Last year, I started tuning into my inner kitchen witch, becoming brave enough to play with herbs and begin making my own teas.
I started with lavender. I had some big dried bunches from my dad’s garden, so it was an easy place to start, and I adore this plant so much.
Here’s some of my learnings and thoughts after just short of a year of us dancing together:
🌱 Picking one herb to start with is a gateway. And of course I added more! I began by researching some of the multitude of things lavender can help with, and became so excited at the potential match between my symptoms and struggles and her super powers.
🌱 Not all plants are feminine to me, but this one definitely is. She feels like a Virgo friend who pops around to help ground you, opens all the windows to let in fresh air, helps you do your boring self care… that’s just me, she might feel different for you.
🌱 Lavender is a nervine, meaning she has calming properties. She contains linalool, a terpene that’s found in many plants including cannabis. Drinking lavender tea every day definitely was a key part of calming my frazzled nervous system. I started to feel much more settled everyday as a baseline, and could get excited/worried/stimulated and then calm down again a lot faster. Having lavender oil as part of my bedtime ritual can also help with sleep.
🌱 Lavender is also anti inflammatory and can act as a pain killer. I ended 2020 with chronic pain, and she has definitely been a part of that becoming more manageable over the course of 2021 and into the new year.
🌱 Although not technically a native plant here in the U.K., she has been here for a long time and having her in a garden is great for pollinators. My dad has two bug beds of lavender that buzz with bees and butterflies in the summer, and smell amazing for humans too. They’re fairly low maintenance and the leaves are evergreen.
🌱 Lavender oil is amazing for burns, spots and break outs. She’s antiseptic but more gentle than tea tree oil so won’t dry out skin so much. My friend Julie of Charlie Locks skincare is a big fan and gave me this brilliant tip: use neat lavender essential oil on a cue tip on a spot to help it heal. I’ve also used it neat on a minor burn and it really helped.
She can cause allergies, so before you dance with her too, there’s just a little note of caution to check that out and also make sure she won’t interact with any medications or other medical conditions.
