Rosemary was one of my gateways into herbalism. I adore her. We have a beautiful and robust rosemary plant right outside our back door, whom I call Mother Rosemary. She has been there as long as I have lived in this house and I’ve developed a lovely relationship with her.
In fact, the herbal smoke bundles I create are mostly made from her. I have also infused her magic into olive oil which serves as the base for the Hair Oil found in the shop, made teas and tinctures with her, and enjoyed her for sinus steams. She’s incredibly giving. And I like to offer her my love and care and songs in return.
GET TO KNOW YOUR FRIENDS
In this modern day and age, we so often forget to make friends with the plethora of plants around us. It’s easy to take them for granted, especially when we are so disconnected from the source of our food, medicine, and bodycare products – many of which are made from or contain plants. But I’d love for you to know how good it is for the soul to connect with these beings, if you haven’t already experienced that kind of joy!
I was just listening to a podcast episode of Ancient Wisdom today where Shaman Durek interviews Amy Galper, co-founder of The New York Institute of Aromatic Studies. This episode delighted me because they have a wonderful and in depth conversation about our friend, Rosemary. I’d love to share a bit about what they said, and you can also listen to that episode here.
Amy says, energetically, rosemary is “incredibly clarifying, awakening, and energizing.” It supports the flow of thoughts, creativity, and energetic movement – the flow of Qi. We can see how that parallels circulation and when it’s depleted it balances and regulates. It is also antimicrobial, inhibiting the growth of “bad things. You can think of that also energetically which is why Amy uses rosemary in a diffuser to clear or remove thoughts that “gunk up your space” or get rid of something “stuck in your flow.” It’s an expectorant and you can think of that both physically and energetically.
I’m paraphrasing, but she goes on to say: Rosemary is also known for remembrance, specifically in Western Europe. There’s now a lot of new research about its effect on memory and the hippocampus. It helps stimulate memory and “helps us to think clearly amidst confusion or chaos. There’s this idea of following through with thought.”
Amy and Shaman Durek go on to speak about the bridge effect: how everything you do on the physical has an effect on the spiritual and vice versa. As above, so below. As within, so without. Rosemary protects you from negative energies and frequencies by allowing you to be able to detect them. This enhances your clarity and focus. That clarity opens channels of creativity so that you can see things in a clear way inside of yourself. It’s about creating a creative flow and an extra layer of protection through heightened awareness.
Rosemary is resilient. It grows in places where you wouldn’t think plants could grow, rocky and craggy surfaces. It has amazing fragrance from its volatile oils. The trunk and branches have a beautiful shaggy bark and they twist and turn in many directions, resembling it’s strength and resilience. The bright bluish-purple flowers are a signature of its connection to the third-eye chakra, the place where we form a connection to clarity, truth, knowing, and wisdom.
BRINGING HER IN
There are so many ways that I love to bring rosemary into my life, and I will share a few with you now. The first is by using rosemary as smoke medicine. From ancient times, rosemary has been burned to create smoke which also releases its volatile oils into the air. These volatile oils purify and cleanse the air, bringing forth the same aspects that we just spoke about above. As I mentioned before, the smoke medicine bundles that I sell in my shop are made from rosemary and her friends sage and rose, all from our gardens.
Rosemary has also been incredibly helpful to me when my head and sinuses are stuffed up, and for this I love to use her for facial steams. As I pour the boiling water over the dried rosemary, an amazing fragrance is released. I gratefully breath in the volatile oils deep into my sinuses, knowing that their antimicrobial actions will benefit my sinus tissues and also help me to breathe easier. In my shop, I have packages that contain dried rosemary, eucalyptus, and sage, ready to use for your own sinus steams.
Of course, I also use rosemary for cooking, and have blended dried rosemary, oregano, and sage into sea salt for an amazingly delicious seasoning to have on hand! Any day I can incorporate herbs into cooking, is a good day, and having this blend on hand makes it easier to do so. It is so easy to make! All I did was take about 1 tsp of each of the three herbs, ground them in a coffee grinder, and then added them to about 1 cup of sea salt. Did you know that these herbs are carminative too, helping us to better digest our food. Rosemary is also a fantastic addition to tea blends, especially blends to improve mental clarity, focus, digestion, or for cold care.
ROSEMARY COLD CARE TISANE
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. dried or fresh rosemary leaves
- 2 cups (16 oz.) of water
- Raw Honey
- Juice of 1/2 to 1 Lemon
Instructions
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
- Place your rosemary in a tea ball, tea pot, or mason jar.
- Pour the boiling water over the rosemary, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain, pour into a beautiful mug, add the fresh lemon juice & honey to taste, and enjoy!
Are you getting an idea of how much I love rosemary?? If you weren’t all that familiar with her before, I hope that you have found a new level of appreciation for her and I hope that you will get to know her better by bringing her into your life in a variety of ways!
I’d love to hear from you if you have a relationship with rosemary or have tried any of the rosemary treats that I mentioned above. Leave me a comment below to share your love of Rosemary.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and no state regulatory board licenses herbalists. While I do seek scientific confirmation of the safety and effectiveness of the herbs and remedies I use, please remember that using remedies is a personal decision. You are in charge of your own health. Nothing I say on this blog is approved by the FDA or intended to diagnose, treat or prevent disease. All things on this blog are my opinion or the opinion of others.
I love rosemary too! I use it as a salad topping because it is carminative. I also use infuse it in oil for my chest and I rub it on my feet. It is very grounding.
Lovely Shawngela! It’s divine. Adding it to salads is a great idea!
I learned so much from this post – I didn’t realize how rosemary could be used to clear sinuses, how it helps with memory and cognition or how it helps with circulation. My circulation is always a challenge, so I’m going to head into the kitchen and make this nutritive tea right now! Thanks so much!!
I mean tisane! I’m hoping it will help with my sinuses as well!
I’m so glad you learned some new things about rosemary! This was a fun post to write. ? You will have to let me know how you liked the tea (tisane lol)! Xoxo
Lol!! I very much liked it!! We have a lot of dried Rosemary from our garden and honey from our bees, so I will be making it again.
Especially because it cleared my sinuses out well enough that however long it’s been since my reply, I’m just today feeling the return.
That’s so great! I’m really glad to hear that it is helping! I was thinking too, if you are doing the infusions we talked about, you may want to add a 1/2 tsp or so to those just to warm them up a bit since they are a bit cooler herbs 🙂 Yay for Rosemary!
Oooh, thanks for this tip! Will do!
You are welcome!! =D