Update on Monotropa Uniflora

A brief note on a few clinical experiences I've had with Monotropa uniflora (Indian Pipe/Ghost Pipe/Fairy Smoke) since my first encounters with the plant this summer:

-- A client had a panic attack while visiting a friend. She found him doubled over and only able to say "The pain! The pain!" She assumed that he was in excruciating physical pain and reached for the Monontropa uniflora tincture she had on the shelf and gave him a moderate dose (I don't know for certain but I suspect 10-20 drops).

He came to see me a few days later and told me that "The Indian Pipe took everything I was worried about and put it outside me, in front of me, where I could work on it." I told him that was almost exactly how people described the plant's effect on physical pain. (Tommy Priester says that it puts you "beside your pain" where you are aware of it without feeling it.)

Over the next two weeks or so, he continued using the tincture for acute panic attacks that were coming almost daily. When I saw him next he told me that one day he began having a panic attack and began thinking about the plant and remembered the way it worked inside him. He said he realized then that he didn't need to take the tincture anymore. Despite dealing with some large setbacks in his life since then, his emotional health has remained excellent.

-- A client had been experiencing severe migraines since sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury in the first Gulf War. As he described his experiences, I immediately saw Monotropa uniflora, its form resembling the brainstem. I told him to take 3 drops for acute migraine pain. He came back to me the next day and told me it was the first medicine that had ever touched the pain of his headaches. (I also gave him a formula including Ashwagandha, Wood Betony, Oat Milky Seed, and Clematis for daily use but have not heard back about the effectiveness of that formula.)

-- On two occasions, I have used Monotropa uniflora with people experiencing acute psychotic episodes brought on after taking large doses of psychedelics. (As Jim McDonald and others have pointed out, psychedelics don't cause psychosis, but they can bring out an underlying psychosis.)

In the first instance, I gave 30 drops of Monotropa uniflora and 30 drops of Monotropa uniflora to a man who was disoriented and very verbally agressive. After a short time he became much more subdued though still severely disoriented, and a little while later fell asleep. He was lucid when he eventually woke up.

In the second instance, I was part of a team working with a man who had gone into a full scale dissociative state after taking 5 hits of LSD and had become extremely physically and verbally violent. We initially gave him 10 drops of Monotropa uniflora tincture with no response. Over the course of the next hour we gave him two 30 drop doses of the tincture. (In addition to Mimulus to address his panic.) After the second dose his pupils became less dilated and his eyes became more responsive and he began to respond more directly to outside stimuli. Our sense was that the Monotropa uniflora had brought him "down" from the trip at a physical level.

However, it didn't touch the underlying psychosis. He remained physically violent, emotionally agitated, and verbally incoherent for the following four hours. Eventually he became physically exhausted enough for friends to take him to a hospital at which point we lost touch with him.

(We had avoided calling 911 because we knew there was little that an Emergency Room could do in this instance that we couldn't and that an ambulance would have required police assistance. Given the near certainty that he would have assaulted the officers trying to help him, we erred on the side of sparing him from facing felony charges.)

Green Man Botanicals Holy Basil Tincture

Holy Basil Tincture
(Ocimum sanctum)

1 oz -- $10 2 oz -- $18 4 oz -- $35
Leaves and Flowering Tops in 80 proof alcohol

• Adaptogenic – helps the body adapt to respond to stress.
• Helps the immune system respond to changing conditions.
• Helps to release stagnant energies and emotions.
• Traditionally used to improve memory and energy and to treat coughs, colds, and indigestion.
• Contains antibacterial, antiviral and antioxidant compounds

NOTE: These statements are for educational purposes only and have not been reviewed by the FDA. Neither this product nor this information are intended to diagnose, treat or cure any medical condition.

To order e-mail seandonahuepoet@gmail.com. Check or paypal accepted. $5 shipping per order (shipped Priority Mail.)

A Swampy Medicine for Swampy Lungs

This post is part of the October Blog Party: Bio-regional herbs for the Cold and Flu Season being hosted by Rosalee de la Foret at www.methowvalleyherbs.blogspot.com

Photo by Darcey Blue French

My relationship with Eastern Skunk Cabbage began with a dream about digging its roots to treat my own asthma -- a journey chronicled in an earlier post.

Recently I have been finding that many of my own experiences with the plant are consistent with the discoveries and practices of the Eclectics who knew the plant as Dracontium foetidum. (By the 1890's, most botanists were using the name by which the plant is known today, Symplocarpus foetidus, but I much prefer the older name.)

I believe Eastern Skunk Cabbage deserves a place in the Materia Medica of modern New England herbalists as an excellent ally in treating asthma and respiratory infections -- including the stubborn, lingering respiratory infections that often follow when someone does not get enough rest to fully recover from a serious bout of the flu. We have a tremendous amount to learn from earlier generations' usage of the plant.

The 1898 edition of King's American Dispensatory describes Skunk Cabbage root as "a stimulant, exerting expectorant [. . .]" Just as the plant's contractile roots reach deep into swampy soils to drink up moisture, the root as a medicine brings up excess mucous from deep in the lungs. Energetically it is neutral to warm -- well suited to treating the kind of deep, cold congestion that can set in with a stubborn lingering case of bronchitis or pneumonia.

Yet as a diaphoretic herb it can also help to release the excess heat associated with influenza and the ensuing inflammation of the lungs.

The Eclectics frequently combined Skunk Cabbage with Lobelia in their formulae. Lobelia would help to open the airways while Skunk Cabbage would help to bring up phlegm.

Both medicines are profoundly antispasmodic, and Skunk Cabbage is slightly narcotic, so the combination would also help to quell violent coughing fits and allow a sick person to sleep.

Skunk Cabbage root is also a nervine. King's American Dispensatory notes that "Its action upon the nervous system is marked, relieving irritation, and it has a tendency to promote normal functional activity of the nervous structures." As an asthmatic I know that the shortness of breath caused by the contraction of my airways is always compounded by the wave of panic that ensues when I can't get enough oxygen. Skunk Cabbage helps tremendously in calming that panic.

I harvest the roots Eastern Skunk Cabbage in March, when the green buds of the flowers have emerged but have not yet turned purple. There is usually still snow on the ground -- Skunk Cabbage is thermogenic and melts the ice, frost, and snow around it to become the first plant emerging in the swamp in spring. I dry the roots for a few days as a precaution because drying diminishes the levels of calcium oxalate crystals present, and then tincture them in 100 proof vodka. For acute respiratory infections I use 5-15 drops 4-6 times a day.

For bronchitis and bacterial and fungal pneumonias I usually use Skunk Cabbage along with Usnea.

For persistent, deep, cold, wet bronchitis and pneumonia I use Skunk Cabbage along with Elecampane and Pleurisy Root.

Large doses of Skunk Cabbage root may be emetic -- and in one nineteenth century formula, Skunk Cabbage was combined with Lobelia, Wild Ginger, Pleurisy Root, and Bloodroot as an "emetic for children and infants, [. . . ] safely used in croup, whooping-cough, bronchitis, asthma, convulsions, and in all cases where an emetic is required." When my asthma was at its most severe growing up, I often felt relief only when I would throw up, forcing some of the mucous from my bronchi in the process. In my own practice, I am not quite ready to revive old emetic therapies for acute bronchial and pulmonary congestion, but the idea is worth thinking about.

September Update

GREEN MAN HEALING ARTS
September Update

In this issue:

• Green Man Botanicals -- New this month: Holy Basil, Self-Heal, and Ghost Pipe
  
• Seeking venues for talks and workshops
• September Special for new clients -- sign up for a first consultation and get your second one free!
• 2 Herbalists and a dog seeking work and a winter home

GREEN MAN BOTANICALS

The forests and fields of Maine have continued to be bountiful, and I am pleased to have more tinctures and flower essences to share. All are made from organically grown or ethically wild-crafted plants.

None of this information and none of these products are intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, or cure of any medical condition.

TINCTURES AND ELIXIRS

1:1 extracts made using the Simpler's method.

Holy Basil (Ocimum sanctum) -- Traditionally used in India to treat memory loss, fatigue, colds, asthma, and indigestion. Some practitioners have also had great success in using Holy Basil to alleviate stagnant depression and help release thoughts and emotions stuck in the past. Research indicates that the plant may also aid in the modulation of immune responses. Flowering tops and leaves in 80 proof brandy. -- $10/oz

Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris) -- Used in Europe traditionally for inflamed topical wounds and in Traditional Chinese Medicine to soften hard masses and swolen lymph nodes and to treat conditions connected with rising Liver Fire. Many herbalists also use Self Heal to relieve fevers without lowering the body's temperature too far. In addition, Self-Heal has antiviral, antimicrobial, antibacterial, astringent, carminative, vulneary, and antispasmodic actions. Flowers in 80 proof brandy. -- $10/oz

Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) -- A powerful plant to be used with great care in small doses for short periods of time to relieve intense physical pain or severe acute anxiety or in cases of acute dissociative episodes. Whole plant in 100 proof vodka. $10/ 1/2 oz, $15/oz

Oxeye Daisy (Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum) -- The Eclectic Physicians of the nineteenth century classified this plant as tonic, diuretic, and antispasmodic. The 1898 edition of King's American Dispensary suggested its use for "whooping cough, asthma, and nervous excitability." Some contemporary practitioners have noted its affinity for the upper respiratory system. Aerial parts in 80 proof brandy. $10/oz

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Glycerite -- Yarrow has traditionally been used to release trapped heat from the body, stem bleeding, ease pain and spasms including menstrual cramps, bring relief from colds and flus, and aid in divination. Flowers and first year leaves in vegetable glycerin. $10/oz

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) Elixir -- Traditionally used to nourish pregnant women and lactating mothers, smooth the transition into menopause and andropause, promote fertility, and support the lymphatic system, among dozens of other uses. Flowers in a blend of vegetable glycerin and brandy. $10/oz

FLOWER ESSENCES

Stock essences -- $15/oz, $8 1/2 oz Dosage bottles of any essence or combination -- $10/oz, $8 1/2 oz

Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) -- For those who walk between worlds.

Trillium (Trillium Erectum) -- An ally in giving birth to the self.

Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) -- Cradles and supports the heart, allowing it to open to healing love and healing eros, human, wild, and divine.

Self-Heal (Prunella Vulgaris) -- Restores faith in our ability to heal ourselves.

Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) -- Aids in emerging from abusive patterns and relationships and emerging from dark depression.

_____________________________________________

Payment accepted by check or Paypal. To order e-mail seandonahuepoet@gmail.com . $5 shipping per order.
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TALKS AND WORKSHOPS

Sean is looking for venues to give talks and workshops on the following themes this fall, winter, and spring:

COMMON SENSE ABOUT FLUS AND PANDEMICS

There is lots of frightening and confusing information in the press and online about "Swine Flu" right now. And panic itself can be a factor in the spread of disease as stress first amps up and then wears down our immune systems. Herbalist Sean Donahue helps put the threat in perspective and gives practical herbal and nutritional strategies for preventing and dealing with flus.

HERBS FOR STRESS

The daily stresses of living in a culture that is so wildly out of balance take their toll on our bodies over time. Herbalist Sean Donahue explains the biology of stress -- how it plays out in our bodies and how it contributes to disease. And he shares how herbs, nutrition, meditation, and lifestyle changes can help our bodies, minds, and spirits deal better with the frustrations, anxieties, and fears that are part and parcel of living in these times.

HERBS FOR THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Stress, pollution, and poor nutrition all combine to take their toll on the immune system. Some of us have immune systems that are dangerously depleted, leaving us vulnerable to infection, others have immune systems that are revved up too high, causing our bodies to attack themselves. Herbalist Sean Donahue will talk about how nutrition and herbs can help to restore and support healthy immune function.

LISTENING TO THE WILD

The world is alive and constantly speaking to us – we just have to learn to listen. Throughout history and throughout the world, indigenous peoples have used their hearts as organs of perception to take in messages from the living Earth – this is how the great healing traditions of the world were born. Herbalist Sean Donahue explains the philosophy underlying this approach to the world, the biology of the heart as an organ of perception, and simple techniques that can open the hear to the world around us.

CONSULTATIONS -- EVERY NEW CLIENT IN SEPTEMBER GETS A FREE FOLLOW-UP SESSION!

Our bodies have a tremendous ability to heal themselves given the right support. Working with herbs, flower essences, nutritional and lifestyle changes, energy work, and ceremony, Sean Donahue helps people find the support they need for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.

An initial session involves an in depth exploration of the history of the issues a client wants to work on and the client's health history. Intake sessions typically last 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Clients are also asked to fill out a questionnaire before the first session.

Future sessions will be shorter. Depending on the client's needs they may include energy work, ceremony, and adjustment's to herbal protocols.

Sean works on a sliding scale, charging between $100 - 150 for an initial intake session, and $30 - 40 per half-hour for each follow-up session. He can also often provide herbal forumlae for an additional fee of $10-15 per ounce depending on the plants used. THIS MONTH ONLY, EVERY NEW CLIENT WILL RECEIVE A FREE FOLLOW-UP SESSION 2-6 WEEKS AFTER THEIR INITIAL CONSULTATION.

Barter is also joyfully accepted. Installment plans can be negotiated as well. No one is ever turned away for lack of funds.

Sean is currently available to see clients at the Center for Mindful Living in Lawrence, MA and at Nezinscot Farm in Turner, ME. He also sees clients in the Boston area. Soon he will also be seeing clients in Bethel, ME and Richmond, VT.

While it is ideal to meet in person, Sean is also able to offer long distance consultation by telephone and e-mail. Long distance consultations are a starting point and are not a substitute for an in person consultation with a local herbalist.

If you have questions or would like to make an appointment, please call Sean at 978-809-8054 or e-mail him at seandonahuepoet@gmail.com.

FREE TO A GOOD HOME -- TWO HERBALISTS AND A DOG

My Siberian Husky, Trill, and I have been tremendously lucky to spend the Spring and Summer in a wonderful community in Sumner, ME.

But we will be moving on this winter. My partner, Darcey Blue French, an amazing herbalist, nutritionist and chef will be making the cross-country trek from Tuscon, AZ to join us this winter. And so we are looking for a winter home for our little family, hopefully in New England or upstate New York.

We are looking for a low cost living situation, and between us can come up with a small amount for rent and utilities each month. We are also glad to provide free health consultations and herbs, delicious healthy meals, running errands, care for children, elders, pets, or plants in exchange for reduced rent. Our needs are simple -- we would be very happy with a bedroom and access to a kitchen and a bathroom or outhouse in a family or communal home, or would be delighted to take care of a cottage or cabin for the winter as long as there is a way to heat it.

In addition, we are both looking for work this winter. I have extensive experience in writing, editing, and political organizing. Darcey has extensive experience in the natural products/health food industry, retail sales and management, gardening and indoor plant care, writing and editing.

Please e-mail me as seandonahuepoet@gmail.com with any leads.

Fall and Winter Workshops

Sean Donahue is available to give the following workshops and presentations this fall and winter:

COMMON SENSE ABOUT FLUS AND PANDEMICS

There is lots of frightening and confusing information in the press and online about "Swine Flu" right now. And panic itself can be a factor in the spread of disease as stress first amps up and then wears down our immune systems. Herbalist Sean Donahue helps put the threat in perspective and gives practical herbal and nutritional strategies for preventing and dealing with flus.

HERBS FOR STRESS

The daily stresses of living in a culture that is so wildly out of balance take their toll on our bodies over time. Herbalist Sean Donahue explains the biology of stress -- how it plays out in our bodies and how it contributes to disease. And he shares how herbs, nutrition, meditation, and lifestyle changes can help our bodies, minds, and spirits deal better with the frustrations, anxieties, and fears that are part and parcel of living in these times.

HERBS FOR THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Stress, pollution, and poor nutrition all combine to take their toll on the immune system. Some of us have immune systems that are dangerously depleted, leaving us vulnerable to infection, others have immune systems that are revved up too high, causing our bodies to attack themselves. Herbalist Sean Donahue will talk about how nutrition and herbs can help to restore and support healthy immune function.

LISTENING TO THE WILD

The world is alive and constantly speaking to us – we just have to learn to listen. Throughout history and throughout the world, indigenous peoples have used their hearts as organs of perception to take in messages from the living Earth – this is how the great healing traditions of the world were born. Herbalist Sean Donahue explains the philosophy underlying this approach to the world, the biology of the heart as an organ of perception, and simple techniques that can open the hear to the world around us.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Sean Donahue is an herbalist, activist, poet, and journalist dedicated to promoting personal and planetary healing through connection to the living Earth.

Through herbs, flower essences, nutritional and lifestyle coaching, and ceremony, Sean works with people to find ways to restore the dynamic balances necessary to maintaining physical and spiritual health. He can be reached at seandonahuepoet@gmail.com

St.. Johns Wort, Viruses, and Exorcism

The St. John's Wort was so late in blooming this rainy summer that I thought it would never come. But by the middle of July it was in full blossom, and I found myself lying in a field of St. John's Wort at the end of a logging road, eating the flowers as Darcey and I gathered them.

I thought about St. John's Wort's traditional use as an herb of exorcism. Maude Grieve writes that

"Its name Hypericum is derived from the Greek and means 'over an apparition,' a reference to the belief that the herb was so obnoxious to evil spirits that a whiff of it would cause them to fly."(1)

Contemporary herbalists have associated this historical use with the plant's antidepressant qualities. Matthew Wood writes:

"St. John's wort and wood betony were the two most important remedies for psychiatric problems in the Middle Ages -- what were then called the ill-effects of witchcraft and demons. Both plants strengthen the enteric brain, seat of the instincts, and its in this manner that they 'drive away evil influences' -- the person gets stronger, so as not to fall under the domination of untoward people. Today, Hypericum is used for depression and anxiety."(2)

But as I ate the flowers, St. John's Wort began to tell me that he performs exorcisms on another level as well.

Gail Faith Edwards writes that:

"Many studies have proven that St. John's Wort inhibits a variety of viruses, including herpes simplex types 1 and 2 and HIV-1 viruses associated with AIDS."(3)

St. John's Wort explained to me that a viral infection is the cellular equivalent of possession.

Viruses work by injecting their DNA into cells and using the cell's bodies to reproduce, destroying their hosts in the process. St. John's Wort acts to contain a viral infection, protecting healthy cells from being taken over by outside entities that would use their bodies for their own purposes.

St. John's Wort also explained that civilization is a psychic and spiritual virus that can only be checked by "eating the wild."(4)

Civilization -- the idea that we must carve place outside of wildness, and subdue the wildness in ourselves in order to survive within this new territory emerging around us through human action -- moves from person to person in the places where many congregate in close proximity. It replaces our memory of the fluid darkness from which we emerged with a bright blinding light that keeps us from seeing anything outside its field. It replaces the bone-deep knowledge of who we are with a new identity, the identity of citizens, cells in the body of a new organism. Cells whose prime directive is to pass down the genetic code of the virus to another generation of beings born human and wild and divine but soon robbed of all three identities by the infection passed down to them from their parents and the other people around them.

Growing at the edges of landscapes shaped by humans -- fields and road sides -- and when rubbed his petals stain fingers red with oils the color of our blood. Blood connects us to our origins -- both to the womb of our mothers and to the stars where the iron which gives it its color was forged.

Even at the moment in history when civilization was beginning to try to rout the wildness out of Europe's rural populations, St. John's Wort was associated with the figure Stephen Harrod Buhner calls "the Wild Redeemer." Matthew Wood writes:

"Hypericum blooms around the Feast of St. John the Baptist. Just as Christmas Day is the official church holiday associated with the winter solstice, St. John's Day is the holiday near the summer solstice. In the Biblical account, St. John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin, born six months before him, so naturally his feast day fell at the summer solstice. Just as Jesus took over the functions of the dying and resurrecting pagan god of winter, St. John was associated with the pagan god of summer vegetation and life. The Bible recounts that St. John went off to live by himself in the wilderness 'dressed like a wild man,' feeding on wild plants. The medieval Catholics recognized his resemblance to the 'Wild Man' or 'Green Man" associated with the blooming fertility of summer. These associations were transferred to St. John's plant, which not only blooms at Midsummer, but had long been used as a fumigant to remove diabolic and dangerous influences from the home."(5)

Anyone with a passing knowledge of Shakespeare knows as well that Midsummer was associated with bawdy celebrations of an unabashedly pagan nature well into the sixteenth century. In Celtic lands it was the traditional moving time of the Fae-rie court, a night of powerful magic. A plant associated with that feast is a plant associated with that magic. (Wood also speaks of St. John's Wort as a plant associated with the Fae-rie.)

And so it comes as no surprise that St. John's Wort would reveal himself to me as I was on my hands and knees in a summer field with my lover, eating flowers picked with my teeth.

St. John's Wort acts by casting out the forces that would possess our bodies, minds, and spirits, by feeding the fire at the core of our beings with a bright infusion of sunfire turning from yellow to red, by reminding us of our wild wholeness.

Eat him and be transformed.

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1. Maude Grieve. A Modern Herbal. online at http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/sajohn06.html
2. Matthew Wood. The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2008.
3. Gail Faith Edwards. Opening Our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs. Woodstock, NY: Ash Tree Publishing, 2000. (Edwards notes elsewhere that Hyssop, another traditional herb of blessing and protection, also inhibits HIV replication.)
4. "If we eat the wild, it begins to work inside us, altering us, changing us. Soon, if we eat too much, we will no longer fit the suit that has been made for us. Our hair will begin to grow long and ragged. Our gait and how we hold our body will change. A wild light begins to gleam in our eyes. Our words start to sound strange, nonlinear, emotional. Unpractical. Poetic. Once we have tasted this wildness, we begin to hunger for a food long denied us, and the more we eat the more we will awaken." -- Stephen Harrod Buhner. The Secret Teachings of Plants. Rochester, VT: Bear & Company, 2004
5. Matthew Wood. The Book of Herbal Wisdom. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1997.

Teleseminar With Sean Donahue and Iris Weaver Wednsday 8/26

Spiritual herbalist, educator, healer, and professional speaker, Iris Weaver has invited me to be the guest for her first monthly teleseminar this Wednesday. Iris writes:

I am really excited to be having my first monthly teleseminar on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. My guest will be Sean Donahue, Herbalist, poet, and ritual technician.

Sean has an amazing rapport with plants, and I am so happy to be able to talk with him about plants, healing, and lots more.

I will also be introducing my friend plant Ox-eye Daisy, a truly wonderful flower.

So please join me on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. The number to call is 218-339-3600. When you dial the number you will be prompted to enter your pin code: 1082063#.

If you should have any questions you would like answered on air, please e-mail your questions to me at rootsheal@juno.com