in black-light-poster-magenta and lime green; I’m also after a good picture of the clusters of just-ripening berries, with their long Dr. Seuss-creature snouts. Above all, I am eager to spend some time with the plant whose medicine I keep all year in my tiny Spirit room, using 2 or 3 drops before doing Tarot readings or trance writing.

This is Poke, or Phytolacca, and she is not your usual Cup of Tea.



It is fitting that she only grows here, by the little trickle of water that I call a stream, since she is one of the plant kingdom’s premiere lymph movers. “Lymph” itself means “a stream of pure, clear water”, and comes from the Latin “lympha” or “water nymph”. Nymphs are no strangers to mischief and magic, and there is a true extra-dimensional feeling here in the forest of Poke.



Our lymph system is one of the body’s two major fluid transport systems. The circulatory system is as loud and obvious as a Superhighway—it throbs in our temples, pulses in our throats, and beats a drum in our chest every moment of the day. If we cut ourselves, our blood seeps out quickly, alarming as a red light.

Meanwhile, beneath the hubbub, the lymphatic system operates like a fluid transport Subway. Quiet and seldom noticed, the job it does is a critical one.

All lymph fluid travels on a one-way path towards the heart, picking up bacteria and other particles that cells have put out on their “curbside recycling”. Before reaching the heart and the bloodstream, all lymph will move through at least one lymph gland, and it is here that a lot of the hard work takes place.

The lymphatic system is the producer of some of the body’s major immune cells, such as lymphocytes and macrophages (visualize tons of little Ms. PacMans eating blinking ghosts). A lot of shrapnel results from the skirmishes between your immune system and would-be invaders—dead cells, bodies of vanquished foes, etc. If a cold, flu, or infection has already passed, but your lymph glands are still swollen for a few days, that’s your clean-up crew working overtime after the lights have gone down and the crowd has gone home—lymph is taking out the trash.

Lymph, like a self-winding watch, is only moved by OUR movements. These can be gentle motions like skin brushing, or yoga; you can also give your lymph a real shake-up by jumping on a trampoline or dancing Tecktonik:



In the category of herbal lymphogogues that includes Cleavers (galium) and Red Root (ceanothus), Poke Root is considered an incredibly powerful mover and shaker. So much so, that it is toxic in high doses, and can cause puking in sensitive individuals even at low dosages. Don’t worry, you won’t be finding Poke in your glass of iced tea at my house! I did give it to my friend Amber when she was suffering with mastitis-- for which the root tincture and poultice of the leaf are specific-- and I use Poke occasionally on myself for sluggish lymph. Mostly, though, our relationship is built on hanging out together in the spirit realm.



My favorite plant meditation is doing stream-of-consciousness creative writing while sitting with the plant itself, or after taking a few drops of tincture. When I meditate with Poke, I have the sensation of descent through the layers of the earth/my own body, a closeness with all things buried and long-forgotten, and an affinity with the taboo.

My Official Tour Guide of Poke’s realm usually shows up as an archetypal raven-haired lady with a red rose in her hair and a red convertible sports car, wearing a skirt that’s just a little too short for decency. Naturally she’s driving too fast and has a bottle of whiskey stashed in the glove compartment; and naturally she charms me into coming along for the ride.

In these deeper dimensions, I find forgotten experiences, sensations, and desires—all the things that I push aside or bury so I can Play Nice, Fit In, and Behave. In day-to-day life, I am a born rebel trying (occasionally) to act the part of an angel, and Poke has something to say about that. Our journey together isn’t necessarily a joyride—in fact, it can really shake me up-- but I always return feeling that the stuck and stagnant corners of my spirit have had a thorough cleaning-out.



The energy of this journeying with Poke strikes me as particularly Plutonian in character. Pluto (recently shorn of its title of Planet, but not banished so easily from astrology!) is the ruler of the Underworld, death, mining, detective work, your secret rendez-vous at the Motel 6, and taxes. The Wikipedia describes Pluto’s job succinctly as “bringing buried needs and desires to the surface and expressing them”.



Getting in touch with what you really want can clear major energetic blockages, However you do it—dreamboarding, wish list-ing, yelling at the top of your lungs under the freeway—it is important for you health that you express your true Desires. Just like our lymph, which doesn’t move itself, it takes a little push for us to shed those psychic layers.

Poke reminds us that our underground streams of water deserve to run clear, and our inner selves deserve to be as agile, lithe and playful as water nymphs themselves. May it be so!

Stinging Nettle

"If they would eat nettles in March, and Mugwort in May, so many fine maidens would not go to the clay"
- the Funeral Song of a Scottish Mermaid

 

The longer I live, the more I appreciate the loyal, steady-hearted friends who have stuck with me through thick and thin. At times I have taken this love for granted, only picking up the telephone during a Crisis of the Soul. But when I put energy into maintaining a consistent connection with my friends, my emotional life runs much smoother, and these moments of high drama are often avoided altogether.

Plant friends are a lot like people friends. Get to know them, hang out with them on a regular basis, and they will enrich your life in ways you never thought possible. They can help with minor complaints, and may help you avoid much bigger and nastier health issues in the long run.



Stinging Nettle (Urtica Dioica) is one friend who has never let me down. She's a common weed, growing in abandoned lots and rubbish piles in the city, hiding behind abandoned barns in the country. She sounds like a real vagrant, doesn't she? Fittingly, she has a reputation for stinging the bumbling woods-crasher; but if handled with care she won't do any harm.



The two sides of Nettle make her an interesting medicine. I've known more than a few human friends who are wide open to life, trusting and loving the whole universe, yet who have absolutely no sense of boundaries. Despite their best intentions, they end up in an endless series of energy-sucking relationships and situations. None of us wants to lose a child-like sense of wonder and possibility, but as grown people in a wacky world, we feel the need to have some armor on hand for those sticky moments.



Nettle makes us open up to life and our senses, but because she doesn't take any crap, she also imparts a vital sense of self-protection. She can be a light and lively soul, her deep green leaves and tiny flowers dancing in the spring breeze. She loves to share her sassy, buzzing energy, lighting up your aura and giving you a swing in your step. But you can also come to her, frustrated and humorless, and she will be a fierce mother. Bring her your deep fatigue; your upset stomach; your itching, scaling skin; your bleeding ulcer, and your kidney stones; she is specially equipped to help.

Nettle belongs in the wonderful class of herbs called "Tonics". Tonics are known as "building" herbs, because they are deeply nourishing. They do not mask any of the imbalances in our body, but work on healing us from the core outwards.  People who take tonics faithfully find relief from acute and chronic health problems, and don't have to spend as much money on expensive vitamins and mineral supplements.

Science is impressed with Nettles, as are people around the world who have experienced crop failures, wars, or economic collapse, and have had to turn to wild foods for nourishment: they are are rich in vitamins, trace minerals, amino acids, and have the highest protein content of any native plant.



As a medicine plant, Nettle is multi-talented, and her good reputation is built on thousands of years of successful treatment of the skin, lungs, adrenals, digestive system, and the kidneys. In fact the "Urtica" in her name comes from the Greek word for urine- the Greeks loved her for treating kidney stones.

She helps to remove uric acid wastes from the tissues, and seems to slow the breakdown of proteins into the bloodstream. A build-up of excess uric acid and large protein molecules in the body is the equivalent of a garbage strike in a large city, and the associated chaos takes the form of inflammation and allergic reactions such as gout, eczema, psoriasis, and hay fever. If you suffer from any of these irritating conditions, Nettle can be an amazing ally for you.

She also is a favorite for pregnant and nursing women. Recently I sent out a call to the new mothers in my life, on behalf of a friend who felt her baby was underweight. The universal recommendation for increasing the quantity and quality of breast milk? Nettles.



Modern Herbalists rely on her to maintain strong bones and strong constitutions into their elder years. For those of us in the prime of our lives, the steady, reliable energy that she provides can make it possible to make the switch from harsh stimulants like coffee and tea, without losing any of our mojo.

If you already enjoy perfect health, Nettles will appeal to your vanity-- she is famous for giving gorgeous, thick hair and a beautiful complexion. She has been relied on by generations of natural beauties, who thank her for the blush in their cheeks and the twinkle in their eye.



As with any friendship, consistency is the key to building and maintaining a relationship with a plant ally. The nice thing about Nettle is that she loves to hang out in the kitchen, one of my favorite places. (Surely even the most urban among you are in there at least once a day!) You could take her in tincture or capsule form, but what fun is that? Nettle tastes good, and you can almost certainly find her in the bulk dried herb section of your local health food store, so go ahead and give her a try...

In The Kitchen

 I always have a jar of dried, powdered Nettle by the stove. (I use a coffee grinder that I set aside especially for powdering herbs.) Nettle is great this way as an addition to pasta sauce, soup, and any kind of casserole or stew. Because she has a neutral flavor (think parsley), you can pull one over on a finicky spouse, child, or dinner guest.
If you have access to fresh Nettle, the young (pre-flowering) tops and tender leaves are fabulous steamed with butter and salt, or used in lasagna or any other situation that may have called for spinach. If you have already stretched your paycheck til it broke, a patch of Nettles can save you from starving-- it did the trick for me many times!

Drinking an herbal infusion is my favorite way to get my Nettles. It can take a few days or weeks to get used to the strong green taste, but it is one of those things that your body will start to ask for as your palette becomes accustomed to the nuances of your deep green friend.

A little forethought is required to make an infusion, but you will be well rewarded for your efforts. Since I always have a cup of calming tea before bed, I have made the Nettles preparation part of my nightly ritual.

I have a wide-mouth 24 ounce mason jar, which is a handy size, but any glass jar will do. I put in a few good handfuls (or about 3/4 of a cup) of dried Nettle and fill the jar about halfway with just-boiled water. Then I stir the herbs up a bit, to make sure the water soaks them thoroughly, and cover with the lid but DON'T screw it on, because as the water cools it will create a vacuume and be hard to get the lid off in the morning!



When you wake up and are ready for your brew, you'll want a strainer on hand. I like a generous-sized wire mesh strainer, since they don't cost more than a few bucks and come in handy for all sorts of weird cooking emergencies. A sturdy strainer can also take a bit of mashing, which is necessary since you'll be pressing the soaked plant material into it to get out every last drop.



(Note-- If the weather is warm, Nettles can go "off" quickly. Where I live, nights are usually cool, except during a summer heatwave, and my Nettles are okay if I strain them first thing in the morning. If you live in a humid climate, you might want to put them in the fridge overnight.)

You can drink your infusion straight, warmed up or cold, or add anything you like to make it fun and palatable. A favorite combo is the mix of Nettle with some kind of milk and a healthy sweetener.

Lately, I have found a way to enjoy my Nettle and get a good boost of protein in the morning: Nettle infusion with vanilla hemp milk, hemp protein powder, and a banana for the extra Creamy Yum factor. Let me demonstrate:













By the way, you don't need to throw your squeezed-out Nettle mash in the garbage-- put it right in the garden or in your outdoor potted plants. Nettle is fantastic compost!

I hope you have fun making a new friend in Nettle. I know you are going to get along just famously!

Vitex Agnus-Castus, or, The Balancing Act

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a great friend of the mine, miss Vitex Agnus-Castus. She comes to us from Europe, where she has been used for over 2,000 years by savvy kitchen witches. These days she grows well anywhere in the world where she can have a long hot summer, including my very own Sierra Foothills. Her pretty purple flowers turn to small, hard-shelled berries at the end of the season, and these are the source of her medicine.



I first met Vitex when I was in my mid-twenties, and PMS was taking over my life. I was a basket case for up to two weeks before my period: socially phobic, bloated, angry, and depressed-- even the check-out at the grocery store could be a traumatic event.

Luckily, I took the advice of a friend, and ended up in the office of a local herbalist. I knew a little bit about herbs at this point, but the relationship I developed with this witchy woman would make me passionate about the plants forever.

After hearing about my symptoms, my herbalist immediately thought of Vitex, in combination with some liver clearing herbs.



Within a few months, my period was arriving on the scene after just two days of feeling the moody blues. Down from two weeks to two DAYS???  I was in total awe of the transformation that had occurred.



So how does this wonderful herb work?

These days, when we hear the words "plants" and "hormones" in the same sentence, it is usually because someone is referring to a "phyto-estrogen" (translation: plant estrogen) such as soybeans or black cohosh. Plants can supply a mild form of estrogen that keeps things stable during menopause, alleviating common symptoms like hot flashes and vaginal dryness. Black cohosh is probably the most frequently prescribed herb for women who need some support but want to avoid taking a synthetic hormone, or "HRT".

Vitex falls into a different category altogether. Current science believes that it acts so well on the hormonal system because it actually normalizes the function of the pituitary gland, a pea-sized gland behind our third eye that has massive influence over the ever shifting hormonal tides in our bodies (think the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz).




If we are in good health, we want to put on our glitter roller skates and ride the happy estrogen tide during the first half of our cycle (from the last day of our moon to just after ovulation). Estrogen wants us to stay up all night talking and dancing, making new friends and starting projects.



In the week and a half or so leading up to our period, however, progesterone sets the tone, making us more prone to a grocery shopping marathon and a retreat under the covers with a good book. ("Progesterone", after all, comes from the roots "pro" and "gestation", and nothing can gestate without warmth and comfort!) If estrogen levels remain too high at this time, conflict ensues.



Estrogen, so much fun when it was party time, is now like a hyper roommate who comes home and bounces on your bed at eleven p.m., begging you to come out and play. Overstimulated, you may be tempted to override your natural impulse to take it down a notch, eventually overextending yourself and ending up cranky and burnt out.

Excess estrogen can also increase the classic PMS symptoms of tender breasts, water weight gain, headaches, moodiness, lethargy, mad rages followed by deep regret... you name it.

Not only that, but in the long run, estrogen acts as a "builder" hormone, and if there is too much of it around it will create structures in the body, even if they are not necessary or desirable: uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breasts, and endometriosis are all creations fed by long term dominance of estrogen.

As sobering as the excess estrogen scenario may be, we are lucky in that this is actually considered one of the easier problems to treat herbally. The nice thing about Vitex is that it is considered an "amphoteric" herb, a very pretty word which means "normalizing". The dance of hormones is a very complex one, but she acts in a unique fashion: she will artfully raise that which is low and lower that which is elevated-- depending on the individual situation.



A classic pairing is Vitex is with Burdock (articum lappa) because Burdock so neatly addresses both the liver and digestive systems, which serve as the sorting and disposal service for our expired hormones. Even if you have a perfectly functioning pituitary gland, you can't get far without a healthy liver. If this vital, under-appreciated organ is congested and the digestion is backed up, these hormones can accumulate and actually re-circulate-- and it's a bad scene when there are uninvited hormones at your party!

(Your liver also loves it, by the way, if you cut out the alcohol and drugs, fried foods, preservatives, and dump your controlling boyfriend.)

Another artful combination is Vitex paired with pomegranate concentrate and rosewater. Pomegranates, which just so happen to look like bejeweled ovaries, are reputed throughout the Middle East to balance a lady's hormones. Rosewater is a staple in Middle Eastern desserts, and rose is brought into medicine in all cultures whenever there is gentleness and self-love needed for healing. (Think "bed of roses".)



You can also make it as a tea or grind it up with your pepper (it's mildly peppery itself), but since you are going to want to have a consistent long term relationship with her, I recommend using a tincture, 2-3 droppers full, twice a day. Give it at least two moon cycles before expecting a radical change. It sounds like a long time to wait, but cyclical patterns just can't be changed in a linear fashion!



PMS is not the only hormonal crisis where Vitex can lend a hand: you can confidently recommend her to your friends who are getting off birth control and wanting to normalize their erratic cycles; to your cousin who just started her period and does not have a regular cycle yet; and to that same cousin, boy or girl, who is suffering from teenage acne caused by widely vacillating hormones.

For that baby crazy girl, Vitex is known to help with fertility issues because she regulates the levels of prolactin, the hormone needed for fertility. My forty year old friend recently gave me her stash of Vitex with a stern warning that it was the very batch responsible for her pregnancy!



Strangely enough, though I have never read this in an "official source", all of my girlfriends agree that Vitex fans the flames of passion in the bedroom. So how did she come by the nicknames "Chaste Tree", "Chasteberry", and "Monk's Pepper"? In fact, Vitex seems to have the opposite effect on men, as she was a good friend of celibate monks in Medieval Europe, who used her to lower their libidos. I haven't met a modern man who will volunteer for an empirical study, however...

On top of everything else, modern research shows that Vitex actually raises dopamine and seratonin levels, which makes her an effective anti-depressant. Fifty-percent of you reading this are on some form of anti-depressant, so why not kill two birds with one stone and try Vitex instead? (sorry birds, it was just an expression.)

Stick with her and she will support you, ladies. Let me know how she changes YOUR life!

First Freeze

The mercury is dipping...

How can it be so cold at two p.m.? I put on sweater, cape, hat, gloves, and follow the cats outside. There is evidence everywhere that water does, indeed, freeze at 32 degrees. Last night was the end of the line for some of my plant friends, and it is thrilling in a morbid sort of way. My mullein, beloved weed of Frog Holler, has merely been flocked by Jack Frost, thank god. It can handle everything but hail...

The cats look twice as big as they did this summer, but it's all fluff. They demand that we go on our "walk" into the woods. There are generations of pine and cedar needles on the forest floor, and that's the happy bed just where some cute little mushroom friends have popped up.

Since I'm talking about the immune system here, I have to say that mushrooms are the most powerful medicine out there. They aren't used much in America, but in Japan they are standard adjunct therapy to chemotherapy. They can help battered immune systems like those of the post-chemo patient, and they can also rev up the immune system to fight some cancers before they get out of control. On an everyday level, they kick the ass of wintertime invasions by colds and flus, and I find them especially helpful for getting a sluggish immune system to wake up and get you TOTALLY over a cold that is hanging on too long. Maitakes, shitakes, and reishes are the big players here, though there are literally thousands to choose from. You can take caps, a tincture, or, shoot-- you can cook with them.  The only reason I don't take them more often is the expense. They cost their weight in gold, at least.

That oak up there is bare,and those clouds are the crystal white ICY kind of clouds... they make me think of snow, that dream that sometimes visits us in the foothills. Part of me hopes we'll have the snowiest winter since 1886 (a century in which, if the old photographs don't deceive me, it snowed six or seven feet a day), but part of me is thinking of power outages and playing "find the draft" in the blanket tent that is our winter living room (as in, find the draft and plug it up, please, I'm freezing). Sometimes I kick myself for not renting a place with a wood stove. But then again, I never was too handy with that ax.

The edges of the little stream have frozen, and the reflection of the clouds in the ice crystals is somewhat psychedelic.

Poke (Phytolacca), my darling of the underworld, aka the lymph system. I love how her ghoulish rhubarb-red stalks and almost purple-black berries haunt the stream bed all summer. The root is taken-- very cautiously-- to help with congested lymph issues, especially mastitis, but watch it, cause too much and you will be clearing nothing but the contents of your stomach. I've used her to go deeply into fiction writing, just taking a few drops and following the journey with my pen. I was surprised that the darkest and deepest parts of my psyche look something like Los Angeles. What does this say about America? Anyway, she's my kind of gal, beautiful but deadly. And, today... dead!

All this freezing brings me to my kitchen tip for the day, which is very simple: POWDERED GINGER.
You can get this cheap, especially if you buy it in bulk. I cannot get through the winter without it. If you come inside frozen to the bone, you just put a teaspoon of this in hot water and you're good to go... you don't even need to wait for tea to steep! And, by the way, it is WAY stronger than any of those wimpy ginger teas out there. Of course you can dress it up and add honey, milk, or put it straight in your coffee. I like to heat up in vanilla rice milk for a kind of chai-like effect.
Staying warm is the most important thing in the winter, cause germs just LOVE it when it's a little cooler inside your body. If you heat up your core, they won't have a chance. Powdered ginger does this even better then fresh, which (like some chili peppers) can push the heat away from the center of the body and give you a temporary feeling of extreme heat but ultimately leave you cool. (Thus, the craze for extra hot chilis in extra hot countries.) The powdered ginger, on the other hand, starts a little fire inside that you can feel going for hours. It's also perfect for nausea or carsickness, and menstrual cramps. So if you end up taking a road trip to see your parents this Christmas while riding the cotton surfboard, pack that ginger! You can always get some hot water from the gas station (for reals, it's on the coffee machine) and make yourself a cuppa right there.
The spice cabinet, my favorite source of medicine. That's ginger on the middle shelf...

Darker Days, Sun in a Bottle.

All those mason jars on the kitchen counter! It was the only sensible place to put the overflow of my tincture making operation in mid-summer, so I had trained my eyes to overlook the clutter and see only the nice, clean (sometimes) parts of the kitchen... the end result being that I'd actually forgotten that my jars of medicine were there.

Tonight I turn to them, suddenly urgent: Where is the St. John's Wort? Like the spare twenty bucks tucked into a book for an emergency, all summer I added to this jar of St. John's Wort with flowers from my garden, wild specimens from my walks on the irrigation ditch, wilder flowers still from my field trips with my herbal class. We stood around a St. John's Bonfire on Solstice and wove crosses from the stalks to hang over our doors for protection, anointed each other with blood red St. John's oil.  It was eleven p.m. and you didn't need a jacket; the roses and jasmine were in full bloom, and the fruit was ripening on the trees. Me and my friend Kerry were singing awful 80's songs and laughing til it hurt.  Maybe we had even gotten into a bit of the Solstice Meade...

My Saint John's cross, still weathering the elements.

And meanwhile the jar grew full of flowers. Nothing could have been less needed in those white bright days of summer, and so a thin mantle of dust settled on the lid. But tonight, tonight, the contents are essential.

Halloween is a thrill, a dipping of warm toes into an icy stream. But soon enough, the ghosts and goblins that flirt tentatively in the shadows at the edge of November have the rule of the whole place. Winter can be a bummer... or at least for the starving artist in a drafty house.

The last stalk of St. John's Wort, in our back meadow.

I find my herb, between the elderflowers and the thyme. It's even pressed yet. My handy father-in-law built me an herb press to use with the hydrolic jack in his shop, but I haven't gotten up the steam to cart all my mason jars over there yet and do the deed. I shake it up vigorously, noticing that the famous blood red color has completely seeped in to the alcohol itself, leaving the flowers pale. I pour myself a good amount right off of the top and mix it with water. There is something familiar in the smell of the elixir, that whiff of sun and warm earth, the comforts once taken for granted.

There is still December, January, February (oh, let's not think about February yet!) and March to go... so thank God/dess we can bottle summer. 

At the Yuba River, June 2007.