Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Motherwort

Hey, y'all, welcome this week's show. Today we're gonna talk about a really interesting herb. But I do want to apologize for not doing a podcast last week. I hate it when I missed a podcast, but I was called out of town unexpectedly, and yeah, by the time I got back, there was just no way to get one done. So if era pick up this week, and we're gonna pick up with mother Wart. Mother Wart is a really interesting herb. Okay, the Latin name is leon URIs cardiaca. It's long been used as a heart herb. That's why it has the name cardiaca. Leon Nouris is from the word lion, and that's because a common name for it is lions tail. It's been called that since, you know, two three thousand years ago. It doesn't look any more like a lion's tail than a dandelion looks like lion's teeth. That's what dandelion means. It's French, din't de leon. It's a tea of the lion. But you know, people used to be a little more fanciful with their imaginations as such. But oddly enough, even though it was well known in the ancient world, there's no mention of it in any of the ancient Greek verbals that I can find. As best I can tell, we only begin to find it actually written about in the fifteen hundreds, which is kind of crazy, because I mean, they had already named it Leonora's cardiaca. They knew what it was, they knew what it did, but there's no writing about it. Gerard described motherwort and its uses in fifteen ninety seven, but the illustrations that he used in his book were from the botanist Jacob Theodorus Tabermontanas, hugely influential German physician and botanists much further back. So anyway, I have yet to find an English translation of taber Montanas's books. If you know of any, If you happen to have one and want to send me one, that would be fantastic. Parkinson I finally did find someone sent me an online a PDF of Parkinson's book I was a Paradise and so let I believe anyway, his herbals fent really good. I just had a fragment of it that had been published I don't know, twenty years ago. I mean, it wasn't even more than a tenth of the book, So someone did give me that resource. Very grateful for that. If you happen to run across to burn a Montanas's books, I would be very grateful. Even if it's a copy in German or Latin. I guess they were published in German and Latin. That would be great just for the you know, to have on my shelf, for the prints, the pictures, that would be awesome. And I do read Latin. I taught myself Latin a few years ago. I'm you know, it's no longer a spoken language, but I can read it for the most part, and if not, I can look it up real quick. And you know, German is so similar to English a lot of times I can figure it out as well. But any way, not that you're going to be running across a five six hundred year old book and want to send me a free copy. If you do, that'd be awesome. Anyway, Girard says, Motherwort bringeth forth stalks for square, thick and hard. Well, why is that important? All right? I'm not going to get into all the Elizabethan English. It's in the met family. Whenever you find a plant that has a square stem and opposite leaves, you can be pretty much ninety percent shirts in the mint family. That's sort of start. There are a couple of impostors, but not very many. He says that it flourisheth and flower and seedeth fourth from June to September. Anyway, it doesn't really matter now he mentioned so that this is actually interesting that he says in our age is called cardiaca, and the high Dutch it was Hertzki's port and Low's Dutch Hurtzki's band. Okay, so yeah, he totally learned about this from Tabor Montanas. To burn a mont and Neus whatever his name is, to burn a mont Andeus. The temperature. We don't need to worry about that. Here we go. Virtues diverse. That means many people commend it against the infirmities of the heart. It is judged to be so forciful that it maybe thought it took its name cardiaca of the effect. In other words, by fifteen eighties it was a well known herb for heart issues. It is reported to cure convulsions and cramps and the palsy, and to open these stoppings of the intrails. In other words, it helps re constillation as well, and it kills all kinds of worms in the belly. Now that that is true. While this plant is called mother wart in our modern time, it should never ever be taken by pregnant women. It does well kill the infant for one thing. I mean, if anything kills worms, it's a vermifuse. Should never be taken during pregnancy. It also stimulates menstruation. In fact, he says, the powder of the herb given him wine provoketh not only the urine, but the monthly course. So there you have it. Now it was at the time used to stimulate labor. That's not a very safe use. As I always say, when it comes to herbs during pregnancy, if you use them at all, consult with someone who absolutely specializes in herbs for women, especially during pregnancy, like an herb issue is also a midwife. I am not I do not claim to be. I cautioned strongly. I mean, as I've said many times, just about any book on you know, natural childbirth or whatever is probably gonna recommend raspberry leaf tea or BlackBerry leaf tea. It tonifies the uterus, it helps with the contractions, it helps with the delivery, and it can help prevent miscarriage in useful moderate dosages. There actually was a woman who decided to drink two gallons of it a day and caused a miscarriage and hurt herself very badly. So you know, I don't recommend anything because well, basically, I don't know if the person listening to me is sensible enough to use it properly. Does that sound unkind, well, it's not meant to be. I mean, the woman was drink two gallons of the tea a day. If you drink more in a gallon of water a day, you can do serious harm to your health. I mean obviously obsessive, you know, obsessive, compulsive, and took things over the top. You know, I try not to make assumptions that people know what I'm talking about. I remember when I had a food block. It was a cooking blog about all about southern food. I really enjoyed it. I don't remember why I discontinued it, but I do remember one time a lady got in touch with me and said, I can't make pasta, And I'm like, what do you mean you can't make pasta? Are you using store bought dried pasta? You're trying to make them from scratch. What she said, No, I buy, you know, pasta from the grocery store, Mullers or Marilla or something like that, and I put it. When I cook it, it all clumps together and becomes like a nasty, solid, slimy lump that's like raw in the middle, rather than the kind of pasta my grandmother made or I eat in a restaurant. I don't really understand this. And I asked her like so many questions, and I finally said, are you bringing the water to a boil? And she got really offended. She's I have a PhD In this, you know whatever I mean. She was like, you know, really offended that I would ask her such a stupid question. After a question, a few more questions, it turned out she literally did not know the difference between simmering and boiling water. She was bringing the water barely up to a simmer you know when you see there's like tiny little bubbles on the bottom of the pot, not a rolling boil obviously, and just dumping the pasta in there and it wasn't cooking, it was just lumping together. So even people with like advanced college degrees can be remarkably stupid. Ignorant would be the right term. So yeah, I do try not to make such assumptions, but I mean, really, you see some of the things people do. I mean, I was just watching a video on homemade handguns, and some of the designs were just insane. Pipe guns in such you know, zip guns, things that will blow up in your hand, blow your fingers off, and you just look at it and you think, who the heck came up with this? When they were high as a kite. You know, I was just crazy. But anyway, anyway, he said mother work was good for green wounds. That means fresh wounds. It doesn't mean gangreen, by the way, and was often used as a for diseases in cattle. I mean, he doesn't even specify what those are. Now. Culpepper, about one hundred years later, said, well, he again identifies it as a Mint member of the Mint family, Government and virtues. That's what I'm looking for, Government and virtues. Venus owns this urb and it is under Leo. I have no idea what that means, and I honestly don't care. But anyway, says there is no better herb to take home melancholy vapors from the heart to strengthen it and make it merry. That is actually true. Mother wort has an unexplained by science, okay, effect to actually elevate mood. Why is it called mother wort if pregnant women can't use it, Well, it's actually like the most useful herb motherwort and mugwort. Would probably put the two together for all most I shouldn't say, Oh, I should say most menstrual issues. It helps with what we might call PMS. It helps with the irritability, It helps, but it also helps with depression. It actually is a mood elevator. Now some women. The reason I couldn't say, ah, it's been so often recommended to bring on menstruation to help with the irritability and the mood swings and all that that. You know, women have used this for centuries. For some it actually has an effect of making them feel kind of detached or out of it, and they don't like it. So that's why I can't say it works for everybody, But it's very helpful for men as well, for the heart and for certain anxious depressed type states. As I said, no one knows why, but that's true with a lot of the members of the Mint and Ardemesia families is they do have psychological effects that have not been thoroughly explored, and it really should be. I mean, people have gosh, mugworts great for anxiety, and I think the last statistic I read was almost like seventy percent of women are in America on medication for anxiety and depression, and probably seventy percent of those could be helped with mugwort with out the side effects, because you know, those drugs really are not very good for you. So much PTSD after the Wars, so many people also dealing with like grief and really serious issues. Mugwort, a member of the Artemesia family, has an odd psychological effect of like distancing you from your trauma. You just you don't think about it as much. No one knows why that is. But for thousands of years it was given to anybody who had lost a loved one because it would help with grief. They knew it helped with grief. They didn't know why. We still don't know why. Because our scientists are not interested in using the plant Scott gave us for free. They want to use chemicals that they can sell and make a lot of money for somebody, you know, the company, the employees that is going to make a lot of money. Well, anyway, he said that it makes the heart merry, cheerful, and a blithe soul. It may be kept in a syrup or conserve. Conserve is actually like a jelly, like you can make mint jelly. You can do that with lions tale as well. Mother wart wherever we're gonna call it Leonoras, cardiac of Leonoras. It makes women joyful mothers of children and settles their wombs as they should be. Therefore we call it motherwart. It is held to be of much use for the trembling of the heart, as well as for faintings and swoonings. From whence it took the name cardiaca. The powder thereof, to the quantity give a spoonful drink and wine is helpful to women in their sore travail. Also, it really helps with the cramping, in other words, also for the suffocating or risings of the mother. Now, that is an odd statement. I've never been able to essentially talking about the womb. I don't know what the suffer, suffocatings and risings are. Yeah, I don't know. I doubt many women do either. But if you are one and know what the heck he's talking about, let me know, I probably don't want to know. That's just not my cup of to you. Okay. It likely took the name of mother work with us. Yeah, it also provokes you. Urine in women's courses, cleanses the chest of cold phlam oppresses, It kills worms in the belly, and is good used to warm and dry up the cold humors. That means mucus, essentially, to digest and disperse them until they are settled in the veins, joints, and sinews of the body, and to help cramps in convulsions. Yeah. So, by sixteen hundred this was a very commonly used herb, and misgrieve in the eighteen thirties tells us old writers tell us there is no better herb for strengthening and gladdening the heart, and that is good against hysterical complaints and especially for palpitations of the heart when they arise from hysteric causes. You may beware that hawthorn is also very good for a rhythm. Me a before, I mean, if I had a cardiac issue, which I don't, before, I would take prescription digitalis or something similar, and certainly before I would try to make my own tincture of digitalis and use it. I would try Hawthorne, I would try Mother Wort. I would even try Lily the Valley. But that's me, you know. I might give a medical advice. Figured it out on your own. Umm. She says, it is a simple tonic not only for the heart, for heart disease, neraugia and other affections of the heart, but also in spinal disease and recovering from fevers, where the other tonics are inadmissible. She found an old herbal from way back. You can tell by the way the words are spelled, this is Anglo Saxon. She said that Maser's herbal we find mother Wart mentioned as one of the urbs which were considered all powerful against wicked spirits spelled w y kk ed sp e r y t I s yes, the English language used to be spelled very very differently, and probably the wicked spirits they're talking about are anxiety and depression. So uh Ner medicinal use as an action, she says, diaphoretic means it he's break of fever, anti spasmodic toonic nervine and menagog means that brings on Menci's mother word is especially valuable in female weaknesses and disorders, hence the name allaying nervous hero's ability and inducing quiet and passivity of the whole nervous system. Oddly enough, some women don't like the quiet and pacific passivity that it induces, but most do. As a tonic, it acts without producing federal excitement and in fevers attended with nervousness and delirium, it is extremely useful. It's very good, or most of them. It's are really good for fevers. Now let's go to modern use and we'll look at plants for future. They say motherwort is especially value on the treatment of female weaknesses and disorders. Gee, you wonder where they got that from. Yeah, we know, allaying nervous irritability and inducing quiet and passivity of the whole nervous system. You see why I am so careful in citing my sources. They just repeat things out of books without giving anybody any credit. I you know what always say, I don't like guru types. I don't like people that act like they know everything through some secret knowledge. Anyway, they say it is also seen as a remedy for heart palpitations. It has a strengthening effect, especially on a weak heart. The anti spasmodic in sedative effects promote relaxation rather than drowsiness. The leaves are anti spasmodic, astringent, cardiac, diaphoretica, menagogue, nervine sedative, stematic, tonic, and anguterine stimulant. They are taken internally in the treatment of heart complaints, notably palpitations and problems associated with minstrels atian, childbirth, and menopause, especially of a nervous origin. Although an infusion can be used, the taste is so bitter that the plant is usually made into a conserve or syrup. An alcoholic extract is said to possess superior action to Valerian. So good sedative help you sleep, even though they said it didn't. What they say, it doesn't induce drowsiness, and then they say it's like Valerian, so it does it can It depends on the dosage. The plant has been found effective in the treatment of functional heart complaints due to its autonomic imbalance, and also as an anti thyroid treatment, though it needs to be taken for several months for these effects be noticed. The whole herb is harvested in August when in flour, and can be dried for later. Use should not be prescribed in earlier stages of pregnancy or where periods are heavy. Yes, yeah, you're having heaving bleeding and you don't want to take this one a home I don't know. Homeopathy also uses it, which is go with that. So that pretty much wraps up mother wart. I consider this one, as I say so often, one of the essential herbs. But especially if you have a woman in your life or you have a heart issue, I would absolutely prioritize growing mother wart and hawthorn. You know, the halls have anti spasmodic properties, so they're good for both menstrual cramping and good for the heart. I mean, there's a lot of these herbs that actually do have some similar effects. And you know, if I needed it, I'd put together probably a formula of about three or four of these rather than using them individually. I experiment with them individually and then probably come up with a good formula. That's the way I do things. But you know, the bitterness of mother wart, it was as similar to the bitterness of mugwort. Yeah, so, I mean you probably put together a nice bitter tonic. Anyway, when you consider that that basically side effects and over medication of people in America is like the leading cause of death in the entire United States. Now, I think it's definitely worth trying the herbs first. But you know, I don't wear a white coat. I could tell you to do one thing, by the way, that's interesting. Edward Burnees Brenees is considered the father of propaganda and marketing. He was Sigmund Freud's nephew. He's the one that came up with putting someone in a white coat because people would look at him and think they're a doctor, whether they say they are not. Remember what Obama did during Obamacare, put white coats on everybody, and people are far more likely to trust them and take their advice. So I am telling you I am not wearing a white coat, and I expect you to do your own research because it is a crazy old world after all. Right, y'all have a great week, and I'll talk to you next time. The information of this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine, and there is no governing body regulating herblens. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studys herbs. I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what Earth has been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience, and if I believe in herb has helped me, I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends you are treating yourself, you take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals, and no two are identical. What works for me may not. Work for you. You may have an allergy of sensitivity and underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. 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