Rosemary -

I absolutely love Rosemary - the glossy green leaves, the beautiful purple/blue flowers, the intense and intoxicating fragrance and the many medicinal and health benefitting virtues. Rosemary is beneficial to the digestive system being carminative, anti spasmodic, antiseptic and toning. Rosemary is also beneficial to the respiratory system being anti-spasmodic or relaxant, antiseptic and cleansing and is a wonderful expectorant. People with coughs and with thick phlegm will benefit from Rosemary as will people with asthma, as Rosemary will open up the alveoli and make breathing easier.

Rosemary is also a great ally for the circulatory system, toning and rejuvenating the tissues and getting the lymph moving as well as getting fresh, oxygenated blood up to the head. Rosemary can benefit the heart too as she carries anti-oxidants and is toning and rejuvenating. As a nervine herb Rosemary can help us to relax and let go of stress and tension as well as give us some clarity so that we can see there is perhaps no need to stress as much as we thought. Our nervous system, if out of balance, can have an impact on every body system including the digestive, circulatory and respiratory systems.

Nervous tension in the digestive system can lead to indigestion, flatulence, spasms or colic. Nervous tension in the respiratory system can make it difficult to expectorate or can cause breathlessness in asthmatics. Nervous tension in the circulatory system could lead to stagnation of the lymph and poor blood circulation. It is interesting I think, the way that Rosemary connects with all of those systems and brings them back into balance, by calming, soothing, toning and rejuvenating. This reveals to us that despite the anatomical teachings that each body system is a separate thing, we can now understand, thanks to Rosemary, that all the systems of the body are interconnected. Each system can impact on any other.

This connection between each system is a form of remembrance. We are reminded that we are whole beings not just a collection of parts. Rosemary can remind us of our wholism on many levels.

On a phsyical level, as Rosemary helps to flood the brain with oxygenated blood, opening up the capillaries to get oxygen to every place, we can see that the scalp benefits and issues such as dandruff and baldness can be helped. As oxygen reaches the brain and rejuvenates the tissue there, we discover that Rosemary helps with memory. In the language of flowers, Rosemary is associated with Remembrance and is often placed on graves - so we remember our loved ones who have passed on. I had Rosemary in my wedding bouquet to never forget why I fell in love with my husband and to always remember our wedding day. For students, Rosemary can aid memory of information and facts and for those with dementia or with Alzeimer's studies are showing how beneficial Rosemary can be with loss of memory and more.

I also believe, that just as Rosemary helps us to remember everyday stuff, Rosemary can also help us to remember who we are; to remember where and who we come from and why we are here - what our role is in this lifetime. Once we have remembered this, we can ask Rosemary to help us to make a reconnection with all other beings - the plant spirits, the land spirits, the Creator or Mother Goddess or Source. For such a long time we have been distracted and manipulated to accept that all that is here is what we can see and touch. We have been trained to believe that we are here briefly and then we are gone, as if we are just short lived commodities when in fact we are eternal, spiritual beings. The reconnective powers of Rosemary can help us to reconnect with all parts of ourselves and to remember that we are connected to all beings on the planet. Once we remember this, we can act, we can be the change.

Part of the act of remembering is to celebrate our ancient customs and traditions. I am therefore, hosting a Lughnasadh workshop at the end of July. Click the link to find out more. If you are interested in learning more about herbal medicine and how to become self-reliant, check out my courses from the Hawthorn Academy.

Thanks for reading - I welcome your comments xx