Camphorous incense for the Full Moon

I so very much enjoy making incense. Grinding the herbs, blending the oils .. it brings me back to the days of working at Enchantments in NYC's East Village/Lower East Side.

Today is the Full Moon, and I have a been smoldering a variety I call Luna Piena (that means Full Moon in Italian). It is a particularly camphorous concoction, laden with high cineol rosemary, borneo camphor crystals, sandalwood, juniper berries and oil, etc.

Enjoy the full moon tonight! I absolutely will be, with a vase full of fresh flowers from my subtropical garden.

Goldenseal

Ok, so when last I blogged I mentioned that I was making Echinacea and Goldenseal tinctures, and then proceeded to only discuss the Echinacea, so today its Goldenseal's turn!

Along with Echinacea, Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) root tincture is another staple in my medicine cabinet. As with synthetic anti-biotics, this is not one to be used frivolously, both for health reasons, but also because it is in many cases being over harvested and in a non sustainable manner, which is leading to potential problems for the future of the species. Also, overuse is waste and waste is unnecessary! Never does it do any good (there's my lecture for the day ;) .

Goldenseal roots have traditionally been used for used by Native Americans to wash the local areas of wound as well to improve appetite and digestive problems including diarrhea, mucous membrane inflammation of the digestive tract and liver disorders. Additionally it has historical use in treatment of skin and eye inflammations (combined with marshmallow root for the latter).

I personally use it externally in salve for wounds and for internal infections. Unlike its synthetic counterparts, it does not kill all of your friendly bacterial flora and tear apart your gut.

In my humble opinion it is certainly a botanical worth researching and deciding if it is something that could be beneficial in your own medicine cabinet! I warn you though, it is very bitter tasting. Capsules are preferred by some.

Goldenseal - Grieve's Modern Herbal

Goldenseal Cultivation

University of Maryland - Goldenseal

Echinacea and Goldenseal Tinctures

'Tis the season to make medicinal tinctures. Today I started fresh batches of Echinacea (E. angustifolia) root and Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) root tinctures. They will be ready in several weeks.

Long known to herbalists, Echinacea has in modern times been shown in scientific studies to boost immunity, help the body fight colds, infection, and many other things that may ail ye. It is a staple in my home.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/health/24echi.html
http://www.herbs.org/greenpapers/echinacea.html


I find it very comforting to be able to simply grow this lovely plant species (that makes for great cut flowers too) in my garden, powder the root, and steep it in Everclear (grain alcohol) to produce a powerful medicine with a long shelf life for myself and my family.

Next blog - Goldenseal.

Recycling is an art - Part II

The family of creatures made from 100% trash and hot glue has grown considerably in the past week. I had several pipettes with a few residual drops of aromatic oils in them and scented the garden scrap portions of these miniature sculptures, so they are wonderful smelling too! All are going to new homes for Samhain!

Aloe Vera - Flora From Eden

Last night I was reminded of two things;
one - hot glue is called hot for a good reason &
two - Aloe Vera is indispensable to have in every home. Obviously they were related thoughts!

I burnt my thumb with hot glue. After cooling it under cold water I broke off a piece of my Aloe Vera plant, sliced it legthwise, wrapped it around the already forming blister and lightly secured the leaf to my finger. I changed the dressing before bed, making a poultice of fresh Aloe Vera Gel, German Chamomile essential oil and High Altitude Lavender Essential oil. Today I do still have a blister, but it doesn't hurt one little bit even.

Ancient Lore says that the Aloe Vera plant grew in the Garden of Eden. I don't doubt it one bit!

Of petrified feces and ancient jellied urine

I'm sure that for more than a few of you my title conjures some interesting sensations, visually and olfactorily. What I am referring to there is a natural aromatic material known as Africa Stone or Hyraceum.

It is, quite frankly, crystallized and petrified fecal and urine pellets (and it smells like it) from the Hyrax, or Dassie - a very interesting small mammal that resides in Africa and apparently happens to be the closest living relative to elephants, even though they are only the size of overgrown guinea pigs.

It takes centuries for a colony of Hyrax using the same "community outhouse" per se to produce a large mound of hyraceum. It is recorded that some hyraceum dates back well over 10,000 yrs, but that it can also be produced in a shorter time (centuries rather than millennium) due to the very dry climate of that region.

This petrified and even fossilized material is used in perfumery as a substitute for other musky animal notes such as civet or deer musk, which are obtained in manners that are ethically questionable and/or unacceptable to many modern perfumers and consumers.

"Why would anyone want to use this kind of material in perfumery?" one may ask. First off let me say that this is the type of aromatic that is used highly diluted to begin with and then only in small amounts in the total blend.

Secondly, as with cooking, there are times that an ingredient may not be something you want to eat concentrated, in quantity, or stand alone (i.e. anchovies) but in a small amount adds wonderful flavor and depth to the dish (i.e. Ceasar salad dressing, which contains anchovies).

Then we can sum it up in more "primal" terms - including words like pheromones and instinctual biological olfactory affinities hardwired into our brains from the beginning of time to promote sexual attraction and species reproduction.

A little dab'll do ya (but not straight up .. then you'll just smell like a NYC subway restroom ;)

My Happy Little Global Blog! :)

Wow! I am humbled looking at my October blog stats and seeing that just in this month alone I have readers throughout the US and in over 30 countries including:

Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chez Republic, China, Columbia, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominica, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, etc ...

Thanks for reading, everyone! :)

Ginger and Rebellious Stomach Qi

The other day I awoke feeling nauseated (and before anyone asks, no, I am not currently with child ;).

My many years of exposure to, and training with, herbs has taught me that fresh ginger (生姜 sheng jiang) is absolutely one of the best remedies for such matters.

Sniffing fresh ginger essential oil, sipping warm fresh ginger tea and getting some extra rest greatly improved how I was feeling.

Let's hear it for ginger and its ability to, in the stomach, sink what Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to as rebellious Qi (he wei jiang ni) a.k.a. vomiting!

Yay!

Nocturnal Olfactory Stimulation Influences Dreams

Carl Gustav Jung said "The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach."

Dreams fascinate me. I have found that burning certain incense can influence the intensity and general theme of my dreams, so I was quite interested to read about the research below.

German researchers have used specific volatile odorants with a negative or a positive smell ("rotten eggs" versus "roses") to stimulate subjects during sleep ... this is the first valid study that documents the impact of olfactory function on dreams ...

The outcome, not too surprisingly, was that people tend to have more pleasant dreams when smelling the more pleasant odor.

Read the full story here: Science Daily

I look forward to diffusing a variety of oils in my sleeping quarters and see what I dream up! I personally, at times, experience very vivid dreams with all my senses involved, including scent. It'll be neat to observe whether or not the scents I diffuse will affect the scents I perceive in my dreams.

Recycling is an art

The creatures in the pictures are sculptures that I recently created. They remind my roommate of Skeksis from the Dark Crystal. I concur, finding them to be a more of a sparrow like relative of the Skeksis. I've made these two so far. They were each made from recycled materials including mussel shells (kitchen scraps), dried canna flower parts (garden scraps), copper trimmings and pieces of silk (scraps from other art projects).

With a little imagination, recycling can be not only good for the environment, but it can also be fun and artistic, which is good for the psyche and soul! These are great little trinkets to make and give to my friends for Halloween!

Sniffing the Rosemary

I've been suffering a "hay fever" attack since Saturday afternoon, which I spent outdoors at a kid's birthday party in the burbs. It was a breezy day, tree and grass pollen is particularly high right now and mold is doing its happy thing as well .. all of which is making me unhappy.

I'm currently sniffing Morroccan high cineol rosemary essential oil and its a wonderful thing. A little sniff helps clear and soothe my aching, stuffed sinuses and it restores my olfactory perception too. It is torture for me not having the ability to smell properly!

Another reason to love rosemary!

Vanilla Amber Base

While looking for something in my art studio, I stumbled upon a perfumery experiment that I began back in May of 2006! 2 bottles of Vanilla Amber Base, one with a base of jojoba and the other a base of grain alcohol.

It has mellowed so nicely over time! While I've not searched out the recipe in my notebook, I know the blend contains macerated vanilla beans, benzoin, styrax and a host of other delicious aromatics.

I look forward to playing with this now that it is back on my aromatic paint pallet :)

Scent and Studying

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I've recently taken up a new challenge and that is learning Mandarin Chinese. I have been using scent to help me study and recall what I have been studying.

It has been long known that our olfactory sense has powerful ties to memory. For example, I have a bottle of Guerlain's Samsara perfume that I purchased while on one of my trips to Turkey. Whenever I smell it I am immediately transported, very vividly, to a moment in time where I'm eating kesari and mezes while overlooking the Bosphorus. I can even recall what I was wearing and feel the warmth of the sunshine on my face.

I have found this works for studying as well with Rosemary being a particularly good scent, as it stimulates circulation, which brings oxygen to the brain, hence improving its function. But this isn't limited to Rosemary. The big part of the trick is less the scent chosen (Samsara is a far cry from Rosemary ;) , and more sniffing the scent not only when studying, but also when recalling!

'What if you can't carry it in a bottle to your tests?' you ask. Scent your pen or pencil, wear a dab on your shirt sleeve, scent your hair, wear it well diluted as a perfume, etc ...

The nose knows and can help us remember what we know!