The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to it
Saint Theophan the Recluse
Calendula is a bright sunny yellow daisy like flower native to northern mediterranean countries. It is also known as “pot marigold” and has been used for centuries to heal wounds and skin irritations. Although it is one of the marigold family, only the medicinal variety known as calendula officinalis should ever be used in salves and teas.
It’s vibrant colors brighten both the garden and the medicine chest. It is a super easy to grow annual and often self seeds, returning every season to lighten up any garden. This year we grew it from seeds that we sowed directly into the pots on our back porch (that’s a picture of them, up there) . The bees loved all the flowers!
Best known for healing the skin, calendula is used for soothing minor irritation, burns, bruises and wounds. “Calendula has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, astringent, antifungal, antiviral, and immunostimulant properties making it useful for disinfecting and treating minor wounds, conjunctivitis, cuts, scrapes, chapped or chafed skin, bruises, burns, athlete’s foot, acne, yeast infections, bee stings, diaper rashes, and other minor irritations and infections of the skin.”
The beautiful yellow calendula flowerhead is commonly made into salves and used for healing cuts, scrapes, burns, sunburns, diaper rash, sores, ulcers and chapped lips. It helps calm inflamed tissues and aids in the healing of cuts and abrasion. Calendula is among the most soothing herbs and is used in many salves and creams.
Herbalists also recommend using calendula flowers in tea infusions for the healing of digestive ulcers, soothing the gallbladder and easing sore lymph glands. You can also brew a strong batch of calendula petals into a tea and use it as a compress on minor burns.
pollinating the calendula
If you are growing your own, harvest on a sunny morning when the flowerheads are just beginning to open. There are several methods for drying the flowers. You can place them in a dehydrator if you have one; spread them out on a cookie sheet and leave in the sun (but check the forecast for rain!) ; or spread them on a cookie sheet and place in 125 F oven until they dry out.
[box] Calming Calendula Tea
Place 1 teaspoon of herbs per cup in a tea ball or bag, and cover with boiling water. Steep for 15 minutes to let the flavors infuse the water. Remove tea ball or bag. It’s wonderful as is, but a little raw honey and lemon is a nice touch too![/box]
[box] Calendula Infused Oil
1-1/4 cups carrier oil such as Olive Oil, Sweet Almond Oil. or Jojoba Oil
1 cup dried calendula flowers
Place all contents into a large mason jar and store in a cool dry place for 2-3 weeks. Strain with a cheesecloth to remove all of the flower particles. Pour the oil into dark bottles. Label with date and contents.[/box]
Additional Resources:
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/calendula
Mother Earth News : A Guide to Healing Herbs, Winter 2014
In a word, the experience of ages, profiting from every chance, has not been able to discover anything useful, which the penetrating foresight of the Creator did not first perceive and call into existence. ~ St. Basil the Great
This is a short series on the healing properties of several commonly known edible flowers and herbs (some of which we even consider to be weeds!) that grow in abundance around us.
For thousands of years, people have created herbal preparations to ease illness and discomfort. From the earliest of times, through trial and error, people learned which plants were supportive of health. Prior to modern medicine, herbal applications were part of healing protocols toward rejuvenation and health.
Although healing by plants is not mentioned in the Bible, herbal remedies throughout history were numerous and common – but then, as now, our faith is that the ultimate Healer is God.
Many herbs and plants are quite easy to grow and can transform your flower beds into a healing garden. Several varieties of medicinal herbs grow quite nicely in pots, window sills or otherwise empty spaces. Many herbs with healing properties also double as kitchen staples, like oregano, rosemary, thyme and basil!
Everyday herbs can easily be added to or crafted into teas, infusions or decoctions. Cultures around the world have made widespread use of the healing, soothing and medicinal properties of tea. Depending on the ingredients, herbal teas can boost the immune system, support detoxification, enhance metabolism, calm digestion, support healing the digestive system and promote relaxation.
For example: it is widely known that chamomile soothes and calms. Herbalists (and American Indians) have long used echinacea as an antiviral to support the immune system. Ginger settles the stomach. Aloe is not only great at reducing irritation from mild burns but is also calming and restorative to the stomach; and of course garlic is known to ward off viruses, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and also has antibacterial and anti fungal properties.
Herbal creams, lotions and salves are marvelous ways to apply healing to your skin. The more natural the ingredients, the better. A cornerstone of holistic health is to be mindful of what we place on our skin. Despite being our outer layer, our skin is not a barrier, but is porous. It absorbs all that we place upon it, and so when we use chemicals and synthetic ingredients, these all pass into our body. With the skin as their entry point, they bypass the liver test. The toxins are not filtered and so have free access to your bloodstream and organs.
It is estimated that on a daily basis, women are exposed to many more toxins then men – in part due to our cosmetics which contain many chemical and synthetic ingredients – many of which disrupt our hormones. This all adds to the body’s total chemical load and burdens the liver.
From a purely holistic point of view, if you can’t eat it, then you really shouldn’t place it upon your skin.
Along with their nutritive qualities, fresh herbs brighten and and depth to our meals. Whether you grow your own herb garden or buy them in bulk, it’s easy and simple to craft your own teas and herbal salves. Even so, if you are not inclined to make your own, there are plenty of wonderful artisan tea crafters and cosmetic manufacturers that sell quality products.
Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:12)
Common Sense Disclaimer: All information presented in this series is intended for informational purposes only. If you have a medical condition, treat it in consultation with your medical practitioner.
Resources:
Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide by Rosemary Gladstar
The Green Pharmacy by James Duke
Desk Reference to Nature’s Medicine by Steven Foster
Hands on Healing Remedies by Stephanie Tousles
In our lives as Orthodox Christians we journey through many seasons, both within the year of the liturgical cycle in the Church, and also through out our lives, and the lives of our families and friendships. There are seasons of preparation, fasting and feasting. There are seasons of joy and of lament; seasons of birth and death, of growing and of learning.
And you know what? Sometimes, there are even seasons of unlearning, but as liturgical beings, we experience the changes of our lives within the steadfast constancy of the Church.
These bonds of love we forge in our lives are strong; and so even after the loss of family or friend, that love always remains. Their absence from our daily lives can leave a great pain.
Unlike the ways of this world, Faith tends to be counter-intuitive. The modern world, in all of it’s conventional wisdom markets us to pursue happiness ~ mostly economic ~ and mostly through gain and acquisition – but not of what is needful. There isn’t really a plan for loss. The modern formula to deal with tragedy usually involves pharmaceuticals and generally those are offered within weeks after it occurs. This can leave a person fractured and tangled in the wrong net. But there is another way…
“Whoever does not have the Church as his mother cannot have God as his father.”
Saint Cyprian of Carthage
Herein lies a great blessing! For a mother provides wisdom, nourishment and guidance for her children. And so it is that one finds through loss, the possibility to become whole. When we embrace the prayers offered by our Mother the Church, Christ grafts healing and mends within our hearts the fullness of a fiercely gentle but unyielding hope.
A sacrifice of thanksgiving… Again and again, praying for our departed loved ones, we fix our gaze toward Eternity, rather than focus on our loss and there ~ in that space ~ it is despite our burden ~ or precisely because of it, that we find rest in the yoke of His Resurrection.
Death is a threshold, not an end. We do not grieve as those who have no hope, but rest in the assurance that God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. ( 1 Thessalonians 4:14)
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It is traditional for Orthodox families to offer a memorial service in Church on the third, ninth and fourtieth day after the passing of a loved one; and then each year commemorating the anniversary of their death. During our memorial service, the family of the departed offers a sweet wheat known as kollyva. Kollyva is boiled wheat with sugar and raisins, spices and nuts. It is usually decorated with powdered sugar and jordan almonds.
This offering of boiled wheat is a remembrance of the resurrection ~ for as a grain of wheat must be buried before it can bring forth fruit, so a man must be buried in order to be resurrected for eternity.
During an Orthodox Memorial Service a candle will be placed in the wheat and then the memorial service is chanted for the soul of the departed.
With the saints give rest, O Christ to the soul of your servants, Where sickness and sorrow are no more, but life everlasting.
May the memory of all of our departed loved ones be eternal!!
There are several different recipes for kollyva but the main ingredient is soft white wheat and sugar. This is the recipe our family uses, but many other ones may be found here.
“God loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
For this recipe we used:
3-4 pounds of pickling cucumbers, unwaxed.
2 heads garlic, peeled
1 large bunch dill or more
black peppercorns
one bunch fresh spring onions
one bunch french radishes – just because we had them!
pinch black peppercorns
pinch yellow mustard seed
6 tablespoons sea salt
64 ounces filtered water
one grape leaf (this helps them keep their crunch!)
Last year we lost all of our bees, and really through no fault of their own. They needed some care and intervention and, being overcome with events, we did not come to their aide. We realized there was a problem with the hives in late summer and tried to help them recuperate, but then we were taken away again and they had to fend for themselves.
One hive may have swarmed, but you can never be sure.
Last summer, within a three month period, our family was besought with two deaths.
This life is a time of preparation. Death is inescapable, yet somehow we are always unprepared – even when it is looming.
One death was expected, our aging father. A kind and gentle man, he left us in the early morning of July 4th. Wise in his age, he was always reminding you that “your problem is that you have no problem.” Words to carry with you forever. His was a beautiful death and we were with him to the moment of his repose and into the day. Our priest arrived just minutes after his passing and spent time with our family and in the most uncommon act of normalcy, even brought the grandchildren in to see their newly departed Papou.
Then on October 11th, a severe blow, we lost our brother. Taken from us in his prime, he was only forty and just coming into his own wisdom. Our last days with him were seven sleepless days and nights in Trauma ICU, following a horrible car accident.
To hear the last breath of your loved ones… this is a sorrow filled and blessed gift… and one that is filled with immeasurable Grace.
The time of mourning the loss of two beloved in your family, departing so near in time to one another leaves an indelible mark on your life and places you undoubtedly in an unfamiliar new season.
The season of mourning and praying for the departed.
From the depths of the heart confronted with death, praying for the departed makes you feel alive again. An action of Faith ~ grief and bereavement bleed with the hope of Life and Resurrection.
At the onset of mourning, the heart filled with the heaviness of sorrow is tempered only by the lightness of prayer.
Memory Eternal… we pray for them because we love them, and in praying for them, they pray for us and so our relationship continues. After all, they are still our family and we don’t forget them but continue these prayers for the rest of our lives. This is the Orthodox way.
Prayer for the departed is the joy filled sorrow of another season in our journey as our lives continue here.
In the coming weeks our garden will have the buzzing of bees once again. The whole family is preparing for our wonderful little pollinators!
“Someone who thinks that death is the scariest thing in the world, doesn’t know a thing about life.” Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
“O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? … Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns…. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.” Saint John Chrysostom
“For a long time now we have understood ourselves as traveling toward some sort of industrial paradise, some new Eden conceived and constructed entirely by human ingenuity. And we have thought ourselves free to use and abuse nature in any way that might further this enterprise. Now we face overwhelming evidence that we are not smart enough to recover Eden by assault, and that nature does not tolerate or excuse our abuses.”
Wendell Berry ~ Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food
“In almost every garden, the land is made better and so is the gardener”. ~Robert Rodale
In farming, as in gardening, I happen to believe that if you treat the land with love and respect, then it will repay you in kind. – Prince Charles
Good food should be grown on whole soil, be eaten whole, unprocessed, and garden fresh. Helen and Scott Nearing
Salads are the liveliest vegetables we eat. The chlorophyll in green things gives the body the greatest vitality and relays the sun’s forces directly to the inner man. It is the green life-blood of the plant, the giver of strength and energy. Helen Nearing
gladsomelife.com 