Lavender Stories: Lavender in Folk Medicine
Folk or traditional medicine goes way back before recorded history and is a natural co-evolution of ancient man’s interaction with nature. Folk medicine was intricately synonymous with the esoteric, so it is no surprise that folk medicine is intertwined with religion and spiritual crafts.
This co-evolution of religious (ritualistic beliefs or practices) in conjunction with plants and herbs of all forms revealed solutions to diseases and aliment and it is these solutions that have been recorded and pasted down through time that form the basis of folk medicine as we know it today.
Archeology has shown that for over 40,000 years, plants and herbs were used in rituals, medicines and food. Ancient groups and peoples had an intrinsic reverence for nature and believed plants to hold unique magical properties and through various processes and applications which included ritual, the plants worked their magic.
This reverence can also be seen in the use of aromatic plants, essential oils and incense used in religious and curative practices in all early cultures around the world. In folk medicine plants had ‘wick’ or a life force or soul.
From the Latin word ‘essentia’ you might start to conceptualize something or someone, or think about a ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ – essential oils are quite literally the life force or the essential energy and nutrients extracted from plants and herbs that then can be passed onto people through various methods such as inhalation, as well as through ingestion and application via oils into the skin. Modern medicine was born out of folk medicine and lavender is an excellent example of a folk medicine plant being rediscovered in modern medicine. The methodologies and processes may be different from folk tradition but the magic still works!
Check out this vast list of support lavender essential oil can offer to us in modern times:
- Lavender essential oils clear heat and expels toxicity, which supports with: anxiety, anger, acne, wounds, lice, intestinal worms, scalds, sore throat and cough. We love our roller ball for this reason.
- Relieves itching, cold and flu caused by wind heat, fever, eczema, rashes (including nettle rash), bites, inflammation and headaches – we love our creams for these reasons.
- Makes skin soft and hair shiny.
- Supports with circulation, is a mood elevator, helps with asthma and depression – we love using our products in a steamy shower, bath or on-the-go for all of these reasons. Find the right products for you here.