Herb of the Day

Rosemary

The name comes from the Latin ros, “dew”, and maris, “ocean”, meaning “dew of the sea”. In the sixth century Charlemagne decreed that rosemary should be grown in all the imperial gardens. Christian legend claims that flowers were originally white but were turned varying shade of blue when Mary hung her blue cloak over a rosemary bush.

Medicinal Uses: Rosemary is a stimulant of the circulatory system. It is used to treat bites and stings externally. Internally it is used to treat migraines, bad breath, and to stimulate the sexual organs. The tea makes a mouthwash for bad breath. It is also used to treat nervous disorders, upset stomachs, and is used to regulate the menstrual cycle and to ease cramps. The oil benefits stomach and nerves. Use rosemary in salves for eczema, wounds, and sores. Mix the crushed leaves generously into meats, fish, potato salads, etc. at your next picnic to prevent food poisoning. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy as an inhalant and decongestant, and to enhance memory and clear concentration. It is also used in lotions to ease arthritis and muscle pain. It is a strong antiseptic, and good in shampoos and hair rinses. An infusion of the leaves has also been used, alone or with borax, as a scalp wash to prevent baldness.

Steep the herb in white wine for a week and strain. Rub the rosemary wine into gouty or paralyzed limbs. Taken internally, the wine quiets the heart and stimulates the kidneys, brain, and nervous system. Rosemary tea relieves depression. The leaf and flowers are stimulating to the liver and the digestion. For this reason, rosemary is a classic herb for migraine headache when associated with liver or stomach torpidity.

Rosemary increases the circulation and slightly raises the blood pressure. To make the tea, steep two teaspoons of the dried flowering tops in one cup of water for twenty minutes. Take one-fourth cup four times a day. Rosemary and coltsfoot are smoked as herbal tobacco to relieve asthma and lung conditions. Rosemary essential oil is often blended with cedar wood, geranium, ginger, lemon balm, myrtle and sweet basil.

When used as a tea, the dose should not exceed one cup per day. Overdose can cause fatal poisoning. Even small doses of Rosemary oil can cause stomach, kidney and intestinal problems, and large amounts may be poisonous. If you’re pregnant, avoid using the herb altogether.

Magickal uses: Rosemary is an herb of consecration and purification from disease. As an herb of purification, rosemary can be a substitute for frankincense. Add it to incense and to the ritual chalice and distributed to guests. Burning it before performing magick will rid the area of negativity. It is carried in the hand during funerals and cast into the grave, as the coffin is lower into it. Rosemary or rosemary with juniper berries is burned as a protection from disease. Stuff healing poppets with rosemary for increased healing strength. Rub the hands with an infusion before beginning the healing process. Place it in books and drawers to repel moths. Place under the pillow or bed for restful sleep and protection from nightmares. Hang at the doors to repel thieves and disease. Wearing a chaplet improves the memory. The aroma of the wood preserves youth. Add it to the bath for this and its purifying qualities. Add to mixtures for love or lust. An answer may be divined by inhaling the smoke of rosemary. Wrap the powdered leaves in a piece of linen and wear on the right arm to be rid of depression and to generally improve the emotions. Rosemary in all of its forms is used for protection and banishment. Rosemary leaves under your pillow do away with evil spirits and bad dreams. It is hung on porches and doors to keep thieves out. Rosemary is grown to attract elves.

Properties: Stimulant, diaphoretic, carminative, nervine, aromatic, cephalic antispasmodic. Contains volatile oil: composed of borneol, camphene, camphor, cineole, limonene, linalool, isobutyl acetate, 3-octanone, terpineol, verbenol, flavonoids: apigenin, diosmetin, diosmin, genkwanin, 6-methoxygenkwanin, hispidulin, sinensetin, luteolin and derivatives. Rosmarinic acid and other phenolic acids, diterpenes such as picrosalvin (carnosol), carnosolic acid and rosmariquinone

Growth: Rosemary is a perennial that prefers mild climates, so it needs to be grown indoors where the winters are harsh, or very heavily mulched. It reaches 2-4 feet in height, and is tolerable of poor soils. Rosemary has narrow, needle-like leaves and lovely blue flowers. Cut back after flowering to keep it from becoming leggy. It is an evergreen shrub with numerous branches; ash-colored. scaly bark and bears opposite, leathery, thick leaves which are lustrous and dark green above and downy white underneath. They have a prominent vein in the middle and margins which are rolled down. The pale blue, sometimes white, relatively small, flowers grow in short axillary racemes, arranged in false whorls on the upper parts of the branches, blooming during April and May, or later in cooler climates.

Infusion: steep 1 tsp. dried flowering tops or leaves in 1/2 cup water. Take up to 1 cup per day.

Tea: prepare ordinary tea, put a pinch of ground ginger in the drink for variety. Drink 3 or 4 cups per day.

Tincture: a dose is from 5 to 20 drops.

Source:
Author: Crick
Website: The Whispering Woods