Herb Tip of the Day: Pimples

We all get them

Pimples

 White heads, black heads, pus-filled cysts..we all get them. But what can you do about it? Most people get creams or ointments from the drugstore, but what chemicals are in these, and how do they work? First we must answer: "So what are pimples anyway?" Most pimples are caused by a bacteria called Propionibacterium. Prescription skin creams and acne medications contain a compound called benzoyl peroxide which works as an antibiotic against this bacteria.

 However, new research has shown that a tincture (an herb soaked in alcohol for a few days up to a few weeks) of thyme has a much higher concentration of benzoyl peroxide. You might even just be able to use thyme essential oil, though I haven't tried that yet. So quit paying for expensive, manufactured treatments at the drugstore and hit up your herb garden instead!

Disclaimer: 

I am NOT a certified herbalist. The tips I give here come from experience and herbal remedies I have read about. Consult your physician or herbalist before using herbs for medicinal purposes; if you are on prescription medications and use herbal remedies there could be some unwanted side affects. Some herbs should not be taken while pregnant. Mistakenly identifying herbs and ingesting poisonous plants could lead to injury or death. 

Herb Tip Of The Day: Swollen or Tender Gums

Swollen or Tender Gums

Have you ever experienced pain or swelling in your gums, just around 2 or 3 teeth? Sometimes this is the result of a bacterial infection caused by old food that could be stuck between your teeth and decaying. If this ever happens to you the first thing you want to do is floss, that way if there is any food between your teeth causing the infection you get rid of that first.

Cloves

To reduce the pain and tenderness apply a little bit of clove oil. If it is too strong dilute it with a carrier oil such as olive or jojoba oil. Clove oil has antiseptic numbing properties and is commonly used for toothaches or tender gums. This is useful if only to hold the pain at bay while you get to a dentist!

These cloves that we are familiar with are actually dried flower buds from the clove tree.

These are the flower buds on a clove tree.

Aloe Vera

Another thing you can do is apply some aloe vera gel (if you cut open an aloe vera leaf there is a gel-like substance inside which is what you use). Aloe vera has cooling properties to reduce swelling and inflammation, along with antibacterial properties.

Aloe Vera has a very long list of healing properties.

If your swelling/pain gets worse, or persists for more than 3 days, get thee to a dentist!

Do you have any remedies for toothaches or swollen gums?

Disclaimer: 

I am NOT a certified herbalist. The tips I give here come from experience and herbal remedies I have read about. Consult your physician or herbalist before using herbs for medicinal purposes; if you are on prescription medications and use herbal remedies there could be some unwanted side affects. Some herbs should not be taken while pregnant. Mistakenly identifying herbs and ingesting poisonous plants could lead to injury or death. 

The Medicinal Garden

I love this tree

Today Z and I bought some sprouted herbs to kick off the medicinal garden. Here is a list of the herbs we got:

Catnip
Rosemary
Parsley
Basil
Opal Basil
Oregano
Lemon Thyme
French Thyme
Lavender
Mint
Winter Savory
Marjoram
Chives

We got a couple of each for a total of 23 sprouts.

Pictures!

Herbs between two trees

Close up

This side of the yard gets only part sun, so these are shade tolerant herbs.

Here is the sunny side of the yard!

This area gets full sun all day

So the ones we got are some of my culinary/medicinal herbs. I am still going to get:

More Culinary:
Cilantro
Fennel
Garlic
Ginger
Rosehips

Edible Flowers:
Marigolds
Bergamot
Burnet
Hollyhock
Geranium
Violas
Bachelors Button
Chervil
Honeysuckle
Calendula

Tea Herbs:
Borage
Chamomile
Raspberries
Lemon Balm
Red Clover Flowers

Medicinal Herbs:
Echinacea
Hops
Pennyroyal
St. John's Wort
Yarrow

In other news, we have some sprouts in our spring garden! So far the beets, arugula and some of the broccoli have emerged from their soily depths. So exciting!

Ostara

The weather is starting to warm up and both Z and I have realized, as it gets warmer, that we may have been suffering from seasonal affective disorder, AKA "The Winter Blues." It's so interesting how you might not even realize that you feel a little bit sadder during the winter until it starts to get warm again. For me, I start to feel a deep sense of hope and happiness. I'm not sure if hope's the right word for what I feel, but it's as close as I can get.

Yesterday we celebrated Ostara or Spring Equinox. Basically, witches celebrate 8 major holidays or "sabbats." Witches view the year as a turning wheel and as the wheel turns the Goddess progresses through the stages of maiden, mother, and finally crone. Ostara is a celebration of the union of the God and maiden Goddess and with that union brings spring and fertility throughout the land. Now most witches have a literal God and Goddess who they worship, but for me, the Goddess is the earth and the God is the sun.

To begin our celebration we went out to our spring garden, where we recently planted our seeds, and blessed it. Here is the spell we used.

Little rows of tiny seeds!

Since Ostara is focused on rebirth and beginning anew we both wrote down something that we would like to come into our lives- whether a personality trait or a new skill. Then we burned the paper and dropped the ashes into a small flower pot where we had planted a seed. As our seeds grow and flourish, so too will our written desire grow and flourish. To end our celebration we munched on some hot cross buns, which I have never had before, but they were delicious!

In candle news, I have pretty much revamped my entire approach to candle making. Before, I was making candles infused with certain spells, but now I am making candles that correspond to each of the planets in our solar system. I spent a lot of time developing the fragrances for each planet using essential oils, and it was so fun! For instance, the Moon is eucalyptus, lavender, and ylang ylang. That way each candle will have more purposes instead of just one.

From top right clockwise: Mars, Sun, Uranus, Moon

What do you do to celebrate spring?

Blessed Be

Beginning of the Long Road

This blog is meant to be a garden journal, a spell book, and a catalog of candles I make. I hope it can become much more than that though. My hope for this little corner of the internet is for community, and great ideas, and beautiful pictures. I hope that whoever reads this finds something they can relate to, or some piece of information they were looking for.

The Garden:
My boyfriend (from here on out known as "Z") and I are really excited about our gardens this year. In the past we have only had very limited space for gardening. We had one garden that was about 8'x10' and we have also had the saddest little bucket garden you ever did see. Make sure that if you ever have a bucket garden, you drill holes at the bottom of the buckets. We neglected to do that and the soil (which had chicken manure in it) burned our poor little plants.

Where was I going with all this? Oh yes, so we are excited about our garden this year. We just moved to a new place that has about 800 square feet of garden space (3 separate garden areas). We have plans for a spring/fall garden:

Tilled, composted, and ready to plant!

 a summer garden:

This is a huge area that gets sun all day!

 and a medicinal herb garden:

This is only a third of the space I have for the herbs!

 It looks like no one has touched these gardening areas for years, so there has been a lot of work to do. The past month or so we have been tilling the soil, picking out rocks and weeds and grass, turning it over and adding compost, peat moss, and vermiculite (our soil is very clay-like, so we add the last two to get some air down in the root area and break up the clay). We finished prepping the spring/fall area yesterday and will be planting this weekend!

Spells:
I have not tried any new spells lately. I am trying to set up the medicinal garden in the most energetically beneficial way. I have a stone (earth) at the north end:

 a wind chime (air) at the east:

 a birdbath (water) at the west:

 and a solar lamp (fire) at the south (picture to come). Other than that I have been spending most of my time researching herbs and their medicinal/magical properties, as I am new to the practice of Witchcraft. I will have more than 30 herbs in my medicinal garden which can all be used for magic and healing. I'll be planting all of those in a couple of weeks. Also I'll be posting a list of all the herbs I'm growing along with their uses.

This is a fantastic resource for folklore and magical uses of herbs.

Candle Making:
I made a sand candle today. I incorporated a slice of agate, so that when the candle burns down, the flame will shine through the stone. I'm really excited to try it out! (I will edit this post later with a picture!)
UPDATE: The sand candle did not turn out very well. I was using the wrong kind of wax, and also the sand was too wet.