Your Apple a Day: Simple Apple Cider Vinegar

This easy-peasy recipe will result in one of the most useful items in your pantry, one which can be used not only in your cookery and as a daily health drink, but as a household cleanser, skin and facial toner, hair rinse, and dozens of other excellent uses. Hippocrates, the founding father of medicine in ancient Greece, taught that he depended on two medicinal tonics, honey and vinegar. Apple cider vinegar lowers cholesterol and blood pressure and helps strengthen bones. Best of all, this preparation costs mere pennies to make as you are using only the cores and peels from the apples. Bake a couple of pies while you brew up a tonic to boost health. When you add herbs to vinegar, you are enhancing their healing power synergistically for the best of both worlds. All you need is:

• cores and peels of 8 organic apples
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 quart of water

Cut up the apple cores and peels into smaller pieces and spoon them into a wide-mouthed canning jar. Pour in enough water to cover the fruit, then spoon in the honey and stir well. Cover the jar with either a clean paper towel or waxed paper and place a rubber band tightly around the neck of the jar. Place on a dark shelf in your cupboard or work area and leave it for two weeks. After a fortnight, strain the liquid and remove and discard the compostable solids that remain. then return the liquid to the jar and secure the cover with the rubber band again. Put it back on the shelf. making sure to stir it daily. After one month, taste a spoonful; if the acidity and flavor is to your taste, transfer it to a dark bottle with a sealable top. Vinegar from the fermented apples will corrode metal lids, so a pretty bottle with a cork is the best option.

Eating Healing Food: From Seed to Savory Meal

Centuries ago, healers were the wise women of the village, herbalists and midwives who could halt a fever with a poultice or hasten the setting of bones by concocting a medicinal tea. The lore of growing and gathering healing herbs has been passed down for hundreds of years. A learned herbal healer knows which phases of the moon are best for planting seeds, how to plan your garden by the stars, and how to create concoctions for health and harmony.

In the grand and hallowed tradition, I learned at the knee of my aunt Edith, a very wise woman who would take me for walks through the woods and show me the uses and meanings of every flower, weed, and tree. From her, I learned that lovely Queen Anne’s lace is in fact wild carrot; that pokeberries make the finest blood-red inks; and which meadow greens and shade-loving mushrooms are safe for a noonday salad. I was in awe during our tromps through the woods, walking mile upon mile to map every acre and spy every specimen. Nature was our cathedral, our classroom, and our calendar. Every spring, we could mark April 1 by the blossoming of a solitary clump of delicate Dutchman’s breeches amid a raft of rarest wildflowers. I thought Aunt Edith was teaching me about plants and trees, only to discover years later that she had shown me the sanctity of life and passed on to me a legacy I now treasure.

Herbal healing is “earth magic.” These recipes that create both soundness of body and clarity of mind are eminently practical. They are a wonderful mix of gardening, herb lore, minding the moon and sky, and heeding ancient folk wisdom. In crafting herbal remedies for healing, you are using your magic in conjunction with the properties of the herbs—a powerful combination. It is a subtle process, growing more effective over tike through repeated practice.

Prior to modern medical science, it was believed that illness was a sign of evil spirits. A modern healer knows that most maladies come from myriad causes with such common roots as neglect, imbalance, stress, lack of sleep, and substance abuse, which includes eating the wrong types of foods. A good healer knows that prevention is always better than a cure and that self-care can greatly amplify the body’s powerful self-healing properties. Your well-being is inextricably linked to the physical and spiritual health of the people around you, which in turn is connected to the planet at large. Thus, the healing process begins with you and spirals outward. The purifying positions and restorative herbal cures recounted in these pages provide a sacred road map to bring you in harmony with yourself and with the greater forces of nature. Many plants now thought of as weeds have great healing powers and magical properties. Most of the herbs and essential oils in this book have become quite commonplace. With the new plethora of aromatherapy products now available, most oil essences and scented candles can be bought commercially. For the more unusual ingredients, try your local health food market, herbalist or metaphysical store.

Kitchen Witch Alchemy

Marigold blossoms gathered at high noon will raise your energy level. 

Lettuce juice (made in a juicer or food processor) rubbed on your
temples and forehead will dispel sleeplessness.  

Holly was once believed to repel lightening.

Hazel branches make excellent wands and divining rods. Used like pendulums, they help you answer questions.

Garlic guards against evil spirits, disease and bad weather.  

Cyclamen eases the pain of grief.
 
Cucumber peel placed on your temple and forehead cures headaches.