“We love nettles, yes, we do. We love nettles through and through. We Love Nettles!” This is the song I sing as an honoring and a thank you to the nettles each year as I’m harvesting. John and I love eating young nettles. Generally I steam or sauté them with other vegetables (including dandelion greens and burdock root) or add them to soups and stews. Stinging Nettles are a wonderful spring tonic rich in vitamins A, B complex, C, K, calcium, potassium, iron and many other trace minerals. Because stinging nettle is true to it’s name, I suggest wearing gloves to harvest and not eating it raw or juiced. Hollow hairs on the leaves and stems inject folic acid into the skin, causing an intense stinging sensation. Stinging Nettle is also a valuable medicinal herb. A tincture or tea of dried leaves and root are used for menopause symptoms, blood building, hay fever, allergies, urinary tract infections, strengthening kidneys and nourishing the nervous system. Compresses or creams of stinging nettle can treat joint pain, sprains and strains, tendonitis, and insect bites.
Emotional Detox: Stinging Nettle
In Oriental Medicine, spring is associated with the wood element and the liver and gallbladder organ energy systems. The imbalanced emotion is anger and the balanced state is the ability to think through, make decisions, plan and put them into action. Have you noticed that when your plans get thwarted, the most common reaction is anger?
On the flower essence level stinging nettle offers support for coming out of the fog of living in a way that can’t support your true Being. In this kind of situation is it common to feel angry, powerless and incapable of changing the situation. As your body responds to these feelings, it may manifest physical imbalances such as allergies, tiredness, foggy unclear thinking, being more susceptile to colds or other illnesses, arthritis and other joint issues, to name a few. Stinging Nettle Flower Essence also aids in making clear choices especially about changing toxic situations. This can be on any level – a relationship that no longer serves you, negative thinking about yourself and your life, addictive habits – anything that does not support your true being. Spring is the time for cleaning the house of your body/mind/spirit. It is the time of renewal and new growth. Stinging Nettle Flower Essence will help you clear out toxic influences that cloud your way.
As Stinging Nettle Essence says of itself:
I AM clear decision making about life choices.
» More information on Stinging Nettle Essence
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