My granddaughter loves to help me make herbal tea! I let her smell and taste the dried plants as we measure. It's not in this picture here... but she loves Chamomile tea and chewing on Licorice root.
The ingredients you see below here as follows:
The star shaped pile Ginger root (2tsp)
The heart-shaped pile is Astraglus root (1/4C or 1oz)
The more green colored pile in the bottom left is Echinacea herb (1T)
The more brown colored pile in the bottom right is Dandelion root (1T)
I add these herbs to 4C of water and heat to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a low simmer for 20 minutes. Then I stain and drink all day.
This combo is highly supportive of immune function and liver function but I also really like the taste of Ginger so to me, it tastes great! Some people might prefer to add a little raw honey.
Ever since I had that dream about Echinacea flowers being everywhere, I like to add it to my life in teas of the herb as well as tinctures of the roots. I also put some in a dream pillow and hold it to my heart as I fall asleep. It smells so good and my dreams are super supportive! (Echinacea can be left out for those who haven't reversed their autoimmune issues yet).
This blend has 3 of the 5 herbal "tastes" in Traditional Chinese Medicine: Bitter, Punget, & Sweet.
Herbal Tastes & Energetics
Herbal "tastes" are an important part of how traditional and shamanic herbalists understand and categorize medicinal plants just as our early human ancestors had to before modern scientists developed ways to study plants' isolated constituents.
I believe scientific studies on constituents are interesting and validating to the millennia of human experience, but I don't believe we NEED microscopes and computers to heal. Understanding the tastes and energetics of herbs will always be available to us even if scientific technology does not progress to understand the full symbiotic need we have for the whole plant, not just one constituent of the whole.
TCM utilizes the taste of herbs in 5 distinct categories: bitter, pungent, salty, sour and sweet.
Ayurvedic medicine adds the taste of "astringent" to TCM's taste list, however, it could benefit to note that many "sour" herbs of TCM are often also astringent! :D
I'll share a couple ways to look at these herbal tastes and energetics, but if you start to feel overwhelmed or worried, just go back to knowing these herbs are highly effective and safe even if the tastes and energetics are a bit much to take in right now! Shamanic herbalism has a depth and breadth that cannot be fully learned in one lifetime! Haha!
The information is simply to support a balancing of your energetics with the plants’ energetics.
Fo rexample, If you tend to feel hot and damp, then you'll first lean into balancing those energetics with herbs that have the energetics of cooling and drying that also have the taste that benefits you most.
Bitter herbs stimulate digestion, are often important for liver health and some, like Dandelion root for example, heal the gut lining over time by nourishing our friendly flora as a pre-biotic with loads of innulin as this tea bathes the intestinal lining in it's healing properties. You have bitter taste eceptors throughout your body, not just your tongue, including your digestive tract and lungs! The benefits of bitters are a LONG list!
In TCM, Bitter herbs bring harmony to the governing emotions of Joy/Hate within the Heart (which I think it's no accident the small intestines are also in this meridian)! Joy animates the Heart meridian while hatred enfeebles and deadens the Heart meridian).
When I work with clients and find their small intestines are sensitive in reflexology, they always reveal to me the ways they're also having trouble digesting the emotions of their lives... hatred for circumstances or people are tough to release all alone. Consistency
with these herbs, thought/belief work and shamanic bodywork are excellent healing supports for those who want to feel Joy again!
Punget herbs (see Ginger below)
Pungent herbs are typically warming and vitalizing, great for the cold, damp or stagnant energies! Most culinary herbs are in the pungent category, though the spectrum of heat varies quite a bit! What I've also noticed is that most culinary herbs are antimicrobial in one way or many, for example anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, etc.
Most pungent herbs are taken in small doses throughout the day or with meals.
InTCM, we find Pungent herbs support the organs of Lungs & Large Intestines and bring movement and harmony to the governing emotions of Courage/Grief within this meridian. Courage animates the Lung/Large Intestine meridian while Grief, if not digested, will enfeeble and deaden the Lung/Large Intestine meridian.
It takes courage to digest grief and not let it get stuffed down, made stagnant or enmeshed with not-grief types of pain and suffering such as blame, hate, anger, worry, fear, guilt, judgment, etc. Just like these organs, we must extract what’s needed from the experience and expel the not-useful waste that would become toxic if it remained in the body!
Sweet herbs don't taste like cotton candy! Haha! Nor do they all taste as intensely sweet as raw honey and Licorice root. Sweet herbs are known to restore our natural energy levels and modulate our immune systems in beneficial ways! All herbs nourish our bodies, and Sweet herbs are no different! They nourish us and help us build up our strength where there was once weakness due to deficiency. Sweet herbs help us better adapt and cope with stress, altering our response to stress to be more adaptive and less agitated or thrown off center. People report less inflammation, better sleep, improved alertness and energy during daylight hours, fewer illnesses, and in some herbal studies benefits in preventing or reversing cancers.
In TCM, Sweet herbs support the Stomach/Spleen/Pancreas meridian while bringing harmony to the governing emotions of Empathy/Worry. Empathy animates the Stomach/Spleen/Pancreas meridian while Worry enfeebles and deadens the Stomach/Spleen/Pancreas meridian.
Enjoy your herbal tea knowing you're not just drinking to your physical health, but your emotional health as well <3 In this cup these plants teach us, or remind us how to activate and healthyfully direct our energies through Empathy, Wisdom, and Joy!
Blessed Be,
T