Herbal Remedies

Herbal remedies are often used in conjunction with acupuncture to relieve a wide variety of ailments, and there are thousands of tea variations for ailments as well, but for this article we're going to stick to herbal remedies like poultices rather than teas, and try to stick with the ones which can be found in a local herb shop.

Unless you are very good at growing your own herbs, you should buy them from an herbalist, at least until you've had a lot of practice at growing your own. Herbs can vary in strength greatly due to the temperature and way in which they are grown, so in order to get the right strength it is suggested you use apothecary herbs at first. (All are to be taken externally)

Here is a list of common ailments and the herbal remedy that anyone can use, to get you started:

Acne: One of the best acne remedies is to rub a half a cut clove of garlic on your face after washing it, but because most people don't want to smell like garlic, the next best remedy is to mix 1:10 lavender with witch hazel. Witch hazel is a natural astringent, and lavender has healing properties. You can use tea tree oil in place of lavender if the person is male; it smells a little more masculine and works just as well.

Anxiety: Lavender again, only this time get pure essential oil ( also available at your local co op or herb shop) and make a compress of it for use on your forehead. A compress is made by heating a small amount of oil and soaking piece of cotton cloth in it, and then squeezing it out and folding it across your forehead-or affected area-when the compress goes cold, repeat the process until you are feeling better.

Bruises can be relieved by using Hyssop leaves and flowers and boiling them into a tincture. Strain the liquid from the leaves and flowers and soak a strip of cotton in it to make a compress, and then press the compress over the bruise, pressing and stroking the area. This is a little uncomfortable, but the combination of hyssop and heat as well as pressure will help get the blood moving again, thus lessening the bruise.

Minor burns; No doubt you've heard of using comfrey as a poultice for burns, but you can also use pure aloe juice. Just rub aloe juice onto the affected area and keep it clean and dry, except for the aloe. Comfrey can be made into a burn cream by crushing the stems and flowers into a fine powder (two ounces), and then mixing it with two ounces of beeswax which you have melted in a double boiler. Add one cup of vegetable oil and a little water. Simmer for twenty minutes and add a drop of benzoic as a preservative (also available at the co op.) Strain through cheese cloth into sterilized jars.

Warts: It is a common old wives tale to place cut pieces of garlic under a bandage and directly on top of warts. It also works, because the garlic is so acidic that it literally eats away at the wart, (well, the virus that causes them,) however, there's that smelly garlic remedy again, try using fresh dandelion juice applied several times daily.