Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Ash, Charcoal and Mistletoe

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. We're going to wrap up our series on medicinal trees this week. It's going to be a very brief episode, just a little housekeeping to do essentially. But it is actually a rather important segment of my book, Medicinal Trees. And we'll start with wood ash. Now, of course, wood ash comes from trees, so does charcoal.

[00:00:26] And they're actually very important to herbal medicine. Speaking of wood ash in particular, yes, in particular, Brother Aloysius, who was a great herbalist in his own right. He was a protege of Father Nape. I can't remember if he was Swiss. No, he may have been Austrian or German. I don't remember. No, I think he actually was Swiss.

[00:00:52] He wrote really a materia medica for the entire school of German folk medicine. It's now marketed under the title of a healer's herbal. If you can find the book, I think it's out of print. I mean, I found a cheap paperback copy on eBay for like five bucks. And it's like one of the go to books on my shelf. Really very, very good. He said of wood ash,

[00:01:20] The remains of burned plants, typically wood, are called ash. It purifies and desiccates. Ash from oak is an excellent styptic. That means it stops bleeding. And when mixed with vinegar is even more efficacious. It means it works even better.

[00:01:36] Foot baths from wood ash and salt are highly recommended if the sweating of the feet has been suppressed or expelled. In addition, foot baths can be used for congestion of blood in the head and to draw the blood away from the chest. Ash is recommended for inflammation of the eyes, headache, and toothache.

[00:01:56] Put two handfuls of wood ash. And I think he is specifically talking oak here, but probably most any hardwood. We're not talking more like pines or anything like that. So two handfuls of wood ash and one handful of salt in a bucket of warm water and keep the feet in it for 10 to 12 minutes. Note, foot baths should never be taken hot. Lukewarm is best. And the best time is before retiring or before going to bed.

[00:02:25] Now, related, of course, is charcoal. Charcoal is essentially what happens when you burn wood in a low oxygen environment. But normally you can also substitute just the leftover coals from a fire. You know, the big chunks of black wood. He says that, well, I'm moving away from Brother Aloysius now. I'm just going to tell you that charcoal is really one of the most effective and simple natural remedies.

[00:02:55] Specifically, activated charcoal is used in first aid in many situations. So you're going to want to Google how to make activated charcoal or you can buy it. Definitely have this one in your first aid kit. And that's because activated charcoal is very porous. It's also, you know, you make out of ashes, you make lye. It is a base. So this is a substance that is really counters acidity.

[00:03:25] But it's really fantastic for cases of poisoning, snake bites, insect stings, food poisoning or bad water. Activated charcoal works by absorbing toxins and gases and helps eliminate them from the body. So you're going to want to have some activated charcoal, whether you make it yourself or you buy it in your first aid kit.

[00:03:52] Put this in your bug out bag or whatever you have. Okay, you eat something, you drink something bad, take it right away. Excellent for food poisoning. You can use clay similarly. Now, this is a pure form of clay. Some people call it French clay. I've seen it marked under different terms. Clay will do the same. It basically helps bind up those toxins.

[00:04:18] Now, I guess the caveat would be, if you remember back in the 90s, there was this fad of black food. Purely black. I think McDonald's even had a black milkshake. It was just like a weird fad for a while. And people thought it was a novelty. It was interesting to have food that was just jet black. Or drinks or whatever. It was kind of a thing for a bit.

[00:04:46] They stopped that because that charcoal, which was used to make the food or beverage or whatever black. Or candy. There was a lot of black candy. It would make your mouth black. I don't know if you remember that or not. But, yeah, it was sort of a fad. But, yeah. It does bind to whatever's in your system. And it kind of ties it up in that carbon. Same way we use charcoal and soil. We use it as a carbon to bind up toxins.

[00:05:18] If you were taking medication, it could bind up with that medication and prevent it from being absorbed into your body. It can actually bind with certain nutrients like minerals that are in your food. So it's not good to take it on a daily basis unless you have some reason for doing that. And there are certain alkaline diets and such as that that you might be interested in. A lot of people say they have anti-cancer benefits.

[00:05:44] If you want to look into that, as always, I don't give any advice on cancer because it's just too serious a subject. And, you know, there have been a lot of charlatans that practice herbal medicine that give, you know, this is a cancer remedy. Well, you know, usually it isn't and they're just con men and it gives everybody a bad reputation. So when I talk about anything having to do with cancer, I always say, you know, do your own research. I don't give any advice on this, right?

[00:06:11] But for a first aid situation, especially when it comes to food poisoning or anything, you know, toxic, bad bacteria, anything you have ingested through your mouth, charcoal taken orally is really fantastic. It is like either charcoal or clay. Again, they're pretty much interchangeable and that's pure white clay, okay?

[00:06:37] Okay, taken orally, it just kind of, it helps. Well, for one thing, it helps settle the stomach. It helps with a lot of the symptoms, but it also helps bind up those toxins and remove them from your body. But it also can be used topically. And a poultice of charcoal is one of the very best things for bites and stings, for any kind of venomous bite or sting. You get that on there as quickly as possible and it will help draw those toxins out.

[00:07:07] Now, a modern doctor may say that drawing poultices don't work. It hasn't been proven scientifically. I'm just giving you traditional use and I can absolutely attest that at least one person, well, no, two. Two people I know and there's plenty of documentation, there's plenty of, you know, empirical evidence on this.

[00:07:31] These two people in particular, one was bitten by a copperhead and one was bitten by a rattlesnake. And both of them used drawing poultices. And actually, I know a third that was bitten by a rattlesnake. Actually, they all use drawing poultices to help pull that venom out. They can also help pull, not so much charcoal, but a drawing poultice in general can help draw splinters out and such as that.

[00:07:58] But in particular, one did use charcoal and I think one used clay. In fact, two used clay and one used charcoal and one used cactus pads. You know, the pads of like Nepali type cactuses, prickly pear cactuses. First of all, you burn off the spines that will, you know, that prick you. You know, you want to get rid of all that. And then you skin it and you've got like this basically like a big thing of natural aloe vera.

[00:08:28] And you put it directly on that bite and it, I'm giving you the caveat, standard disclaimer. You can put it on there and you will see it literally turn black as it draws the venom out. Now, again, a doctor may say that's not proven, that's folklore, that's myth.

[00:08:44] I know of two people personally and one that did a class that I took and several testimonies and empirical evidence that said they used drawing poultices. They did not go to the hospital. They did not go to the doctor. And in fact, one in particular is Marjorie Wildcraft. She was bitten by a rattlesnake. She did drawing poultices and took certain herbs that are good against venomous snake bites.

[00:09:14] And she recovered fully with minimal scarring. No, like no big deal. Her husband, like a year or two later, was also bitten by a rattlesnake. They were in Texas, a lot of rattlesnakes in Texas. He went to the hospital. He did the full, you know, modern medical treatment. And he not only almost died, but he had severe both tissue damage. You know, this is a necrotizing venom.

[00:09:42] Certain venomous snakes and spiders like your brown recluse or your black widow, especially. There's a wolf spider. There's nothing. It's a harvest spider. They have a venom that breaks down tissue. Basically, you know, when they bite something, not only does their venom kill it, but it makes it easier for them to digest. By pre-digesting tissue, if you've ever encountered, or if you know someone who's been bitten by a brown recluse or something, it leaves severe scarring.

[00:10:10] Well, drawing poultices such as this seem to be very effective in preventing that damage and helping neutralize the venom. So, again, I'm not recommending this medicinally. I'm not a doctor, but I can tell you it's been used for hundreds of generations by people all over the planet for venomous stings and bites.

[00:10:37] So, charcoal, absolute essential in your first aid kit for many reasons. Also, the clay and wood ash is similar but a little different. Okay. Now, one, I really have to make a huge distinction.

[00:10:59] All of the old herbal books that are written in Europe, and even some from early America, would mention mistletoe. European mistletoe is a very useful medicinal herb. It is extremely different from American mistletoe. American mistletoe grows all over eastern North Carolina.

[00:11:23] I could gather it by the bushel if I wanted to, but it's literally only useful as a decoration at Christmas time if somebody wants to kiss under the mistletoe or something. European mistletoe basically lowers heart rate, lowers blood pressure. It's a calming herb. It's good for digestion. It has many medicinal uses.

[00:11:50] American mistletoe is essentially the opposite. It increases heart rate. It increases blood pressure. It constricts blood vessels. Even just eating a few of the berries, you know, some kids every now and then will eat a couple of mistletoe berries, will kill you. I mean, it will kill you. There is some herbal use for American mistletoe.

[00:12:19] That should be left to someone who is absolutely expert in the folk use of this plant. It is absolutely deadly. I did not recommend, I did not include any recommendations for mistletoe in my book on trees. Mistletoe grows on trees. It's a parasitic plant that grows on hardwood trees.

[00:12:43] It would normally be included in any book discussing, you know, trees in herbal medicine. Do not make that mistake. Do not make that mistake. If you ingest mistletoe, especially if you were to make a tincture of it following a European formula for European mistletoe, which is very useful. European mistletoe is included in the Great Swedish Bitters that I take every day. A wonderful, useful plant. American mistletoe is like the flip side of that coin.

[00:13:14] You take it, you will probably have a stroke and die. If you survive it, you will never try it again because it is absolutely one of the most toxic plant substances to be found in North America. So, y'all, that actually wraps it up on medicinal trees. And I'm not exactly sure which of my books we're going to start. Well, no, I pretty much have figured it out. We'll start a whole new series next week.

[00:13:43] A whole new family of plants. A whole new, what's the word, phologium or whatever. Classification plants. And we got many hundreds of podcasts left to go. So, fear not.

[00:13:59] But, if you've ingested the information about all the medicinal uses of all the trees that grow in North America, you realize your medicine cabinet is right outside your back door. And get busy. Prioritize identifying trees. It's amazing to me, you know, as I wrote this book, how many trees I didn't recognize. And, you know, I grew up doing this stuff.

[00:14:28] As I got into wood carving, I started recognizing more and more trees and various varieties of certain trees. You know, really, I think tree identification should start being taught in kindergarten. But, as I often said, we learn more in school about the things in outer space than we do the things under our feet. And that, you know, that's not a good thing. We really need to know far more about the plants and the fungi and the mycology of the soil.

[00:14:57] That's far more important to our health and our well-being and our security than asteroids and planets and stars. You know, unless something, a meteor falls to Earth, I mean, really, what the heck do we have to worry about what's in space? You know. Okay. I mean, we get into advanced mathematics rather than identifying a tree or a bush right outside your window.

[00:15:26] Far more important to do that. So, I just wanted to wrap it up on this one. And next week, we'll get into a whole new topic. So, y'all have a great week. And I will talk to you next time. The information in 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 U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbalists.

[00:15:56] Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies 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 herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs help 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.

[00:16:23] You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.