Newsletter

Newsletter – Spring 2007

Before Spring gets away from us and turns into Summer I would like to introduce you to some new products from SOLUM&HERBE. Also, to bring you on board with the activities that are beginning now that the plants and flowers are back with us in tangible form – above ground!

Our garden is blooming with the first Roses, Calendula flowers, California poppies, English Daisies, Violets, Comfrey and Borage. Coming are the Helichrysums, Sages, Elecampane, Black Cohosh, Yarrow and Chamomile both German and Roman. From these and more we are beginning our annual ritual of harvesting the flowers and leaves for tincture and oil making. Once the oils have set for awhile we will begin using this year's crop in our formulas and make last year's oils into soap.

And, as the sun shines - more promising each week - we will be able to add to our Flower Essence library so that our products are nourishing, healing and energetically resonant allowing the energies of the New Earth into our physical and extrasensory forms. This is a remarkable time for the energetically sensitive. Each week it seems that a new and higher energy is enveloping the planet. This sometimes causes physical discomfort as the “old” is moved out of the system to allow the New in. Flower and Gem essences are remarkable tools to help us transition these new energies with a minimum of discomfort and a maximum of growth.

Our new product line is a set of Herbal Salves with Gem and Flower essences. They come in one-ounce jars and are modestly priced so that they can be part of a personalized first aid kit. These were introduced at the Port Townsend Farmer's Market last year, and expanded on this year. There are currently a total of six varieties and more may be added. Here are just two:

The favorite of many is the ROSE LAVENDER SALVE, which was inspired by a salve given to my son when he was small and had a chronic cough. Rubbed on his chest at night, it relieved the cough and allowed us all to get a good night's sleep.

Soothing for children and babies, ROSE LAVENDER SALVE is the perfect marrying of Roses and Lavender,both sweet flowers of summer. Roses have the ability to help raise the human vibration to its perfect top note. Lavender supplies the warmth of the Sun and calming chords to the nervous system. Rose Quartz and Gold gem essences help to balance the emotions and treat the soul to vibrations of purity while providing protection from environmental energies and discordant notes. Use this Salve as a perfume, a cough tamer on the chest, to ease headaches on temples and back of neck and to calm and relax the whole body for sleep or meditation.

MELISSA SALVE or Lemon Balm, is a salve that can be used on cold sores, on bites and as an insect repellent. It is sedative, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory. Melissa officinalis, Lemon Balm's botanical name is derived from Melissa the Greek word for honey bee ( Apis meliffera). A member of the Mint Family or Lamiaceae, it attracts many bees to its small but nectar-laden flowers. The delicately lemon-scented leaves are used to make a realaxing tea, to flavor wine and beer, and in cooking. Its flavor comes from the terpenes citronellol, citral and geraniol. Citral has been demonstrated in studies to be anti-viral. In Germany Lemon Balm is used in creams and ointments to treat herpes and other viral skin conditions. Lemon Balm has been used successfully since the Middle Ages to calm and relax the nerves helping nervous conditions, anxiety and slight insomnia. Copper and Peridot Gem essences enliven the salve with healing and energetic resonance. Copper's conductivity acts on joints and circulation to stimulate the healing processes and speed renewal. Peridot is called Pele's tears in Hawaii, where it is formed from the molten magma that issues from the volcano. It is a lime green gemstone that has traditionally been used for protection and healing. Lime green, the only color for the gem Peridot, is the color of cleansing and healing, enableling your body to speed the cellular renewal needed for the healing process to take place.

All the Salves can be viewed at our web site www.solumandherbe.com under FLORAL AND HERBAL SALVES. In a later Newsletter we will talk about some of the other new products. Enjoy the Spring and Sun!