Hops

A well-known ingredient in beer, with an equally long history as a healing herb as well. According to many accounts, it was long ago noticed that some elderly women who worked as hops pickers experienced a return of their menstrual cycles and other youthful attributes.

This led to one of Hops’ most common uses, as a hormonal balancer and general restorative during and after menopause. Hops contains strongly estrogenic compounds, also useful for regulating and balancing the menstrual cycle.

Hops’ other popular use is as a calmative and anti-stress herb, whether sewn into a dream pillow or taken internally. It contains some of the same sedative and anti-spasmodic constituents as Valerian, and can be applied to many of the same imbalances.

Unlike Valerian, Hops is also a bitter digestive and liver tonic, and this combines with its calming, relaxing properties to create a very effective remedy for any digestive upset caused or aggravated by stress, or when there is cramping.

Also available as a Spagyric Essence for Physical Balance, more of a sedative than the Spiritualized Essence.