From Bee Stings to Covid 19…
…An ode to the Healing Weeds!
Healing weeds surround us everywhere. Whether we are in the city, suburbs or rural areas, wild food and medicines abound! Ask any gardener who tries to keep a pristine plot. Those pesky healers will show up amid the kale and broccoli, the lettuce and arugula, and among the planted roses and sunflowers, too.
The weeds do not ask for permission
to show up and offer us their feral medicine!
Thank goodness!
Because once you learn about and experience the gifts of even one or two wild plants, many things begin to shift, starting with your ability to take care of yourself, and that brings confidence along with physical healing. It also deepens your sense of kinship with the earth and her more than human beings. These healing herbs awaken your natural joy. They offer an antidote to the isolation and loneliness that cause so much pain. Truthfully, learning to see the peaceful power offered by these weeds can change your entire world view and open you to many exciting new possibilities!
I included Covid-19 along with bee and wasp stings in the title of this newsletter because for many people I’ve worked with (both vaxxed and unvaxxed), myself included, yarrow flower tea and/or tincture was pivotal in hastening their healing from Covid. Yarrow strengthens the liver and kidneys and supports the immune system. It also helps the heart and blood circulation.
Yarrow is anti-bacterial and anti-viral. A scientific research study from the National Library of Medicine concluded that yarrow is virucidal; it destroys the cell membrane of the SARS virus, causing it to disintegrate. Not bad for a humble weed!
Here is a story of a recent experience I had
with plantain, yarrow and blue violet:
I opened my front door for Amanda. She’d arrived to visit and work with me on our vision for the upcoming Summer Solstice Ritual Celebration.
“Hello!” we sang out, happy to see one another, as I came outside onto the front porch. We reached out to share a warm hug.
I yelped in pain then exclaimed, “You must have a bee in your hair! I just got stung! My ear is burning hot! Owwww!!!”
She looked at me, shocked. “What!?”
“I don’t know if it was really in your hair, but yowwwwtch!! Let’s go get some plantain!”
We walked down the front stairs and looked among the still-tiny spring greens and found a little bit of plantain (Plantago lanceolata), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and lots of Violet (Viola spp.).
I gathered the leaves, saying thank you and ouch all the while, chewed them up, and placed them over the front and back of my earlobe which had swollen before our eyes and turned beet red (as did my entire ear). The relief was immediate!
“Ahhh... it still hurts,” I said, “but not in the intense burning way it did 20 seconds ago.”
“Amazing,” she responded happily.
I continued to apply fresh herbs throughout the two hours we worked, and I continued to heal.
I kept a fresh violet leaf on my ear lobe for the rest of the day.
In fact, I went out later and my friends all remarked on my stylish green “earring”.
It’s an open secret that we herbalists are always amazed and overjoyed at how beautifully herbs work, even, in my case, after over thirty years of seeing that this is so! It is so much fun! It keeps us full of curiosity and delight, wonder and respectful awe, qualities of full aliveness our society tries to relegate to children and young adults. How absurd!
We took a few videos and pictures of the progress.
[Click on the images to watch the videos on YouTube]
There are many qualities these
three amazing weeds possess & share —
The ones that made me choose them in this instance are:
They were available.
They are cooling and soothing.
They relieve pain.
Plantain and Yarrow bring down swelling (anti-inflammatory).
Plantain and Yarrow are antiseptic (prevent and heal infection).
Plantain localizes poison.
Violet dissolves lumps & bumps, such as was left behind at the site of the sting.
Plantain will draw out the stinger if any is left in. (It also relieves itching.)
I love them and they love me.
I felt 100% healed by the next morning.
Yet, oddly, after being pain-free all day, the pain and swelling returned the next night. Not nearly as painful, but present nonetheless. And there was a little hard lump in my ear lobe. I continued to use violet leaf to good effect. But it wasn’t enough.
I turned to plantain which did a beautiful job at completing my healing, three days later. I needed plantain’s drawing and anti-infective properties to completely heal from the powerful sting.
This recurrence leads me to share two more important things I have learned:
Healing rarely, if ever, moves in a straight line.
It spirals.It is wise to continue treating yourself with your chosen medicine until your healing is total, rather than to stop before then, “because it’s not that bad anymore.”
Full-on self-care is a radical act that I wholeheartedly encourage.
