Owl of Minerva Herbal Advisory
The aim of this website is to assist people in the use of and in making of herbal tinctures, decoctions, infusions and syrups that can be used more safely, and with a clearer purpose of the active alchemaic properties. In addition, promoting the role of herbal products as an adjunct therapy in the usage and alchemy of vitamins is core to good health. Vitamins, as well as food in general, contain biochemical properties which can either inhibit or assist absorption of nutrients required for optimum health. Knowing what vitamin or herb inhibits or assists a property or process is fundamental in using herbs and vitamins safely. For example, it has long been known that iron absorption can be enhanced by taking vitamin C at the same time as taking iron (e.g. ingesting nettles or rose hips), but that absorption or iron can be inhibited by ingesting iron with red wine or tea as both contain tannins. The inhibition or enhancement to biochemical processes is key to what underlies regulation of herbs and vitamins.
From April 2011, the manufacture and sale (eg the sale of brands) of herbal tinctures and any other herbal remedy, including some vitamins, which are derived from herbal products to the public was banned in Europe and the UK unless the maker or seller (of their brand) obtains a license and/or registration of the product. Registration will be required for each herb used in a product. Over time, multi-herb products will certainly become extinct due to excessive costs. Since the costs of licensing are very high, many sellers and manufacturers will cut back in selling or making a range of herbal products and some will even close. The purpose of this ban is to regulate herbal products with the aim of reducing unpleasant side-effects and to minimise their ability to interact in a negative fashion with prescribed drugs. Safety of products is another aim of regulation not efficacy of products. Over the past few years, several incidents occurred in which individuals taking large doses of herbs over long time spans became very ill and these cases have been highlighted in the media prompting the licensing. These scenarios may well have been less severe if the persons prescribing the herbs had practiced better risk management with their clients. Equally, the persons taking the herbs need to make informed decisions about what and why they are ingesting.
To compensate for the loss in due time of obtaining manufactured "off the shelf" herbal products, individuals can easily make their own tinctures and herbal teas from available plants or herbs, and can locate sources of vitamins from the natural world. Did you know that orange peel contains more vitamin C than the juicy parts you usually eat? If you first dry the orange peel, then grate it, you can use the dried powder as your daily source of vitamin C. When making and using home-made tinctures, or syrups, or managing vitamin uptake, appropriate guidance is still needed for identifying correct dosage and potential side - effects. More importantly, knowing the correct rationale for why you might need to take the herb is necessary. We provide useful information from historical sources as to why a herb or vitamin might be useful. In addition to this, we provide information as to why herbal products or vitamins may be dangerous to use. Ultimately, seeing a qualified herbal practitioner is best, but if unaffordable then using your own skills and intuition may be an only option.
Tinctures and herb use in health support
Herbal medicine is the only form of medicine practiced by animals. We have learned to utilise herbs for keeping healthy from observing animals in nature. Animals use herbal medicines in their raw form, eating living plants. Humans cannot always obtain the raw plants and we have to endure processed or dried versions.
Tinctures, infusions or decoctions are the next a more effective method of ingesting herbal medicines compared to capsules, which is partly why we endorse their use. Also, they are free from additives which are often used in capsules or tablets which themselves can be harmful (eg stearic acid is harmful in large doses). In addition, it has been argued by some that binding or preservative products in capsule or tablets actually help neutralise the effect of the vitamin. Should this be the case, tinctures, infusions and decoctions are the safest method of ingesting herbal medicines. Historical knowledge of the use of tinctures, non- alcoholic liquid herbal syrups, infusions and decoctions has shown that they can stimulate healing using the holistic properties of plants. Along this line, ancients often used liquid herbal products very effectively. Using both ancient and modern herbal medicines can address various aspects involved in modern health problems.
Deep rooted health conditions can benefit from herbal medicines and vitamin regulation. Naturalistic and empirical research has shown that post-viral illness (eg ME & CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), Epstein Barr) are examples of conditions which may benefit from herbal remedies. Viral, bacterial or other immune illnesses have been shown to often respond very positively to specific herbs. Pain and fatigue seem also to be managed better. The bipolarity of ying and yang appear to become balanced as does the sensation of being lifted up a notch or two. The restorative aspects involved in the bipolarity of ying and yang depends on alchemaic principles explained in more depth via the chemistry of herbs link.
Using herbal medicines can help promote healthier physical and psychological states of being as the field of herbal medicine has shown holisticism targets the "whole" of an illness rather than just a part of it. Literature also shows that those experiencing depression or anxiety, or those who are feeling that the word is a very difficult place at the moment can often react well....herbal medicines appear to help an individual cope much better as some of the physiological causes of negative symptoms or feelings are targeted.
Early alchemy
How do we know that ancients knew about medicinal herbs? Alchemaic herbal recipes and concoctions derived from ancient and historical sources (e.g. ancient Egyptians) show how people in pre - modern times, treated symptoms of illness and managed their health conditions. By default, a holistic approach was necessary since the science of the times was not as empirically rigid. Like us, these people suffered both physical and psychological conditions, and endured often dramatic climatic and economic changes. Whether surviving natural events like ice-ages, floods, volcanic eruptions, warming, or man made events such as wars and pestilence, utilising plants for diet and healing was key for survival.
So how did ancients become so aware of the chemical properties of plants and their influence on body biochemistry, and how did they use this knowledge when coping with adversity? Ancients managed their illnesses using the wisdom of alchemaic knowledge handed down through time via verbal and written scripts over 1000's years. Knowledge about the role of mercury and sulphur in health is as ancient as the Egyptians. Sulphur represents the alcohol in plants, whilst mercury represents the essential oils. Furthermore, many discoveries of successful treatments were accidental. An excellent example of an accidental discovery of herb usage has a historical source that is documented; it was known that certain kinds of moss found on human skulls appeared to be a very good antibiotic. One might wonder, how was the reaction of this moss identified? On the battlefields, by accident?Maybe a wounded soldier exposed his wound to the moss on a skull by lying next to a skull and avoided infection. After the soldier survived, he spread the word and so collecting the moss from skulls on the battlefields became routine to help heal battle wounds. Many soldiers lives would have been saved by the use of the antibiotic effects of skull moss.The link below provides more evidence about this amazing healing moss.
Since we are now experiencing global changes which include climate change, increased number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, we may need to draw from ancient knowledge when events happen which may interfere with our access to conventional medical treatments.
Ancient or historical knowledge of the subtleties involved in keeping the balance in bipolarity of aversion and acceptance in both biological and psychological systems plays a large part in keeping good health. Keeping the balance of mercurial and sulphuric proportions of what we ingest is one example. Mercury and sulphur are the basis of yin and yang.
In the far off past, people with power most likely employed herbalists to perform experiments on people to identify hidden alchemaic processes. Perhaps these early experiments were carried out on prisoners and criminals. Many thousands of experiments would have been conducted on people and animals before knowledge was refined about the effectiveness of remedies. Through this accumulation of knowledge which was leaked out top down to the common man from royal courts, the results of secret experiments were leaked out and became folklore. Herbalists who worked alone experimented as well, and helped identify potent herbs. Knowledge from such people most likely was filtered down through time bottom up in society as folk medicine. Sometimes, solitary herbalists were eliminated (e.g. witches) or became social misfits to help control the known body of regulated alchemaic knowledge. Keeping knowledge secure for healing was crucial to the powerful for it helped to define a magical and omnipotent aura to them.
Many modern conventional treatments are either versions of ancient remedies that have been adapted through knowledge and experimentation, or are often synthetic formulas of single parts of the whole herb - did you know that asprin is really a synthetic version of the salicic acid naturally found in willow bark and the meadowsweet plant? Both of these herbs were used extensively for pain management in the past. Historical records have revealed that King Henry VIII used the meadowsweet plant to help him with the pain he endured on account of his many illnesses. Meadowsweet was also a favourite herb of Queen Elizabeth 1st for managing her moods!! Most royal palaces kept specialised gardens for growing herbs and plants contributing to the upkeep of health of royal families. Plants were brought in from all over the world for just such a purpose. Henry VIII's botanical gardens at Hampton Court Palace, London clearly reveal that royals expressed an interest in herbal medicine. Royalty typically employed teams of herbalists from all over the world to advance the knowledge of the alchemaic properties of herbs and plants.
Our knowledge of the actions of herbs aims to draw from the knowledge of the holistic properties of herbal remedies used in ancient times. Why was a particular herb used in the past? Was use of herbs for an illness or injury derived from an innate knowledge hidden within man? Or was it learnt through observation of animal use? Maybe use of herbs as medicines evolved through direct observation of the side effects coupled with success in healing ability. If so, the herbs the ancient Greeks, Romans, Pagans, Medieval & Native American Indian folk folk recommended may be of tremendous value to us today.
Selected combination tinctures are often derived from very ancient knowledge and contain an abundance of healing properties. In the past, diet was uncontaminated by modern chemicals and genetically modified food which would make herbal tinctures more highly effective. Today, reverting to a diet and lifestyle which is less acidic with lower sugar consumption, as was in the past, would compliment the use and potency of tinctures (see our herbs for tinctures A-C and vitamin deficiency page for further information).
Clicking on the linked items below will take you to the relevant single items page which may be useful to you if you intend making your own tinctures. Our descriptions of herbs suitable for tinctures include:
General Information about Tinctures
Tinctures versus Capsules
There is a significant advantage in using herbal tinctures as opposed to capsules since it could take 7 capsules to equal a dose of ½ tea spoon of tincture. Capsules can take from 20 - 30 minutes or more just for the system to break it down so the body can start assimilate the content. Most capsules are still made from gelatin, derived from animal bones and bone marrow. Some people have difficulties swallowing them. Tinctures on the other hand have a bitter taste (that's what your body needs and NOT refined sugar) and are assimilated with your saliva within 1-4 minutes into your bloodstream.
Important Information for Herb Users
As from October 9th 2010, and because of changes in the law in April 2011, this site will become solely educational and will not be selling herbal tinctures since new laws in Europe and the UK will prevent the sale of any plants for healing unless the plant has been registered. Instead of solely regulating practitioners, authorities will instead regulate the sale of many herbs to the general public for safety reasons; most people buy their own herbs rather than see herbal practitioners. Consequently, using the dandelion weed from your garden as a tincture or even as a tea, will require registration if the intent is to sell or supply for a medicinal purpose. Registration of all plants will at some point lead to qualified herbal practitioners being unable to supply many herbs to their clients as they will be unable to source all the herbs they need; Suppliers will cut down on importing and exporting herbs as demand dries up. The trade from the East into Europe will also dry up. The cost of registering plants ranges between £1000-7000 GBR. The registration requirement of all the plants on the planet used for healing will most certainly be the end of herbal medicine as we know it. Moreover, registration may cover herbal teas as well. It will cost £1000's for a manufacturer to register a simple mixed herbal tea (eg lemon and ginger) if there is a medicinal benefit. Consequently, many herbal tea companies may eventually close or reduce their ranges.
As a result of the registration, we will soon focus on promoting alchemy through knowledge and theory rather than practice. We will provide an in depth alchemy of herbal medicine so that individuals can be directed to make their own health support products safely. It will be up to the skill of interested individuals as to whether they can obtain the natural products that they need.
As a result of registration and herbal medicines being limited to the top few companies who may either by accident or by intent, genetically modify a small range the herbs and take out the active ingredients (and then test them for efficacy with no health benefits), the health of humans in the future may be compromised. Not being able to readily acquire natural herbs as and when people need them at reasonable costs could end up with a greater dependence for synthetic medicines alongside enduring the physical costs of their side-effects.
On a more important note, since the world is in recession, and will be for some time, many individuals will be unable to afford conventional medicines, particularly those in the US where medical insurance is required. Herbal medicines can offer the only hope for healing to those on lower incomes. Having access to herbs cut - off during a recession will most certainly lead to many earlier fatalities due to the cumulative effect of unresolved minor illneses or at least greater incapacity. Whilst safety is core, good health is possibly better in some instances.
Urgent: It is now advisable for individuals to stock up on important herbs as purchasing them will become very difficult post April 2011. People will be limited to making their own tinctures from available wild plants or growing their own. Buying seeds of the herbs you want is recommended. Collecting wild plants will most likely be banned as more people will resort to collecting them, shutting off the supply even more. In time, even the growing of herbs will be regulated. They may even fall into a classified drugs range or a new category might even be created for them(e.g. mood and physical enhancing drugs) . Regulation of vitamins is deemed to follow.
Dried herbs have a shelf life of up to 3 years if stored properly, so soon begin purchasing or growing the herbs that you think you might need. A batch of herbs collected in 2011 will see you through to 2015. After that it is anticipated that obtaining herbs will be difficult to say the least.
The free information that is available at or through this site is not intended directly or by implication to either diagnose or cure any medical, emotional, or psychological condition or disorder. Any assumptions are derived from historical or more current sources, some scientific, but requiring intuition as to their usage.
Educate yourself to heal yourself. That is our motto.
Owl of Minerva Herbal Advisory aims to educate and assist in healing.