Astral Boutique's blog

Moonday Medicine: Licorice

The new feature, Moonday Medicine, is dedicated to Sandy from Enid and Edgar Vintage, who asked me this weekend: where did your herbal posts go?

As someone that can't drink any caffeine at all because of fibrocystic breasts (yup, not even green tea), I have become very tuned into the subtle "uppers" of the plant world. Back when I was still drinking caffeine, I heard tell that licorice root was stimulating, but I never noticed the effect, hyped as I was on stronger stuff. These days, a cup of licorice tea feels fabulous and genuinely uplifting... not rocket fuel, but definitely strong enough to make an enjoyable difference in my mood and mental state.

Botanical Illustration of Glycyrrhiza glabra from Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885

Even if you're not into herbs at all, you probably know the taste of licorice from Panda Candy or Red Vines. It's really quite sweet on its own (though I am not sure that Red Vines contain the tiniest bit of real licorice), so even kids like it. In Chinese medicine, licorice is said to harmonize and "deliver" the other herbs in the formula to every part of the body. In the way that a super sweet person is welcome in all social circles, licorice is happily invited into all the organs and tissues, and if it happens to bring a slightly more bitter friend to the party, well, everyone gives the newcomer the benefit of the doubt and lets them in. Brilliant social strategizing!

You can buy licorice root on its own in most health food stores, but if you need things to be easy (like I do), a universally loved tea is the Yogi brand of Egyptian Licorice. Make sure to steep it for a good long time- like most herbs, steeping for a few minutes is going to give you flavor, but little medicinal punch. Licorice especially needs cool water soaking to extract all of it's important qualities. A compromise is to have several sips while it's steaming hot, and then leave the tea bag in the half-full cup for the next hour or so, sipping it on occasion. Make sure you squeeze the tea bag out at the end, too, to get your money's worth! You can even pour more hot water on the tea bag with this blend... it makes a decent second cup.

Licorice has a great reputation for toning down inflammation, helping adrenal deficiency, soothing ulcers, inactivating the herpes simplex virus, and helping dry, stressed out humans chill out. As with all herbs, consult your herbalist, acupuncturist, Naturopathic doctor, or other medical authority if you are pregnant or planning long-term use. Licorice is not advised for people with high blood pressure, and some people might become too wired if they take it in the afternoon.

Enjoy!

Prosperous Tea Time

My friend Summer and I had a long catch up sesh recently, and after we ate dinner I served us some of this yummy Prosperity Tea from Valentina's Home-brewed. Interestingly enough, that night I had multiple dreams involving holding cash, finding cash in unexpected places, etc.... and ever since, I have found money-making ideas popping into my head, and business opportunities flooding my inbox. Was it the tea? 

I'm telling you, Valentina's does put a little extra magic in everything they make. 

Sugatroll says that Valentina's copied their logo after a photo of me. That is a little too flattering, but I'll take it:

Art Nouveau-a-riffic!

I am going to be having a Giveaway from Valentinas Homebrew soon, so if you are intrigued, stay tuned!

Bluebell And Bonnet

A care package, with a real, hand-written letter, tons of nummies (I ate all the vegan chocolate mounds, raw coconut candy, and vegan granola before I took this photo!)? Who could be sending me such a sweet thing but the red-haired piskie from the Pacific Northwest, miss Mindy Sue B. at Bluebell and Bonnet!

Yes, that's a CD of her music, which rocks my little socks off... and that's her very own homemade tea, the Wuthering Heights blend:

...which is available in her shop. Check out her description:

I wanted to create a herbal blend that is the perfect companion to late nights spent reading dusty hard cover books into the wee hours (while a storm rages outside, rattling the window panes, of course).

This is an entirely organic floral/herbal blend (no caffeine) with soothing chamomile flowers, milky oat pods and red & pink rose petals as it's base. The gentle herbal addition of peppermint, catnip and vervain add earthiness to this blend which is finished with just a touch of lavender.

I am totally in love with it- it has extra magic in every leaf and petal, I think!  

There is no feeling like being on the receiving end of an awesome care package... thank you so much, Mindy!

Dreaming Sweet Dreams with Valentinas Home Brewed

Last night I got into my box from Valentina's Home Brewed, for a little Sasha-pampering. It was my first evening alone in a long time, and I had spent several hours puttering and decluttering and I was ready to move into a magical space. First I started the incense burning.... then I turned on the tea kettle... and then I ran the bath. Formula for Success.

I loved the smell of the Psychic Detox bath salts, which surprised me- I guess I thought that Psychic cleaning had to involve something Stinky. No, no, no! It was all yummy and and and I sunk into the warm bath waters and imagined psychic cords untangling from around my energy centers in all the lemon-y, orange-y, peppermint-y goodness. I love that the box contains friendly advice about psychic detoxing... and I also like that the recipe comes from "centuries-old European spell recipes culled from 25 years of research and experience". Yes please.

After the bath came the best part- slathering myself in the True Love bath and body oil. This stuff smells like heaven! Or like the chocolate store in heaven, to be precise. It's made with coconut oil, so it was super light and my skin loved it up, and I felt comfortable using it liberally because it is 100% organic.

A cup of tea before bed? Always. And why not invite some Prophetic Dreams? I poured the vibrant mix, which includes bright calendula and hibiscus flowers, into my teapot and steeped it for 15 minutes before tasting it. It was sunny, light, and fruity, and it made my tummy happy- that might have been the lemongrass and star anise.

I had so many dreams after I went to bed that I honestly couldn't separate Prophecy from Whimsy, but I am trying another cup tonight!

Stay tuned for more reviews as I continue to explore my box of goodies from Valentina's Home Brewed....

 

Valentina's Home Brewed

Today I got this absolutely gorgeous box in the mail from Valentina's Home Brewed:

I had been hearing great things about Valentina's, and imagine my joy! joy! joy! when they asked if I would review their product line. I already feel relaxed and happy and psychically detoxed just looking at the packaging!

The Art Nouveau design just tickled me all shades of pink! It's like it was made especially for me.

What to try first.... decisions, decisions! This is going to be so fun. Stay tuned for my review... I see several loooooong baths in my future!

Relax Baby Be Cool

I have had an extraordinary amount of stress in my life this past six months (non-bloggable issues, relating to the serious health issues of several close family members), and I have become "that woman " who hangs out in the Health and Beauty aisle of the natural food store for 45 minutes at a stretch, looking at each and every "stress relief" item and spraying myself with the expensive rose hydrosol Testers. Falling and remaining asleep is the biggest challenge (for me and probably most people) when stress is at a max, and so I have been experimenting with all the nervine tinctures out there. Some work a little, some not at all, and then there is the Holy Grail, pictured here, which I bought at our local Briar Patch Co-op.

For whatever reason, the alcohol free one (made with glycerine) works for me and for Chris, while the alcohol based one doesn't seem to do much. 

This is the store brand, probably made by a large herbal company (not by the Co-op itself). The ingredient list is as follows:

Valerian root, hops, kava kava root, passionflower, chamomile, lobelia, pulsatilla (in glycerine)

If you are not local, you might be able to find this at a Whole Foods (I got one in Sacramento but couldn't find it in the Bay Area):

I liked this as much as the Relax tincture. It is made by Gaia, and here are the ingredients:

American skullcap, bladderwrack, chamomile, dulse, hawthorne berry, leaf, and flower, hops, kava kava, kelp, mugwort, passionflower, peppermint leaf and e.o., syrup of apricot fruits, wild oats (in alcohol)

Remember that everyone's body, and everyone's nerves, are different- what works for me might not work for you. And, in my experience, any herbs that have a strong effect end up being less effective if you do them all the time.  

*there are some warnings on the bottle about use of kava kava- it's not for people with certain medical conditions, and in my opinion, any herb that is so strong should not be used continually. Please read the cautions when purchasing it, and remember that herbs are drugs, too!*

Here's to chilling out!

 

Trolls and Love Potions!

Okay, I am going to give you this one little sneak peek:

...but to find out more about this story, you are going to have to read over to the fabulous Honey Kennedy blog to read my guest post. Get ready for some love magic!

Poppy Day

It is hard to pick a favorite flower, but I have a very special place in my heart for California Poppies. They are the State Flower, and they always had an aura of excitement around them since we were taught in grade school that if we picked them, we would get arrested! (That was the rumor, anyway.) It is illegal to pick wild poppies, but of course you are free to do what you want with the ones in your own garden.

I love how poppies are so delicate, with their velvety, paper-thin petals that close in cold, windy, or wet weather, and their soft green-grey leaves; yet they are tough citizens of the sometimes harsh Mediterranean climate of California, preferring disturbed, dry soils where other plants could never survive. These babies are in our garden, but they are not being over-coddled, and they do best growing over the edge of the bed where the afternoon sun bakes down on them relentlessly. 

California Poppies also make great medicine: they are a nervine, aka, a calming, slightly sedating herb, good for kids that have wound themselves into a tizzy by running around beyond their usual bedtime, or adults who are overstimulated and having a hard time taking the edge off. All ariel parts are used (flowers and leaves)... I don't recommend using the ripened seed pods, as I find them too strong.

I am putting up some poppy tincture here. The "folk" on the label refers to my method, meaning that I didn't take precise measurements, but rather eyeballed the percentage of alcohol. "Etoh" is alcohol, and I added some astrological info just to sort of keep track of everything (there are much more intentional methods of putting up herbs in ways that align the spirit of the plants with the movements of the stars, but I was working primarily with the time that the poppies were at their most potent and ready to be harvested!) I used high quality organic grape alcohol mixed with water (you have to special order it), but you can use vodka just as well- it's about 40% alcohol, which is what you need to break down the medicinal components. Fill a jar with plant material first and then add your alcohol; top off the next day as it tends to soak in, and you don't want any part of the plant sticking above the level of the liquid. I use a stone to help hold the plant down inside the jar as it macerates. 

In 2-4 weeks I will press out the liquid from the plant matter (with as much force as possible- you really want to wring the plant dry) and bottle up my medicine. 

For those of you who are just getting to know me, I should mention that several years ago I used to write an herbal blog called Kitchen Witch. I put stuff in there from my non-herbal life, too, but if you look through the posts you will find a lot of good herbal info and photos. In an ideal world I would still be writing that blog, but there are only so many hours in the day! I will try to post herbal stuff in this blog more often, since I know a lot of you are interested in it. Enjoy!

Good Things Come In Pretty Packages

...Case in point, my new natural perfume oil from Kirsten at Arabesque Aromas. Look at the beautiful wrapping, the delicate card, and the peony petals (for luck)!

It's called The Golden Bough. and it is a complex, uplifting, calming scent that I simply must wear every single day. Kirstin is a true alchemist in the ancient tradition, and there are incredible energetic components in her creations.

Check out the gorgeous Arabesque Aromas shop here! 

Mighty Madrone

This 1970s cotton caftan was a dream to photograph- such an incredible pattern, and such great lines. I love the bell sleeves most of all! When the camera really loves a piece like this, I get inspired to take a few pictures that are outside of the realm of regular "Etsy photos" (where the aim is simply to show off the clothing clearly, from all angles). 

It was easy to imagine this caftan worn by some Celtic Priestess, and I felt drawn towards one of my favorite trees, the Madrone, to make a special image: 

Here is the berry of the Madrone, the very last one on the tree, which I am pretending to pick (actually I left it for the birds-- they need it more than I do).

This is a Pacific Madrone, beloved by the wildlife whom it shelters and feeds (some trees in the foothills are as big as four story buildings!) and used by Natives for a strengthening and healing tea. Modern herbalists use the leaves much like its relative Manzanita, for treating urinary tract infections, and in post-partum sitz baths.

 She is appealing to the artist's eye, with her red bark like peels like a beautifully distressed barn door to reveal a silky smooth surface underneath:

 

I have always felt a special affinity with this lovely tree, and she is one of the beings of the Sierra Foothills that makes me childishly happy every time I see her, like a dear old friend. Celtic Tree Lore mentions Madrone's symbolism as a "Mother Tree, protector", and in fact this grove of young Madrone trees is the favorite place for me and the cats to hang out on the hillside behind our house. I recently learned that Madrone's relatives in Ireland (where she is called the "Strawberry Tree", and is indigenous) grow most profusely in my mother's homeland of County Kerry! So perhaps there is a genetic connection...? 

I happened to come across a store on Etsy, Gilded Quill, that makes magic wands, and they carry a Madrone wand! Hello Harry Potter.

The "Mists of Avalon" caftan, by the way, is for sale in my Etsy store! Happy magic-making!