A cold snap has come to our corner of Oregon, bringing frost and freeze warnings. To be sure, it’s not the intense winter cold of the ice and ICE-besieged midwest, but the foul weather of both nature and politics has us thinking about building up our defenses.
One of the first plants I reach for when I think about personal defenses, immune and otherwise, is Astragalus. This tonic root is easy to use in many forms: I make tea from it, add it to soups and steam it with rice, and take our Spagyrics of it.
Our Astragalus Essence is a sweet-tasting booster of the immune system, increasing the power and efficiency of our bodies’ defense cells. Traditionally, it’s used to protect health from “external pernicious influence”- that is, anything outside your body that can invade and cause illness.
That can be understood as viruses, bacteria, allergens, toxins and pollution, as well as illnesses that arise from within the body such as cancer. Astragalus is a balanced tonic and adaptogen, and can be used before the cold season to stay healthy, as well as long-term for even years at a time if needed without causing overactive immune response.
External pernicious influence can also describe energetic, spiritual, or human currents that act in viral ways, spreading negativity and destruction through the body of society, harming the well-being of both the individual and the collective.
One of the ways that Astragalus is described in Traditional Chinese Medicine is as an herb that fortifies the Wei Qi, which is the defensive energy around the body. Think of the Wei Qi as a force or barrier all around you, starting at the skin and extending out like a field. If you find yourself picking up every cold or flu that goes through your office, boosting the Wei Qi with our Astragalus Essence can fortify your resistance.
If you’re working to manifest resistance on a bigger level, our Astragalus Spiritualized Essence takes that Wei Qi boosting to the energetic body, protecting you from negative energies or entities, and all the destructive forces that harmful people create in chaotic times.
As I discussed in my talk Power to the (Plant) People, I’ve used our Astragalus Spiritualized to create a zone around me that seems to deflect other people’s negative attention and belligerence. Taking it and going into a crowded or hostile situation seems to make me less of a target for hotheads and troublemakers, as well as protecting me from the mundane illnesses that float around in crowds. It also helps me not pick up everything I move through on a subtle level too, so I can be activated and motivated but not imbalanced by others’ rage or despair.
Another Spagyric we make to boost your Wei Qi is our Defense Somalixir. This formula features the medicinal mushrooms Birch Polypore and Chaga, along with the rare Tibetan plant Snow Lotus.
Chaga has been shown to be an immune tonic, having anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties that have been recognized for millennia- it is one of the botanicals found in the kit of the stone age “ice man” found in the Alps. The other mushroom in his kit, Birch Polypore, also has anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties, and an uplifting, clarifying effect on the mind.
Rounding out the Defense formula is Snow Lotus, a plant not related to lotus, but as beautiful as one, growing in the snowy mountains of Tibet. Snow Lotus helps the body’s actions of cleaning up free radicals and damaging toxins, and was renowned as a beauty tonic for Chinese Empresses, said to give them a pearlescent glow. That outer glow is matched by the inner feeling of well-being and serenity it brings to this formula.
Like our different Spagyric levels of Astragalus, our Echinacea Essence and Spiritualized Essence each manifest unique aspects of this popular healing plant.
Our Echinacea Essence, made from Echinacea angustifolia, is bright and buzzy, creating a zippy feeling on the tongue that comes from alkylamides, immune-boosting chemicals that act on the same receptors as cannabinoids. This gives them immune-modulating, painkilling and anti-inflammatory properties. In our Essence, these gifts support protection and recovery from infections such as colds and flus, and even digestive imbalances caused by pathogens.
Our Spiritualized Essence is made from Echinacea purpurea, and includes all of the plant from root to seeds. The seed oils are higher in the electrical-feeling alkylamides than the root, and this Spagyric creates a literally mouthwatering effect when you take it. That property of Echinacea was used by the Cheyenne during the Sun Dance to keep the mouth and throat healthy and moistened and sustain the dancers through their ordeal.
I have used our Echinacea Spiritualized Essence to support my body and spirit during my own physically-challenging spiritual work such as Yoga and long ritual practices. We have also relied on it during our time in our event booth, which for us, is a combination of physical and spiritual work and activism.
Any time you might be in crowds, needing defenses and especially physical stamina, think of this Spagyric for its sustaining properties as with the Sun Dance or its other traditional use for spiritual cleansing in the sweat lodge.
Another herb that heals through sweat is Elder, the classic European plant used for magick, witchcraft, intoxicating wine, and healing. Elder is a tree of boundaries- growing at the edge of the garden and the wild, the forest and the field, and so it’s also connected to other liminal points such as the juncture of life and death. Elder is said to be both the home of witches and the Fae, and so to be avoided, but also useful to protect from such dangerous beings.
Medicinally, Elder carries healing in its flowers and its berries. The flowers are a reliable diaphoretic, increasing sweating and so reducing fevers. They also bring a calm, sleepy state which is especially welcome in kids or other people who find it hard to rest when sick.
While Elderflowers increase the body’s defense response, the berries act more directly against pathogens, especially influenza. Many studies have shown that using Elderberry extract as soon as symptoms are felt can greatly reduce the duration and severity of the flu. Our Elder Essence is made from the flowers and the berries to capture the full spectrum of this plant’s gifts.
The health of the throat and respiratory system is important for our basic survival- we all need to breathe! On a higher level, the breath of the lungs and the throat that carries that breath in and out of the world are both ruled by Mercury. This swift-footed deity governs cleverness and communication, and is the archetypal trickster. It makes sense to think of invoking his intelligence for physical support of our respiratory functions, as well as to strengthen us when we’re using our breath to speak out in opposition to injustice.
Mullein is a striking looking plant native to the dry areas of the world, growing large fuzzy leaves which send up a tall stalk with oily yellow flowers. The oil that Mullein carries in those stalks makes them perfect for the torches called “hag’s tapers”, made by dipping the stalk in wax until it makes a candle. Hag’s tapers are so named because they are used in the practice of witchcraft and nature-based spirituality as banishing and protective lights.
I burn a hag’s taper every year on Samhain, carrying it through the house so that its light shines into every corner and cranny of my home, as it is said to draw out negativity, which will follow it outside where I leave the taper to (safely!) burn down.
Mullein is also a great herbal medicine, and our Spagyric Essence of Mullein is a reliable remedy for throat and lung irritation, whether that’s from infection, allergies, or exposure to the chemical irritants used against people exercising their first amendment rights (along with appropriate medical care).
This Essence is also very helpful for more ordinary imbalances when congestion or phlegm is present, helping move it out of the body, as well as for the opposite issue, dry and unproductive cough. It relaxes bronchial spasms and so is very helpful as support for folks with asthma, and that relaxation also calms the mind and nervous system.
Perhaps my favourite respiratory tonic is Yerba Santa, a lovely shrub or small tree native to our area of the West Coast and down into Northern California. Yerba Santa is so aromatic, with a delicious sweet bubble-gum like scent and taste from its flavonoids and phenols, constituents that are anti-inflammatory and very supportive to healthy mucus membrane tissue.
Think of Yerba Santa when mucus membranes are inflamed or congested, “boggy”, as Michael Moore would describe it, a state of being swollen but cold, with reduced flow of blood and nutrients and so decreased possibility for healing.
Our Yerba Santa Essence won’t directly fight infections, but it will help your tissues stand up to them better with less damage and faster recovery. This can be used for all the mucus membranes in the body, from the respiratory system that Yerba Santa is most often used to support, to the digestive tract where it can also have an amazing healing effect.
Finally, another herb from our area, a native of the ancient Douglas Fir forests that I love to wander in- California Spikenard. This Ginseng relative has the same rooty-spicy taste of its Asian cousin, and the root of Spikenard is a stimulating and fortifying adaptogen.
In this post, we’re looking at the berries, which also taste like Ginseng and have some of the adaptogenic properties of the root. The berries are more expectorant, soothing to the lungs but not as drying as other expectorants. Spikenard berries are a gentler medicine than its root, or its Northwest relative Devil’s Club, and so they are helpful for illnesses in children or people who don’t need the powerful immune-boosting fire that Ginseng and its kin are known for.
Our California Spikenard Berry Spiritualized Essence also brings out one of this medicines most beautiful properties: it is an uplifting and cheering tonic, especially helpful for SAD or winter depression. I like to think of it growing in the dark, damp forests of the Northwest, its dark purple berries shining in defiance of our gloomy winters, ready to support us with energy and vitality.
On a spiritual level, whenever I taste the berries or our Spagyric of them, I am taken back to times of collecting them in the sacred cathedrals that Doug Fir stands create on our landscape. For me, this is a medicine of belonging, of rooting and fruiting in a specific time and place, and of carrying that place in my heart as a support and as something I love and will defend fiercely.
