Healing Holiday Herbs

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Healing Holiday Herbs

Aside from lending visual and symbolic appeal, many of the holiday herbs

historically used to ring in the season have medicinal benefits as well.

By Brigitte Mars

No matter what holiday tradition you celebrate this winter, chances are

you'll incorporate a fir tree, a potted poinsettia, or other significant

plants in the festivities. Aside from lending visual and symbolic

appeal, many of the holiday herbs historically used to ring in the

season have medicinal benefits as well.

Take pine (Pinus species), for instance, which appears in cough syrups.

This expectorant and antioxidant helps lung-related complaints such as

asthma and respiratory infections. For this reason, Dr. Alfred Vogel,

the late Swiss herbalist, used pine syrup in his popular cough formulas.

Pine tea added to a bath relieves sore muscles, while pine sap in a

salve benefits eczema and psoriasis and draws out splinters.

We can clearly see why gold figured as a valuable gift in the age of the

three wise men. But what about frankincense and myrrh? In the Middle

East, people burned these resins to help purify the air, especially in

public places of worship, where airborne disease presented a particular

health threat. Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha), a plant native to the Red Sea

region, served as a disinfectant, destroying bacteria and stimulating

white blood cell production. Small amounts of the resin, usually used in

tincture form, also treat gum infections, candida, impetigo, lung

infections, and arthritis. (Use only small amounts of myrrh for brief

periods of time, as excessive use may be toxic.) In traditional European

and Ayurvedic medicine, the pale-colored resin of frankincense

(Boswellia carteri) taken internally helped treat dysentery, fevers,

vomiting, and menstrual cramps. Topical applications improve arthritis,

athletic injuries, bruises, acne, and tumors.

Mistletoe ( Viscum album in Europe and Phoradendron serotinum in

America) appeared as far back as 200 B.C. in the winter celebrations of

the Druids, who gathered sprigs of the plant and hung them in their

homes for good fortune. Herbalists today use small amounts of the herb

to lower blood pressure, promote menstrual flow, and as a diuretic.

(Mistletoe, especially the American variety, can be toxic, so use only

under an herbalist's supervision, and always keep the plant away from

children.) In the anthroposophical medicine of the Austrian philosopher

and educator Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925), mistletoe even factors as a

cancer treatment in a formula called Iscar that works as an

immuno-modulator. Like many holiday herbs, its cultural significance as

a winter-celebration plant endures in tandem with its healing benefits.

      

November/December 1999

http://www.yogajournal.com/health/toc_2.cfm