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Saturn
Led/Saturday
Concentration, cold, limits, guardian of the treshhold between the material and spiritual world, taskmaster, discipline, self-suficiency, minerals, bones, joints, teeth, tendons
Elder
The name Elder has to do with “Eld”, fire. It is a fever remedy.
Sambucus comes from the latin term for a musical instrument – The Pan Pipes – which were originally made from the hollow stems of Elder.
This hollow signature is reflected as Elder used as a remedy opens all tubes of the body (skin, lungs, colon, kidneys, blood vessels) improving oxygenation, blood flow, perspiration, and elimination by the colon or kidneys. Elder is a relaxant, helpful in spasmodic cough and spasm in the stomach.
The berries are blood building and together with the flowers are healing when you have a fever. Also helpful in red dry irritated skin of the cheeks, as it opens the tubes and pores and lubricates the skin. It improves respiration, digestion and kidney function.
Imagination is the channel of communication from another dimension. Tubular plants such as Elder and Angelica have long been associated with the shamanic journey to the Underworld. The lore surrounding the Elder is immense and mysterious. The Elder serves as a doorway to the Underworld, or magical faery realm.
I start to prepare the Elixir in July when I distilled the flowers and let them macerate until I collected the berries and let them macerate together with the flowers, creating a double tincture from the white flowers that look like five pointed stars and the dark purple almost black berries. These are signatures of saturn, the polar qualities of father time and mother of death and rebirth.
The spagyric tincture is a great antioxidant and aids to improve immunity in winter time. It is also a gatekeeper to the spirit world. It is called Elder for a reason! It is a teacher of nature, of time, life and death.
Horsetail
Horsetail is an important plant teacher for alchemists because it teaches about death, longevity, the quality of life and a long life. It teaches spiritual evolution.
Horsetail is full of minerals, especially silica which builds hair, skin, nails and connective tissue. The silica is not extracted by ordinary tincturing, but through the calcination process it is extracted spagyrically.
It is diuretic, draining water, working on the kidneys. It is is an astringent tonic which means that it brings tone to relaxed tissues.
It is helpful for nervous, tense and anxious people who bites on their nails and twirls their hair around a finger. It is grounding. Call on Horsetail to instill courage and strength. When you need to learn how to be firm, set boundaries and limits, learn to do things step by step with discipline.
Horsetail is a Saturnian remedy. The signature connection between the ringed planet and the ringed stalks.
According to Ayurveda, karma is stored in the bones. Saturnian remedies goes deep into our DNA – the karmic patterns and helps us to break the patterns that are no longer beneficial. Horsetail is a deeply initiatic remedy. It is one of the oldest plants in the world. They used to be as high as trees.
Mullein
Transforming what has turned hard soft again.
Mullein is an excellent remedy for the respiratory tract: lungs, throat and bronchi. The leaves are incredibly soft and it´s medicine is all about softening those things that have turned hard. This action exists on the physical level, as well as mental, emotional and spiritual. Physically, it moistens, softens, and lubricates irritated, dry and inflamed mucosal tissues, primarily in the lungs, and but also in the fluid spaces between the vertebrae (The Mullein-stalk looks like a spine) where the mucous is supposed to be fluid.
In the presence of excess heat there is a tendency to harden. Mullein softens this hardening and facilitates expectoration, easing inflammation and restoring the tone and secretions of the tissues.
The softening of what has turned hard aspect also works on the mental level. Mullein is good for people who are hard on themselves and overly critical in general.
Mullein stalks dipped in wax were used as ceremonial torches by druids. The torch-quality is a signature that Mullein is providing focus, enlightenment and grounding to those who feel they have lost their way or can’t see their path. They often feel in the dark and disjointed, and the confusion may cause tension and a sense of abandonment. Mullein is for those who hide their light under cover and those who need a strong backbone.
Herbalist Matthew Wood tells: “Mullein is for people who think too much and congest the mind, or suffer mental tightness following difficult projects. It gives such a person a feeling like the mind is opened up to breezes on a fresh spring day”
Speedwell
“I am most glad I loved thee—think of all
The suns that go to make one speedwell blue! – Oscar Wilde
Speedwell was highly regarded as THE herb for a speedy recovery in the times of the roman empire. It has since a hundred years ago been sort of forgotten in the world of healing.
It is primarly used for respiratory troubles, cough. It is an expectorant , it dispells mucus. Speedwell is also healing for ulcers, it enhances the regeneration of the gastric mucosa. It was famous for healing the lungs as well, and research is going on on this topic.
Maria Treben recommends it for nervousness caused by mental exhaustion. In my opinion it is grounding and brings a lightness at the same time, your chakras seem to align themselves from the bottom to the top. It contains the glycoside, scutellarin, named after our calming friend, Skullcap.
I have both Skullcap and Speedwell in my Stop Smoking Support.
Valerian
“Without phosphorus there would be no thought.”
— Jacob Moleschott
Valerian is a remedy for insomnia, to relax muscles and ease pain.
It is especially indicated for spinal pain and people who holds anger inside, causing a knotted feeling in the stomach or low back.
The root of Valerian glows in the dark of the earth by releasing phosphor which is nourishing the soil and guiding worms and insects in the dark. Valerian help plants draw what they need from the cosmos and the earth by regulating the phosphorus processes.
As inner spiritual light, phosphorus relates to the alchemical dark light, the sol niger. The dark light represents a psychic process in which we endure painful experiences and feelings, resulting in inner spiritual and psychological growth. Food for thought.