The snow is coming down hard outside. Just when spring really should be thinking of
being sprung…nope, it’s back to the Snow Queen behaviour. My breath frosts on the air here, my hands
are very cold and I can’t find my gloves.
My toes hurt. Humpf. There’s the background to me typing
today. Cold cold cold!
I’ve started the Ovate Grade, at a kindly reduced cost, with
the OBOD people. I decided that to tally
along with my lessons there, every time they tell me about a herb (as a large
part of the Ovate path is about herblore and such), that I will do a little
mini entry on whichever one it is, here, for you. Now, all the OBOD course material is strictly
copyright, so I can’t begin my mini-entry with any of their comments on the
herbs, but I have plenty herb books of my own to delight you with.
So here is Agrimony,
the first herb of interest in my Ovate journey.
Just a snippet of some interesting things about it. And a small meander through the idea of herbs
as healers, a bit of a discussion.
Its name is from the Greek Argemone – meaning ‘healing to the eyes’, and an infusion is
described as ‘adding sparkle’ to tired eyes, and continues as a herbal
prescription for this usage today[1].
As with so many herbs, its traditional usage as an herbal
medicine has many functions. It’s made
into a weak tea to feed small children to combat diarrhoea.[2]
This is because it has a very low toxicity, so is deemed safe for children. (I’ve
been taking it as an experiment, both in this capacity and as a ‘spring tonic’ –
very good luck trying to get any small child to drink it! Bitter
is not the word!) It’s also useful in
cases of both adult and childhood bedwetting, since it eases irritation in the
wall of the bladder that causes extra urge to urinate – its advised to be drunk
a couple of hours before bedtime, just one small cup. In modern herbal practice it is most often
used for skin conditions, as an astringent and tonic for the skin, relieving mild
irritations (gentle eczema) rather than more long term serious ones (chronic rosacea
for example); or as a gargle to help with laryngitis – as you see, its an anti
inflammatory, anti irritant, by traditional usage[3].
I’m always fascinated by the stronger usages of the past,
though. Back before industrial Western
medicine. Before all these plants were
no longer used as ‘compound’ remedies. That
is – all their properties, all their chemical reactions as a plant, working
together, to produce several different results depending on usage and blending
with other herbs, as required; for example – one herb with a property of
reducing blood pressure might also have a minor constituent within it that also
reduced headaches. Once industrial
Western medicine took over, with the laudable aim of making all these herbs
properties available much more widely, and with standards control, safe testing
etc, the method that won through was of taking what was considered the ‘active
ingredient’ of each herb (say, that blood pressure reducing element) and
synthesizing it artificially to make it more potent, stronger. This is why modern medicines can knock you
flat and be very effective. Sadly, the
synthesizing of this ‘active ingredient’ meant that each herb was only used for
its one major kick – it no longer functioned as a compound cure. (That blood pressure reducing drug, newly
synthesized, now had the side effect of giving
headaches: as it worked by only a single main ingredient; no longer as a
compound action, its sister chemical that alleviated that action was no longer
there. A doctor would have to prescribe another synthesized single action pill
to combat the side effect of the headaches.
Originally, the herb could have been given as a tincture, alone, working
in its compound fashion, and the headaches would have been avoided.)
Frank J. Lipp puts this much more clearly:
The prevailing scientific view is that all disease is caused on a
molecular level. Cholesterol molecules, for
example, cause heart disease by forming obstructions in the lining of blood
vessels. Similarly, a chemical drug
produces its effect by entering a cell through a receptor (a chemical structure
on the surface of the cell) that conforms to the shape of the drug molecule,
like a lock and key. In contrast,
medicinal plants are described by their adherents as working on a higher
physiological level (astringents make muscle solids firm; diaphoretics promote
perspiration by the skin), which make them more versatile. A plant that increases the secretion of urine
can also be used to treat kidney and bladder ailments or to eliminate body
poisons. For example, tannins are
compounds that bind with proteins in the skin and mucous membranes and convert
them into insoluble, resistant tissues.
So plants that are high in tannins, such as bilberry [or agrimony,
here, my insertion], may be used for a number of ailments, including diarrhoea,
wounds, inflamed gums, haemorrhoids and frostbite.
Medicinal plants commonly have several constituents working together
catalytically to produce a combined effect which surpasses their individual
activity. Taking Vitamin C pills is not
the same as eating an orange, and there are marked differences between taking a
drug, such as caffeine, and using the plant from which the drug is
derived. Modes of preparation and
ingestion are also important. An anti
cancer alkaloid from the Chinese Camptotheca acuminate was discarded during clinical trials because it was toxic to the
liver. This was later found to be the
result of intravenously administering a substance normally taken orally.[4]
In the past, it seems that Agrimony was one of the main herbs
used in medieval times to staunch bleeding on the battlefield. It was one of the main ingredients both at
home and in France,
of a renowned battleground ointment called eau
de arquebusade (from a fifteenth century word meaning muskets: arquebus)[5].
As well as this, jaundice and liver
complaints were treated with it by practitioners in the Highlands of
Scotland. They also used it, in a
secondary way, as a tea brewed to help headaches thought to be brought on by ‘pressure
of blood’ (the idea of inflammation, again)[6]. Nicholas Culpepper, one of the most famous
herbalists of our history (born in 17th century Sussex), found
Agrimony of particular help for gout. He
said: “I have seen very bad sore legs cured by bathing and fomenting them with
a decoction of this plant.”[7]
Its one of those herbs that seems to still be of interest to
the medical profession today. Newall reports
that a “limited re-evaluation of it has been carried out and has indicated its
healing properties in certain skin diseases and gastrointestinal disorders.” She notes, however, that “excessive use
should be avoided, especially if you are using other drugs.”[8]
***
Of course, in the Ovate Grade, I won’t just be looking at herbs
traditional and still investigated physically
healing uses. I’ll be looking at its
traditional uses in ritual, what it has come to signify (through agreement
through time), spiritually. So you have
an idea what I mean there, I’ll quote a passage on the idea of using herbs as a
focus for healing the mind. It’s all
about what they mean to the user and the recipient (the way rosemary
used to signify do not forget in the
Victorian language of flowers for example).
This section of my article is of course, at complete
variance with the history of the herb in its traditional uses, and with
accredited Herbalists working today to heal the body. It shouldn’t be taken as the same thing at
all.
I am now referring to a ‘religious’ (Stanley walked by and said ‘woo woo’, fair
enough, annoying partner!) dimension.
This is also historical, but the scientists among you can turn your brains
off now, and consider that I am now referring to folklore history, and intuitive
practice.
Healing with herbs can also be a magical, spiritual process. […]
This is the aspect of Druidic healing on which I am concentrating –
channelling higher energies and infusing herbs with magical healing properties
that can improve health and wellbeing from the spirit and thereby through the
whole person.
[…] you can heal in the name of
any deity whom you revere – in the name of God, the Goddess or a more abstract
power of goodness and light. A number of
Druidesses and Druids find the Celtic Goddess Airmid, the Irish healing goddess
of medicinal plants a powerful focus for their healing work. Stories about Airmid say she was the daughter
of the God of Medicine, Diancecht. After
the death of her brother Miach, Airmid cared for his grave, on which all the
herbs of the world grew. As she cut them
each described its healing properties.
Cerridwen is another popular focus for modern Druidesses. So is the Irish Brighid, a very popular icon
[…], after whom many healing wells dedicated to St, Bridget may have originally
been named.[9]
In this sort of usage, Agrimony is mainly used for psychic
protection in Druidry – as a cleansing herb, sprinkled through the sacred
spaces, or over ritual tools, and used in a lustral bath before ritual to
purify and clear the mind[10].
My experimental taking of it this month has been in its
capacity as a tonic to aid those with depressed spirits. I’ve been taking it in an infusion made by
pouring a pint of boiling water over 2 teaspoonfuls of the dried leaves, and
left to steep for 10 minutes. I’m then
drinking one cup a day, and using the rest for cleansing surfaces. It leaves a pleasant, slightly apricot
odour. At some point I’ll report back
the results if any (do I feel brighter, what other variables are there, etc –
but my month of experimentation is only half way through, so…Stanley walked by
and said ‘woo woo rubbish’ again at this sentence…You’d think he had nothing
better to do?! At any rate I will have
'cleansed my blood', as I’m also taking the exact correct dose an accredited Herbalist
would give me to cleanse through my physical system!)
In other parts of the world: Northern Tradition sources have
it driving out unwanted spirits[11]. In Hoodoo it returns hexes to their sender –
it has quite a kick[12]. For this function flowers, stems leaves and
root are used. (For the Herbalist
working to cure the physical body, only the flowers are generally used.)
So, this is the start of my Ovate journey with herbs. I hope you found the meander round the idea
of herbalism, the history of some of the medical uses of Agrimony and the
magical associations it has, entertaining.
I’m not a doctor,
people, so don’t go dosing yourself or anyone else based on what I have
said!! Just enjoy the information!
[1] Frank
J Lipp, Herbalism: The Healing Power of Plants,
London: Duncan
Baird Publishers, 1996, p.155.
[3] David
Hoffman, The New Holistic Herbal, East Lothian: Element Press, 1990, p.175.
[4] Frank
J Lipp, Herbalism, pp.14-15.
[5] Dr.
Agnes Walker, A Garden of Herbs:
Traditional Uses of Herbs in Scotland, Argyll: Argyall Publishing, 2003,
p22.
[6] School of Scottish Studies,
University of Edinburgh,
Oral history, various sources cited in Walker
(ibid), plus, M. Beith, Healing Threads, Edinburgh: Polygon
Press, 1995: most of chapters 2 and 3 relate to meadow plants used for these
reasons, agrimony among them. This is a
particularly fascinating book, and I recommend it!
[7] Nicholas
Culpepper, Culpepper’s Complete Herbal,
London:
Arcturus Publishing, 2009, p.14.
[8] C.
Newall, L. Anderson and Philipson, Herbal
Medicines – A Guide for Health-care Professionals, London: The Pharmaceutical Press, 1996, see discussion
in chapters 4 and Appendix 2.
[9]
Cassandra Eason, The Modern Day Druidess, London:
Piatkus, 2003, pp.122-123.
[10] OBOD,
Ovate Lesson 4.
[11] Raven
Kaldera’s herb site http://www.northernshamanism.org/herbalism/herbal/other-herbs.html,
see almost the first entry!
[12] Catherine
Yronwode, Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic: A
Materia Magica of African-American Conjure, California: Lucky Mojo Curio Company (4th
edn), 2002 – see her entry from her website too, where she runs possibly the
largest Hoodoo herb shop on the web! http://herb-magic.com/agrimony.html
A joy to read. This early winter day I planted Agrimony. Run the wreath around for all the good hearts who passed the knowledge on.
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