Moon Cycle Balm

[Kristin]

I would like to make a balm to use for menstrual cramps, and I thought I would start with a base of cottonwood bud oil. I think I would like to add a few other things. Right now I’m leaning towards:

Cottonwood Buds
Mugwort
Hops
St. John’s Wort or Rose

Thoughts?

[Suzanne “Queen Bee” Tabert]

Hello love!

Cottonwood oil was always my go-to for relieving menstrual cramps. Good on ya for thinking about this formula! I’ll give my 2 cents. See what you think:

Mugwort is so dreamy during menses time of the month. It has a sedative effect and can help us to let go and relax. Cramps usually mean constriction, so to have the opposite effect of relaxing can be so welcome.

Hops is a personality herb. What I mean by that is that some women love this plant during menstruation, others do not. It might be best to try it on its own before putting it in a formula, so you can see if you resonate with it.

St John’s Wort excels at soothing nerve pain. While sure, nerves and muscles are closely connected, I’d look more at plants that serve to mitigate muscle pain such as the aptly named Cramp bark.

Rose is always so welcome in a formula such as this as is its relative Raspberry leaf.

Hope this helps and keep us posted on your results!

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 4 days ago by Suzanne "Queen Bee" Tabert.

[Kristin]

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. It’s funny to me, because I was thinking of adding hops and St. John’s wort because of some things I had read, but intuitively they weren’t really calling to me. I was also thinking that as a phyto-estrogen, wouldn’t hops be helpful to some but contraindicated for others with excess estrogen? Not sure if I’m understanding that correctly or not.

So it’s settled! A cottonwood bud, mugwort and rose balm. Sounds lovely to me!

Is raspberry leaf something that is used topically? I have only used it in teas thus far.

[Suzanne “Queen Bee” Tabert]

Kristin, Critical thinking and intuition work hand in hand in herbal medicine. I’m glad you thought it through with the St. J’s and hops. Not everything we read is correct and sometimes we get only surface information – so and so is a good herb for… but none of the caveats or contraindications to consider. That’s why, during the herbal lab, Heather and I both talked about the fact that we are always learning and digging deeper.

Raspberry leaves have so many minerals in them that are lost during bleeding. It helps to promote good sleep, which can be problematic when on a period. The leaves contains tannins, which help in so many ways on the uterine lining. You can drink the tea/decoction with added raspberry leaf honey that you can make later on in the summah, in conjunction with your medicinal oil formula.

Love!

[Kristin]

Lovely!!

[Kristinajmarvin]

What a great idea, Kristin!! I just love having this community and forum for these EXACT ideas!!! It is so inspiring! I can imagine and picture a future where we live in community again. Helping each other and lifting each other <3 Growing and making our own medicine from the earth 😀

I love your creative ideas and visions Kristin. Looking forward to learning with you!

Kristina

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