Herb of the Week: Evergreen Allies Part 2, Western Red Cedar

After last week's herbal post, people should have a good idea about the origins of the use of conifers as a ceremonial decoration around the winter holidays.  Hopefully, there has also been some understanding created around how and why conifers can be powerful medicines.  I'd like to expand upon that idea this week by looking at Western Red Cedar.

David Crow, author, herbalist, visionary, and grassroots community organizer has done a lot of work around the use of aromatic medicines especially those from trees (Check out his websites floracopeia.com and medicinecrow.com and his book In Search of the Medicine Buddha).  It was from David that I first heard an excellent explanation for why the scents of conifer trees are so potent.  Conifers actually use their scents, and especially their aromatic resins, as their own form of medicine.  This medicine actually functions as their immune system to protect them from insect, pests, and diseases.  Hence, the similar use by humans.

A fascinating side effect of these potent aromatic compounds is that they have powerful effects on our emotions, our mind, and our spirit.  In fact, in many cultures aromatic conifers are burned to ward off negative emotions, energies, and even negative spirits.  Examples of this include Junipers, True Cedars, Cypresses, Spruces, and the trees which produce Frankincense and Myrrh.

In the Pacific Northwest Bioregion known as Cascadia where I make my home, without a doubt Western Red Cedar takes on this role as a spiritually powerful medicine.  It is both a medicine in the conventional sense and a medicine in the way that I have been describing in other parts of this blog.  Let's take a closer look:

Western Red Cedar
Western Red Cedar, Thuja Plicata, is a common coniferous tree of the Pacific Northwest that has played a profound cultural and practical role in the lives of indigenous people of the Northwest for a very long time.  Note: Western Red Cedar is not a true Cedar, but is rather a part of the cypress family.

Description and Appearance:
Western Red Cedar has very fibrous deep red-brown bark.  It's needle are scaly and long and are not in bundle as you will find on Pines and are not individual like you will find on Firs and Spruces.   Rather, they grow in a fine branching pattern at the end of woody branches.  The needles are light green and potently aromatic, especially if crushed.  Cones are very small and not common.  Branches also grow in distinctive drooping "U" or "J" shapes.

Uses:
1)Needles-Very Potent Aromatic Smudge for Spiritual Purification
While this doesn't fall into your typical "medicinal use", I think that Cedar's highest value may be it's use as a spiritual Medicine rather than as a medicine for colds and flus.  Cedar needles can be burned over coals and the smoke can then be inhaled and also wafted close to the body from head to toe.  This has a very powerful effect of dispersing negative emotions and energies.  Taking the smoking needles and wafting the smoke throughout a room can have the same effect on the space you are in and remove the effect of invisible negative forces.

The herb doesn't have to be burned to activate this part of it's medicine.  Cedar needles or "fronds" can simply be rubbed on the body and gently discarded.  Or, you can even allow yourself to be gently brushed by the needles of a live cedar tree by walking near or around it.

When collecting the needles it may be best to look for green needles that have fallen or been blown down.  When needles turn brown they start to loose some of this potency.

2)Live Tree-Very Potent Spiritual Power and Dispeller of Negative Energies
Again this doesn't exactly fall into the conventional category of medicine, but in the world of Wild Medicine the healing power of a living tree is definitely recognized.  Western Red Cedars are so powerful spiritually and energetically, simply touching one can give you a very powerful energy boost and also provide a spiritual smudge in the same way that the needles do as described above.  Being in a grove of Old Growth Cedars may be one of the most powerful healing places people can actually experience.  Also, if you have deep and old emotional wounds simply sitting against a Western Red Cedar tree on a daily basis can be extremely healing.  You can also express and let go of grief, anger, sadness, and other emotions verbally at or near a cedar.  They can definitely take it.  Regularly touching and spending time with Western Red Cedars will start to act as a regular emotional purifier and spiritual buffer such that you may find that you need to smudge less often and actually function as a smudge more yourself.

I am consistently flabbergasted at the number of 50, 100, or even 150 year cedar trees that are still cut down.  To me this is like killing our spiritual elders.

3)Needle Tea-
Boiling WRC needles for 20 minutes or so creates a tea that can be used to treat colds, respiratory infections, and even early stage urinary tract infections.  It is definitely diuretic and should not be drank frequently as there are compounds in the tea that can irritate the kidneys.  When acutely sick with the above, the tea can be drunk for a few days to help clear away the illness.  The notion of drinking the tea daily or using a needle tincture every day as an immune system booster strikes me as careless and dangerous to one's kidneys.

4)Ethnobotanical Uses of Bark and Wood
It is important to note that WRC can be made into a variety of items that are very useful to survive in the damp, cold climate of the Northwest.  Cloths were made from Cedar bark.  Longhouses and canoes were made from Cedar wood, and Cedar was used as a bow-drill or hand-drill wood to create fires.  The ethnobotanical uses of the bark and wood are almost endless.  There are many good resources available on this topic.  One last note, in some traditions WRC was not burned as a firewood due to its importance for so many other uses and due to its sacred qualities.

Herb of the Week: Evergreen Allies Part 1, Douglas Fir

This week for the herb of the week, I am going to start unveiling the deeper relationship that we as human beings can have with trees.  Especially at this time of year (early winter heading towards solstice), as most of the herbaceous plants are gone for the year, the main source of green in our vision of the outdoors is probably a conifer of some sort.  Conifers, which are often referred to as evergreens, are trees that have adapted to winter conditions in such a way that they reproduce through cones and generally speaking, keep their needles year round (technically conifers do lose their needles, just at a slow rate and not at the same time except for larches which do lose their needles at the same time).

Conifers have traditionally been revered at this time of year in a variety of ways.  The most obvious one is the European tradition (which is now popularized over a lot of the world) of bringing in evergreen boughs, branches, and even trees in the form of the Christmas tree.  But why do we do such a thing?  Well, there are some pretty obvious symbolic reasons.  These evergreen trees are potent symbols of surviving the harshness of winter.  Keeping their needles and still appearing alive and fresh at this time of year is an indication of their power.  However, there are also a number of practical reasons.  Almost all conifers are rich in essential oils which are emitted from their needles, branches, and sap or pitch.  These essential oils are very effective medicines especially against respiratory illness.  There is the distinct possibility that the origin of bringing in evergreen decorations during the winter time was a form of preventative medicine.

In honor of this tradition, for the next few weeks our herbs of the week will actually be coniferous trees.  We will start with the Douglas Fir, one of the classic trees used as a "Christmas" tree.

Douglas Fir, "Pseudo Fir"
Douglas Fir or Psedostuga menziesii, is a conifer widely distributed in the Western United States.

Appearance and Description:
Douglas Fir is characterized by extremely rough, thick bark in mature trees (in young trees the bark actually contains large numbers of resinous blisters filled with the potent pitch of the tree).  It's needles are flat and friendly like most firs, but technically it is not a true fir only a pseudo-fir hence it's latin name of pseudotsuga.  Douglas fir trees tend to have very few lower branches because they break off easily.  Many consider the most distinctive feature of Douglas Fir it's cones.  The cones are 3-5 inches long with very wide open "teeth".  Inside these "teeth", are very recognizable structures that look like a little tail and possibly the small hindquarters of an animal.  This has led to the popularization of a story about Douglas Fir trees saving the lives of a number of mice during a time of great fire.

Uses:
1)Needle and Branch Tea:
Collecting the still green branches and needles from Douglas Fir is quit easy.  Often after a windstorm, there are numerous boughs on the ground.  Taking two to three handfuls of needles and boiling them in water for 20-45 minutes produces a quite pleasant tea.  This tea (or decoction) is very useful at fighting off early stages of cold, especially those characterized by thick nasal discharge and white or clear phlegm in the lungs.  It can also be helpful for coughs, but more for the kind of cough that has not yet produced  yellow or green mucous.  The tea is very warming to the body and may produce a light sweat.  The only precaution associated with the tea is that it can be very drying to the throat and lungs.

2)Needle and Branch Steam or Bath:
Douglas Fir is also used to make an herbal bath or steam.  In this case you make the tea the same as above, but then that is either poured into bath water or a part of the body is held over the steaming kettle. This steam or bath is very good at driving out arthritis, join pain, and general aches especially those brought about by cold.  This includes both chronic pain (especially arthritis made worse by cold) and body aches from flu that are made worse by cold.

3)Pitch, Sap, or Resin:
Many of the medicinal qualities of Douglas Fir seemed to be concentrated in the pitch from the tree.  Usually found at wounds on the tree, the pitch can be collected and put directly on cuts or scrapes that have been thoroughly cleaned.  The pitch can also be saved an added to salves, liniments, or even wound powders as a powerful antiseptic.  Finally, burning of the collected pitch on hot coals produces an amazing aromatic smudge.  This smoke has the effect of purification as well as many of the respiratory benefits mentioned above.

This holiday season as you bring greenery into your house, remember the original connection behind this now symbolic act.  As we move towards the solstice, how can you work with the evergreens and their medicine to support your own journey to health and vibrancy?