Mind, Body, Spirit – LuceStellare

Elder Flower Tea ~ A Tasty Way to Calm the Sniffles

This article describes the benefits of gardening with herbs that can provide year-long nourishment for everyday life. Aromatic culinary and medicinal herbs harvested from the yard can fill the pantry adding flavor and wellness to every meal and malady during the long winter months.

Sooner or later, a bout of the sniffles will be the cause of physical discomfort. Sniffles are a trifling symptom with the potential to escalate into something more onerous. On Friday morning, I woke up with an uncomfortable sensation of a sore throat. My go to alternative treatment is typically a homeopathic product called Oscillococcinum, unfortunately, I had no more doses. So, the first treatment for the day was a large glass of warm water blended with two teaspoons of honey, ginger and lemon juice. The honey infused ginger was made in late fall after harvesting home grown ginger from the garden. Next, I prepared a high Vitamin C tea including home grown rose hips, rose petals and red clover blossoms blended with store bought hibiscus tea. The hot beverage was tasty and refreshing.

On the menu for the afternoon was a bowl of chicken soup. This batch included ginger stalks and leaves preserved from the harvested roots. Herbalists and gardeners are by nature frugal and ginger is a generous plant. It just needs a long growing season, full sun and moist soil. The soup was cooked with home grown lovage, oregano and local garlic.

My herbal pantry includes two 32 ounce jars of dried elder flower and leaf. A large shrub was discovered on the western border of my property growing in a tangle of raspberry, multi-flora rose, forsythia and bittersweet. It took years and years of pruning out the unwanted growth to allow the elder shrub to flourish. So, it was a lovely time in July and August harvesting the white flowers and stems. Some of the blossoms were as large as my hand. Another shrub has planted itself on the eastern side of my property. The ideal growing conditions seem to be half shade and humus rich moist soils.

To treat my sniffles, I brewed an infusion of two teaspoons of dried elder flower. The taste is similar to linden flower. The aroma is highly floral and a bit fruity. I drank a second cup before bedtime and repeated the treatment the next day. The weather was mild enough for an afternoon walk around the block. I enjoyed the movement and fresh air.

Saturday night, I woke with a strong cough and mild sweat. The cough was insistent but was calmed by a dose of honey and ginger. I also took a dose of the homeopathic remedy Chamomila. The combination was soothing and calming for my respiratory system. I was able to fall back to sleep without difficulty and slept through until sunrise.

By Sunday, I was well on my way to recovery. The sore throat was gone. I believe the elder flower tea induced a mild healing reaction. The body was getting out the germs with the herbs therapeutic actions including antiviral, decongestant and a fever reducer. The disturbance was brief and effective.

My materia medica notes on elder flower describe it as an herb to take in the acute stages of cold or influenza to reduce inflammation and induce perspiration. The herb is best taken as a formula with yarrow and mint.

Herbs and alternatives to over the counter medicines can provide a pathway to wellness. The ability to reach into the herbal pantry and provide self care is the entire reason I took the herbal studies program.

Celebrate Each Day with a Song – John Denver

Childhood Heroes

Perhaps it’s a cliché, but music does tame the heart and stir the soul. One of the people who most influenced me during my teens as I was forming the values that still guide my daily life was John Denver.

The celebrated and gifted musician, actor, singer and songwriter won fame and recognition for the purity of his voice. His songs taped the heart speaking of the complexity of emotional connections to others in the simplest way. Lovely acoustic melodies played on a six or twelve-string guitar strayed inside of me and stayed there.

Yes, his songs are beautiful. But, it’s the legacy of conservation for wildlife that lingers on. It was John who taught me to be responsible for what I did and to not harm other creatures out of ignorance.

So many years later, I can hear this song and still be moved to tears. The power of great music!

Many thanks to cherished memories.

Bellissima

The Sea Gives

A fine day came along with the rare opportunity to enjoy a visit to the seashore. Preparations began the week before when healing was required for blisters on both heels. A nasty bunch of sores had broken out due to a bout of even nastier heel spurs right under the achilles. The recommended topical remedy backfired and created angry skin. The thought emerged that the best cleanser would be seawater.

A week later, the alarm rang at 5 a.m. to get the journey started. It’s a two-hour drive and with the restrictions on common activities these days, it seemed prudent to go early for that coveted spot on the beach. The last turn arrived, Route 108 off Route 1 in Narragansett to the beach entrance gate.

Sacred, a sacred overwhelming moment of joy rushed from the heart as I took a spot next to the red flag marker. How long had it been? How many years had slipped by since I’d last been to the coast? Blankets laid out, I gathered up the marigold flowers picked that morning in the garden. My old pagan groundings always said, bring a gift to the sea. Without hesitation, I walked in wading through a patch of seaweed, pushing past the breakers to lay the petals on the water. The joy was so intense I cried. My oldest and dearest friend in thee.

The waves were steady and light. The sun settled low in the early September sky. We’re just past the full harvest moon in Pisces a few days ago. The first swim and the ancient recollection of loving the chilly, salty water returned. Yes, the transcendental memory of having been a sea mammal in another incarnation rose up inside. My roots, deep roots of comfort in the mystical returned. How had they slipped away? This day was not only to heal the skin but to find peace and clarity. I am all out of the direction in this lifetime and feel lost. The path has not gone smoothly for my gentle soul. The smog of competition, greed, and ignorance has clouded in. Once, I only wanted to be with horses all day. I had that for ten years. Later, I wanted to be with the fields and trees. To survive, I had to move into different crowds and felt the sting of the tribe. An outsider, perpetually, fate had dealt the hand of an outsider.

Lying in the sand, voices drifted out saying, “what is it? It’s a person?”, “someone’s floating in!”, “it’s big, too big!” People were walking past my spot to the shore. Following the crowd, it was a shock to see a small whale had been brought in with the high tide. We gasped and said how sad it was to see the creature dead and being pushed by the waves. And it was. A young minke whale had washed ashore. Hours later, it was still on the shore, waiting to be taken away and buried. The sea gave us a corpse today.

The news broadcast said the cause of death was unknown. It’s not uncommon to see whales off the coast around Point Judith. But, not adrift and dead. Surely it was an ill omen. I’d come for answers and felt perplexed at the loss. How bizarre to enjoy being in the water, cool and clean while this being was lying there: a carcass. The message had to be a warning for everyone there. Something is not right, you are warned.

The answer came indirectly on social media. This post came up as I was scrolling. Mystical answers come in different ways. I believe this message is the larger meaning of what happened.

On the drive down, I’d listened to an NPR interview with the late poet Mary Oliver. She came from a neglectful home, I identified with this too well. She turned to nature for solace and found it sincerely. I asked for a message. I got one.

Mary Oliver ocean poem

“The sea can do craziness, it can do smooth, it can lie down like silk breathing or toss havoc shoreward; it can give gifts or withhold all; it can rise, ebb, froth like an incoming frenzy of fountains, or it can sweet-talk entirely. As I can too, and so, no doubt, can you, and you.”