Common Name: Rosemary – Botanical Name: Rosmarinus officinalis. Energetics: Warm, dry. Taste/Impression: Aromatic, spicy, diffusive, slightly astringent and slightly bitter. Action: Aromatic, circulatory stimulant, stimulant/relaxant nervine, stimulating diaphoretic.
Hello again, I hope you have been enjoying our herbal health posts here! I've been busy preparing for our HerbFolk Gathering, while doing my best to keep up with the gathering and preparation of our native medicinal plants for our family's yearly use. Now I'd like to share with you an excerpt from one of my articles in our book The Plant Healer's Path, and introduction to the ever lovely Rosemary!
This is one of my partner Elka's very favorite plants, and I think she could live, breathe and swim in it and be very happy. We have rosemary butter, rosemary-infused olive oil, rosemary salve, rosemary tea, rosemary tincture, rosemary lotion, rosemary smudge, rosemary rubbed meat and all manner of other rosemary-flavored dishes and body products. Thankfully, Rosemary is a common ornamental and culinary garden plant in NM and can be gathered in most villages and cities. This is good, because it's cold enough in the canyon that our rosemary tends to struggles and grow very slowly. We do have one little plant gifted to us by a woman from Taos that is thriving in the shelter of our kitchen door. It’s growing round and tall, and each Summer presents us with gorgeous purple flowers for months at a time. Every time I walk from the den to the kitchen I stop to rub my fingers against a resinous, leathery leaf and breathe in the magic of this warm, spicy herb. Even on the coldest days of winter, it’s gentle presence fills me with an inner glow of contentment and joy.
Medicinal Properties of Rosemary
Rosemary has been a favorite ally of mine for quite some time, both for its beautiful and giving nature and because it’s just so damn useful. It's a common ingredient in my digestive formulas, especially for those with a sluggish, overtired liver and a cold gut typified by lack of appetite, gas, constipation and bloating. I especially like it combined with Oregon Grape Root for the liver issues, and is additionally helpful in a pattern that often includes excessive, dilute urination from kidney deficiency and low blood pressure as well as inability to digest protein/fat efficiently. Other specific indications also include foggy thinking, general feeling of coldness, tiredness and intermittent depression with or without thyroid involvement usually with nervousness or anxiety underneath. There are also sometimes signs of heart weakness accompanying the poor circulation.
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/meet-lovely-rosemary-zbcz1408.aspx#ixzz3D857kAo1
