We’re in an interesting position in our work, sending our Spagyrics all around the country, to all kinds of people, from healers in many modalities to regular people taking better care of themselves and their families. And, since we’ve been at it for over 20 years now, we have seen patterns and trends in people’s needs that often transcend factors of place and personality.
One trend we’ve seen recently is anxiety, and it’s not surprising, given the turmoil the world is in, and the uncertain nature of the future, even down to who will govern the US next! Normally, when someone asks us for help with anxiety, we reach for Shen tonics such as Waterfall Calamus, Albizzia, or our Shen Somalixir. These herbs build a reserve of inner peace like a deep well, holding a pool of calm which you can draw from when life gets chaotic.
We still stand by the use of Shen tonics for building lasting healthy response to stress, but lately, it seems many of you need more direct calming and even sedation to get past the jittery, wired and sometimes freaked out states you’re finding yourselves in. So, we created our new Somalixir- Chill.
Chill has a combination of herbs that calm and ease tensions at all levels of being. American Valerian is a great calming herb,very different than its European relative. This Northwest native calms the mind, but also brings clarity and sharpness to the thoughts, rather than dullness.
Parrot’s Beak and Passionflower relax the body, opening blood flow and helping unwind the feedback loop that can escalate between mental and physical tension. Sandalwood clears the mind of stray worries, racing thoughts, and unhelpful chatter, and Baltic Amber expands your calm energy into a protective sphere, unaffected by any less-serene people you might encounter.
Click here to order some Chill – and if stress is a long-term issue for you, consider some Shen tonics, as well.
On a “sunnier” note, we have a new Spagyric from one of the bee’s wonderful gifts, Green Propolis. This is a special kind of propolis from Brazil, which bees gather from a single plant source, the shrub Baccharis dracunculifolia. This plant is used natively for its anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer properties, and when it is made into propolis, these effects are increased and other healing properties added.
The word “propolis” means “in front of the city”, and since ancient times, it was understood to be made by the bees to protect their hives. To make propolis, bees gather the resins of trees, primarily poplar in northern countries, although they may gather from other trees such as willow or birch. The bees chew the resins and mix them with wax, and then use this thick and sticky mixture to seal cracks in their hives and adjust the size of the passages in the hive to the “bee space” they are most comfortable with.
Propolis has been shown to be very high in antibacterial and antifungal constituents, and it is these properties that bees rely on for another use of propolis- keeping the hive sterile. If a foreign insect or even small animal enters the hive and is successfully killed by the bees, its body becomes a possible source of contamination if it is too heavy to be removed. To prevent this, the bees will coat it in propolis, sealing it in a thick layer of antimicrobial resin and rendering it inert in the hive.
Brazilian green propolis is especially high in antimicrobial properties which originate in the Baccharis plant and are amplified by the changes that the resin undergoes through the bees’ work. The result, a very hard, pollen-scented grass-green resin, carries strong healing properties that have just begun to be explored.
Research has shown green propolis to have a balanced blood sugar lowering effect which may be helpful in diabetes, and it also has a strong protective effect on nerves and brain tissue, defending the cells from free radical damage. This strong antioxidant quality is also connected to promising anti-cancer research, as well as protecting the immune system from less serious invaders such as the viruses that cause flu and the common cold, and the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers.
This defensive property came out very strongly in our Spiritualized Essence of Green Propolis, amplified by its Mars-ruled processing. This Spagyric is one of the strongest boosters of “Wei Qi”, or defensive energy, that we have encountered. Wei Qi is a concept from Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is the protective field that surrounds the body, radiating out from the skin as a shield from “external pernicious influence” such as illness, extreme temperatures, and toxins.
Taking our new Propolis boosts this energy to such a degree that it can be felt as a pleasant but hot force pushing away uncomfortable energies and disrupting influences from the environment. Hot days, cold days, rainy weather, bad air, even subtle forces of negativity- they all just seem to bounce off the shield this Spagyric creates. We think this will be a good adjunct to other winter tonics, and help protect the vital, radiant inner fire that we all need to burn brightly and shine forth! Click here to order some, and let us know how it works for you.