Heart medicine from the hedgerow

I fell down the rabbit hole with hawthorn! It started popping up everywhere with such verve, apparently that’s what happens when a plant is meant for you. I already intuitively felt it as a medicine I needed and started taking a cuppa here and there, now a tincture. What I learnt was so rich from scientific evidence for medicinal purpose to energetic understanding of its support on an emotional level to countless folk stories. 

This is where my apothecary cabinet starts. 

I have others but hawthorn feels crucial. Hawthorn is of the same family as rose which is also important to me & showing up lately, and the two marry very well. There’s the clue. Hawthorn is remarkably potent and efficient at supporting, nourishing and balancing the entire cardiovascular system. Much as rose it has little known contraindications though perhaps be careful with ulcers and colitis (I’m taking this from my Ayurvedic sources) and always consult a health professional if on medication or you have a cardiovascular condition. Hawthorn regulates circulation, blood pressure & heart rate and promotes healthy tissues in and around the heart acting as a tonic. It is an antioxidant, a vasodilator, antispasmodic and recommended for heart weakness, hypertension, palpitations and blood clots. It is a great preventive as well as healer, helping in convalescence after interventions related to the cardiovascular system. 

On an emotional level it is a great curer too and opens channels where the flow is blocked or closes those that leak. It is helpful for grief and trauma much like rose and both can address issues where there are known specific direct causes at a personal level but also are/is the right medicine for times of very distressful events that affects us all. Hawthorn is pertinent for counteracting the anguish of daily news of violence or human rights breaches. Whether there is personal hurt, or the doom & gloom of consumerism, social wrong doings and ecological threat is getting to us, not to mention the repercussions of COVID-19, hawthorn can be called on. It has a warm, soft but grounded & firm strength that mends so that we lighten up and can stay open-hearted. Use as a decoction or syrup (berries) or an infusion or tincture (berries & flowers, even leaves for the tincture). I’ll be staying on my rose + hawthorn + oat protocol for a while so I’ll let you know any insights. Please share yours!