TIP OF THE DAY - ELDERFLOWER

Merry Meet to All of You!

It's the time of the year again, where the elder trees start to bloom, and there are some good reason to go foraging for them.

Apart from being of lovely taste, elder flowers, and later the fruits, are full of natural goodness.

The flowers contain tannins, potassium, phenols and flavanoids, while the fruits are packed with folic acid and vitamins A and C.

Elder is a good choice to treat colds and flu, because it promotes sweating in the body and so helping it getting rid of toxins (summer detox, anyone). Elderberry extract has been medically proven to inhibit certain strains of the flu virus and if taken in the onset of colds and flu, can noticeably speed up your recovery.

You can simply make an infusion from 5mg of dried elder flowers to one cup of water, leave it to infuse for 5-10 min and drink three cups a day.

Apart from being great flu fighters, elder flowers also make a good anti-inflammatory mouthwash to sooth painful gums and inflamed throats.

Simply put 50g of flowers to 1 litre of boiling water, boil for another 5 min and use 4-6 times a day, especially after meals.

On top of these health benefits, elder is also a plant steeped in magick, which I blogged about on the Herbal Chalice Blog:

http://theherbalchalice.blogspot.com/2009/06/tip-of-week-magick-elder.html

Go on, get out there, go mad for elder!

Summer Blessings,

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - A GOOD BOOK

Merry Meet to All!

You might have noticed that the main theme of our next chalice meeting is "Kitchen Cupboard Magick", e.g. using everyday kitchen ingredients for magic and/or healing purposes, so if you would like to find out more, pop along!

If you haven't got the time here is a good book for you to read, which shows you how to utilise your kitchen for magick purposes.

It's called:


and gives you plenty of ideas and inspiration, from candle and incense making, body care, feasting in tune with and cooking for the Wheel of the Year and its' Sabbats, potions and healing remedies. It also gives you tips on how to buy, store and use your herbs and what equipment you will need.

All in all, it's a great book, well written and easily accessible, even to the greenest novice.

So, if you have chance, take five, make a cuppa and bury your noses in some kitchen Magick!

Warm Blessings,

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - CAST OUT CREEPY CRAWLIES

Merry Meet to All of You!

With summer fast approaching, keeping your home free of creepy crawlies, which re-emerge with the rising temperatures, can become an issue.


If you are like me, and don't like to use the 'chemical warfare' of conventional repellents, here are some ideas of how to apply aromatherapy, which is natural and kinder to the environment (including the creepies, as it keeps them away without necessarily killing them), to achieve the same effects.


You can use the following essential oils for the different kind of insects:


Mosquitoes:
Use Citronella. A few drops on your pillow case and/or mattress will keep them at bay. Alternatively, you can dilute 15 drops of the essential oil in 30ml of sunflower oil, which you rub onto your skin (this also soothes the effects of bites).


Flies:
Use Lemongrass. Mix 15 drops of the essential oil with 600ml of water in a pump spray bottle, shake well and spray around the room or onto the buzzing flies directly.


Ants:
Use Tea Tree and Thyme. Dilute 8 drops of Tea Tree oil and 7 drops of Thyme oil in 30ml of water. Use a pump spray to spray the areas where the ants come in or walk.


Pet fleas:
Use Geranium, Lavender and Tea Tree. Dilute 6 drops of Geranium, 5 drops of Lavender and 4 drops of Tea Tree in 30ml of water. Use a pump spray to spray into you pets fluffed up fur, avoiding their eyes.


I hope these little tips come in handy to keep your home chemical and pest free during the summer months.


Bright Blessings,


Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - A GOOD CUPPA

Merry Meet to All!

As nice as spring is, it can be a pesky time for colds and such, can't it?

I for one have a quite nasty cold, which did me the honour to turn into a horrible ear infection.

Being a good girl, I went to the doctor for a course of antibiotics (as you should), but this hasn't stopped me from complementing them with some herbal remedies from ... my kitchen cupboard.

If you suffer from ear ache or discharge, one of the easiest complementary herbal medicines you can turn to is a good cuppa to help you fight the infection and reduce inflammation - in this case rosemary tea.

Simply put 2-4g of dried rosemary in a cup of boiling water and let it infuse for about 10 minutes. Drink three cups a day after your meals.

Rosemary is a very powerful herb with many medicinal properties. It contains flavanoids which stimulate the blood flow and as such can be used to improve memory and concentration as well as easing headaches. Rosemary is also beneficial to digestion, on which is has a calming effect, and can be taken if you suffer from stomach cramps, bloating or constipation. It also acts as a detoxing agent to help clean the liver.

In the above mentioned case of ear infection, as well as bronchial, nose and throat infections, it acts as an effective anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agent.

In external use, you can dilute rosemary oil with a neutral oil (eg sunflower) and use it as a rub to help with muscular and rheumatic pain and inflammation. An infusion into the bathwater also eases rheumatism.

Because of the powerful properties of rosemary, it should not be used on children and if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, make sure the amount taken does not exceed the one normally found in your diet.

For further information on rosemary and recipes for aspects of it in magick got to:

http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbRosemaryMed.htm

So, next time you suffer from ear, nose or chest infections, why not try a good cup of rosemary tea to help you on your way (don't forget though, if symptoms persist, always go to your doctor!).

Spring Blessings and Good Health

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - FOR THE PICKING

Merry Meet to all!

Adding to the Tip of the Day about wild garlic foraging, this is the time of the year to start foraging for stinging nettles as well.

The traditional time for harvesting is May/June, before the flowering, but the very young and tender nettle shoots coming through right now are lovely and subtle in flavour.

The leaves of the nettles contain both iron and vitamin C, as well as calcium, potassium and silicic acids. You can also harvest the roots of the nettle plant, also I would recommend this later in the year, when they are stronger, so I will concentrate on the benefits you get from the leaves.

The easiest way to use nettle leaves is to just make a fresh nettle tea, by simply infusing the leaves (which are best slightly bruised in a mortar and pestle) in some hot water for 7-10 minutes. Nettle tea is great for stimulating the appetite, providing iron and fighting fatigue (why not swap your normal cuppa in the morning for some 'nettle zing'?).

The components of the leaves can also help against arthritic and rheumatic pain - my grandmother used to wrap nettle plants round her ankles for this purpose, but don't worry, it needn't be this painful, as nettle tea is also a natural diuretic, helping with the elimination of sodium and urea from the body, which eases the above conditions. Nettle leaves also act as a powerful anti-inflammatory agent.

If you are not a fan of the taste of nettle tea, you can also add nettles to homemade veg juices, just put them through your juicer with everything else you normally use for juicing.

As well as for all these health benefits, nettles just make a lovely ingredient in cooking, for salads or soups, even for flavoured wine.

Look out for tasty nettle recipes coming up!

Spring Blessings,

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - WILD GARLIC FORAGING

It's Wild Garlic season! These tender, juicy and garlicy leaves can be found pretty much everywhere in the British Isles this time of year. Get them now before they start flowering and the leaves get tougher.

Click HERE for information about the nutritional value of Wild Garlic. The main medicinal uses are the same as for ordinary garlic.

The bulbs can be eaten too, but please don't go digging them up in the wild as this will reduce next year's crop! If you plan on using bulbs for cooking or medicinal purposes, you need to grow your own stock.

Ilona and I went Wild Garlic foraging yesterday. She chopped some up and put in ice cube trays in her freezer for handy cooking portions to use in soups and stews etc. She also froze whole leaves for later use.

There are lots of different uses for these wonderful leaves. They can be used in salads and sandwiches, and as a pizza topping etc etc. I used all the ones I picked up in one go, as I wanted to try juicing them. It was absolutely delicious! Here's the recipe:

A few fist fulls of Wild Garlic leaves
1 small piece of ginger root

1 small red chili pepper

2 carrots

1 beetroot

1 red pepper

1/2 a cucumber

2 sellery stalks

I basically used what I had in the fridge. Experimenting with juicing this way can be really fun, and it's even more fun when you start foraging in nature's larder!

Bright blessings,

Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/

TIP OF THE DAY: KITCHEN CUPBOARD MAGICK

You don't need to buy expensive and exotic ingredients to add a little bit of natural magic and holistic approach to your lifestyle.

Just have a good look in your kitchen cupboard (and garden, if you have one) and you'd be amazed what you can do with the 'everyday things' in there.

Here, for example, is a really nice recipe for herbal bath sachets, which are very simple to make and will give you an invigorating, 100% natural bath experience, which puts the spring back in your step.

All you need is:

4 cups of dried lemon verbenna *

2 cups of dried thyme

1 cup of dried peppermint

fabric, like muslin or organdie, which can be easily penetrated by water

*lemon verbenna is a common garden herb (see picture), but if you can't get hold of it, you can use dried lemon rind

Take to needle and threat and make little sachets of the fabric, which you fill with the hers - that's all there's to it!

When running a bath, hold the sachets under the tab or simply float in the water. A filled sachet can be used twice, and the sachets themselves can be refilled with fresh herbs again and again.

Enjoy! Ilona