Creating Your Own Herbal Tincturesby Susun S. Weed
Herbalist, Author and Voice of the Wise Woman Way
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors used - and our neighbors around the world still use - plant medicines for healing and health maintenance. It's easy. You can do it too. You can learn how to how make herbal tincture from fresh and dried roots as well as from fresh flowers and leaves. Then you can collect your tinctures into an Herbal Medicine Chest and begin to use them. Shall we begin?
TINCTURES ACT FAST
Tinctures are alcohol-based plant medicines. Alcohol extracts and concentrates many properties from plants, including their poisons. Alcohol does not extract significant amounts of nutrients, so tinctures are used when we want to stimulate, sedate, or make use of a poison. (Remember that nourishing herbs are best used in water bases such as infusions and vinegars.)
The concentrated nature of tinctures allows them to act quickly. It also makes them perfect for a first-aid kit or herbal medicine chest: a little goes a long way.
I have dozens of tinctures in my cabinet. But these are the ones I carry with me when I travel; they are the ones I don't leave home without. This is my traveling herbal medicine chest:
Echinacea tincture
Motherwort tincture
Skullcap tincture
Ginseng tincture
Dandelion root tincture
Wormwood tincture
St Joan's Wort tincture
Poke root tincture(danger)
Yarrow tincture
MAKING DRIED ROOT TINCTURES
I strongly prefer to make tinctures from fresh plants. But many people have a hard time getting fresh plants. Most books therefore ignore fresh plant tinctures and focus on making tinctures only from dried plants. The only dried plant parts I use to make tinctures are roots and seeds. All other plant parts I use fresh when making a tincture. And I actually prefer to use fresh roots too.
To make a tincture from dried roots:
1. Buy an ounce of dried Echinacea augustifolia or Panax ginseng root.Almost any alcohol can be used to make a tincture. My preference is 100 proof vodka. A lower proof, such as 80 proof, does not work nearly as well. Higher proofs, such as 198 proof or Everclear, can damage the liver and kidneys, so I don't use them to make medicine.
2. Put the whole ounce in a pint jar.
3. The dried root should fill the jar about a third full. If not, use a smaller jar.
4. Fill the jar to the top with the alcohol. Cap tightly and label.
The tincture is ready in six weeks, but gets stronger the longer it sits. I like to wait about six months before using my ginseng tincture and a year before using my echinacea tincture.
MAKING FRESH ROOT TINCTURES
Roots generally hold their properties even when dried. But two of my favorite root tinctures must be made from fresh roots are the dried ones have lost much of their effect.
Making a tincture with a fresh root is similar to making one with a dried root.
1. With great respect for the plant, dig up its root.MAKING FRESH LEAF AND FLOWER TINCTURES
2. Gently rinse mud away. (For more about digging dandelion root, see Healing Wise.)
3. Chop root into small pieces and fill a jar to the top with the chopped root.
4. Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
5. Fresh root tinctures are ready to use in six weeks.
I use only fresh flowers and leaves in my tinctures. These delicate plant parts lose aroma and medicinal qualities when dried.
Tinctures can be made from dried herbs, but I find them inferior in both effect (how well they work) and energetics (how many fairies are in it), not to mention taste (how many volatile substances remain) and somatics (how something makes you "feel").
What if the plants you need to make all the tinctures in your medicine chest don't grow where you live or you can't find them? Try one or more of these solutions.
St. Joan's wort tincture: Eases muscles spasms, anti-viral, pain-relieving.Take a vacation to a place where the plant you need does grow. And make sure to go at the best time to gather it.
Find an herbal pen-pal who lives in the area where the plant you want to tincture grows. Have your pen-pal make a tincture of the fresh plant for you. You could make a tincture of something you have lots of to give to her too.
Even if the plants do grow where you live, it may take a year or longer for you to find them, harvest them and make tinctures. While you are "in limbo," it's fine to buy tinctures to use in your herbal medicine chest.
When you finally find the plants you want, don't be afraid to make several quarts of tincture. Tinctures last for hundreds of years if protected from heat and light.
Pick yellow Hypericum perforatum flowers in the summer's heat.Motherwort tincture: Eases menstrual cramps, mood swings, stress.
Fill - don't stuff - a jar with the blossoms and leaves.
Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label. (It will turn bright red.)
Your fresh St. Joan's wort tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Pick Leonurus cardiaca flowering tops (leaves and flowers) in early fall or late summer.Skullcap tincture: Pain-relief, headache remedy
Fill - don't stuff - a jar with coarsely chopped blossoms and leaves.
Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
Your fresh motherwort tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Pick Scutellaria lateriflora flowering tops when there are seeds as well as flowers.Wormwood tincture: Counters food poisoning and parasites.
Fill - don't stuff - a jar with the blossoms and leaves.
Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
Your fresh skullcap tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Pick Artemisia absinthemum leaves in the late summer or early fall, when mature.Yarrow tincture: Counters all bacteria internally and externally, repels insects.
Fill - don't stuff - a jar, with the coarsely chopped leaves.
Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
Your fresh wormwood tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
Pick Achillea millefolium flowering tops, white ones only, when in bloom.DOUBLE AND TRIPLE TINCTURES
Fill - don't stuff - a jar, with the coarsely chopped herb.
Fill jar to the top with alcohol. Cap tightly. Label.
Your fresh yarrow tincture is ready to use in six weeks.
An herbalist in Austin Texas shared her special way of preparing a tincture that helps her keep her cool in stressful situations. She tinctures fresh lemon balm, gathered before it flowers, for six weeks, in 100 proof vodka. She pours that tincture over a new jar of fresh lemon balm leaves. After that sits for six more weeks, it's a double tincture. She then pours the double tincture over another new jarful of fresh lemon balm and lets that sit for six weeks. After which she has a triple tincture. She uses: "A dropperful sublingually - works absolute wonders for me when I'm stressed out and ready to scream."
PLANT POISONS
There are four types of poisons in plants: alkaloids, glycosides, essential oils, and resins. The first three are fairly easy to move from plants to a tincture.
Resins, because they "fear" water (hydrophobic) are difficult to tincture. When I want to tincture a resin I do use high proof alcohol. Some examples would be: pine resin tincture, balsam bud tincture, calendula flower tincture.
TAKING TINCTURES
I see many people put herbal tinctures under their tongues. I prefer to protect my oral tissues from the harsh, possibly cancer-causing, effects of the alcohol.
I dilute my tinctures in a little water or juice or even herbal infusion and drink them.
USING YOUR TINCTURES
Here are a few of the ways I use the tinctures in my herbal medicine chest. For more information on using these tincture, see my books and my website.
Acid indigestion: 5-10 drops of Dandelion root or Wormwood tincture every ten minutes until relieved. I use a dose of Dandelion before meals to prevent heartburn.
Bacterial Infections (including boils, carbuncles, insect bites, snake bite, spider bite, staph): 30 50 drops Echinacea or Yarrow tincture up to 5 times daily. For severe infections, add one drop of Poke tincture to each dose.
Colds: to prevent them I use Yarrow tincture 5-10 drops daily; to treat them, I rely on Yarrow, but in larger quantity, say a dropperful every 3-4 hours at the worst of the cold and tapering off.
Cramps during menstruation: 10 drops Motherwort every 20 minutes or as needed. Used also as a tonic, 10 drops daily, for the week before.
Cramps in muscle: 25 drops St Joan's every 25 30 minutes for as long as needed.
Cramps in gut: 5 10 drops Wormwood, once.
Diarrhea: 3 drops Wormwood hourly for up to four hours.
Energy, lack of: 10 drops of Dandelion or Ginseng tincture in the morning.
Fever: 1 drop Echinacea for every 2 pounds of body weight; taken every two hours to begin, decreasing as symptoms remiss. Or a dropperful of Yarrow tincture every four hours.
Headache: 25 drops St Joan's plus 3-5 drops Skullcap every 10 15 minutes for up to two hours. 5 drops of Skullcap may prevent some headaches.
High blood pressure: 25 drops of Motherwort or Ginseng tincture 2-4 times a day.
Hot Flashes: 20 30 drops Motherwort as flash begins and/or 10 20 drops once or twice daily.
Insect: prevent bites from black flies, mosquitoes, and ticks with a spray of Yarrow tincture; treat bites you do get with Yarrow tincture to prevent infection.
Nervousness, hysteria, hyper behavior: 15 drops Motherwort every 15 20 minutes.
Premenstrual distress: 10 drops Motherwort twice a day for 7 10 days preceding menstruation or 10 drops daily all month.
Sore throat: Gargle with Yarrow tincture.
Swollen glands: 1 drop Poke root tincture each 12 hours for 2-5 days.
Viral infections (including colds and the flu): 25 drops of St. Joan's wort tincture every two hours. Add one drop of poke root tincture 2-4 times a day for severe cases.
Wounds: I wash with Yarrow tincture, then wet the dressing with Yarrow tincture, too.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER ONE
Choose one plant and make several small tinctures of it using different types of alcohol. Taste and smell each tincture every week or so for 6-8 weeks.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER TWO
Buy or make different tinctures of the same plant: dried herb, fresh herb, timed with the moon, in different menstrums, made by different people, harvested in different places. Can you taste differences? Are the effects different? What else do you notice?
EXPERIMENT NUMBER THREE
Make a double or triple tincture of motherwort, skullcap, or lemon balm. See if it relieves anxiety, hyperactivity, emotional distress, headaches. I use a dose of 5-30 drops. Remember skullcap can induce sleepiness.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER FOUR
Tincture four plants that are common to your area. Learn at least three things they can each be used for and if at all possible, use them.
Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative. Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. She is Founder of the Wise Woman Center, and also advises the California Institute of Integral Studies and the Pottenger Foundation for Wise Traditions. Her work has inspired millions of women world-wide to respect their inner wisdom and to trust the healing power of common weeds, simple ceremony, and compassionate listening. Susun is a Peace Elder and a member of the Wolf Clan.
Look for lots more tips for keeping your breasts healthy in her book Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way, recommended by many oncologists and breast health specialists including Dr. Susan Love. And please visit her special breast health website: www.breasthealthbook.com
Visit her site http://www.susunweed.com for information on her workshops, apprenticeships, correspondence courses and more! Browse the publishing site http://www.ashtreepublishing.com to learn more about her alternative health books. Venture into the NEW Menopause site http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com to learn all about the Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way. Email Susun Weed at susunweed@hvc.rr.com, write to PO Box 64, Woodstock, NY 12498 or call 845-246-8081.
Susun Weed's books include: Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year
Author: Susun S. Weed. Simple, safe remedies for pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and newborns. Includes herbs for fertility and birth control. Foreword by Jeannine Parvati Baker. 196 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $9.95 Get 20% off at: http://www.ash-tree-publishing.com
Healing Wise
Author: Susun S. Weed. Superb herbal in the feminine-intuitive mode. Complete instructions for using common plants for food, beauty, medicine, and longevity. Introduction by Jean Houston. 312 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $12.95 Get 20% off at: http://www.ash-tree-publishing.com
NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way
Author: Susun S. Weed. The best book on menopause is now better. Completely revised with 100 new pages. All the remedies women know and trust plus hundreds of new ones. New sections on thyroid health, fibromyalgia, hairy problems, male menopause, and herbs for women taking hormones. Recommended by Susan Love MD and Christiane Northrup MD. Foreword by Juliette de Bairacli Levy. 304 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $12.95 order at: http://www.ash-tree-publishing.com.
For more great info on menopause, visit: http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com
Breast Cancer? Breast Health!
Author: Susun S. Weed. Foods, exercises, and attitudes to keep your breasts healthy. Supportive complimentary medicines to ease side-effects of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or tamoxifen. Foreword by Christiane Northrup, M.D. 380 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $14.95 Get 20% off at: http://www.ash-tree-publishing.com