Infusion, a wonderful process
Posted by Bill on June 15, 2010
Infused Eucalyptus Oil
Starting oils and tinctures is a wonderful process to watch and observe. In my living room, I have one tincture and three oils that feel so good to walk by them. When I do, I give them a shake to assist with infusing the oil with the medicinal qualities of her herb.
To the right, I have an infused eucalyptus oil working. This is an oil that will be a base for a respiratory-support salve. A friend of mine works with essential oils as I work with herbs. I have been a customer of hers for almost 4 years and I purchase an essential oil blend she calls Resp-ease. I am an asthmatic and my peak asthma season is between the end of November and the beginning of March, give or take. I put her oil blend into a bottle with a spray-pump and put a spritz on my chest as I walk out of the shower in the morning and let that soak in. This 2009-2010 year, during my usual peak asthma season, I rarely had to reach for my inhaler.
I am making this oil into a salve or a liniment to allow others to rub into their chest, neck and allow this essential oil blend to work for them.
Infused Bloodroot Oil
I am also working on an infused bloodroot oil. This is a repeat formula to where I extract the medicinal qualities of the herb into the oil. Then, I heat that infused oil with some beeswax, charcoal and other goodies such as Shea butter and cocoa butter. This makes my well-known bloodroot black drawing salve.
It is an effective drawing salve on it’s own, but with the addition of bloodroot and other goodies, it’s a darned-powerful remedy. A similar remedy was once called Cansema. However recipes I have found for this salve uses several chemicals I do not particularly agree with. So, I do not include them, but have added other goodies with drawing properties such as clay.
This remedy is also found on eBay where it is one of my better sellers. I had someone in out west purchase several tins from me had has used it her protocol of removing breast cancer from her system without using chemotherapy. Several months later, I asked her how she was doing and she said she has been diagnosed cancer-free and is still in remission!
Infused Anti-Stress Oil
Another oil I have started is one with peppermint, spearmint, catnip and other goodies to assist with relieving stress and anxiety.
This oil started feeling good when I added the herbs into the jar before pouring the oil into the jar. Then when I poured olive oil into the jar, the whole jar just felt good to be with and I am looking forward to pressing this oil and making salve out of it.
This is also an oil that is making me consider using larger or food-grade buckets to infuse oils. The herbs alone was almost fluffy enough to need to press it down while I was pouring the oil into the jar, just to keep it in.
The cats should pay me a lot of attention when I press this oil as it does have catnip and Valerian.
Relaxing Herbs
This is a tincture. A tincture is a combination of herbs, alcohol and water. The alcohol dissolves the parts of the herb that can be dissolved by alcohol into the menstruum. The water dissolves the parts of the herb that can be dissolved by water into the menstruum. The menstruum is a combination of alcohol and water and the percentage of alcohol is based on how most of the herbs will allow themselves to be dissolved by the alcohol. For example, some herbs dissolve very easily in water, but not alcohol, and vice-verse. Most of my tinctures can be found here.
This was also a fun one to start. I used Skullcap, Hops flowers and other goodies for this one. I had a friend of mine that sends me herbs as a thank you for a Reiki attunement and for helping her with a web site she was working on. One of the herbs she sent me was a gallon bag of dried Hops flowers. I thought to myself, “I am never going to use all of this” and that large bag was two ounces, and I used the whole thing as it nearly filled my jar.
The picture to the left appears to be mostly Hops flowers and other goodies. I love combining herbs like this together because while I can tincture every herb separately and then combine them, I like the energies I feel when the herbs get together and have a chance to “get to know each other”. And, having them work together is what I am after. The term, “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” holds true for me and all of the tinctures and oils I make.
