Welcome to another "Throwback Thursday." Thank you for being here. Today's visit into the archives is bringing forth an article I wrote last year on Substack about tea and medicine making.

To all my natural healers and medicine women and men....I hope this piece inspires you to get to mixing and making!

Love you guys....Happy Thursday.
Solarah

I haven’t shared this side of me much on Substack, but I am both a qualified Western Herbal Medicine practitioner and a Naturopathic Chef.

In 2017, I returned to university to pursue a clinical degree in Western Herbal Medicine to support a dream I had of owning an apothecary type café, where all my offerings were health supportive and infused with medicinal herbs.

I shared my recipe creation and food photography journey on my old Instagram account. Here are a few pictures from that journey.

Alas, life and Covid happened, and I had to put my functional foods apothecary dream on hold.

I have always loved creating with food. From an early age, I would find great solace baking by myself. One of my favourite things to do is to create desserts that are medicinal in quality, but that also taste amazing. My chief tasters and judges were often my children….who were not always an easy crowd.

On the academic side, I spent a lot of time in labs, lectures, and taking on patients in our on-site clinic when pursuing my degree in Herbalism, but my favourite part was always the medicine making.

I loved learning about the medicinal properties of the herbs and the preparations they were best suited for. It is this education around herbs that made it quite easy to translate these medicinal properties into how they assist us esoterically in magickal workings too.

I have taken a break from creating in the kitchen over the past few years, but one part of my herbal art stays very much alive and vibrant - blending teas, herbal baths, and yoni steams.

There is something so satisfying in organising flowers, leaves, and stems into a concoction that not only heals my body, but also connects me deeper to my power, intuition, and soul’s truth.

I believe we are all innate healers. We know what we need at any given point better than anybody. It is the dimming and silencing of our intuition that has convinced us otherwise.

As a little girl, I was always concocting potions - searching for a way to re-connect with that dormant aspect of self that knew what it was to mix all manner of ingredients into powerful remedies for mind, heart, body, and spirit.

At their core, both traditional medicine and magick are art forms - there is no “one cure” or “one spell” that fits all. It is a deeply intuitive journey based upon knowing self intimately, and then aligning with what is intutively right for you.

This is the beauty of learning the true property of how energies flow and move through plants, minerals, and the elements. It is this basic innerstanding of science that lends itself to wider creative expressions of medicinal art.

There is magick and intimacy to be found in reconnecting with the devine nature of plants. Unlike humans, plants don’t have ego, and actually desire to help you heal and rise - no strings. They like for us to utilise their power with reverence because in doing so, we come back into union with the devine principles and universal laws that support us all.

Here is my “Tea For Today.” It is a mix of the herbs I have been very drawn to working with lately. These are the properties of the herbs that I am highlighting because they are what I am tapping into for self, but I always encourage you to do your own research and see what speaks to you. This is how we forge real relationships with plants and their medicine.

Please also note that all plants have anti-inflammatory properties - it is just to what degree, and what area of the body their anti-inflammatory action targets.

I share this not as a recipe, but as a source of inspiration, and an invitation for you to get out there and begin blending your own medicines.

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TEA FOR TODAY

Calendula Flowers: for Solar Plexus healing and attunement, and digestive support. Calendula can work as a gentle tonic for the organs of digestion that are also connected to Solar Plexus health - liver, spleen, gallbladder etc. It is a herb of the Sun with solar magick powers.

Lungwort Leaves: for digestive and respiratory support and cleansing. Lungwort gently removes mucus build up in the lungs and respiratory tract, and also can aid in clearing the lungs of toxins. Magickally, it is a herb of protection.

Hyssop Twigs: a good overall auric cleanser that also supports digestive and respiratory health and promotes circulation. Hyssop is wonderful as a purifier of energy, and also calms digestive upsets. It is famous in many magickal traditions for its purifying properties - especially Hoodoo - and is the herb that King David references in Psalm 51.

Ivy Leaves: destroys witchcraft, and is a herb that supports respiratory health. Ivy has decongestant qualities that are especially wonderful for clearing head colds and head congestions that produce headaches, or crown and third eye blocks. Ivy is a plant that can also enhance your psychic senses. It is still used in many decongestant OTC preparations in Europe, but is another plant that needs to be ingested with care.

Mistletoe Leaves: removes parasitic energies and entities, and promotes apoptosis in cancerous cells. Mistletoe is powerful for resisting and removing vampiric energies out of our fields, and reflects this in how it also kills off cancer cells. The cancer killing constituents in the plant can become toxic with excessive use, so seek the help of a Herbalist or Naturopath for guidance on how to ingest this safely.

St. John’s Wort Flowers: defender against death magic, and helps the Sun to “rise again” in our realities. St John’s Wort is a natural anti-depressant that also supports digestion, solar plexus renewal, and the abolishment of death magic. Like Calendula, it is a herb with solar magick powers.

Verbena Leaves: a herb of the Goddess Isis that can help you connect deeper to your psychic gifts and dreams. It has nervine and analgesic properties which aid in relaxation and pain relief. It is another great plant for digestive support.

Lemon Balm Leaves: also known as “Melissa” or “Bee Balm,” Lemon Balm is another herb that works as a gentle nervine and supports nervous conditions that effect digestion. It is a gentle and calming herb that also support solar plexus healing and attunement.

Hibiscus Flowers: a beautiful emotional cleanser, blood purifier, and promoter of circulation (to be used under the guidance of appropriate medical supervision for those with blood pressure issues). Hibiscus helps to tune the lower chakras, and can help with the movement of stagnant emotional energies. In doing so, Hibiscus also works to reignite passion, drive, and focus.

Medjool Dates: for sweetening the tea, and for bringing more sweetness into life. Dates are connected to fertility - both energetically, and in how they have been used medicinally. They have long been prescribed to pregnant women to assure easy labour and delivery.

THE BLENDING PROCESS

I don’t formally measure my herbs. For this blend, I know that the herbs that are going to bring in beautiful flavours are Hibiscus, Verbena, and Lemon Balm, and so I use them as my main base.

I know that Lungwort is bitter, and that Calendula does not taste that great, so these are the two plants I use the least of in this preparation. The Hyssop, Mistletoe and Ivy are fairly neutral in flavour, so I use these in larger quantities than the Lungwort and Calendula, but still use less of these plants than those in the main base. I like my teas strong, so I do tend to use a good amount of herbs.

When working with energy medicine of all forms, it is good to activate the powers of what you are using. In this way, I thank every plant for the power and property it is lending me through my tea blend - like a prayer. I then do the same for the water - thanking it for being a conduit through which these healing energies can flow to me.

I will sometimes put the glass jar with my potion onto a sunny windowsill for a few hours, and call in the solar codes and activations for the day from the Sun. This lends extra power and charge to the ingredients and working. I love seeing the various flowers, leaves and twigs take on new life in the water as they begin the process of combining their magick. There is something so ethereal and beautiful about seeing the flowers rehydrate and float.

What is left then is the simple enjoyment of drinking it all in - both the taste, as well as the art made, with and by nature, for the betterment of all. Making medicine can be as simple as this, and yet it can also wake up so many complexities within the soul.

I make about two liters of tea at any one time, so my children and I drink it throughout the day. Once done, I try to return the herbs to the Earth if I can.

A QUICK NOTE ON PURCHASING HERBS

I do my best to support local family run businesses that supply different herbs as part of their native cuisines and traditions. Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and Afro-Caribbean shops can be wonderful for sourcing culinary herbs at reasonable prices. I stock up on Verbena, Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Hyssop, Lavender, Rose, Caraway, Hibiscus and Mint from these shops.

For more medicinal herbs, there are many shops online where you can source wild harvested or organic plants. In America, I can recommend Mountain Rose Herbs, and in the UK, my go-to place is Star Child Glastonbury.