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Iodine. It’s a component of thyroid hormone, critical for fetal and childhood growth and development. It also regulates metabolism, digestion, heart function, reproduction and many other aspects of adult health. Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid) will result if someone is deficient in iodine, and can also result from other issues. Most of us in the West have enough iodine, though studies have found that a significant number of pregnant or lactating women in the U.S.

When folks think of medicinal plants, they usually picture herbs, flowers, and such.  But don’t forget about trees!  Many tree species are great medicine; an entire book could be written on them. I’ll take it easy on you and cover just 5 really good ones here. Most likely one or more of these can be found near you.

Nettles are a member of the family Urticaceae, commonly known as the Nettle family of the genus Urtica L. or Nettle P. with five species. The most commonly found is the stinging nettle, with three subspecies.

Cypress essential oil is distilled mainly from the leaves and twigs of Cupressus sempervirens, the cypress tree. If you’ve seen the pointy evergreen trees in Van Gogh paintings, then you know what cypress looks like. The scent is warm, woody, green, and balsamic with some spiciness and sharpness. The leaves themselves have a wide variety of traditional medicinal uses, from the respiratory tract to the reproductive system.

Phytoestrogens are not actually estrogen, in contrast to a common belief. They are chemicals found in many plants that, when eaten in our food, may provide health-promoting effects. This is in contrast to xenoestrogens—plastics, industrial chemicals, herbicides, pesticides and others—that are hormone disruptors even in small amounts.

Apricots are a member of the family Rosaceae, commonly known as the Rose family of the genus Prunus L. or plum P. Its species names is Prunus armeniaca L. or apricot P. The nomenclature apricot is said to be derived from the Italian word “albercocco.” The fruit is considered a dupe and is related to the cherry, plum, nectarine, peach, and almond.

The May Tree in the Celtic calendar, Hawthorn is the powerful grandmother of the Rose family and was thought in Europe to be the home of faeries. “Haw” means berry and “thorn”—well, that’s pretty self-explanatory. “Crataegus” derives from Greek…”kratos” means strength and “akis,” sharp.  The thorns can be an inch long. Ouch!

Pistachios belong to the family Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the sumac family. They are in the genus pistache P which has six species; the scientific name for the species pistachio nut is Pistacia vera L. The plant is native to regions in western Asia and was found to be eaten by people in Turkey and the Middle East as early as 7000 B.C.E. and cultivated for millennia.

In Chinese medicine, different parts of the tongue reflect what’s going on in different Organ systems.  In the first 3 parts of this series on the basics of tongue diagnosis, we got into what tongue body color, tongue shape, and tongue coat ha

There has never been a more alive time to know Kali than now, during what Vedic texts and other ancient scriptures deem the Kali Yuga—or era of Kali, era of Vice—which is what the current 1000 years we are in is called. Kali is the fierce and Dark aspect of the Divine Feminine who is comfortable with her rage, using it to call forth great change and destroy all that no longer serves.