Making Remedies

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Making Compresses - Making Decoctions - Making Electuaries - Making Extracts - Making Fomentations - Making Herb Vinegars - Making Infusions - Making Oils - Making Ointments - Making Poultices - Making Powders - Making Salves - Making Syrups - Making Teas - Making Tinctures - Making Waters

Making Compresses

When making a compress you will need a cloth, herbs, and water.

  1. Make a cool solution of herbs and water.
  2. Soak the cloth in the herb solution.
  3. Apply the compress to the affected area.

Making Decoctions

A decoction is defined as an herb that has been simmered in water. Decoctions are best for the firmer or more leathery parts of the plant, such as bark, roots, tough leaves, and stems as they draw the medicine of the plants out well. To make a decoction, use ceramic, earthenware, glass, or unbroken enameled cast iron pots. If you are using astringent plants, do not use plain cast iron pots. When making a decoction, the ratio of water to herbs should be one pint of boiling water to every ounce of herbs.

  1. Boil the water.
  2. When the water has boiled, bring the heat down and let the herbs simmer in the water for half an hour to an hour.
  3. Once the herbs have simmered, the decoction should be strained because when decoctions cool, they tend to separate. If the decoction is strained when it is hot, the parts that separate can be mixed together by shaking when the medicine is used.

Making Electuaries

An electuary is a powder that is mixed with syrup, brown sugar, honey, or glycerin. This is done to make the powder easier to take internally or to give it a pleassant taste. Prepare electuaries when they are needed rather than in advance, as they tend to harden.

  1. Mix the powder with syrup or honey. Different types of powders require different amounts of syrup or honey. Gum resins usually require two-thirds of their weight, mineral substances about half of their weight, and light vegetable powders twice their weight. If you are using a powder that was puchased in a store, check the label to see if the powder requires a specific amount of syrup.
  2. If you do prepare the elecuary in advance and is hardens, add more syrup or honey. If it swells up and gives off gas, beat it with a mortar and pestle.

Making Extracts

Extracts are the solid substances that form when the liquid part of a solution evaporates. Extracts are best when a person is severly ill. The extract can also be added to juices and taken while fasting. These are some of common herb extracts found in most health stores: celery, echinacea, fig, goldenseal, hawthorn, horsetail, nettle, parsley, pau d'arco, pumpkin, red beet crystals, red clover, suma, and valerian root. There are three methods for obtaining extracts. All are shown here

Method 1

  1. Make a solution with alcohol as the solvent and an herb as the solute.
  2. Evaporate the alcohol.
  3. Apply the exract to the affected part.

Method 2

  1. Express the juice of a plant.
  2. Apply the part of the plant that remains to the affected part of the body or take it internally.

Method 3

  1. Make a strong tea.
  2. Simmer the tea to thicken it. The last makes a decoction rather than an actual extract, but it can be used in the same way as an extract because the tea has been distilled into the most active parts of the plant. To preserve an extract, add one-fourth of a teaspoon of glycerin, tincture of benzoin, or alcohol (such as gin, brandy, or vodka).

Making Fomentations

Fomentations are useful for wounds, bruises, and sore or strained muscles. You will needa cloth, a strong herbal tea, and fresh herbs to put in the cloth.

  1. Dip a cloth in the tea.
  2. Fill the cloth with herbs and apply it to the hurt part of the body.

Making Herb Vinegars

To make an herb vinegar, you will need fresh or dired herbs, raw apple cider vinegar or malt liquor, and a large jar.

  1. Put the herb in the raw apple cider vinegar or malt liquor.
  2. Leave it to stand for two or more weeks.

Making Infusions

An infusion is water that an herb is steeped in. Make sure not to boil the water as this creates a decoction or tea rather than an infusion. Infusions can be made hot or cold, and are ideal for more tender parts of a plant, such as leaves or flowers. The origin of the witches potion comes from the idea of infusions.

The best parts of plants to use for hot infusions are powdered bark, seeds, roots, resin, and bruised parts of the plant such as seeds, nuts, buds, and bark. Hot infusions can be used in the bath, as teas, to anoint the body, or to rub into furniture or floors.

  1. Bring water to a boil.
  2. Add a teaspoon of dried herbs and let the mixture steep for nine to thirteen minutes.
  3. Strain the mixture and let it cool.

Cold infusions can be used as teas or as poultices.

  1. Put the herb in cold milk or water.
  2. Let it steep for at least three hours.

Making Oils

Oils are made by distilling plants, evaporation from petals, or by cold extraction. To extract volatile oils, steep aromatic plants in fruit, nut, or vegetable oils. Essential oils can be made by combining aromatic oils and rectified alcohol, or by steeping of aromatic oils in alcohol. Once extracted, the essential oil can be used as an eyewash, earwash, mouthwash or for massage or cuts and abrasions, as they combine easily withthe natural oils of the skin.

To make an oil, use newly picked fresh or dried herbs.

  1. Pack the herbs into a large jar.
  2. Add enough monounsaturated or polyunsturated oil to cover the herb. Close the jar tightly and label it with the name of the herb.
  3. Place the labeled jar in a sunny place and leave it for at least three weeks.
  4. When enough time has passed, strain the mixture through a cheesecloth. You can do this by covering the opening of the jar with the cheesecloth and attaching it securely with a rubber band. Once it is attached, pour the oil through the cheesecloth into another jar.
  5. Make sure to squeeze all of the oil out of the herbs before throwing them away.
  6. Pack a clean jar with more of the same herb.
  7. Add the infused oil.
  8. Repeat steps 2-5.

Store the oil in a clean jar labeled with the name of the herb.

Making Ointments

An ointment is a salve that the powdered form of an herb or an essesntial oil has been added to.

To make an oil, you will need a powder or an essential oil and a fatty or oily substance. The traditional base for ointments is pork lard. Purified, liquid anhydrous lanolin, almond oil, cocoa butter, wheat germ, and vitamin E can also be used. Pork lard is the best to use because it has healing abilites even before the oils are added to it. Lanolin is good because it is the closest to skin oil, but you cannot be sure of getting a pure sample. Vaseline can also be used, but it is best to try this only as a last resort.

As well as your herb and a base, you will need a thickener to be used on the final product. Lanolin and cocoa butter are good for this as mix well and are not sticky. Glycerin, honey, and liguis lecithin are also good, but they are stickier than lanolin or cocoa butter. You can also use powdered gum or resin that has been soaked in cold water and then simmered in gently boiling water. Agar-agar and Irish moss can also be used, and green apples are also good because they add a healing acid fruit pectin to creams and ointments.

After you have used the thickener, you will also need a wax to harden the ointment or cream. beeswax alone or in combination with paraffin wax is the best hardener. You only need a small amount of this.

Another part of an ointment is the preservative. This is not absolutely necessary, especially if you make the ointment in small batches, close the jars tightly, and seal them with paraffin wax. If you do want to use a preservative, you can use benzoin, poplar bud tincture, or glycerin.

When you have gathered all that you need (herb, base, thickener, hardener, and a preservative if you want one), you can begin to make your ointment.

  1. Heat the base and the herb together until the plant has lost its normal color. This is when the base has fully absorbed the healing essence of the plant.
  2. Strain the plant out of the ointment.
  3. Add your thickener.
  4. Add your hardener.
  5. Store the ointment in a small, tightly closed jar. Make sure to label the jar with the name of the herb used in the ointment.

Making Poultices

Poultices are used for sore or inflammed muscles to relieves the pain and inflammation.

  1. Use ground or granulated herbs.
  2. Put the herbs, flour, and mustard in a cloth, preferably muslin.
  3. Apply the poultice to the affected part of the body for one to eight hours. Change the cloth when it has cooled down.

Making Powders

To make a powder, you will need and herb and a mortar and pestle.

  1. Grind the useful parts of the herb with the mortar and pestle.
  2. If you wish you can put the powder in a capsule or tablet.

CAUTION: Do not use capsules or tablets for more than six months at a time.

Making Syrups

A syrup is an herb combined with a form of sugar. Syrups are good for sore throats and coughs.

The herb can be in the form of an infusion, decoction, exprssed juice, or fermented liquor. The sugar should be refined sugar, as it makes a clearer syrup. Honey is also good to use as honey preserves the healing qualities of the herbs. Syrups should be made in small quantites. There are two methods of making syrups. They are both shown here:

Method 1

You will need dried herb, water, honey, and a large pot.

  1. Put one quart of water and two ounces of dried herbs in the pot. (If you are using fresh leaves, herbs, or roots, you should double this amount.)
  2. Boil the mixture until the solution is reduced to one pint.
  3. Add one to two tablespoons of honey.

Method 2

  1. You will need a tincture, a syrup, and sugar.
  2. Add the tincture to the syrup.
  3. Evaporate the alcohol.
  4. Add sugar and water to make a syrup. (See Method 1.)

Syrups can be stored for up to a month as long as they are refridgerated.

Making Teas

Teas can be used as tonics daily and for genreal health, as long as they are mild. Home-made teas, though, tend to be much stronger and more potent then store-bought teas. They can sometimes be so strong as to be unpleasant. When making teas, use about three teaspoons of herbs for one cup of boiling water.

If you wish to make the tea stronger, use more herbs instead of steeping the herbs for a long time. Do not use an aluminum kettle to boil the water.

  1. Boil water in a teakettle.
  2. Pour the boiling water into a mug.
  3. Steep the herbs for at least five minutes. Do not steep for more than ten minutes as the tea will become bitter.
  4. Store the tea in an amber-colored jar as light destroys the potency of the herbs. Teas can be kept for a long time.

Making Tinctures

A tincture is a solution of herbs in alcohol or diluted alcohol. Non-alcoholic tinctures can also be made.To dilute a tincure, add one teaspoon of glycerin (optional) and four ounces of water for every pint of alcohol. To use the tincuture, put twenty drops in tea or warm water four times a day.

Alcoholic Tincture

Method 1

You will need a mortar and pestle of a blender, good-quality vodka, whiskey, or grain alcohol, glycerin, and water.

  1. Grind plants with the mortar and pestle or blender.
  2. Add enough alcohol to cover the herbs.
  3. Let the mixture sit for twenty-one days.
  4. Add a small amount of glycerin. The ratio of glycerin to the mixture should be about 2 tablespoons of glycerin for every pint of the mixture.
  5. Add spring water. The amount added should be about ten percent of the herb, alcohol, and glycerin mixture.
  6. Strain the mixture into another container.

Method 2

This makes a stronger tincture than Method 1. You will need parchment, alcohol, and powdered herb.

  1. Place the herbs in a cone made of parchment.
  2. Pass the alcohol through the herbs and parchment, making sure to catch the alcohol in a jar. The more you pass the alcohol through the stronger the tincture will be.

Non-Alcoholic Tincture

  1. Make an alcoholic tincture.
  2. Evaporate the alcohol.
  3. Put twenty drops of the tincture in a cup of water.
  4. Add one-fourth of a teaspoon of boiling water.

To make a milk tincture:

  1. Steep the herbs in milk.
  2. Strain out the herbs.
  3. Store in the refridgerator.

Making Waters

There are two basic types of waters.

Method 1

  1. Steep herbs in water.
  2. Add the herbs to water and alcohol.

Method 2

  1. Steep herbs in water.
  2. Add honey and fruits.

Sometimes the spirits of herbs are also called waters.