Shatavari
“Hundred Husbands”
Shatavari is one of the famous ayurvedic herbs. It is a main building tonic for women. It is rejuvenative for the female reproductive tract and builds the blood.
This herb is used as a moisturizer for the membranes of the lungs, digestive tract, the kidney and the urinary tract.
Shatavari reduces stress. It attunes us with our inner goddess.
This herb increases fertility , increases immunesystem, increase milk and sexual secretions and is an aphrodisiac. It is helpful in menopause, hormonal symptoms such as PMS, menstrual cramps, mood changes, hot flashes.
Lady´s Slipper
“Seek the wisdom that will untie your knot. Seek the path that demands your whole being.”
– Rumi
Samuel Thomson considered Lady´s slipper as one of the most important nervines. He used it for any complaint of nervous character. This orchid restores the nervous system as well as the sexual system. Lady´s slipper is connected to the second, sacral chakra, sexuality and possibility. Connecting us with the realm of the imagination.
Paracelseus said that if a plant resembled a foot, it was good for the foot. What does this mean in this case? The foot represents the possibility of wandering , while the shoe represents the protection of the wanderer. When the right thing appears one cannot do anything else but commit oneself to it. There is no tension between the outer and the inner personality, there is a perfect fit.
When people commit themselves to something that doesn´t fit they grow restless and doubtful. Life has no stability. Emotions flip back and forth. This is the remedy for when one doubts what one knows to be true.
When we follow the images that rise up from the depths if our soul, it may appear like a foolish path to others, even to ourselves at times. Our promptings start as seemingly adolescent dreams of glory, but they lead to true authority.
As we follow this path we become more and more innatly who we are because the images that emerge within us are the expression of our inner self. Walking the path of ones calling.
Mugwort
Artemis – goddess of the moon and mother of nature
Mugwort is a womb herb, used for PMS, menstrual pain and too much bleeding during menses. Mugwort can help people sensitive to light and noise, restless sleepers and sleepwalkers. It is also indicated for anemia.
Good for memory especially for people who can´t remember simple words, names, but can describe complex, abstract and difficult concepts.
Mugwort is indicated for people who get angry or arrogant when other people can´t follow their train of thought and people who speak fast, mumbled, words or syllables reversed. Mugwort is for highly intelligent, gifted and artistic people who lack common skills and comprehension.
For those whom the intuitive, psychic, psychological, creative and artistic side of the mind is highly developed, but who have trouble with expression or with the world around them.
Mugwort is a dream herb. It is a herb for imagination, daydreaming, creative and intuitive processes.
It is good for everybody, men included, who want to come into contact with their feminine instincts.
Sacred Basil
Hindus regard Sacred Basil as an earthly manifestation of the goddess Tulsi, offering divine protection.
Sacred Basil or Tulsi as it is also called, is strengthening for the immune system. It is a diaphoretic, meaning that it helps to gently raise the body temperature in order to effectively break a fever. Being that, it is also potently anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory, it is highly useful in a wide range of coughs, colds, flues, and general feelings of being “unwell.”
It is commonly being used today for its effects on blood sugar regulation and Type II diabetes- this likely being in conjunction with its tonifying effects on the adrenal glands, lowering stress, and strengthening digestion.
Tulsi is an excellent adaptogen to strengthen the adrenal glands, lower cortisol and stress and to calm the mind.
In Plant Spirit Healing, Sacred Basil is used for the soul. The soul, as being distinct from the spirit, is the aspect of our being that is constantly connected with the divine source of creation. It is our true nature and holds within it the blueprint for our life purpose.
By strengthening our connection with the soul, Sacred Basil helps us to reclaim our connection with nature, direct connection to the divine, and walking the path that we are meant to walk.
Southernwood
The sweet glistening core inside the black stone of sorrow
Southernwood is a strongly aromatic bitter herb that improves digestion and liver function by increasing secretions in the stomach and intestines, it stimulates the uterus and encourages menstrual flow, lowers fevers, relaxes spasms and destroys intestinal worms. The main use of this herb is as an emmenagogue, though it is also a good stimulant tonic and has some nervine principle.
Southernwood open the pores, liquify thick fluids, and raise the inner heat to drive obstructions and chills to the surface and out through the pores. Thus, it fights putrefaction and was used against the plague, and can induce fever in order to cleanse the body. Southernwood is antiseptic and stimulant.
The goddess Artemis is the protector of the mother and infant, the animals and the wilderness.
On an energetic level Southernwood helps to purge and release the old to leave space for the new. It has the ability to transform bitter memories, to move past them, release and no longer attach to them in order to bring back the sweetness to life.
Personally I connect Southernwood to the balsamic moon-phase, the ending of a cycle, the crone-aspect of the divine femenine. After a whole cycle of distilling out the essence , the sweet core can be found in the bitterness. Strong intuition, lunar qualities, the hunter transmuted to alchemist.
As Kolavippen, Death, a character created and interpretated by Hasse Alfredsson in the childrens book and film “Jim and the Pirates Blom”, smashes the black stone of sorrow and reveales a diamond he explains: “This is the core of sorrow. See how it glistens! This is the finest part of sorrow , never get rid of that, because you need it to understand others. It lightens you up from within!”