Table Of ContentRecipes for Herbal Balms, Salves, Oils,
Liniments & Other Topical Therapies
Stephanie L. Tourles
Illustrations by Samantha Hahn
ß
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Illustrations by © Samantha Hahn, except for page 17 by Alison Kolesar
Author’s photograph by © Debra Bell
Indexed by Andrea Chesman
© 2012 by Stephanie L. Tourles
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tourles, Stephanie L., 1962–
Hands-on healing remedies / by Stephanie L. Tourles.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61212-006-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-60342-877-4 (e-book)
1. Materia medica, Vegetable. 2. Naturopathy. I. Title.
RS164.T684 2012
615.5’35—dc23
2012027705
3
To my dearest Bill — m y husband, partner, and best friend. Your never-ending energy, independent spirit,
support, and encouragement uplift me in all that I do. I treasure the boulder-lined garden you created for me,
filled with incredibly deep, dark, fertile, crumbly soil. It’s a garden beyond my wildest dreams. My culinary and
healing herbs thrive, the vegetable plants strain under their heavy yields, and the flowers explode with vibrant
colors . . . eliciting curiosity from the neighbors, causing them to wonder if I have magical, quick-fingered plant
fairies who work in and maintain my massive “jungle of a garden” under the cloak of darkness. It makes me
chuckle. I cherish every moment we have together on this incredible journey we call life, my dear Willy.
And in memory of “Mainie,” my 20-pound, middle-aged, semi-wild Maine Coon cat who loved to sleep
in my chamomile patch on warm late-spring afternoons. When sick or injured, he’d let me feed him dropper
after dropper of chamomile tea, which zonked him right out and usually had him feeling better within a matter
of days. “Mainie” definitely chose German chamomile as his herbal ally; unfortunately, it couldn’t protect him
from cars.
acknowledgments
In writing this book, I’m indebted to the great herbal teachers and elders who have shaped my “green educa-
tion” over the years: Mrs. Ottie Faye Ashe and Mrs. Eveline Pilkington, for sharing their handwritten herbal
formulas with me, many of which date back to the mid-nineteenth century; my grandfather Earl C. Ashe,
who initiated me into this healing world of herbalism; and my grandmother Phenie S. Ashe, the possessor
of the greenest thumb on earth. Much gratitude goes out to Candis Cantin, Anne McIntyre, Rosemary
Gladstar, Deb Soule, and Michael Tierra, teachers with whom I’ve had a chance to study varying traditions of
herbal wisdom, namely Ayurvedic, Western, and Chinese.
I’ve been researching and formulating topical, plant-based healing recipes for the past three decades,
and I am indeed grateful to all of you who have volunteered to be my “guinea pigs,” my live subjects on
whom I was allowed to test my herbal formulations and receive much valued feedback. And lastly, thanks to
Deborah Balmuth, my longtime, beloved editor, for giving me the opportunity to share these healing rem-
edies with you, my dear readers.
4
Introduction...............................................................6
Part 1 ...............8
Making Your Own Healing Formulas
Chapter 1 An Introduction to Traditional Healing ........................ 10
Chapter 2 The Herbal Home Apothecary ...................................20
Chapter 3 Tools of the Trade...............................................40
Part 2 ....................48
A Collection of Herbal Remedies
Alopecia (Balding)............................................................50
Anxiety (Nervous Tension) ....................................................54
Arthritis (Osteoarthritis)......................................................60
Athlete’s Foot ................................................................66
Backache....................................................................69
Bedsores and Pressure Sores (Skin Ulcers)....................................... 73
Blemishes ................................................................... 77
Blisters (Friction).............................................................82
Body Odor...................................................................85
Boils (Furuncles) .............................................................88
Bruises (Contusions).......................................................... 91
Burns (Minor) ...............................................................96
Children’s Illnesses and Discomforts ..........................................100
Cold and Flu Symptoms.......................................................118
Cold Hands and Feet......................................................... 125
Cold Sores and Genital Sores (Herpes Simplex) ................................. 129
Cracked Skin (Severely Dry Hands and Feet).................................... 133
Cuts and Scrapes.............................................................137
Dandruff (Seborrheic Dermatitis) ............................................. 142
Dermatitis, Contact (Rashes).................................................. 144
Dry Skin ................................................................... 147
Eczema .................................................................... 154
Elder Care Concerns (70+ Years)............................................... 158
5
Environmentally Damaged Skin .............................................. 166
Fatigue..................................................................... 170
Foot Therapy ............................................................... 175
Gout....................................................................... 179
Hand and Nail Therapy ...................................................... 182
Headaches (Tension)......................................................... 189
Hemorrhoids (External) ..................................................... 193
Hives (Urticaria) ............................................................ 198
Infections of the Skin (Minor to Moderate) ..................................... 201
Insect Bites and Stings ...................................................... 209
Insomnia................................................................... 212
Lip Therapy ................................................................ 217
Memory Enhancement ......................................................220
Men’s Concerns .............................................................223
Mental Fatigue..............................................................229
Muscle Stiffness and Soreness ................................................232
Poison Plant Rashes..........................................................235
Psoriasis.................................................................... 237
Respiratory Congestion ...................................................... 241
Scars.......................................................................248
Splinters ...................................................................252
Stress ......................................................................255
Stretch Marks...............................................................260
Sunburn ...................................................................264
Warts (Common)............................................................ 267
Women’s Intimate Concerns..................................................269
Part 3 ................................. 277
The Ingredient Dictionary
Resources ............................................................... 306
Recommended Reading ................................................... 309
Metric Conversions....................................................... 311
Index.....................................................................312
6
tea, and real apple cider vinegar. My great-
Introduction
grandmother, along with her many children,
explored the hollows and hills of impoverished
Appalachia, learning to identify the local flora
and fauna, and collected beneficial herbs to
use as healing medicines. Whether intentioned
or not, she passed this knowledge down to my
grandfather, Earl C. Ashe.
I never planned on becoming an herbal-
ist, a lover of the plant kingdom, a creator of
healing formulas. I think it was — and is — my
destiny. I inherited my “I can grow anything”
green thumb and green blood from my grand-
mother, Phenie Sims Ashe, and my initiation
I
t was the early 1900s, and like other into herbalism came under the tutelage of my
self- reliant folk in the Great Smoky grandfather.
Mountains region of North Carolina, my Several times a year, my family would
great-g randmother, Maude Ashe, practiced make the two-hour drive north from our sub-
the basic yet effective traditional healing urban home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, to
arts of her ancestors, supplemented by a few my grandparent’s 20-acre country homestead
remedies acquired from the local Cherokee located in Clarkesville. My brother, Shawn, and
Indians, in order to care for her family’s ills. I loved to visit the country — so many things
She, like so many other housewives of the day, to see and do. Shawn liked to go visit the cows
was expected to be the family doctor, if need out in the back pasture and tour the barn, and
be. Making effective, gentle medicine gener- I was drawn to the gardens, fields, woods, and
ally wasn’t a complicated affair. If an infant streams. We liked to walk and explore with my
had colic, you fed him a little warm catnip, grandfather as he did his chores. On one par-
chamomile, or calendula tea and bathed him ticular walk, my grandfather and I were hiking
in a linden flower or catnip tea bath. If you had through cattle pastures and woods — his big,
a bad cough, you could make a fine soothing rough farmer hand holding my soft little girl
medicine from honey, strong black cherry bark hand — and I can remember him telling me,
7
“Where we grew up, we didn’t go to doctors of my grandfather’s knowledge and absorbed
unless it was a dire emergency. We didn’t have it like a sponge. Unbeknownst to me, I was a
the money. Our mother made medicine from budding herbalist.
the local herbs and she dosed us with that, Today, as a licensed holistic aesthetician,
whether we liked it or not. The stuff you had to certified aromatherapist, and community
swallow often didn’t taste good. The medicines herbalist, I devote my career to plant-based
that got rubbed into your skin, like the herbal topical remedies and nutritional therapies for
salves, thickened with local beeswax, lard, or skin disorders. I write, formulate remedies,
lanolin, and the brownish-green colored lini- grow herbs, teach, and work as an herbal
ments made with homemade grape wine or practitioner. I feel that my grandfather’s spirit
corn whiskey, were used to prevent infections, has literally pushed me into spreading the
relieve stuffiness, help you sleep, or make your word about the healing benefits of herbs. This
muscles feel better after a long day at work. ancient form of plant medicine, phytotherapy,
Those things worked real nice and most times should stay alive and vibrant.
smelled pretty good, too.” I was intrigued. This book represents the collection of topi-
Thus began my “training.” From then cal herbal healing formulations that, over the
on, sensing my interest, my grandfather past 30 years, I’ve developed, experimented
turned our walks into “botany and chemistry with, and perfected to the best of my ability. In
classes” — so to speak. He taught me the names these pages, I’ll share with you my opinions,
of the trees and the green plants, the uses and knowledge, and observations, based upon
medicinal properties of tree bark, acorns, pine accumulated wisdom and experience, of how
sap, roots, leaves, flowers, and even the gray- our green neighbors, the herbs, can be effec-
blue clay in the stream banks. I can remember tive medicine. I hope you find the instructions
my fourth-grade science teacher being amazed easy to follow and the remedies useful; com-
at how much I knew! I learned that these free- bined with the right lifestyle and diet, they can
for-the-taking “medicines of the earth” could bring significant relief to common skin condi-
aid the body’s natural processes to heal ill- tions and body ailments, plus enhance your
nesses within and without. I fell in love with well-being and comfort.
the idea that nature could provide just about May you be happy, healthy, hearty, and
anything you needed to naturally care for your whole!
health and beauty. I was hooked. I was in awe
Part 1
9
the first curious in an amazingly bright red oil that works topically
No one knows who
human being was who decided to approach a par- to bring relief from muscle soreness, bruises, and
ticular plant, pick a handful of leaves, stems, and the pain and inflammation of nerve damage? Who
flowers, and brew them into a tea in hopes of sooth- discovered that elderberries and pokeberries could
ing indigestion. Nor do we know who first chewed color cloth a beautiful bluish-purple, or that rose
on a plantain leaf in order to apply the resultant petals, when allowed to macerate in warm, purified
green “spit paste” to a bee sting, bringing almost fat, make a solid perfume that doubles as an uplift-
immediate pain relief. Who realized that adding ing medicinal aromatic for times of grief, depres-
cumin seeds to dinner greatly enhanced the flavor sion, and emotional stress? We’ll never know who
and digestibility of the food? Or that infusing olive these individuals were, but thank goodness for
oil with St. John’s wort flowers and leaves resulted them and their inquisitive natures.
Uncomplicated, ardent medicine-making
is as fundamental to the art and science of
Herbalism as simple passionate cooking
is to the art and science of nutrition.
High technology has never increased the
nutritional power of good food, simply
prepared.
— James Green, The Herbal Medicine-
Maker’s Handbook
