AN ARTFUL DAY

April 22, 2010

"Spiritual growth results from absorbing and digesting truth and putting it to practice in your daily life" Thanks KM

In yesterday's blog, I was discussing more herbal properties. I must finish this as I will be discussing herbs throught the blog. We ended with Emetic properties.

Emollients: These are substances that soften, sooth and protect the skin. There are many herbs in this category. Some are oils of almond, marshmellow, slippery elm and chickweed.

Expertorants: These are herbs that assist in getting rid of mucous from the lungs and throat. This is especially important during a flu or bronchitis and is now useful during allergy season. Some expectorants include wild cherry bark, ginger, elderberry (mainly used for coughs), anise and the old time vaporizer. I remember my loving mom putting Vicks in the vaporizer and letting me inhale the steam. Some mothers did it when their babies had whooping cough. I used to laugh when my mother rubbed Vicks on my chest. You could inhale steam from boiled water with eucalyptus or sage.

Hemostatics: These substances arrest hemorrhaging. These herbs affect the coagulation of blood. I heard a story from a famous herbalist that after a woman delivered a baby, the mother was hemorrhaging. The midwife/healer told her to boil rose petals and leaves and give them to the woman. The bleeding stopped in six minutes. Other hemostatic herbs used are mullein, goldenseal, blackberry, white oak bark and yellow dock.

Laxatives: Of course, we all know what these do--they allow us to have a bowel movement. As I have been reading and learning every day, I sometimes see herbalists refer to this group as purgatives.

Nervines: These are herbs that calm the nervous tension and nourish our nervous system. These are also called tonics to the nervous system. Tonics can be applied to any system of the body. For example, there are heart tonics that I utilize often. I use the nerve tonics (nervines) especially valerian. Others are skull cap, St. Johns wort, lobelia, and even lady slipper.

I am trying to be as simple as possible. I know it is an overwhelming learning experience.

The needle point above in reality is a Pablo Picasso. It was originally painted in 1936 and titled Lady on a Cushion. Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born October 25, 1881. He was a genius. He once wrote this (reworded) "Unlike music, there are no child prodigies in painting. What people regard as a premature genius is the genius of childhood. It gradually disappears as they get older. It is possible for such a child to become a real painter one day, perhaps even a great painter."

He then went on to say "As far as I am concerned, I did not have that genius"

I disagree. It is my version of a Picasso with added colors and borders. It is a pillow. Thanks Vasilika!! I love the work I have done on this needle work. I love Salvador Dali, Al Hirshfeld and even Jean Louis Toutain hanging on our walls. We do not have a Picasso...but now we do.

Photo credit: The best -0 Rick Byrd

Until tomorrow...