It is day 20 of this year’s Lent of Archangel Michael as practiced by St. Francis of Assisi (in a modified non-catholic version I am practicing). This next 10 day period is partly focused on collective procrastination and I committed to a minimum of 20 minutes a day working on this very website in some capacity. So much time and money invested in bringing this vision to life to leave it sitting for years untouched. Videos, blogs, classes, plant medicines, all waiting to be shared. A structure for my materia medica to be online and publicly accessed, while completing my requirements for herbal certifications and sharing my teachings and medicines. The time has finally come. The Legions of the Blue Flame have re-ignited my flame for this labour of love. The Type A perfectionist in me has learned that it doesn’t have to be perfect, I can just choose to let it flow. Thank you Archangel Michael and St. Francis for giving me the opportunity to “choose to stand by my words, and follow through with action”. Thank you to a few of my revered teachers for reintroducing me to this practice and for building the extended commun
ity of Angels practicing life with me.
Equinox approaches and the plants are again demanding my attention. I learn something new everytime this particular sacrament calls to me. Always on the equinoxes and solstices. I made my first version of this medicine, “Ouchie Grease” in 2013 when my son was 4. I received the recipe in a way that I now understand was mediumship. It had a simple set of skin healing ingredients that were already growing in my garden and were ready for harvest. They were Plantain, Calendula, Comfrey and St. John’sWort.
Harvest time is typically when the plants speak the most “audibly’ to me. They demand timeliness. 
It is a labor of love to grow and tend to the plants, harvest them, process them and then infuse them in oils for 4-6 weeks. Some in the sun, some in the shade. All are biodynamically nurtured daily during their 4-6 week infusion process. Occasionally, oils will spoil if I did not remove enough moisture from certain plants before infusing, or did not decant the oils in time (textbook procrastination), and they will nee
d to be given back to the earth. At first I did so begrudgingly. So much energy that in times of the past had felt lost and wasted, but now feels like an alchemical transmutation. An offering to the earth of months of tending, deep love and devotion, inevitably regifted to me in the following year’s harvest. Given with an intention to process in a more complete and timely manner next time, and gratitude for the teaching. I’m sure this also came along with a healthy dose of guilt and shame for not getting it right, but I have since learned that learning things by doing and making mistakes is perfectly ok.
When healthy oils are decanted each year, the recipe writes its own percentages. Though these herbs have a plethora of uses throughout the body, for topical purposes, preferred percentges were as follows. This salve was originally created for my then 4-year-old, particularly for what his first Montessori teacher called, “summer knees”. Plantain is ideally the largest amount that is added. It is the weed that is trampled in the walkways, scraped and dry. It is healing for skin feeling similar energetic circumstances because “like treats like”. Also great for bites, stings and allergic reactions. Next is Calendula, a skin healer that soothes
irritations, bruises, burns, cuts and scrapes. It has natural antibiotic qualities to help prevent potential infection. It is also thought by many that it can help temper inflammation and burns resulting from radiation therapy while nurturing the underlying tissue. Next is St. John’s Wort. This sunny plant is pain relieving and antiviral. Like clockwork, it flowers on St. John the Baptist’s day, just after Summer Solstice. A harbinger of the hotter sun, it turns any oil it is infused in bright red, suggesting it is also great for treating and preventing burns. Last is Comfrey, full of allantoin and so good at healing injured skin that it cannot be applied to open wounds lest it close them from the outside too quickly.
By the end of the first jar it had been used for “summer knees”, diaper rash, chafing, blistering, dry and cracked skin, and face and full body moisturizer. It was also amazing for my gardening hands, and my too frequently washed and sanitized chropractic hands, which in the winter, would get so dry that they would occasionally crack and bleed. In it’s current iteration it is loved by local postal workers.
Over the years, I was instructed to add Solomon Seal for tendon and ligament support. It is known to many as “Chiropractor in a bottle” because if its benefits for musculoskeletal health. I was also struck by the instruction to add this plant because in one of my church lineages, King Solomon is considered a protector to the degree that when receiving the medicine one is offered his blessings and protection before drinking. This felt very right on all levels to add this ingredient. I then added cannabis for additional pain relief and antimicrobial terpenes. Lastly Frankincense and Helichrysum essential oils for protection and skin healing, beeswax to thicken and vitamin E to preserve.
As winter solstice approached in 2021 I received another beautiful teaching from this medicine. For weeks I was hearing the call to prep and process oil for salve production. I cleaned and sanitized the island and reserved a space on our busy kitchen island to begin the process. I took all of the jars of oil out of the storage cabinet and lined them up on the counter. I checked each jar for spoilage and then visualized the jars remaining jars for how the percentage would shape up.
The jars then sat on the counter for days. Of course I beat my self up a bit for starting the process and not finishing but when the call came again I tried to remember, all in the right timing. Once the energy started flowing again, oils were mixed with the rest of the ingredients and jars were sanitized and filled in less than 24 hours.
They sat again for a couple of days until the current started flowing again. Suddenly, labels were designed and printed and the process completed. What was most striking about the process this time was that the volume of salve that I ended up with was infinitely more than what the supply that I started with should have produced. I ended up with a year’s worth of product from ingredient volumes that would normally have given me one, maybe two seasons.
When the process was finally completed I stood in sheer awe of the number of jars filled and especially with the amount of oil still left to use for the next run of salve. It was as though it would never run out. A long term houseguest had witnessed this whole process and pointed out to me that I actually cleaned the counter and brought out the oils on the first day of Hanukkah and completed the process on the last day of Hanukkah. I was so focused on the traditional solstice timing of this medicine that I was completely unaware of this magical timing. She then reminded me that part of the story of Hanukkah is the never ending supply of oil. I was utterly struck by this magic. As I have evolved as a vegetalista and an herbalist, I have been greatly influenced by several Jewish friends and mentors over the last 6 years and of course this influence was coming forward. I am repeatedly awestruck by the the level and depth of the magic and synchronicity that surrounds me. Then came the final teaching of this round of medicine production. Change the name of the salve and have professional labels printed for next time.
In Portuguese, “Salve” means to save, rescue, deliver, and relieve. In Umbanda, “Salve!” is a both solemn and celebratory salutation offered to the Orixas, particularly to mermaids. Orixas are deified ancestors, elementals that link the spiritual world and the human world. They are syncretized with Catholic Saints, a story for another time. The instruction was clear this year that the next evolution of this sacrament was to be named SALVE!
And now fall equinox is upon us. I had not yet heard the call to prepare more salve for the coming change of seasons. Then one day at yoga, one of my beloved classmates asked me for two large jars as it was the only skin product she wanted to bring with her on her trip to walk El Camino de Santiago at the end of September. When did she need it by? Equinox weekend of course. Just incredible, and so production began again. After battling with the labels from my ancient and disgruntled printer I remembered, order the professional labels! Estimated delivery date the week before equinox, just in time to release another round of this incredible skin food and medicine.
In the next installment of my lent commitment, I will continue working on my website. Next to continue building my materia medica which will involve remembering all of the custom coding that I have not touched in several years. Wish me luck! I will start with Solomon Seal in honor of King Solomon and my chiropractic work.
By the way, I just decanted this season’s St. John’s Wort oil. I waited about two months too long and it is visibly spoiled. And so the lesson continues.
Bright Blessings,
Dr Nicole
