Rosemary is one of the first herbs I grew to love as a child as well as one of the first herbs I grew as a plant as an adult. My parents had a magnificent rosemary bush outside their bedroom window and though at that time I only knew it as a culinary herb, I always admired its vitality and endurance, qualities which this beautiful plant lends us in abundance when we start to work with her regularly. Despite being native to the Mediterranean it grows well here, given a sunny, freely draining soil and it particularly enjoys coastal areas, the first word of its botanical name, Rosmarinus officinalis, means dew of the sea.
In my mind rosemary is primarily a rejuvenating herb. It is famous for stimulating memory and concentration, it promotes hair growth when used internally or externally, it contains powerful antioxidants which protect the whole body from ageing, it strengthens capillaries, improves digestion and is thought to ignite the passions. According to Banckes’ Herbal 1525, ’Smell it oft and it shall keep thee youngly.’
Best known as a warming circulatory stimulant, rosemary’s diffusive nature is lovely for getting the blood moving to the peripheries and hence is great for those with cold hands and feet like myself. It can be used internally as tincture or tea for this purpose or externally as an infused oil, bath or footbath herb or an essential oil rub. It can also be of benefit for those suffering from headaches where the cause is constriction in the muscles or the blood vessels supplying the head. Its ability to stimulate blood flow make it first rate in the treatment and prevention of chilblains, I especially like it combined with black pepper for this purpose.
It is helpful for the digestion in several ways. Being aromatic it helps to stimulate the appetite and its warming nature helps stoke the digestive fires, known as the ‘Agni’ in Ayurveda, helping people who suffer with poor assimilation, bloating, gas and undigested food in their stools. Being slightly bitter it’s also beneficial for the liver, a property more closely associated with cooling rather than warming herbs, however rosemary’s warmth helps move stuck energy, particularly in patterns where there is ‘heat’ in the liver but within a cold constitution and where there is also poor digestion.
Rosemary is also useful as a wash for minor wounds as it contains antimicrobial volatile oils and tannins, which help check bleeding. According to Anne McIntyre, nurses used to brew rosemary tea as an antiseptic to sterilise instruments, clean the delivery room and protect both mother and child from infections.
Most will be able to tolerate it well as a tea in the winter months but care must be taken in summer or in tincture form for those with a hot constitution. It is lovely for those floaty, ungrounded, thin, cold and anxious types but a little care must also be taken where these qualities manifest in a person who also suffers from dryness (dry skin, dry cough, constipation etc) as rosemary is both warming and drying in its action. In these cases I would usually teem it with something more moistening. It is equally fabulous for people who are cold, damp, stodgy and overweight and who need a bit of a kick to get moving. It benefits many cold, damp conditions like a phlegmy cough, catarrh and blocked sinuses too.
For those hotter people it combines beautifully with lemon balm, especially where depression or low moods are a factor. Being a stimulating, solar herb rosemary can lift the spirits and encourage motivation and joie de vivre and being strengthening and grounding it helps dispel stress and anxiety.
Rosemary helps us fully embody who we are, lends us strength and endurance, both emotionally and physically, and helps us attain a clarity of mind and lightness of heart which many could benefit from in these stressful times.
I love rosemary in teas, my favourite being the rosemary and lemon balm combination which I drink regularly at this time of year and in early spring before the days have started warming and when my spirits need a lift. In the coldest months of winter I like my rosemary with orange peel and ginger and at the end of a long day I enjoy it with either chamomile or lemon verbena which makes a beautiful relaxing yet clarifying blend.
Rosemary infused oil is one of my favourites for tired aching muscles or joints. I make a lovely massage oil of rosemary, chamomile and St. John’s wort infused oils for back aches.
I love rosemary essential oil too and use it in my aches and pains balm and in the bath with other suitable oils. I’m making some lovely bath oils for christmas presents this year which contain rosemary essential oil among other things. Pop back in a few days when I’ll be sharing the recipe in another post on herbal christmas presents for the November blog party hosted by Brigitte.
References:
The Complete Floral Healer – Anne McIntyre
The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism – Matthew Wood
Medical Herbalism – David Hoffman
Thank you for this informative post!
I will go out straight away and pick some fresh rosemary and lemonbalm to try out your lovely tea blend.
It’s exactly what I need in this stressful time and I will have a look if it is also yum as ice-tea since we are already sweating by hot summer temperatures 🙂
I clean our bathroom mostly with rosemary vinegar and use this vinegar also in hot summer as deodorant under the armpits.
Rosemary salt is my favorite for cooking and I already included the recipe in my post which will be presented on the 20th November.
Funny we both have rosemary included for gifts 🙂
See you there! xxx
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Ooo lovely!
I have made a rosemary and rose petal deodorant in witch hazel before but I’d never really thought to use infused vinegar. I’ll give it a go! How did you like the tea?
Rosemary blessings x
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What a beautiful and thoughtful post! I’m heating up water as we speak for some rosemary lemon balm tea 🙂 The name of rosemary has always enchanted me – dew of the sea – I can just picture little oceanic dew drops sprouting up into rosemary plants 🙂
You capture the personality of the plants so well, as one friend would do of another. It is so apparent that you know your plants on a very deep, visceral level, and I’m grateful to share in your wisdom.
Can’t wait for your rosemary gift ideas! I’m teaching a class soon on herbal stocking stuffers, so I’m on the look out for good ideas.
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What a lovely image- it would make a beautiful painting!
It’s a shame we’re so far apart, I’d love to come to your class. Do write a post about it afterwards, I’m sure I’ll need a few more ideas before the big day arrives xxx
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Thanks for this! I’ve been rather stressed of late and didn’t realise how much rosemary could help, I have several rosemary bushes in the garden so I have a good supply. I’ve been drinking fresh rosemary and ginger tea since I read your post and I find it warming, soothing and it dissolves the tense moments.
Have you tried making tea with the Green Ginger variety of rosemary? It’s lovely, although my plant isn’t very big yet so I can’t indulge very often.
One of the things I love about rosemary are the flowers, being edible I delight in offering them to people to eat when I do my talk on eating the herbal flowers, I don’t know why but people are always surprised that the flowers taste of rosemary. It’s as if they don’t expect the flowers to have such a deep taste, they really are most pleasant scattered on a sandwich or salad, same with thyme flowers and they make a wonderful flower essence.
Herby Hugs – Debs xxx
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Wow, Green Ginger Rosemary, I did not know such a thing existed. That’ll definitely be one for my spring wish list as I’m busy making plans for our new little garden now.
I’ve never made a rosemary flower essence either, what a terrible oversight, I can imagine that it would be such a powerful healer. Thanks for sharing these ideas. xx
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