Lemongrass: A Resourceful Herb and Essential Oil

Lemongrass {Cymbopogon citratus}

Also, Known As:

Citroengrass
Fever Grass
Lemongrass
Sereh
Te Limon
Zacate Limon

Cymbopogon citratus, generally known as lemongrass, is a resourceful herb, a natural source of aroma, mosquito repellent as well as a plant that is widely used to decorate gardens. Lemongrass belongs to the grass or Poaceae family (formerly known as Gramineae) and has several functions – an effective herb, aromatic or container garden, or as a medication for various conditions. One may find a number of the variety of lemongrass and each of them possessing dissimilar chemical compositions. However, citral is the major chemical ingredient found in all varieties of essential oils of lemongrass.

Lemongrass is native to tropical regions and grows in clusters. The plant has globular stems that eventually become leaf blades. This herb belongs to the herb family which also includes citronella and palmarosa and possesses a lemon essence. When the leaves of the herb are compressed…

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The Mushroom Course Giveaway – Herbal Academy

Good Witches Homestead

PRE-REGISTRATION OPENS MARCH 17TH

Take a journey into the hidden kingdom of fungi with The Mushroom Course by Herbal Academy! Discover what makes a mushroom a mushroom and the ways that fungi interact with other living beings. The Mushroom Course will teach you how to discover, differentiate, and forage for mushrooms safely, but that’s not all! These lessons are jam-packed with wisdom on using and preparing mushrooms as both foods and herbs, whether foraged, cultivated, or purchased, to promote wellness.

Explore the visual characteristics of mushrooms and learn how to use identification keys.
Learn tips and tools for identifying mushrooms, and when it is appropriate and safer to leave identification to the experts.
Get up-close and personal with fungi in our mushroom walk videos. We’ll even get you started cultivating useful mushrooms in your own backyard!
Dive into the ethics, safety, and techniques of mushroom foraging.
Get familiar with…

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5 Herbs for Anxiety – Experience Life

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

It can be difficult to catch a breath these days. Between our always-on work and media culture, an accelerated pace of life, and timeless challenges like raising kids and providing eldercare, life in the 21st century can be anxiety-provoking. To say the least.

“We live in unacceptably stressful times,” says integrative psychiatrist Henry Emmons, MD, author of The Chemistry of Calm. “People are so uniformly stressed that they are looking for quick relief, often in the form of alcohol or prescription drugs. We need better options.”

Fortunately, we have them — and have had them for some time. “Plants have been used to relieve anxiety for thousands of years because anxiety has always existed,” he explains.

Anxiety originates in the brain’s amygdalae, two almond-sized structures (one in each hemisphere) that modulate the body’s response to stress. Functional-medicine physician and herbalist Aviva Romm, MD, likens their function to a surveillance system:…

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Tranquility Among The Chaos – Sylum Advent 2019

via Tranquility Among The Chaos

Title: Tranquility Among The Chaos
Fandom: Sylum Universe: Kung Fu: The Legend Continues; CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Historical Figures
Characters/Pairings: Peter Caine/Kermit Griffin, Nicolaus Valerius Meridius/Warrick Calhoun, Original Characters, Members of Shogun Clan, Members of Sylum Clan
Rating: PG
Word Count: 12,217
Summary: As he lay dying on the floor of the Triad warehouse, Peter’s only regret that he never told his partner of his feelings. Maybe in his next life. His next life came sooner than he thought, so he holds tight to the only calm in a sea of chaos.

Read story at: Whispers In The Mind ~ Tranquility Among The Chaos

Bitter Principles; How Bitter’s Work In Modern Herbal Medicine

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

In modern herbal medicine, bitter principles occupy a central place in herbal therapeutics beating the acrid constituents. Most people consuming herbal medicines complain about the bitterness of the medicines prescribed. This is the only defining attribute of herbal medicine and the only feature to set it apart from other therapies.

The bitter principles work by stimulating the bitter receptors of the tongue and increasing saliva secretion. Thus, it is always advisable to taste and chew the herbs for making the most effective. The bitter principles also bring about an increase in the secretion of digestive juices, thereby increasing appetite. They protect the tissues found in the digestive tract, boost up the bile flow and strengthens the pancreas.

Their chemical composition includes a complex pattern of molecular structures. Since they act upon the bitter receptors of the mouth, thereby producing the bitter taste in the mouth, their stimulation does not produce…

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March Birthstone: Not just Aquamarine you have another choice!

Good Witches Homestead

Aquamarine, the March birthstone, is a bluish-green stone that gets its name from aqua marinus, the Latin for “seawater”.

This is in reference to the tranquil blue color of the gemstone, which has made it a favorite gem among celebrities, royalty and everyone in between.

The natural deep blue-tinted aquamarines are the rarest and most highly prized.

Chemically, aquamarine is a type of beryl, the same mineral group as morganite and emerald, and is characterized by expansive six-sided crystals that can grow to be as long as a foot. This makes aquamarine an ideal gemstone for producing large carat pieces that, when faceted or polished, make exceptional statements.

Another significant aspect of aquamarine that makes it so valuable is that it is often eye clean (visually flawless), given that there are rarely inclusions that can be seen with the naked eye, and it has fewer fractures than emerald. Moreover…

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The AODA’s Seven Element System: Above, Below, Within, Earth, Air, Fire, Water

The Druid's Garden

The AODA’s Sphere of Protection in a Tree demonstrating the seven-element framework

Perhaps the first thing to think about in any system of spiritual or magical practice is the way in which a practice offers a framework to understand reality. These frameworks vary widely based on the spiritual tradition: some use a complex system of deities to map concepts to reality. Deities often have domains and represent certain aspects of reality (e.g the Horned God Cernunnos of Celtic Mythology can represent fertility, abundance, the land itself, and so forth). Other systems may have songs, stories, and dances to help explain the world. Other systems may recognize different kinds of energies and map them (such as the Jewish Kabbalah or Yggdrasil, the world tree, in Norse tradition, In AODA, our primary framework is a seven-element framework. The seven-element system is a highly adaptable and non-dogmatic framework that you can use…

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