Motherwort is one of my favourite herbs and I reach for it daily in the clinic. It is wonderful for women of all ages.

In the olden days herbs were often given a common name reflecting their use – Knit bone for Comfrey for example. Wort is the Olde English word for herb so this plants common name is literally Mother Herb.

During child bearing years, Motherwort is great for treating Pre Menstrual Syndrome, painful or late periods and irritability. To settle even the heaviest of periods it is one of the best herbs of all.

Motherwort assists with long difficult labours and Chinese herbalists often use it to slow down post delivery bleeding. According to the famous 16th Century herbalist Nicholas Culpepper, There is no better herb to drive melancholic vapours from the heart, to strengthen it and make the mind merry.. Besides, it makes women joyful mothers of children, and settles their wombs. As such, I often give Motherwort to prevent or treat post natal depression. Additionally, there is a whole range of emotions which are unique to mothers, and Motherwort shines when it comes to helping mothers regain their emotional equilibrium. In this respect I find it the herbal equivalent of the Australian Bush Flower Essence Alpine Mint Bush.

During menopause, it is really useful for treating hot flushes and night sweats. A leading Australian herbalist (male!) recommends its use for hysterical menopausal women. Whether or not menopausal women are ‘hysterical’ or simply finding their voices is debatable, however I would say that in my experience Motherwort is certainly excellent for balancing womens emotions as well as their bodies.

The Latin name for Motherwort is Leonurus cardica literally translating as lion hearted. In this respect, physically, Motherwort has historically been used to settle palpitations and tightness in the chest. Emotionally it has a strong reputation for strengthening the heartessential for the mother of the house to effectively nurture her family as well as herself.

One of the things I love about herbal medicine is the many different ways it can be administered. If foul tasting brews from brown bottles are not for you, another option is a poultice. (Or try my home made herbal extracts instead of commercially manufactured herbs people tell me they arent so bad after all. There are many reasons why hand made herbal extracts taste better than machine made).

Historical novels and texts always used to fascinate me in my pre-herbalist days with their references to poultices, administered by the village wise woman / herb lady / midwife. My formal training as an herbalist didnt go into a lot of detail on poultices except about the technical difference between a poultice and a compress. (A poultice is vegetable material laid over the skin and bandaged in place. A compress is a piece of cloth saturated with oil or an herbal extract (or tea) and held in place with a bandage).

Consequently, when I commenced clinical practice I didnt quite know what to say when anyone asked if they should be poulticing. Feeling a gap in my knowledge, I took myself off to learn from the Queen of Poulticing, Margaret Wright, a retired naturopath who lived nearby.

Margaret is a beautiful old lady with great wisdom and an unerring faith in the ability of the body to heal itself. Like me, she has always seen her role as deciding what natural remedies are needed to best assist that process. Thanks to Margaret, poulticing is not a lost art in these parts. One of her many pearls of wisdom is that poultices are a wonderful tool when treating children as they involve TLC in their application and feel so soothing from the moment they go on.

Most old herb books talk about a poultice of herbs which is covered with a piece of bread, then held in place with a bandage, and left for a few days before being changed. While the effectiveness of this has been dismissed as old wives tales by science, it is worth noting that old fashioned bread (preservative free), made with organic ingredients (what else was there in the old days), goes mouldy in a few days. By some wild coincidence, Penicillin was first made from mould.

Probably the most widely used poultice today is made from grated raw potato. Its hard to find anything better for drawing out infection and foreign material. Applied each night, it is amazing to watch. One of my young clients had two huge mystery boils appear on her leg which even the doctor couldnt explain nor antibiotics clear. Her worried mother came to me for help and I suggested a potato poultice at night and a castor oil compress during the day. This was applied for several months until a piece of stick about 1cm long appeared at the skin surface one morning. Several slightly smaller pieces appeared over the following days. The inflammation then rapidly went and the wound stopped oozing. A fortnight later the girls leg looked completely normal. There was no scarring. As is so often the case with natural remedies, patience, perseverance and the correct remedy were rewarded with complete healing of the body as if the problem had never been.

Garlic poultices are also very popular. These are great for any chest infections and even asthma attacks especially those that come on at three oclock in the morning or when you are miles from nowhere. Garlic is one of natures miracle workers. In a test tube it kills staphylococcal and tuberculosis bacteria as well as parasites and cancer cells. Finely chopped and applied to the feet in a base of olive oil, it will be smelt on the breath within fifteen minutes, hence why a garlic poultice is so good for lung complaints.It is a good alternative for those who do not like the taste of garlic, or who get indigestion from eating garlic.

More posts will follow on speciifc poultices over time, so check back again from time to time for updates. You may even find a video demo on how to apply one!

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It is estimated that 90% of our subconscious patterning is set by the time we are 3 years old. Given that much of our conscious behaviour is driven by our subconscious, this gives serious pause for thought. Parents, siblings, grandparents, neighbours, friends, teachers, TV, radio, movies young children absorb information like sponges from all these sources whilst still mostly pre-verbal. This enables them to figure out how to negotiate their environment. However if your view of the world was mostly formed by the time you were three whose programs are running in the background? How much are they pulling your strings? Are these values aligned with your own values, dreams and goals as an adult?

As a parent, are you concerned about the effect of these myriad influences on your child? If you see your child taking on values not congruent with your own, or if they experience trauma would you like to have a way to assist them?

One way is through flower essences they are literally medicines for the emotions. One of the most beautiful things about them is that they are a totally safe and completely natural and sustainable. Anyone can use or prescribe them as it is impossible to do any harm with them.

Paw Paw essence can assist with any conflict between conscious thoughts and sub conscious programming.

Is your teenager bowing to peer pressure? Sturt Desert Rose (left) can assist them to stay true to their own personal integrity and values.

If lack of confidence an issue try some Five Corners

When bulying is a problem, Rough Bluebell (above) helps perpetrators gain a sense of empathy for their victims and remorse for their actions, while Southern Cross allows those being victimised to more easily stand up for themselves.

Learning and literacy problems can benefit from Bush Fuchsia

For tantrums Mountain Devil (below) works wonders, 8/10/2009 12:30:57 PM

While those who feel like they dont fit in can benefit from Tall Yellow Top

Rebirthing is form of guided meditation – a healing technique used to discover whether specific beliefs were taken on board during the birthing process or in utero. For example experienced rebirthing practitioners have documented that if a baby got stuck during the birth, they may find getting stuck becomes a pattern later in life. If they were rescued via medical intervention during the labour, they often wait to be rescued if they ‘get stuck in life. Whereas if they went on to be born naturally, they can often push through the obstacle themselves. It really is fascinating research. Our birth story is powerful, and knowing it can lead to deep insights about our life and emotional patterns. Bottlebrush can assist with healing emotional trauma that occurred during birth, help strengthen the mother-child bond and with attachment issues.

Imagine a world where your past traumas have been healed and your negative beliefs and limiting thought patterns dissolved, so that you are free to be the best person you can be. Imagine entering adulthood knowing who you are and what you want to do with your life, with good self esteem and the confidence to go out into the world and go for it. Imagine a world full of people who are healthy in mind, body, heart and spirit. I truly believe that flower essences can help make this happen, especially when I see the profound differences they have made in countless adults lives and when I meet teenagers and young adults who have been raised on essences.

I will be conducting several one day workshops on how to use Australian Bush Flower Essences to help children deal with childhood issues and for adults to help heal their own inner child.

Murwillumbah, NSW, Australia – 2nd August 2009 – Enquiries and Bookings: Isabela Keski-Frantti

e: belaflora@hotmail.com

Adelaide, SA, Australia – 28th August 2009 – Enquiries and Bookings: Gabbie Enright

e: gabbie@healthyteams.com.au

Charlotte, NC, USA – 23rd October 2009 – Enquiries and Bookings: Ed Muir e: edm@southernherb.com

A flyer for the Murwillumbah workshop can be downloaded here if you would like more information on the content of the seminar – if you want to attend one somewhere else, just ignore the date and contact detail in the flyer and use the contact information above for the workshop you are interested in attending.

My full workshop schedule is available here – just scroll through the months to see what’s on and where, and how to book.

If you are interested in hosting a workshop in Australia or North America, please contact me here.

Get a herbalist onto the topic of the importance of a healthy bowel and colon cleansing and you could quite easily be there all day. Suffice to say, if your lower bowel (colon) is all clogged up, it isnt good for your health. In the simplest terms, your digestive tract is one long tube. The top half (stomach and small intestine) allow you to absorb nutrients from your food. The lower part (the large intestine or colon) reabsorbs water from the undigested mass of food left, ahead of you eliminating the waste products. Food is supposed to pass through our body in eight hours, with a bowel movement after each meal being a sign of ideal bowel health. Even if you go every day, you might be excreting a meal from several days (or weeks) ago. A sign that this may be thecase for you is if your tummy gets quite bloated after you eat.

A good way to find out your transit time – how long food takes to pass through your digestive tract – is to do this: Eat a meal containing corn. Note the time and date of this meal. Dont eat any more corn until the corn you ate reappears at the other end. Count up how long since you ate it. This is your transit time. Eight hours is excellent. If your transit time is more than this your bowel could do with cleanse at least once a year. Anything over 24 hours is worriesome and you need to take actionto get it back on track. A long transit time leaves waste products in your bowel too long, and can lead to toxins being reabsorbed into your bloodstream – with your liver, kidneys, lymphatic system and skin left with the job of getting rid of them.

If your colon is not emptying properly, eventually this will affect the small intestine too. Low grade nausea and indigestion can be a symptom of this. Imagine a long narrow pipe. What happens if the bottom end gets clogged up? Does the top end start backing up too? If your small intestine, where you absorb nutrients, begins to clog up, no matter how much organic food or how many supplements you take, very little of the goodness they contain can be taken up by your body. This can lead to tiredness and lethagy.

In days past we used to eat a lot more wholegrain foods, which moved through our bowel better. We also were in the habit of regular fasting, something quite out of fashion these days, which is a shame because fasting gives your
bowel a rest from digesting food, and gives it an opportunity to clean itself out. Fasting also allows the rest of your body to cleanse itself. It takes a lot of energy to digest food, and while you are fasting this energy can beused for cleansing and healing. Simple practiceslike fasting and cleansing are extremely powerful and we all need to be doing them more often.

Autopsies have shown that theaverage adult in western society has 6kg of undigested meat in their colon. Meat that is not grown organically often contains quite a bit ofsynthetic oestrogen. It goes without saying that this has the potential to disrupt your hormones if it sits in your body for any length of time. I call oestrogen dominance the root of all (hormonal) evil. Irregular, painful, heavy and absent periods can often be traced back to this single cause. As can
a lot of fibrocystic breast lumps, prementrual breast tenderness, PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis, early puberty, bad menopause and infertility. Much of my clinical practice involves reversing oestrogen dominance. A good bowel
cleanse is always part of the solution.

A top of the line cleanse involves some fasting. Believe me when I say, its not as hard as you think it will be (andwell worth the effort). Most of my clients havereportedglowing skin, improved vitality, a tendency to eat less (and more nutritious) food, reduced cellulite, and ongoing weight loss after doing this program.

My favourite bowel cleanse is ‘The Colon Cleansing Kit’ whichcontains Digestive Stimulator herbal capsules (to get your bowelmoving three times a day), Toxin Absorber (to remove mucoid plaque build-up and old hardened faeces from the bowel wall), detailed instructions, a FAQ booklet,and a calender telling you exactly what to do each day. This makes it really easy follow, even if you have never done anything like this before.

Coughs are sometimes viral in origin in which case you can use the information in Colds with good effect.

However most common coughs are the result of a bacterial infection, often from the Staphlococcal family of bacteria. Garlic has been used for thousands of years for chest infections and its beneficial action is thought to be due to the large amount of Sulphur it contains. Sulphur is the bit that makes it smell, so odourless garlic (which has the sulphur removed) is not necessarily going to work on infections. Pharmaceutical companies know all about Sulphur there is a whole class of antibiotics based on it the Sulphonamides.

Honey helps make Garlic more palatable and is very soothing to a throat made sore from too much coughing, so Garlic Honey has been on the herbalist’s shelf for many thousands of years. My home always has a big jar of unheated honey and organic garlic sitting by the window in the sun, steeping all through spring and summer, so it it is ready for the coughs that many of my clients experience with the change of season in Autumn.

Coughs can occur by themselves as a bacterial infection, or as a secondary infection following a cold or flu. There are generally two types of cough dry and moist. They can also be a symptom of a more serious underlying condition including whooping cough, tuberculosis, pneumonia, emphysema or lung cancer, so if a cough persists or rapidly worsens you need to seek urgent medical advice.

Dry coughs are usually rasping and tickly and paroxysmal, so that one cough sparks yet more coughing. There are a number of herbs which are excellent for this sort of cough Pulsatilla and Mullein are two of my favourites. For the dryness in the airways, herbs such as marshmallow root can also bring relief. All of these can be taken as teas. If this sort of cough persists or is accompaned by shortness of breathe it is very important to seek immediate medical aid as it may be a sign of a serious condition such as asthma or choking.

Wet coughs are when phlegm is produced. Hopefully you are able to bring this up if not you would benefit form some expectorant herbs. These assist your lungs with their natural healing process of eliminating the phlegm. Liqourice tea is a good home remedy for milder coughs of this nature. It is very important to cough the phlegm out otherwise it can become hardened and stuck and can cause a longer term, deeper infection – including bronchitis, pleurisy and pneumonia, all of which are potentially very serious and sometimes fatal. A qualified herbalist can assist you with expectorant herbs, which loosen and soften the phlegm and give your lungs the energy they need to cough it out.

As with colds, other supportive measures include:

• Vitamin C either in tablet or powder form as per the recommended dosage or in the form of Rosehips tea, freshly squeezed orange juice, or a hot lemon drink (add some honey to soothe your throat and for its antiseptic effect).
• Keep warm, especially if its windy, paying particular attention to your chest and feet.
• Rest. Winter is a time of slowing down, going within, and restinganimals hibernate and plants go dormantthere is a good reason for this. Copy them.
• Slow cooked soups and casseroles, hot teas and warm lemon and honey drinks are perfect comfort and soul food to keep you healthy during winter.
• Eat orange foods. Mother Earth colour codes her plants so you can know at a glance what nutrition they contain. Orange indicates beta carotene and/or vitamin A both tonics for the mucous membranes. Vitamin A is also present in high quantities in fish and fish oilespecially Cod Liver & Halibut Oils.

A good herbal extract for a broad spectrum of coughs is available through my clinic if you live locally to me. THis is good to have on hand through the cough season so you can take it at the first sign. As with all natural remedies, the sooner you start using them after the onset of symptoms, the better and more rapid the result. I can also customise a mixture to suit you individual needs if you already have a cough.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine the lungs are associated with grief. Take some time to ponder whether you are holding any sadness or grief either from recently or from the past. Flower Essences can help balance your emotions. Sturt Desert Pea is used for long held grief and sadness. Red Suva Frangipani is more for fresh grief, while Illawarra Flame Tree helps to energetically support immunity.

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It is only recently that western medicine has had drugs effective against viruses, but herbalists have been effectively treating viral infections for thousands of years with a wide variety of plants. There is an old saying amongst doctors that a cold will last 7 days with treatment or a week without as a herbalist I would beg to differ.

Colds and Influenza (flu – including swine flu) are caused by viruses, so antibiotics dont work what is needed is anti viral agents.You probably have more than one of these natural remedies in your kitchen right now and can easily grow several more in your vege garden or in a pot on your verandah.

Vinegar is a fabulous anti-viral any vinegar will work, but the best is Apple Cider vinegar. Viruses are quite nasty things they invade one of your cells, devour it from the inside to feed themselves them migrate to another cell, where they repeat the process, breeding as they go. They are tough and hardy but are vulnerable when they are in your blood, looking for a new cell to invade. This is where vinegar comes in. Vinegar is believed to work by very slightly changed the pH in your blood not enough to harm you, but enough to make your blood hostile to a virus. So hostile that the virus dies before it can find a new cell. A tablespoon of vinegar in a glass of water 2-3 times a day for an adult is usually effective within several days. If this sounds vile, just try it. If you have a cold (or any virus) you may be surprised at how much your body is craving it. When you go to have a dose and cant bear the thought of it, youve
had enough.

Antiviral herbs include Olive Leaf, Astragalas and Elder Flower.

Astragalas is also regarded in Chinese Medicine as being as good immune booster, as is Echinacea. Both these herbs need to be taken only in short sharp doses when they are needed – and then stopped. Neither is meant to be taken all the time. In fact research in Germany has suggested taking Echinacea over a long period of time will eventually weaken your immune system.

The flower essence Illawarra Flame Tree is also said to be useful for enhancing natural immunity.

Thyme and Sage are very good for a sore throat. You can take them as a tea. The flower essence Bush Fuchsia also balances the throat from an energetic perpective.

Vitamin C is also good either in tablet or powder form as per the recommended dosage or in the form of Rosehips tea, freshly squeezed orange juice, or a hot lemon drink (add some honey to soothe your throat and for its antiseptic effect).

Other things you can do to prevent colds and to hasten your recovery include:

• Keep warm, especially if its windy, paying particular attention to your chest and feet.
• Pace yourself. According to Louise Hay, rushing around and doing too much are the emotional triggers that can leave you susceptible to a cold.
• Rest. Winter is a time of slowing down, going within, and restinganimals hibernate and plants go dormantthere is a good reason for this. Copy them.
• Slow cooked soups and casseroles, hot teas and warm lemon and honey drinks are perfect comfort and soul food to keep you healthy during winter.
• Eat orange foods. Mother Earth colour codes her plants so you can know at a glance what nutrition they contain. Orange indicates beta carotene and/or vitamin A both tonics for the mucous membranes. Vitamin A is also present in high quantities in fish and fish oilespecially Cod Liver & Halibut Oils. .

Many of my clients also swear by my Cold and Flu Formula, which contains all of the herbs mentioned (and more). This is suitable for both adults and children. Take it at the first sign of a cold, or even if a cold has taken hold, and follow the advice above.

Kids also love the old fashioned remedy Garlic Honey.

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Welcome to The Herb Lady Blog by Linn Wiggins.
It is with much excitement that I am launching this new project – my blog where you will be able to access all my articles on herbs and flower essences in one place, neatly filed by topic so you can quickly find them again at any time in the future…

You will also have the opportunity to comment on anything of particular interest to you. It is my hope that this becomes a forum for like minded people to network and share their wisdom.

To make life as easy as possible for you I’m also including links in each post which will take you straight to where you can either find out more information, or purchase whatever it is happens to be if you don’t have any idea where to start looking for it. Hopefully this will save you a lot of leg work and enable you to get on with enjoying vibrant health and wellbeing on all levels.

The free quarterly newsletter from my website will continue, so if you are already subscribed to that, you needn’t do anything. If you are not already on the mailing list for this additional wealth of information, click here and you will be taken to the sign up page. Just fill in your details, it’s really easy.

I am looking forward to having more interaction with you through the discussion board, discovering what the hot topics really are out there, being able to share what I know with you and learning from you also.

If you haven’t already, take a moment to join the mailing list for The Herb Lady Blog. Just click here and enter your details. It’s quick and free and will give you an opportunity to receive special offers and bonuses available nowhere else.

Warm regards
Linn