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People everywhere are hungry for clear, practical, scientifically-validated information about how to make safe and simple use of herbs in their day to day lives. I too was once hungry for this kind of information. I discovered that working (and playing) with herbs did not need to be complex and confusing. It could be sheer pleasure. For me it was like walking down a path where a wonderful surprise is revealed at every turn. |
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In Japanese legends incense is believed to attract goblins jiki-ko-ti and negative spirits such as the souls of men who during their lives had not honored truth and beauty. As a result they were doomed to be attracted to incense smoke and wafted away on it. Religious rituals all over the world use fragrant burning plants to cleanse space, to sanctify, and communicate with their deities.
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MAKE IT SACRED
When you move into a new home or you feel a need to cleanse and make sacred any space bedroom, kitchen, workroom or whole house do it with the traditional sacred plants: sage, copal, sweetgrass or even dried lavender, thyme, and rosemary. Take a bunch of dried herbs and light it over an open metal biscuit tin to catch the sparks so they don’t reach the floor. I use a long, rectangular tin that once held a bottle of malt whiskey for this. I know other people who use baking trays and turkey tins. When the herbs begin to smoke, walk around the space to be sanctified, lifting up the burning plants with the tin beneath them. All the while ask with your heart and your mind that the room be cleansed and dedicated to whatever purpose you intend for it. This could be to make a joyous, harmonious space, or a space in which creativity flourishes, or a space for meditation or sleep or prayer or making love. It is your intention coupled with the cleansing abilities of the burning plants that makes happen. |
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When cleansing and dedicating a room, a house, an office, or any other space, that you offer up the smoke to all the corners of the room and to the six directions – north, south, east, west, above and below. When you have finished thank the plants for their help. |
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The classic definition of a herb is a non-woody plant which dies down to its roots each winter. This definition is far too limiting. It was probably made up by 19th Century European botanists who had never seen the rainforest in which, of course there is no winter to die back in. Neither had they ever heard of woody trees and shrubs such as hawthorn and ginko and elder which are some of the best selling herbs on the market these days. I define a herb as a medicinal plant. It can come from any climate and be a leaf, a bark, a flower or a root. It can be home-grown or wild, a weed, a spice, a plant which is used for its healing or culinary or beautifying properties. Once you discover the power of herbs it is easy to become so enthusiastic about them you go overboard trying to use them for everything. It is not wise to take lots of different plants all at the same time. Or you might start to think that since a small amount of something is good for you, taking twice or three times that amount will be even better. It isn’t. If you want safe and sane herbal help here are a few guidelines to follow:
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