Magical Brews, Part Two
In my previous post, I described how I’d discovered the wonders of herbal teas in my research of ancient healing methods. Now I will outline the specific herbal teas that one of my characters, a druid healer, uses.
First, though, I should establish a bit of context. The region in which these herbs would be harvested is central France (Orleans to Clermont-Ferrand). The time frame: 1st c. BC. So this is Celtic Gaul on the eve of the Roman invasion and occupation by Julius Caesar.
Most of the herbs would be obtained through wildcrafting techniques, dried, but also used fresh. However, Roman and Greek trading colonies in Narbonensis, or the Province (modern Provence) had been well-established, and trade throughout “Hairy Gaul” is evidenced by archaeological finds of Roman amphorae (large wine vessels) from the late 2nd c. BC through the early 1st c. AD. “During the 1st century BC, as many as 40 million amphorae were transported into Gaul.”
Logically, we can assume (along with archaeological evidence of a variety of trade goods) that herbalists would have had access to herbs used by Mediterranean cultures.
That’s the basis of my list here. I’ve taken creative license in the names of the herbs, trying to be as accurate as possible, using Latin when appropriate, but also common names passed down over the years. While this may not have been exactly how a Gaulish druid would refer to an herb, it is hopefully close enough to establish a sense of authenticity.
Just a note: many herbs can have negative side-effects when combined with pharmaceuticals. Never use an herb without first researching these side-effects. I’ve included links to sites that detail possible conflicts, but this is probably the best one.
List of Herbs: I’ve listed just the herbs I’m using in my novel, with basic descriptions. I may come back to this topic later to detail other herbs I’ve discovered personally.
Calamus Root / Sweet Flag – stimulant and bitter. A single passage in a book called The Hallucinogens has led to the urban legend that it is also a hallucinogen, but an anecdotal report from a husband and wife hardly constitutes proof. It comes from the root of the marsh reed acorus calamus found across Europe (as well as Asia, Australia, and North America). The Greeks named it Kalamos after the son of the river-god Maeander, who loved the youth Karpos. When Karpos drowned while swimming, Kalamos drowned himself in grief and was transformed into a reed. The sound of the reed rustling in the wind was said to be a sigh of grief for love lost.
Uses: In ancient Egypt, it was used as an aphrodisiac. Native Americans used it as a stimulant as well as a cure for sore throats or runny noses. In India, it is use to bring clarity to the mind, especially as a hang-over cure. It’s bitter properties reduce stomach acidity and increase digestion. Typically the dried root is chewed. I’ve tried this. It’s pretty gross, sort of like a strong ginger. I can’t imagine swallowing it. The Ojibwe would scald the root in a tea.
Fictional Application: my druid uses this both as medicine for alcohol-withdrawal (my narrator is going through bit of a crisis) and a stimulant to aid divination. He calls it “Aventia’s root,” after a Celtic spring nympth who drowns herself in grief when her friend dies. Yes, I just changed the Greek story, but I also point this out in the story. The appropriation of cultural myths was common practice, and I liked the argument it created about whose origin story was most authentic.
Meadowsweet / Queen of the Meadow / Bridewort / Lady of the Meadow / Spiraea ulmaria – a sweet, almond-smelling weed, this herb has archaeological traces back to the Bronze Age. A variety of herbalism sites and books have called it a sacred herb of the druids, although I haven’t been able to verify this with credible sources yet. It blooms with close clusters of small, cream-colored flowers. It was revered in old England and was even mentioned by Chaucer as one of fifty herbs that was used in a drink called Save.
Uses: Nature’s Aspirin – contains the same salicylates as aspirin. It is a tasty, gentle tea that relieves stomach acidity and calms the digestive tract. The tea also makes an excellent eyewash to take the sting and itch from irritated eyes.
Fictional Application: I have an argument between two druids about the proper herb to use for a remedy, with one claiming that the sacred “Lady of the Meadow” must be used.
Marshmallow / Althea officinalis / Herb of Plenty – Indigenous to the fields, marshes, salt meadows and riverbanks of Europe, it has thick stems, rough leaves, and it blooms with big pink-to-red flowers. Its name Althea is derived from the Greek altho, which means “to cure.” It is also called the Mortification Root for its use in preventing flesh decay. Root, leaves, flowers are the beneficial parts. Comes with a rhyme:
Dry places are moistened
Hard conditions are softened
Inflammation goes away
Tissues resist decay
Uses: Anti-inflammatory – The wholesome but plain-tasting brew speeds relief for any inflammation, such as laryngitis, bronchitis, and muscle aches and pains. As a poultice, it helps the hardened areas of old wounds and benign growths to help prevent mortification or decay of tissues. It softens and moistens hardened areas and helps restore healthy tissue. Leaves were eaten as a vegetable in Rome and considered a delicacy.
Fictional Application: I haven’t used it yet in my story, but it most likely will appear as a poultice for a growth or gange green. I regularly use this as part of an anti-inflammatory tonic that my wife and I drink.
Milk Thistle / Silymarin / Silybum marianum – Part of the daisy family, this herb can grow up to ten feet tall, and is found among the hedges and forests of western and central Europe. Its deep green glossy leaves with milk-white veins that were thought to have originated from milk falling from the Virgin Mary (kind of creepy, right?).
Uses: detoxifies the liver, which boosts your immunities and helps you recover from diseases. As a liver stimulant, it can also help with depression and headaches that result from overworked livers and toxins in the blood. This is especially effective in treating alcohol and drug withdrawal, as well as a protection against damage from poisons, particularly the effects of chemotherapy and radiation. The whole herb can be used as a tea, but I have only used the seeds, boiled for about an hour. The brew is slightly bitter, slightly sweet, and usually I mix it with rosemary. The effects are quite stunning. I had a bad headache, drank a cup of milk thistle and rosemary, and the headache disappeared within ten minutes.
Fictional Application: when my narrator finally goes off the booze, he needs a tonic help to get back to normal.
Motherwort / Leonurus cardiac – A European native of the mint family, it has a strong, thick stem that shoots straight up and broad serrated leaves. Called Lion’s Tale (Latin leonurus) and Lion’s Ear, it strengthens the spirit (through the nervous system. The early Greeks used to give use it for prenatal anxiety, giving it the name “mother’s herb.”
Uses: Brewed as a nervine or nerve tonic, depressing the nervous system, enhancing perspiration, and calming nerve and muscular spasms. It fights PMS, quiets the nervous system, and eases the aches of neuralgia and other nervous conditions, including spinal disorders. As a cardio tonic (name), it temporarily lowers blood pressure, decreases clotting, and can slow heart palpatations.
Fictional Application: So here’s another thing about my druid character: he suffers from scoliosis. The healer he was apprenticed to taught him several methods to treat the pain and stiffness of the condition, and one of these is a daily tonic of Lion’s Tale.
Oatstraw / Avena Sativa - The slender stalks with drooping husks are a major grain source. The whole plant, dried and chopped, makes a total health tea.
Uses: Blood tonic – strengthens immunity and builds energy. Stabilizes thyroid function, regulates blood sugar, reduces cholesterol, soothes the nervous system. It’s a sweet, wholesome tea with lots of antioxidant power. Use it as a routine tea to fight exhaustion and fatigue, for recovery from illness, to resist stress, combat anxiety, depression, insomnia. I make this a standard base for one of my daily iced teas. It gives the tea an even, smooth taste. Multiple Sclerosis – Used to help fight the debilitating conditions of MS. Also excellent for arthritis, rheumatism and bursitis.
Fictional Application: another herb used by the druid as a tonic to treat his scoliosis.
Rosemary / Rosmarinus officinalis – This Mediterranean native is a woody herb with fragrant pine needle-like leaves. Its name comes from Latin “dew” (ros) and “sea” (marinus), or “dew of the sea” due to its ability to survive off sea breeze humidity. It is known as an herb of memory and love (mind and heart) and has been used in cooking, as an ornamental plant, and in many rituals. As a tea, it can be used both externally and internally. The Greeks made garlands of the herb to where as a memory enhancer, while the Spanish revere it as the bush that sheltered the Virgin Mary as she fled to Egypt.
Uses: This herb stimulates blood flow, which brings extra oxygen and nutrients to your brain. Thus, memory, concentration, and circulation are improved. This helps fight anxiety, depression, and tension headaches, restores immunity and health when recovering from long-term illnesses, and improves your body’s ability to absorb nutrients. It can also be used topically to stimulate the scalp and encourage new hair growth, and as an antiseptic to clean wounds and resist infection. I take this regularly as part of my Scarborough Fair tea (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme), which I drink iced while I work. The taste is quite refreshing, and I’ve definitely noticed an increase in clarity and concentration.
Fictional Application: Since this herb would grow in the Mediterranean region of southern France (Provence), my characters would obtain it through trade, probably with Greek merchants out of Massilia (Marseille).
Sage/ Salvia officinalis – Salvia is a genus with up to 900 species of shrubs, perennial herbs, and annuals, many of which are ornamental with beautiful flowers (we have several in our garden). The medicinal herb is the standard “garden sage” with soft silver-green, fragrant leaves. It has been in use for thousands of years. Salvia comes from Latin salvere, meaning “to save” or “to cure.” Like Rosemary, it is associated with the mind, particularly as a memory enhancer and nervine.
Uses: As a tea, it can be a tonic (or part of a combination, as I use it) that strengthens the central nervous system, quieting the nerves, relieving spasms, inducing sleep, and combating depression, anxiety, and exhaustion. It is also a power astringent, able to act as a natural antiperspirant and deodorizer. It’s drying effect is used for nasal colds and infections, to dry up breast milk, and even to treat diarrhea. It also stimulates the appetite, eases gas pains, and helps digestion. And like Rosemary, studies claim that Sage increases circulation, which can help relieve headaches and improve memory. Topically, it can be used in poultices as an antiseptic to protect wounds against infection and stimulate cell growth. These are just a few of medical properties. Here is my only warning: the taste is strong, especially when using the dried leaves. Too much and you can overwhelm the balance of a mixed tea. Fresh sage, however, can be more subtle, and is my preferred usage.
Fictional Application: along with Thyme, the druids in my novel use this dried herb as an incense, boiling or burning it to clean out a sick room or during rituals.
Thyme / Thymus vulgares - This Mediterranean native goes far back into ancient history. In Greek, thyme means “to fumigate,” and the Greeks burned the herb as a disinfectant. Also from the Greeks, thumus means “courage”—the attribute that is historically linked with thyme. The ancient Egyptians used it for embalming, while the Romans were responsible for spreading the herb throughout Europe, using it to purify their rooms and provide flavor to cheese and liqueurs.
Uses: As a tea, thyme is most effective as an antiseptic, fighting infections for colds, flues, and viruses. It is antiviral, antifungal, antimicrobial, and antibiotic. There aren’t many germs that can withstand it. It was often used to clean a sickroom air, usually as an incense or in a boiling pot of water. When applied topically, thyme increases the blood flow to the area and purges the infection. I can attest to its antiseptic qualities; when my family came down with the flu this winter, we dowsed ourselves with thyme tea and shortened the life of our throat, nasal, and bronchial infections to only a day or two. Like sage, when this herb is used dried it can overwhelm the taste of any brew, adding a choking bitterness. Only a half a teaspoon is necessary for one cup of water, maybe even less. I grow this herb fresh all over my garden (makes a great ground cover), and tend to boil it fresh, which produces a very clean, refreshing taste. Two tablespoons of fresh per cup does the trick, and doesn’t have the same harsh bitterness of the dried.
Fictional Application: The Gauls would obtain this through trade, probably with sage and rosemary, and would use it to fumigate, as a poultice, and as an antiseptic wash and tonic.
Valerian / Valeriana officinalis – Native of temperate marshy areas by woods and rivers in Europe, it has dark green, segmented leaves, and one long stem that rises from the root and can reach five feet in height. The yellowish root has an interesting arrangement of strands that look like tangled nerves—the specific problem that valerian treats. Its name comes from Greek valere, which means “to be in health,” and was used in ancient Greece and Rome. The root is the beneficial part.
Uses: This is nature’s tranquilizer. It is a sedative to the higher nerve centers, relieves pain, tension, and the effects of excessive strain to bring sleep in stressful situations, with no morning-after effects. It’s best in small amounts. In ancient Greece, valerian was used to create waters of tranquility, an aromatic bath to ease pain, tension, muscle spasms, and relax the whole body.
Fictional Application: the druid uses this tea to help the narrator combat insomnia.
Wood Betony / Stachys officinalis – Growing wild in shady woods, wood betony has tall, hairy stems, rough, fringed leaves, and pink to purple flowers with white spots that bloom in whorls from short spikes. Betony allegedly comes from the ancient Celtic words bew (head) and ton (good), meaning “good for the head.” It was known as a herb that could shield a man from bad visions and dreams, and banish despair.
Uses: It is the foremost cure for all ailments of the head and brain. It’s a circulatory tonic that is especially attuned to brain function, where it calms the nerves and clears the channels to soothe and revitalize overactive minds. Wood betony tea relieves congestion, and eases a “heavy head”—an aching feeling in the bones in back of your head and face that can often hang on after a cold or sinus condition. Its tannins are astringent to stop bleeding, repair cuts and wounds, and fight infection. The warm tea in a soft cloth can be comforting compress for skin infection, cuts, and sores. It’s not the most tasty of herbs, adding green bean sort of taste to your brew, but combined with the other circulatory herbs, it words fantastically to remove headaches. My wife had a blazing headache after work one day, and I gave her a brew of Rosemary, Wood Betony, and Milk Thistle; her headache was gone in less than ten minutes.
Fictional Application: the druid character harvests this plant wild, and uses it to help the narrator withdraw from alcohol.
Yarrow /Achillea millfolium – Grows anywhere: fields, pastures, meadows, and dry barrows by the roadside. It has small feathery leaves, rough stems, and thin white silky hairs that cover the entire plant. The term millefolium translates as “thousand leafed,” and was called Milfoil or Thousand Leaf. It’ legend dates back to the Trojan War, when Achilles used it on the wounds of his soldiers to stop bleeding and speed healing. It has been carried by the military as a wound healer, and was called Herbe Militaris by the Romans.
Uses: As an astringent and antiseptic, it cleans and heals cuts, burns, ulcers and inflamed skin. It has silica to repair damaged tissues. Wounds can be washed with cooled yarrow tea water, or bandages soaked in yarrow tea to cover the wound. It was commonly used in a poultice. The tea was also used an anti-inflammatory tonic, helping to reduce joint pain, shrink swollen veins, and regulate menstruation.
Fictional Application: most of the warriors carry this, and it is applied early on in the novel to a wounded companion.
