Oils and Tinctures

I’ve been busy wildcrafting and IDing everything in sight! On Father’s Day I was driving home, turned a corner, looked over to my left and BAM! HUNDREDS of Mullien plants. Yes, I turned the car around, picked a couple of whole plants (roots and all) and topped off a few flower stalks.

I have mullien flower oil and tincture going. I put the flower stalks in a glass of water like any cut flower and await the blooms to add more to the tincture or oil. (Note: soak the things under water for a few hours to help extract any little “bibbits” crawling or flying about in them. Bugs love mullien.) I also started an oil and tincture of the leaves and am drying out some leaves for medicinal and magical uses later on.

I have also collected some Dandelion flowers which I’m making an oil from. What? No tincture? No. From the uses of this plant, I would only really want a tincture from the leaves for the health benefits but I only collected the flowers this week. (me and my handy empty coffee cup from work after hours in the field already would have looked suspicious, LOL) The picture doesn’t do it justice though, even now after a few days it’s a much brighter yellow than it shows.

Another plant I’m currently playing with is Yellow Wood Sorrel. Medicinally it’s nothing compared to the others but it is edible and a good vitamin C source so I’m tincturing a little bit to see if the sour of the leaves transfers that way. If so I might consider doing a vinegar tincture to add to oils for a salad dressing. I’m drying some too since magically it is used for healing spells. Never know when you might run into a need for it.

So that is what I have been up to lately. I also made an AWESOME scrub but it’s not “herbal” per say so that will be for another time.

You may have noticed my use of baby food jars. I think these are the best things on earth for a beginner herbalist like myself. I’m playing and experimenting and learning (which means making mistakes) and it’s better to mess up with 2 oz of olive oil than a whole quart. Besides, I haven’t figured out what I’d do with a quart of Mullien leaf oil yet. It saves on if I don’t use it and it goes bad.  It also makes gathering easier. It took no time at all to fill a small jar with mullien flowers where I don’t know if I could have had the patience to fill a quart jar.

Second Funniest Thing All Day

I used Craigslist and mentioned Pagan. I got this e-mail as a response:

Looks like your going to burn in hell cause you have rejected Christ,….not that I give a fuck , but my God Jesus is stronger than your pseudo ( look it up ) God……..

Ok, so I was in an “evil” mood and replied as such:

Blessed Be.

Jesus is not God, there is only ONE God and he is stronger than the son who represents an intermediary to the one God, creator of the universe. You know nothing about my faith or beliefs and either you do give a **** or you are just incredibly bored.

Was it your intention that I look up the strength of Jesus or simply the word “pseudo”? EHEM. I do happen to have an education. Studied Education/Technology and Theology at Notre Dame before the school closed down the Manchester campus.

Do not assume a Craigslist Occultist is some stupid goth teenybopper with no brain. Judge not thy neighbor, my friend.

Got a little glee out of that. I admit it. Does that make me a bad person?

Shadow Self Quote

“How can I be substantial if I fail to cast a shadow? I must have a dark side if I am to be whole; and in as much as I become conscious of my shadow I also remember that I am a human being like any other.”

~Jung

Grounding In The Trees

Things have been so topsy turvy lately. So much to do, nothing as it should be, reorganizing and readjusting to strange places. Finally, a trip into the “happy place” brings some relief and focus. Not as much time as I’d like to sit and soak in the calm (or I’d be soaking in the rain that fell where I sat!) but it was nice. I took the time to take pictures of the area and unknown flora in hopes of indentifying later.

I love the idea of the wise medicine woman who can go out into the wild and know every tree, every bush, what can be used for which ailment and how best to prepare.  I’ve walked in the woods before but my eyes were closed then, I couldn’t see the forest through the trees. Once I found some odd leaved little saplings and I really wanted to know what they were. SASSAFRASS!  I never realized. And right near home? My awe turned my eyes to other trees and plants around me. Funny how I always thought the trees were predominantly Maple in this area but when I ACTUALLY looked, I saw more oak than anything. (And not just one kind!)

Here are some of the pictures: