Share the Talking Stick

A Recipe from a Dear Wise Woman Friend

A Recipe from a Dear Wise Woman Friend

 

Lately I have been cutting out all of the carbs and other not good for me stuff.

I have taken up using Coconut oil not not olive as much as I use too.

One recipe that I have found that is just wonderful and comes in sync with the news letter you just sent out.

One head of raw cauliflower pulled into floweretts.

Toss with a cup of Cashew butter that has been mixed with 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil

2 tablespoons of Curry powder.

You can use a pinch of salt but do not have too.

Put all on a baking sheet and place about 10 inches from the broiler watch it you only want it to brown it and soften a bit.

You can turn it with a spatula half way through but do brown it well.

I eat this as a snack and as part of my dinner it is just wonderful. You can change up the spices to create your own version like use Chinese 5 spice and make your chinese version. For a Mexican treat then use the taco seasoning. I use also almond butter instead of Cashew. You can also sprinkle some toasted nuts on it or sprinkle cheese and garlic to create an Italian version. NO limits to it and just chocked full of good things for you. The grand kids would not eat the cauliflower before now they dive in and want more ...I use to sneak it in the mashed potatoes for my kids they never knew it was there.

Love Maka Nupa

Take Your Love Life to Sweet New Heights

Take Your Love Life to Sweet New Heights
Chef Shares Secrets for Enjoying the Sensuality of Food

Thanks to the proliferation of outrageously popular TV food shows, Americans have grown to appreciate the aesthetics of a meal almost as much as its flavor. We’ve discovered our chefs are artists as well as cooks and bakers, and their colorful salads and abstract chocolate sculptures are works of art as well as good things to eat.

But there is yet another dimension to food to be explored, says Italian-born Chef Tiberio Simone, a James Beard Award winner and author of a provocative new coffee table book, La Figa: Visions of Food and Form (www.LaFigaProject.com). Shot by Matt Freedman, it features full-color, artistically rendered portraits of the naked human body decorated with fresh ingredients.

Incorporate food in your love life, he says, and you’ll discover the sublime.

• Choose fresh, natural, organic foods. Sexy food still has the taste nature gave it, and there’s no better choice than organic food because it’s grown with love. A farmer’s market is a great place to shop because you can touch and smell the produce.

• Watch out for food allergies – even if you don’t plan to eat the food. If you’re planning a sensual meal for your lover as a surprise, be aware of any food allergies or sensitivities he or she may have. Also, foods can cause irritation, burning or rashes when placed on the skin, if a person has a sensitivity. This can be especially true for certain delicate body parts.

• Bring your lover on your food-shopping excursion. View it as a bit of sensual foreplay. You can have a lot of fun caressing and gently squeezing the foods, and inhaling their aromas. The conversation should be entertaining, too.

• Taste the sensuality of the food while you and your partner eat. This sounds obvious, but it’s not. Seduce your senses by breathing in the aroma of the dish. Close your eyes and inhale slowly so you can analyze and take in the ingredients. Take a small bite, roll the food around your tongue and in your mouth and make small sounds of pleasure. You might feel ridiculous, but it’s fun, especially on a romantic date.

“Food and touch are truly the basic ingredients of life. If done properly, they will not only provide pleasure, but also engage and delight the senses,” says Simone.

Adds photographer Freedman: “Any food can be beautiful and sensual if it has qualities that appeal to what you and your lover find sexy and enticing.”

Take a peach, for example.

“Start by looking at its shape and colors,” Simone says. “Press it just hard enough to feel the firmness and the touch of velvety skin, just like when you touch the skin of another person. I believe that fruits and vegetables respond to touch by releasing beautiful aromas for us to breathe in.”

Simone says his Italian heritage and his culinary fluency heightened his awareness of the sensual similarities between fresh, organic foods and the human body. Like the human body, every food in its natural state has beauty in its lines, shape, color and texture. And like the human body, food gives us exquisite pleasure on a primal level.

“Spend a little time looking for the sensual aspects of food, and I guarantee you will become a pro at enjoying the sensual side of life,” he says.

About Tiberio Simone

Born in southern Italy, Tiberio Simone is a James Beard Award-winning chef.  He has been cooking for as long as he can remember, beginning in his mother’s kitchen. Tiberio started his career at an Italian restaurant in Seattle. He eventually became the pastry chef at Seattle’s Four Seasons Olympic Hotel. He now runs his own company, La Figa Catering. 

About Matt Freedman

Matt Freedman is a professional freelance photographer and technologist who combined his photography, writing and technical talents to produce the first iPhone app about the Burning Man festival. He is also the former staff photographer and director of technology for the bi-monthly magazine JUST CAUSE. His photographs have been published in “Trekking Nepal: A Traveler’s Guide” and the French book, “Artivisme: Art, Action Politique et Résistance Culturelle.”

The Spirit of Simples

Healing Wise ... The Spirit of Simples by Susun Weed © 2004

What is a Simple?

A "simple" is one herb used at a time. A "simpler" is an herbalist who generally uses herbs one at a time, rather than in combinations.

Why Use Simples?

Most herbalists I have met -- whether from China or Japan, Eastern or Western Europe, Australia or North America -- use herbs in combinations. Simplers, like myself, don't. Why?

Because I believe that herbal medicine is people's medicine, I seek to make herbal medicine simple: as simple as one herb at a time. Because people worry about interactions between the drugs they take and herbs, I keep it simple: with simples, interactions are simple to observe, and simpler to avoid. Because empowerment in health care is difficult, I want to offer others easy, safe herbal remedies: and what could be easier, or safer, than a simple?

Simples Make Me Think

When I was just getting started with herbs, one thing that confounded me was the many choices I had when I began to match symptoms to the herbs that relieved them. If someone had a cough should I use garden sage or wild cherry bark or pine sap or mullein or coltsfoot (to name only a few of the many choices)? One way out of this dilemma was to use them all. I made many cough syrups that contained every anti-cough herb that I could collect. And they all worked.

As I got more sophisticated in my herbal usage, and especially after I completed a course on homeopathy, I began to see that each herb had a specific personality, a specific way of acting. I realized I couldn't notice the individual actions of the herbs when they were combined.

It felt daring at first to use just one herb. Would wild cherry bark tincture all by itself be enough to quell that child's cough? Yes! Would mullein infusion alone really reduce a person's asthmatic and allergic reactions? Yes! Would sage soaked in honey for six weeks ease a sore throat? Yes! Each herb that I tried as a simple was successful. They all worked, not just together, but by themselves.

The more I used individual herbs the more I came to know them as individuals. The more I used simples, the simpler and more successful my remedies became. The more I used one herb at a time, the more I learned about how that herb worked, and didn't work.

Simples Are Intimate

When we use one herb at a time, we come to know that herb, we become intimate with that herb. Just as we become intimate with each other by spending time one-on-one, tete-a-tete, simply together, we become closer to the herbs when we use them as simples.

Becoming intimate with an herb or a person helps us build trust. How reliable is the effect of this herb? When? How? Where does it fail? Using simples helps us build a web of green allies that we trust deeply. Simples help us feel more powerful. They help abate our fears, simply, safely.

Simples Are Subtle

Using one herb at a time gives us unparalleled opportunities to observe and make use of the subtle differences that are at the heart of herbal medicine. When we use simples we are more likely to notice the many variables that affect each herb: including where it grows, the years's weather, how we harvest it, our preparation, and the dosage.1 The many variables within one plant insure that our simple remedy nonetheless touches many aspects of a person and heals deeply.

One apprentice tinctured motherwort flowering tops weekly through its blooming period. She reported that the tinctures made from the younger flower stalks had a stronger effect on the uterus; while those made from the older flower stalks, when the plant was going to seed, had a stronger effect on the heart.

Simples Give Me Power

Using one herb at a time helps me feel more certain that my remedy has an active value, not just a placebo value. Using one plant at a time, and local ones at that, reassures me that my herbal medicine cannot be legislated away. Using one plant at a time allows me to build trust in my remedies. Using one plant at a time is a subversive act, a reclaiming of simple health care.

Combinations erode my power, activate my "victim persona," and lead me to believe that herbal medicine is best left to the experts.

From Complex to Simple

Take the challenge! Use simples instead of complex formulae. Let's rework some herbal remedies and get a sense of how simple it can be.

The anti-cancer formula Essiac contains Arctium lappa (burdock), Rheum palmatum (rhubarb), Ulmus fulva (slippery elm), and Rumex acetosella (sheep sorrel). Rhubarb root has no possible use against cancer; it is a purgative whose repeated use can "aggravate constipation." Slippery elm bark also has no possible anti-cancer properties and has no doubt been added to counter some of the detrimental effects of the rhubarb. Sheep sorrel juice is so caustic that it has been used to burn off skin cancers, but it would likely do more harm to the kidneys than to any cancer if ingested regularly. Leaving us with a great anti-cancer simple: burdock root. One that I have found superbly effective in reversing dysplasias and precancerous conditions.

A John Lust formula for relief of coughs 2 contains Agropyron repens (witch grass), Pimpinella anisum (aniseed), Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice), Inula helenium (elecampane root), Pulmonaria officinalis (lungwort), Thymus species (thyme herb), (murillo bark) 3, Chondrus crispus (irish moss), Lobelia inflata (lobelia herb). Witch grass has little or no effect on coughs; it is an emollient diuretic whose dismissal from this group would leave no hole. Anise seeds are also not known to have an anti-pertussive effect; although they do taste good, we can do without them. Lobelia can bring more oxygen to the blood, but is certainly not an herb I would ever add to a cough mixture, so I will leave it out here. Licorice is a demulcent expectorant that can be most helpful for those with a dry cough; however, I do use it for a variety of reasons, among them its exotic origins and its cloyingly sweet taste. Lungwort is, as its name implies, a pectoral, but its effect is rather mild, and its place in the Boraginaceae family gives me pause. How much pyrrolizidine alkaloid might it contain? Thyme, and its more common anti-cough cousin garden sage, contains essential oils that could both quiet a cough and counter infection in the throat. A strong tea or a tincture of either could be our simple. Irish moss is, a specific to soothe coughs and a nutritive in addition, would also make an excellent simple. But it is elecampane that I would crown. It is not only a specific to curb coughing, it counters infection well, and tonifies lung tissues. Several small doses of a tincture of elecampane root should quiet a cough in a few hours.

Simples are fun. Give them a try.

Footnotes:
1. Among the many variables, I have especially noticed that the tinctures that I make with fresh plants are many times more effective than tinctures made from dried plants. My elders tell me that preparations of common plants growing in uncommon places will be stronger as well. Many herbalists are aware of certain areas of their land that nurture plants that are particularly potent medicines.
2. John Lust. The Herb Book. 1974. Bantam.
3. Note that this formula, as is frequently the case, contains an "exotic" herb which Mr. Lust does not include in the 500+ herbs in his book, nor does he give us a botanical name for the plant, leaving us literally unable to prepare his formula as presented.

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

Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.wisewomanbookshop.com
For permission to reprint this article, contact us at: [email protected]

Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking 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.

Susun 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. Learn more at www.susunweed.com

Hot Colds and Cold Colds ~ by Susun Weed

Hot Colds and Cold Colds
Winter Health, Winter Solstice
© 2006 Susun S Weed

Winter is coming. So are colds and the flu. Here are some tips for preventing these viral illnesses. And for getting well fast if you do get sick.

Preventing colds and the flu can be summed up in three words: Wash your hands.The viruses that cause colds and the flumost readily enter our bodies by means of our hands.Wash your hands after shopping. Remind your children to wash their hands as soon as they come home from school. A little "hysterical hygiene" goes a long way to keeping colds at bay.

Of course, there are herbs that can be used to help thwart colds and the flu. Yarrow is a clear favorite, especially as a tincture. Teachers, moms, and wise children find a dose of 5-25 drops of yarrow tincture in the morning in some liquid reduces the likelihood of getting sick by more than half.

Astragalus is gaining fame for its ability to support strong immune system functioning. I throw a few tongue-depressor-like pieces in my soups, where they infuse their goodness without imparting much flavor. Powdered astragalus can be added to almost anything, from oatmeal to pancakes, soups to gravies. And there is always the tincture, which works well in doses of 1-3 dropperfuls a day. (If at all possible, use domestic astragalus, rather than that from China.)

Eleuthero, which used to be called Siberian ginseng, is another immune system nourisher, used in the same ways as astragalus: cooked into food or taken as a tincture.

And don't forget honey. A spoonful at the first sign of a sore throat or runny nose can kill the bacteria responsible and help you get better fast.

And if you do get sick, here's my favorite way to get well fast. Treat a cold cold with heat. Treat a hot cold with cold. This may sound too easy, but it is actually one of the most effective ways I know of to minimize the severity and duration of a cold (or the flu). I first learned about cold colds and hot cold when I was studying Five Element Theory with a sweetheart who was attending acupuncture school.

It is important to remember that "cold" and "hot" don't refer to temperature; they refer to what we might call metabolism. Thus, the person with a cold cold could very well have a raging fever and the person with a hot cold may have no fever at all. Similarly, hot foods and herbs are not necessarily cooked, and cold foods and herbs need not be refrigerated.

So how can we tell the difference between a cold cold and a hot cold? And what are cold herbs and hot herbs, cold foods and hot foods?

The person with a cold cold (or a cold flu) is pale. Their bodily fluids are copious and without color: The nose runs with clear or white mucus; the bowels are loose and the feces are light in color; urination is profuse and colorless. The tongue may be coated with a white moss. If there is fever, it is accompanied by chills. The person with a cold cold seeks heat and hot foods.

The person with a hot cold (or a hot flu) is ruddy; the face, or at least the cheeks, are very red. The eyes may feel dry and irritated. Their bodily fluids are scant and dark: nasal mucus is dry, yellowish, or "stopped up;" the bowels slow and feces are hard; urination is infrequent and highly colored. The tongue may be red or coated with a yellow moss. If there is a fever, it is "raging." The person with a hot cold seeks coolness and has little appetite.

When you have a cold cold, indulge your desire for heating foods and herbs: Drink lots of hot spicy herbal teas with honey, such as ginger tea, cinnamon tea, or any of the spicy "Yogi Tea" type blends. Nourish yourself with chicken soup, beef broth, miso soup. Enjoy baked winter squash, baked potatoes, baked yams, baked garlic. Eat lots of olive oil, ghee, butter, olives, and avocados. Eat beans and eat the warming grains: kasha, rye, oats. Stay warm; take a hot bath or a hot shower and wrap up snugly before going to sleep.

When you have a hot cold, indulge your desire for frozen fruit smoothies. Drink lemon and honey water, iced nettle infusion, hibiscus and mint teas. Nourish yourself with seaweed salads, cucumber sandwiches, and fresh tomatoes with basil. Enjoy berries and melons, green salads, and roasted fowl. Eat the cooling grains: corn, millet, spelt. Eat a little something even if your appetite is small. Stay cool; take off your shoes and socks and put your bare feet on the ground. But keep covers handy when you go to sleep.

You see, cold colds turn into hot colds and vice versa. They don't stay the same the whole time you are sick. So be prepared to pull the covers up to your chattering teeth and flowing nose even if you went to bed stuffed up and sweltering. Or to throw off the pile of covers you clutched hours earlier. The real beauty of this idea of hot colds and cold cold is the premise that everything, even a cold, will change and so the cure comes, not from knowing the right answer, but in following the flow of the sickness and offering appropriate treatments. I imagine a balance scale, swinging back and forth between hot and cold, with me gently damping the swings, making each one a little less severe, until single-pointed stillness -- health -- is regained.

Whether dealing with a hot cold or a cold cold, you can eat as much of the neutral nourishing foods -- rice, wheat, fish, honey, and yogurt -- as you wish. But, beware of taking vitamin C while harboring a cold or the flu; it is extremely cooling.

I hope these tips for preventing and dealing with colds and the flu help you, and those you love, stay in glowing good health all winter long.
Green Blessings.
Susun Weed  

 

Healing Wise

by Susun S. Weed
Introduction by Jean Houston.
Superb herbal in the feminine-intuitive mode. Complete instructions for using common plants for food, beauty, medicine, and longevity. Seven herbs -- burdock, chickweed, dandelion, nettle, oatstraw, seaweed, and violet -- are explored in depth.
A Special Tenth Anniversary edition of this classic herbal, profusely illustrated. 312 pages.

Purchase here: http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1000020

Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg

Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg 

Susun S Weed

The aroma of winter is wood smoke and evergreen. But winter holidays smell spicy. Herbs that grow only in the tropics — such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, allspice, and vanilla — are called spices. Their aromatic oils and volatile esters entice us with delicious smells and mouth-watering tastes. And spices warm us from the inside, as if we had ingested the tropical sun on a cold day. Spices help preserve food and counter a variety of illnesses, too. Come, sit and warm your feet by the fire. Close your eyes and imagine the dense green forests where aromatic spices grow.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) made me an outlaw. A toothpick soaked in cinnamon oil was the "drug" of choice in my grade school. No matter how much the adults attempted to dissuade us, no matter how they threatened, we found a way to get our cinnamon "fix." As an adult, I prefer my cinnamon in sticks or finely ground, though I can still vividly recall the hot rush of a fresh cinnamon oil toothpick. Any food can be enhanced with cinnamon, from apple pie to baked beans, from meat marinades to salad dressings. The scent of cinnamon heralds holiday cheer.

Medicinally, cinnamon is a warming tonic. It chases chills, prevents colds, and warms the hands and feet of those who feel cold all the time. Cinnamon has been used for over 2500 years as an appetite enhancer, a stomachic, a carminative, an antimicrobial, an antispasmodic, an anti-rheumatic, and an anti-fungal. A cup of cinnamon tea — made by steeping a cinnamon stick or a scant teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon in a cup of boiling water for no more than ten minutes — is a good way to cheer up and prevent the flu on frosty winter nights.

A cup of cinnamon tea also eases menstrual cramps, soothes sore joints, relieves gas pain, and allays that feeling of fullness after a big meal. A sip or two of cinnamon tea before meals improves digestion and prevents acid reflux. Those who drink cinnamon tea regularly will have less cavities, stronger gums, and fewer insect bites.

Cinnamon made the news recently for its ability to counter diabetes. Modern herbalists are intrigued by its mildly estrogenic and strongly antioxidant effects.

Folk medicine reminds us that cinnamon tea is a gentle but effective remedy for both childhood diarrhea and infestations of worms. In India, cinnamon tea is regarded as a remedy against halitosis, nausea, and vomiting. Cinnamon is frequently used by herbalists everywhere to improve the taste of strong, rooty brews.

The essential oil of cinammon is a good substitute for clove oil in treating toothache. It is particularly effective in killing the organisms that cause periodontal disease.

Those who are pregnant and those with stomach or intestinal ulcers are advised to avoid cinnamon. It can poison. A little of the essential oil of cinnamon (of course the parents were right!) and very large amounts of powdered cinnamon can cause symptoms. Poisoning begins with central nervous system sedation — characterized by sleepiness and depression. This is followed by tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) and stimulation of the vasomotor center, which causes increases in intestinal peristalsis (diarrhea), respiration (panting), and diuresis (perspiration).

Cinnamon has been used for centuries as a perfume and a preservative. It was considered more precious than gold in ancient Egypt where it was valued as essential in embalming. Both Christians and witches are said to have known of the spiritual energy of cinnamon and so included it in their rituals. Why not make cinnamon part of your holiday rituals?

Cardamom (Eelettaria cardamomum) is an exotic spice that is not used much in American cuisine. Perhaps because the powder loses its taste almost immediately. Buy cardamom seeds still sealed in their pods for best flavor and effect.

Chewing cardamom seeds freshens the breath and improves digestion. Herbalists consider cardamom effective for helping the liver, the appetite, the stomach, and the intestines.

In Germany, cardamom is approved for use against the common cold, to relieve coughs, to counter bronchitis, to lower fevers, to ease inflammation of the mouth and pharynx, to resolve liver and gallbladder complaints, to counter loss of appetite, and to improve the ability of the immune system to counter infection.

In folk medicine, cardamom is used, like cinnamon, as a general remedy for all digestive complaints, especially gas. Unlike cinnamon, it is safe for use during pregnancy and a nice way to calm morning sickness. In India, cardamom is considered a remedy against urinary tract problems. Modern medicine is investigating the antiviral properties of cardamom.

For a special winter treat, try freshly-ground cardamom sugar instead of cinnamon sugar on your holiday toast.

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is another seed valued for its aroma and healing powers. Everyone who's had eggnog has tasted nutmeg. The tight outer covering of nutmeg is the spice called mace.

Modern medicine validates nutmeg’s ability to inhibit diarrhea and slow down the action of the gastrointestinal tract. Folk medicine agrees, using nutmeg against diarrhea, dysentery, inflammation of the mucus membranes, flatulence, and vomiting. Nutmeg has also been shown to effect prostaglandin synthesis and to be a particularly potent antimicrobial. It may also be anti-rheumatic.

Chinese herbalists use nutmeg against diarrhea, worms, and all digestive upsets. In India, herbalists choose nutmeg to relieve headaches, to improve poor vision, to bring sleep to those with insomnia, to lower fever, to ease malaria, to counter impotence, and as an aid when there is general debility. American herbalists view nutmeg as an aromatic, carminative, digestive stimulant, and a hallucinogenic poison.

The oil of nutmeg, applied cautiously and externally, can relieve the pain of rheumatism, sciatica, and neuralgia. When inhaled, it counters respiratory tract infections.

As few as two n utmegs can poison. Overdose symptoms — which can last for up to three days — include stomach pain, nausea, intense thirst, double vision, reddening and swelling of the face, anxiety, lethargy, delirium, and hallucinations. Death from kidney failure may occur.

For best effect, and safety too, heat one whole nutmeg in a cup of full-fat milk for 5-10 minutes, add honey and enjoy. The nutmeg can be rinsed and reused many times.

Like cinammon, nutmeg carries a powerful spiritual/magical energy. Carrying one in your pocket or suitcase is said to insure safe travels.

Green blessing are everywhere, especially in your spice chest.
Happy Holidays!
©. 2009, Susun S Weed

 

Susun Weed’s books:
	Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year Author: Susun S. Weed. Simple, safe remedies for pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and newborns. Includes herbs for fertility and birth control. Foreword by Jeannine Parvati Baker. 196 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $11.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com
	Healing Wise Author: Susun S. Weed. Superb herbal in the feminine-intuitive mode. Complete instructions for using common plants for food, beauty, medicine, and longevity. Introduction by Jean Houston. 312 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $17.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com
	NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way Author: Susun S. Weed. 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. Recommended by Susan Love MD and Christiane Northrup MD. Introduction by Juliette de Bairacli Levy. 304 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $16.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com For excerpts visit: www.menopause-metamorphosis.com
	Breast Cancer? Breast Health! Author: Susun S. Weed. Foods, exercises, and attitudes to keep your breasts healthy. Supportive complimentary medicines to ease side-effects of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or tamoxifen. Foreword by Christiane Northrup, M.D. 380 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $21.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com
	Down There: Sexual and Reproductive Health the Wise Woman Way Forthcoming Release Publication date: June 21, 2011 Author: Susun S. Weed Simple, successful, strategies cover the entire range of options -- from mainstream to radical -- to help you choose the best, and the safest, ways to optimize sexual and reproductive health. Foreword: Aviva Romm, MD, midwife, 484 pages, Index, illustrations Retails for $29.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com

 

Mysterious Mushrooms by Susun S Weed

Mysterious Mushrooms
©2008 by Susun S Weed

As seen printed in Mystic Pop Magazine

Artwork by Mollie Kellogg

 

As summer nights lengthen into autumn, the forests of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York fill with magical, mystical, medicinal mushrooms. "Toadstool" is a quaint name for the many mushrooms that spring forth between rains, while "fungi" is the more technical term.

Fungi are plants, but plants without flowers, or roots, or chlorophyll (which makes plants green). Strange shapes (some quite sexually suggestive), the ability to grow (and glow) in the dark, and psychedelic colors make mushrooms an obvious addition to any witches' stew. But you will want some other reasons to make mushrooms a steady part of your diet. Is outwitting cancer a good enough reason?

It's true. All edible fungi--including those ordinary white button mushrooms sold in supermarkets--are capable of preventing and reversing cancerous cellular changes. We aren't exactly sure why.

Perhaps it's because fungi search out, concentrate, and share with us the trace minerals we need to build powerful, healthy immune systems. Or perhaps it's because of their wealth of polysaccarides, interesting complex sugars that appear to be all round health-promoters. It could be because mushrooms are excellent sources of protein and B vitamins with few calories and no sodium. Or we could single out the anti-cancer, anti-tumor, and anti-bacterial compounds found in the stalk, caps, gills, and even the underground structures (mycelia) of every edible mushroom.

So be sure to cook your mushrooms through; avoid eating them raw. Scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical School found that mice who ate unlimited amounts of raw mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) developed, over the course of their lifetimes, significantly more malignant tumors than a control group.

Everywhere I go in August and September--whether walking barefoot on vibrant green mosses or stepping lightly across the deeply-scented fallen pine and hemlock needles, whether climbing rocky outcrops festooned with ferny whiskers or skirting swamps humming with mosquitoes, whether following the muddy bank of a meandering stream or balancing on old stone walls inhaling the scent of righteous rot--I am on the lookout for my fungal friends.

My woods are especially generous to me with chanterelles, beautiful cornucopia-shaped mushrooms with a delectable taste. I find both the delicious little black ones--jokingly known as "trumpet of death" due to their eerie coloration--and the very-tasty and much bigger orange ones. Sometimes we return home naked from our mushrooms walks; if we find more 'shrooms than we have bags for, we have to use our shirts and pants as carriers to help haul dinner home.

The bright orange tops and sulfur yellow undersides of sulphur shelf mushrooms (Polyporus sulphuroides) are easy to spot in the late summer forest. Growing only on recently-dead oaks, these overlapping shelves make a great-tasting immune-enhancing addition to dinner. I have harvested the "chicken of the woods" in oak forests around the world. In the Czech Republic, I saw a particularly large example as we drove a country lane. Stopping, I found a portion of it had been harvested. I took only a share, being careful to leave lots for other mushroom lovers who might come down the lane after me.

You don't have to live in the woods and find your own mushrooms to enjoy their health-giving benefits. You can buy them: fresh or dried for use in cooking and medicine, and tinctured or powdered as well. Look for chanterelles, cepes, enoki, oyster mushrooms, portobellos, maitake, reishii, shiitake, chaga, and many other exotic and medicinal mushrooms in health food stores, supermarkets, specialty stores, and Oriental markets.

Maitake (Grifolia frondosa), is more effective than any other fungi ever tested at inhibiting tumor growth. It is very effective when taken orally, whether by lab rats or humans dealing with cancer. The fruiting body of the maitake resembles the tail feathers of a small brown chicken, hence its popular name: "Hen of the Woods." If you buy maitake in pill form, be sure to get the fruiting body, not the mycelium.

Reishii (Ganoderma lucidum) is one of the most respected immune tonics in the world. Reishii is adaptogenic, revitalizing, and regenerative, especially to the liver. Even occasional use builds powerful immunity and reduces the risk of cancer. In clinical studies, use of reishii increased T-cell and alpha interferon production, shrank and eliminated tumors, and improved the quality of life for terminal patients. Reishii and shiitake are great partners, the effects of one enhancing the effects of the other. Reishii is best taken as a tincture, 20-40 drops, 3 times daily.

Shiitake (Lentinus edodes) is highly medicinal and tastes good enough to eat in quantity. I go to an oriental market and buy the big, big, big bag of dried shiitake mushrooms for a fraction of what I would pay for them in a health food store. To use, I just rehydrate them by pouring boiling water over them or by dropping pieces into soups. Those who make shiitake a regular part of their diets, increase their production of cancer-fighting alpha interferon, reduce inflammation throughout their bodies, prolong their lives, and improve their ability to produce and utilize vitamin D.

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a rather ugly and intensely hard fungi found on birch trees. Baba Yaga and other Russian herbalists favor it as an immune nourisher, cancer preventive, and an aid to those dealing with melanomas.

Mushrooms are not just for food and medicine; they are renowned for their ability to alter our perceptions of reality. Psychoactive psilocybin mushrooms were used by the famous shaman/healer Maria Sabina in Mexico. The red-capped mushroom with white dots usually drawn next to the witch's house is the mind-altering Amanita muscaria, sometimes called manna, and widely used in Siberian shamanic rites.
Whether you use fungi to make a mushroom soup or as a remedy for someone dealing with cancer, whether you stir them up in a witch's cauldron of spiraling power or sew them into a spirit bag, mushrooms offer magic and mystery, good health and good cheer.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Susun Weed
As seen printed in Mystic Pop Magazine, www.mysticpopmagazine.com

 

 

 

Susun Weed’s books:
	Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year Author: Susun S. Weed. Simple, safe remedies for pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and newborns. Includes herbs for fertility and birth control. Foreword by Jeannine Parvati Baker. 196 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $11.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com
	Healing Wise Author: Susun S. Weed. Superb herbal in the feminine-intuitive mode. Complete instructions for using common plants for food, beauty, medicine, and longevity. Introduction by Jean Houston. 312 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $17.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com
	NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way Author: Susun S. Weed. 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. Recommended by Susan Love MD and Christiane Northrup MD. Introduction by Juliette de Bairacli Levy. 304 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $16.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com For excerpts visit: www.menopause-metamorphosis.com
	Breast Cancer? Breast Health! Author: Susun S. Weed. Foods, exercises, and attitudes to keep your breasts healthy. Supportive complimentary medicines to ease side-effects of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or tamoxifen. Foreword by Christiane Northrup, M.D. 380 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $21.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com
	Down There: Sexual and Reproductive Health the Wise Woman Way  Author: Susun S. Weed Simple, successful, strategies cover the entire range of options -- from mainstream to radical -- to help you choose the best, and the safest, ways to optimize sexual and reproductive health. Foreword: Aviva Romm, MD, midwife, 484 pages, Index, illustrations Retails for $29.95 Order at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com

Energy and Stamina the Wise Woman Way

Energy and Stamina the Wise Woman Way

 c. 2002 Susun S Weed

 

If having enough energy to earn your daily bread and to get all your chores done is a struggle for you. If you go to bed tired, but wake up even more tired. If you can't get up and go without coffee, or can't
slow down and relax without alcohol. If your fatigue is ruining your mood and your friendships. Then it's time to build energy and stamina the Wise Woman Way.

The Wise Woman Tradition nourishes optimum energy, and optimum health, by using safe simple nourishing herbal infusions, eating whole grains, and avoiding stimulants.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is my favorite energizing infusion. It gives me the energy to work 14-15 hours a day on my dairy goat farm, train my apprentices, write books, run a publishing company and a workshop center, and fly all over the world to teach. I don't know how I could do so much otherwise.

I buy dried stinging nettle and prepare it like this: Put one ounce by weight in a quart canning jar. Fill the jar with boiling water, cap well, and allow to steep for four hours or overnight. Strain and enjoy. Refrigerate the remainder. Drink within 36 hours.

Because stinging nettle strengthens the kidneys and adrenals, it builds powerful energy from the inside out, and gives one amazing stamina. If you drink 4-5 quarts of nettle infusion weekly, you can expect to see results within 3-6 weeks.

There are no contraindications to the use of stinging nettle infusion. Side effects may include: thicker hair, softer skin, stronger veins, and greater delight in life.

Nourishing herbal infusions can be made with other herbs too. I like red clover blossoms, lots of anticancer protection there, as well as lots of phytoestrogens. And oatstraw, such a mellow brew, and it's so great for easing and nourishing the nerves. I also use chickweed, comfrey leaf, linden blossoms, and mullein as infusion herbs, depending on my need.

All nourishing herbal infusions are made as instructed above.

Whole grains are the backbone of a whole food diet. Because they break down much more slowly than refined (white) flour products, whole grains provide a "time release" capsule that allows you to work and work and work (or play and play and play, as you will). For more energy, eat more whole grains.

Notice which white flour products you currently use, and replace them with whole grain versions as you run out. Soon you'll be eating: whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bagels, whole wheat English muffins, whole wheat crackers (read boxes carefully), whole wheat pretzels, whole wheat cookies, whole wheat bread, brown rice, kasha, millet and more. The tastes and textures will bring new delights to your dining pleasure and well as lots of energy for you to do with as you will.

Avoid stimulants. For powerful stamina and lots of energy, we are well advised to avoid stimulants. Not just drug stimulants like cocaine or "speed," but herb and food stimulants too.

It is tempting to try to get more energy by using stimulants. But stimulants actually decrease overall energy. They provide fast fuel, but no steady flow of energy. Stimulants push us beyond our innate capacity. In effect, they make us work harder than we truly have the energy for, and thus deplete us at deep levels.

The energy-depleting effects of coffee, soft drinks, and white sugar products are cumulative. The more you try to get energy from these sources, the more tired you make yourself. The long-term consequences often include a profound fatigue.

Black pepper and spices such as cinnamon and cloves are acknowledged stimulants too, and, if overused (as in drinking chai daily) can also weaken the internal fires that give us energy.

Herbal stimulants such as ephedra (ma hang or Mormon tea), cayenne, ginseng, and guarana are also unlikely to help build real energy and stamina unless used sparingly and wisely.. Herbal stimulants may even be quite dangerous, especially when powdered and taken in gelatin caps. Water-based preparations of stimulating herbs (teas and soups) are usually the safest, and tinctures are next safest, unless standardized. Small amounts of these herbs taken occasionally are harmless enough. It is long-term use of stimulants that erodes healthy energy.

White sugar is one of the most common stimulants in the fast-food culture. We consume it in dozens of forms: corn syrup, cane sugar, "raw" sugar, fructose. I find that when the diet is rich in minerals, especially those in nourishing herbal infusions, whole grains, and yogurt, the desire for sweets is lessened and more easily satisfied with far less.

For energy and stamina everyday, plus the extra you need to deal with everyday emergencies, follow the Wise Woman Way: drink nourishing herbal infusions, such as stinging nettle, red clover, oatstraw, and chickweed.

For energy and stamina at home and on the road, plus the extra you need to deal with the constant stress, follow the Wise Woman Way: eat only whole grains: brown rice, wild rice, spelt, cornmeal, amaranth, quinoa, and edible wild seeds including lamb's quarter, nettle, and yellow dock.

For energy and stamina, the Wise Woman Way, rely on your own power, trust in your own bodies wisdom if it needs to say "no," and don't force the issue with stimulants (except on those very rare occasions when nothing else will do).

Energy and stamina the Wise Woman Way is simple, safe, successful, and fun. Congratulations for taking your health into your own hands.

Study with Susun Weed via Correspondence Course

Green Witch focuses on personal and spiritual development. You'll create rituals, prepare an herbal first-aid kit, encounter your Goddess archetype, discover the magic of menstrual & menopausal changes, and develop wise woman ways of living and healing. Learn more ...

Green Allies explores herbal medicine through direct experiences with plants, plant spirits (fairies, devas), and plant medicines. For those who want to deepen, rather than broaden, their knowledge of plants: a year's worth of investigation and experimentation with one plant ally. Learn more ...

Spirit & Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition focuses on understanding, internalizing, and using the Three Traditions of Healing (Wise Woman, Heroic, and Scientific) and the Six Steps of Healing. Health-care practitioners find this course exceptionally helpful, but anyone who cares for the health of others (even family members) will benefit. Learn more ...

ABC of Herbalism!! This is a special course for the aspiring herbalist who'd like to have me "by your side" teaching you how to harvest, prepare, and use 52 healing herbs. Your studies will be both experiential and intellectual and you will make and use herbal remedies as well as reading about them in a variety of sources.
Learn more ...

 

Sow your wild oats!

Sew your wild oats!

ShannonE.Hardie

Wild Oates, or taxonomically named Avena Fatua, is a grass grain that can be found on each continent.  http://www.ars-grin.gov Wild Oates have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs and have been known to have been used as food and bedding in the least as of 2000 years ago. Wild Oat seeds have also been found in caves of Northern Europe. The vastest density of Wild Oats strains is found in Asia Minor where it is believed that the location with the most varieties of a given species is the place of origin of that researched species. The Wild Oat seed (Avena Fatua) is cited as the origin of the Common Oat seed (Avena Sativa).  http;//www.agron.iastate.edu

Oats were brought to North America through the Elizabeth Islands, Massachusetts in 1602.  Incidentally Wild Oats have been used as a "feed grain" for chicken and horses and humans for over two millenniums. Grazing animals are continued to be fed on the wild oat grass. http://www.britannica.com  Similarly, native peoples continue to apply wild oats to their food sources as the Cahuilla, Diegueno, Kawaiisu, Luiseno( Food Staple), Mendocino Indian (Food Staple), Pomo ( Food Staple) peoples use them as culinary basics. http://herb.umd.umich.edu

Today wild oats are considered a weed to grain growers.  Wild oats can hibernate for up to ten years in the soil before growing above. http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca Above the grain lines of a farmer’s field of Avena Sativa or Common Oats, the Wild Oat can be seen growing up to 4 feet high. http://www.calflora.org It is a flowering plant from June to July, and reproduces with seeds from August to October. The Avena Fatua flower has hermaphrodite organs that are pollinated by wind or animal.  The plant prefers light, medium and heavy soils (sandy, loamy and clay soils). The plant can grow in very acid soil. . Wild Oats tolerate a pH in the range 4.5 to 6.5. http://www.ibiblio.org Wild Oats can also tolerate drought. http://www.gov.pe.ca Wild Oats blossoms in full sun and tolerates an elevation of 82 to 4002 feet. http://www.ibiblio.org  http://www.calflora.org, http://www.gov.pe.ca  The seed’s awn opening and closing in the changing humidities creates a twisting action that burrows the seed into the ground.  The majority of wild oat seeds will germinate in the same year they were produced.

The seedling of the Wild Oat has a leaf twist and has hairs on the leaf margins. The spikelets customarily contain up to 7 florets. The plant may produce up to 250 black, brown, grey, yellow, or white seeds. The seeds are hairy on the ventral side and carry a circular scar where attached.   http://www.calflora.org  The florets of Avena Fatua are heart shaped  Http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu and the plant is known as nodding.  http://herbarium.usu.edu The roots of Avena Fatua are fibrous with a straight hollow stem and dark nodes http://www.gov.ns.ca Avena Fatua is in the group Monocot and the family Poaceae and is a Graminoid in its growth.  http://plants.usda.gov Avena Fatua is a vascular flowering seed grass plant also known as Flaxgrass, Oatgrass, and Wheat Oats http://plants.usda.gov

In the prairies of Canada Wild Oats are considered an invasive predator of a grass weed. There is a registration of financing that records losses as high as $500 million annually in grass grain farm lands due to Wild Oats (http://www.gov.mb.ca) Wild Oats have been recorded as having immunity to herbicides and tolerance of pesticides. It is a strong plant that survives as the fittest and naturally selected http://plants.usda.gov   Barley and Canola compete with Wild Oats however it is difficult for Wheat and harder still for Oats and Flax. http://plants.usda.gov  There have been movements towards the harvesting of Wild Oat seeds as a provider of fall sowing cereals. http://www.rothamsted.bbsrc.ac.uk The Wild Oat species could be of importance in the cultivation of Common Oats (A.Sativa) where the Wild Oat has drought tolerance, disease resistance and higher yields http://www.ibilio.org

To conserve this ancient species with its utility over the millenniums, organic farmers are known to not require a field of one species alone but consider the field as its own ecosystem with its richness and abundance providing for a dominant species. http://eap.mcgill.ca  In this way Wild Oats can be conserved while the farmers can liberally "sow their wild oats" at their own discression.  As a weed, Wild Oats are not without utility, it is the emergence of more abundant species of Oats in evolution that makes a preference to the younger adaptive Oats than the Wild Oats.

Conservation is to retain the mass of organisms that themselves maintain the ecosystems of the biosphere.  With the rate of development of humanity consuming as a need, a custom and a habit at an alarming rate of natural destruction, one is left advocating for the survival of these said ecosystems against the mechanisms of progress.   One such example is fallow fields or grazing pastures that feed horses and cattle with the Wild Oat species within those ecosystems.

We rely on ecosystems to provide O2 and to consume CO2 to lessen the dawning of the global warming crisis and to provide food substance to living organisms.  The communities of organisms within the natural systems of life and consumption webs are lessening due to the progress and developments of human survival provision and excess. 

The age and life span of some plantae species is far beyond that of the human or animalian species.  To respect one's elders, with intention to preserve the first forms of life through the means of protecting their ecosystems, is to provide one with a means to observe with an understanding of the ancient species and another benefit, to provide humanity, and its investigations into life and its compositions, a means to discovering details of the ancient world, thorough ethical experimentation, that could lead to human survival and furthermore, human adaptation or cure.  Such as the learned benefits of the Wild Oat which is immune and sustaining compared to other Oats or grasses which in itself could lead to a stronger grasses due to the symbiosis.

To realize that as humans there were at one point in history a dependence upon the ancient species, it is due to the symbiosis (or living together) of this relationship that humans exist today.  To have found alternate modes of dependence in the human developments, into modes of control over nature such as farming, one would be lead to believe that humans protect another species as a function or a use in human dependency as heterotrophs, however reject that which was the means to survival before discovery of greater control and ease was made or encountered. 

Respect for the journey that lead humanity to its place in space and time would be to advocate for the conservation of ancient species, such as Wild Oats, with appreciation for the journey of life that has existed for the majority of time on Earth without involvement of human interaction however within human interaction there was a subsistence to wild oats as primary producer.  The food stuffs of our ancestors should not be considered a weed.  I advocate for the preservation of this biospheric grain.