Talking to Teasel (Dipsacus spp.)
By Patrick Jones, DVM
I've had some interesting experiences lately.
Not long ago I was driving down a country road. I saw a plant growing on a ditch bank and had a most intense interest and attraction to it...Really intense. I asked the guy I was with what it was. He didn't know. A week or so later I was on a friend's place and saw the plant again and again I had the same intense feeling about it. I asked him if he knew what it was. He said it was Teasel. I asked him what it was good for. He said he didn't know that it was good for anything.
I said, "No, It's really good for something."
So we started snooping around the web and reading books etc and it turns out that teasel is a wonderful herb with some very unique properties. It's useful in cases of severe, chronic muscle and nerve pain and has been used with good success in cases of Lyme disease, fibromyalgia etc...
"Hmmm, so why is that so important?" I wondered.
A couple of days later a lady came to my office for an herb consult. Guess what her problem was, severe chronic nerve and muscle pain. Within the next few weeks I had several other ladies come in with similar issues.
Apparently, God and the teasel wanted to get together with those folks and help them.
Not long after that, I was out wildcrafting and managed to get stung really good by some stinging nettle. I immediately started looking for some plantain to take away the pain...no luck, too dry. As I was scouring the ground looking for plantain, I saw a little first-year teasel plant. The little guy started jumping up and down and waving his arms shouting "Pick me, pick me!". OK, not literally but that's how it felt. So, I grabbed a little pice of the leaf and ground it up and put it on the sting. Instant relief. The pain was completely gone. I had never read or heard of teasel being useful for this application or any other external use.
Not long ago I was driving down a country road. I saw a plant growing on a ditch bank and had a most intense interest and attraction to it...Really intense. I asked the guy I was with what it was. He didn't know. A week or so later I was on a friend's place and saw the plant again and again I had the same intense feeling about it. I asked him if he knew what it was. He said it was Teasel. I asked him what it was good for. He said he didn't know that it was good for anything.
I said, "No, It's really good for something."
So we started snooping around the web and reading books etc and it turns out that teasel is a wonderful herb with some very unique properties. It's useful in cases of severe, chronic muscle and nerve pain and has been used with good success in cases of Lyme disease, fibromyalgia etc...
"Hmmm, so why is that so important?" I wondered.
A couple of days later a lady came to my office for an herb consult. Guess what her problem was, severe chronic nerve and muscle pain. Within the next few weeks I had several other ladies come in with similar issues.
Apparently, God and the teasel wanted to get together with those folks and help them.
Not long after that, I was out wildcrafting and managed to get stung really good by some stinging nettle. I immediately started looking for some plantain to take away the pain...no luck, too dry. As I was scouring the ground looking for plantain, I saw a little first-year teasel plant. The little guy started jumping up and down and waving his arms shouting "Pick me, pick me!". OK, not literally but that's how it felt. So, I grabbed a little pice of the leaf and ground it up and put it on the sting. Instant relief. The pain was completely gone. I had never read or heard of teasel being useful for this application or any other external use.
The "Take Home Message" is to listen to that little voice in your head. These plants were created by God to bless and heal us and they have no greater joy than to fulfill that measure of their creation. Learn to listen them. Learn to listen to the God that created them and learn to listen to your body which was made to use them.
If there is an herb for which you have an unusually strong affinity follow those feelings. If there is one for which you have an inexplicably strong aversion, follow those feelings too.
Listen to the weeds. You might be surprised what you learn.
Patrick
If there is an herb for which you have an unusually strong affinity follow those feelings. If there is one for which you have an inexplicably strong aversion, follow those feelings too.
Listen to the weeds. You might be surprised what you learn.
Patrick
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