Herbal Allies & How to Use Them Part 1
Local plants have been a part of apothecaries for centuries. When creating medicinal topical oils, spagyrists in the early 1910’s were particular about when to harvest a plant to preserve its essence. Some wineries follow this principle and wait to harvest grapes until a certain planetary alignment. There are herbal medicinal companies that still practice astroherbalism as well, an archaic art in the modern world. Herbalism likes to attribute a plant to planets and zodiac signs. For instance, Venus rules motherwort and motherwort is associated with the Sun and Leo. Mysticism has been evolving hand-in-hand with ancient herbal medicine. Before the globalism that exists today, healers relied on plants growing in their backyard or nearby meadows. There is potency in a medicine sourced from the land one lives on.
Cultures have certain herbs that play major roles in the kitchen and pharmacy like chamomile and cramp bark leaf in Eastern European regions; cacao in Central and Southern American areas; neem in India and so on. Early texts provide remedies for women’s ailments like cramps, menstrual pain, and fertility. The following is a part one introduction to start working with readily available herbs.
How to use herbs
Traditionally, people have benefitted from herbs by brewing them into teas or ingesting them through cooking, rolling them into incense sticks, smoking herbs like tobacco and others, and releasing their scent through steam. Tinctures (weakest form), extractions, and powders are more refined forms of an herb, leading to stronger potency.
A little exploration can go a long way. Perhaps choose an herb and change the modality in which you interact with it. Drink pure tea from a single plant. Experiment with different brewing methods (pour boiling water into a teapot with herbs or simmer directly in the kettle then strained into a tea cup). Try brewing a tea, drawing a bath, burning an incense cone, safely, if possible, taking a capsule, adding it to a smoothie or cooking with it.
Chamomile
Chamomile, Roman chamomile is chamaemelum nobile or anthemis nobilis, and German chamomile is chamaemelum recutita, a common herb that is used for digestive and respiratory support. It acts as an antispasmodic and hence, eases menstrual cramps. It helps reduce anxiety and has a soothing effect, making it useful before bedtime to relax the mind. It is used as an anti-inflammatory agent. A study showed that flavonoids and essential oils penetrate deeper into the layers of the skin when used topically. The Kalina, Kamelia, and Perk Up womb and breast oils have this powerful herbal ally to calm the stomach and relax tense breast tissue.
Roman chamomile has been successfully used in sitz baths to heal hemorrhoids. These chamomile varieties have been shown to help with vaginitis, an inflammation of the vulvovaginal area accompanied by itching and painful urination if used with douching. While douching comes with side effects, like potentially intense damaging water pressure, steaming is a gentle transporter of beneficial compounds found in Roman and German chamomile. This herb has been generously used for skin conditions and healing bacterial infections. When applying this knowledge to steaming with chamomile, it causes us to consider the benefits it may have on improving the elasticity and suppleness of the vulva skin. Speak with a steam practitioner to check if this herb could be added to your custom steam herb blend.
Spearmint
Spearmint, mentha spicata, has grown in popularity as PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), now renamed PMOS (Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome), diagnoses increase. Studies have suggested that this herb helps to clear out excess androgens in the body. Androgens are a group of hormones that include testosterone; when women produce too many androgens, it causes imbalance in their bodies and leads to possible facial hair and/or irregular periods with delayed onset of menstruation. Spearmint has shown to balance hormone levels when consumed as a tea daily, however, reversal of abnormal body hair patterns has not been studied long enough to confirm effects. Logically, if the body regulates internally it would make sense to believe hirsutism would eventually stop when there are no additional hormones to trigger it.
Spearmint interacts with GABA receptors, which is a neurotransmitter that sends signals to the brain that it is safe to relax. It is used as an aid for peaceful sleep and stress reduction. The mint acts as a cooling agent and can be helpful to alleviate soreness in the body. The Perk Up blend incorporates it for women in peri, meno, or post-menopause stage of life.
Varieties of mint are associated with soothing the digestive tract in humans. Spearmint has a milder taste and smell than others like peppermint and wintermint. Sometimes ovulation can feel painful and rubbing the Ovawaken blend over the ovaries can help soothe discomfort. This herb has antibacterial properties, which make it both refreshing for the mouth and ‘down there.’ This herb is actively added to steam blends to combat vaginal dryness for more pleasurable daily life and sex.
Calendula
Calendula, calendula officinalis, is commonly called Marigold. As the previously mentioned two herbs, it is an anti-inflammatory that is widely used for women’s health. It has anti-fungal properties and is a soothing herb used topically for cracked nipples, wound healing, and C-section scar tissue recovery. It helps to nourish the skin and is potent when applied directly to the skin. Both breast oils, Kamelia and Perk Up, have a calendula infused extra virgin olive oil to promote hydrated skin.
There was a study conducted using calendula ointment to test its effects on bacterial vaginosis. It was used intravaginally for one week and a separate control group used a prescription medication for the same time frame. The results were equal to that of the synthetic drug metronidazole, also known as Flagyl. It is quite possible steaming with calendula could clear out bacterial vaginosis if performed once a week over the course of a week. This herb would be a wonderful ally for moisturizing the vulva skin while protecting the internal canal from bacterial and fungal growth.
These herb allies support conditions through direct skin absorption found in oils and rising steam that carries their active compounds into the vulva, vagina possibly other womb areas. It would also be highly recommended to explore these herbs in the kitchen and incorporate them in tea blends. Calendula has also been used as an alternative coloring agent to saffron so for the adventurous women who wants to experiment with food dyeing, this is an avenue to explore.
In the Kitchen
Recipes that sound delicious and nourishing (Have not made all of these yet)
Chamomile Recipes
Chamomile and Maple Porridge https://www.purewow.com/recipes/chamomile-maple-porridge
Chamomile Pound Cake
https://www.seriouseats.com/chamomile-pound-cake-recipe
Chamomile Tea Shortbread Cookies
https://frolicandfare.com/chamomile-tea-shortbread-cookies/
Mint Recipes
Lemonade Spearmint Iced Tea, Mojito with alcohol or sans
Greek Yogurt Mint Sauce
Mix:
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp dried spearmint
1 garlic clove, grated (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice
Sea Salt to taste
Serve with grilled lamb skewers, top lamb burger, or serve with grilled or roasted vegetables.
Snap Peas tossed in Lemon Mint
https://www.skagitfoodcoop.com/blog/spearmint-recipes
Spearmint Rose Honey Tea Cake
Ingredients:
Dry
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
1 tbsp dried spearmint
1 tbsp crushed culinary rose petals
1 tsp cardamom powder
Wet
3 eggs
½ cup honey
⅓ cup organic cane sugar
¾ cup olive oil (light or medium flavor)
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 orange
2 tbsp orange juice
Optional Honey Rose Glaze
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp honey
1–2 tsp milk or orange juice
Tiny pinch rose petals
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line a loaf pan. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spearmint, rose, and. cardamom In another bowl, whisk, eggs, honey. sugar until lighter in color. Then slowly whisk in
olive oil, yogurt, vanilla, orange zest, orange juice.
Fold dry ingredients into wet until just combined.
Pour into loaf pan. Bake 40–50 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes before glazing.
Calendula Recipes
Calendula Bread (*Replace grape seed oil with healthier alternatives like grass-fed butter, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil)
https://www.tasteofyummy.com/calendula-bread-for-bread-lovers/
Calendula Corn Muffins
https://theherbalbakeshoppe.com/recipe/calendula-corn-muffins/
Calendula Risotto
https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/recipe/calendula-risotto
Lemon Calendula Scones https://palatablepastime.com/2019/05/14/lemon-calendula-scones/
Sources:
Kodiyan J, Amber KT. A Review of the Use of Topical Calendula in the Prevention and Treatment of Radiotherapy-Induced Skin Reactions. Antioxidants (Basel). 2015 Apr 23;4(2):293-303. doi: 10.3390/antiox4020293. PMID: 26783706; PMCID: PMC4665477. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4665477/
Grant P. Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-androgen effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome. A randomized controlled trial. Phytother Res. 2010 Feb;24(2):186-8. doi: 10.1002/ptr.2900. PMID: 19585478. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19585478/
Pazhohideh Z, Mohammadi S, Bahrami N, Mojab F, Abedi P, Maraghi E. The effect of Calendula officinalis versus metronidazole on bacterial vaginosis in women: A double-blind randomized controlled trial. J Adv Pharm Technol Res. 2018 Jan-Mar;9(1):15-19. doi: 10.4103/japtr.JAPTR_305_17. PMID: 29441319; PMCID: PMC5801581. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5801581/
Srivastava JK, Shankar E, Gupta S. Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future. Mol Med Rep. 2010 Nov 1;3(6):895-901. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2010.377. PMID: 21132119; PMCID: PMC2995283. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2995283/#R55