As the Yule season dozes off behind us and we begin the slow stretch towards spring, our Star of Yule Tea Blend and Winter Remedy Kits shall be retired for the year. Today is the last day to place your order for our winter teas and kits at our S H O P.
But never fear, our tea time treasures, we'll be premiering new teas in the next few days to delight your senses and keep you healthy!
flowersociety.orgThe sweet tasting Yerba Santa is said to enhance beauty and be useful in spells of glamoury and illusion. In addition to its ability to magickally alter the appearance of clever sorcerers, Yerba Santa is said to protect the wearer from illness and disease when worn around the neck. Place it on your altar as a sacred offering. Call them Bear's Weed, Holy Herb, Mountain Balm or Tar Weed there are many more ways than wearing our purple-flowered friend about our neck to improve our health.
Yerba Santa is an excellent herbal ally for the cold parts of the year when stuffed-up noses and congested chests are passed around like holiday gifts. 'Tis the season for giving (along with all other three seasons, but that's a bit beyond the point)! Yerba Santa is an excellent remedy for a wet cold - one that is mucousy, sniffling, and has a cough. As an astringent and decongestant, Yerba Santa dries up excess mucous by normalizing excess mucous secretion. Normalizing mucous secretion means that you won't have to go back and forth between too much and too little secretion leading to being too dried out and equally uncomfortable. In addition to its powers of mucous normalization, Yerba Santa is antimicrobial and antiseptic.
In addition to colds and because Yerba Santa strengthens capillaries and stimulates the cilia of the lungs, is appropriate for treating other respiratory conditions such as asmtha, hayfever, and sinus congestion. It is also useful for digestive complaints because it normalizes mucous secretions in the gut. The leaves can also be chewed to quench thirst.
flowersociety.orgTopically Yerba Santa can be used in poultices for broken bones, bruises, fever, insect bites, poison oak and ivy, rash, acne, sprains and sores. Pretty darn useful.
I keep a small bottle of Yerba Santa tincture on me most days to help prevent asthma attacks brought on by environmental pollutants. During a series of extensive fires outside L.A. a few summers ago the city became covered in a thick sky of ash. I took Yerba Santa daily to help strengthen my lungs against the added environmental pollutant stress being put on my body. It worked wonderfully and has been a well-loved herbal ally in my traveling apothecary ever since. You can also use the leaves in a steam for clearing up congestion and opening the lung passageways.
La BefanaAs the wheel turns to the darkest part of the year, we begin to slow down at the Apothecary. In honor of that slowing, this will be our last blog post until just before La Befana travels throughout the land delivering her gifts. Though, we'll be checking our email (wortsandcunning [at] gmail [dot] com) and comments every once and a while if you have very important something to say. Also, our shop will be open until December 19th until we go on break until our little shop break until December 28th.
Before we go we would like to say "Thank you!" to everyone for making our first few months online such wonderful ones - may there be many more months of knowing and growing and gleaming!
Be well and warm and close to the ones you love this darkening season (or hot and at the beach if you're down under) and we'll meet you behind the bristles of La Befana's broom.
As with any part of the year, whether you are tired, invigorated, flabbergasted, illuminated, joyful, disgruntled or bursting with any other exuberant expression of emotional being-ness, we hope that you'll always have time to drink deep the incredible (tea)cup of life that we're all experiencing.
All that said, we are simply tea-sellers at the end of the day and we would like you to know that we've more stars to light your way. Our Star of Yule Tea Blend is now available in our standard 3 ounce size in our little online shop. You can still find it in our Winter Remedy Kits, too, in a smart-looking 1 ounce tin (who doesn't want to look clever?).
As the year grows darker, it is especially important to nurture those inner fires of joy and gentleness. Or were they fires of passion and desire?
Maybe they were dim lights for dozing...
Never fear what fire you have that might need stoking, for we've created our line of Winter Remedy Kits to meet all your darkening year needs. Well, maybe not all of them - we'll leave it to your parents to get you that pony you've always wanted. So absent of a pony, we do have a special treat - two of our Winter Remedy Kits feature our newest tea blend: Star of Yule! Our Star of Yule blend was made to invoke the feelings of the winter with fresh notes of scent, freckled with warmth and starlight.
Star of Yule contains the following:
STAR ANISE Illicium verum: A great winter holiday remedy for all sorts of digestive complaints, including indigestion, belching, and gas.
CINNAMON Cinnamomum zeylanicum: Stimulates digestion, promotes circulation, warms the body and protects against colds and the 'flu.
LICORICE Glycyrrhiza glabra: Delightful to the taste buds, Licorice is a wonderful rejuvenate herb.
ROSEMARY Rosmarinus officinalis: A nervous system toner, Rosemary is also warming and uplifting. Promotes clear thinking ("Rosemary for rememberance!") and protects against infection.
LEMONGRASS Cymbopogon citratus: Great for stomachaches, headaches, and promoting relaxation.
JASMINE Jasminum sambac: Uplifting, pain relieving, and an aphrodisiac.
PEPPERMINT Mentha piperita: Another great remedy for digestive complaints, Peppermint protects against colds and the 'flu. Adds a "pick-me-up" perk to our blend without being overstimulating.
Check out our Winter Remedy Kits after the jump!
Our Days of Dreaming Remedy Kit includes one ounce each of A General Sense of Wellbeing, Flower Song, and Bliss Blend. A General Sense of Wellbeing to carry you through the morning with a crown of cool atop your head. In the afternoon Flower Song will be your "tune" between meals, chores, and family greetings. When the evening settles in Bliss Blend shall be your friend, gently guiding you towards dreams.
Nights of Glowing includes one ounce of Star of Yule, Ambrosia, and Flower Song. The Star of Yule sits high in the sky, reminding us of the pleasures of darkness and the promise of returning light. Flower Song is the bright bouquet enticing friends and family to settle in to quiet moments together. Ambrosia is the promise of each star shining in the night that we are loved and adored and all is just right.
Star of Health includes one ounce each of Star of Yule, Flower Song, Ambrosia, Super!Love!Rainbows!Go! Herbal Powder, and your choice of Flower Essence. With the Star of Yule to shine upon us, Flower Song to brighten our mood, and Ambrosia to enliven our hearts, you'll be a beacon of brightness this holiday season. To further strengthen your powers of joy we've included a vial of Super!Rainbows!Love!Go! Herbal Powder to make sure you've got a steady source of holiday high-fives. A Flower + Gem Essence of your choosing rounds out your remedy kit, promoting the alignment of that remarkable mind, body, spirit known as you.
All of our Winter Remedy Kits are available in our S H O P!