Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes, Holistic Healing, Plus Those Damn Insects That Bite!

As most of us do, I'm changing. I grew up in a Deep South conservative home during the 1960's during a time of protests, the Viet Nam War, Civil Rights, Women's Lib, assassinations and the hippie scene. As a high school senior, I proudly announced that I was going to join the Peace Corps; it seemed to me even back then that we all had a duty to help and teach our poorer neighbors. My stepfather heard my announcement and said, "Oh, that's rich! You'll be making $2 a day and probably get some god-awful disease. Plus 'those people' don't have working sewage systems, there's no water and you won't be eating anything but worms and bugs." I knew the Peace Corps helped build water systems and sewage treatment alternatives so that didn't faze me. Neither did the "god-awful disease" 'cause I was young and invincible, and eating worms and bugs was, I was certain, a huge exaggeration on his part (he was prone to lying). But what did bother me was the $2 a day, but not the way you may think. The $2 to my stepfather meant that I was less than successful, and in our home we were thought of being the lowest of the low if we weren't a success. So I didn't join and instead went to college and entered the never-ending cycle of working for someone else - just as millions of us do. But I never forgot my desire to change the world one person, one community, one country at a time.

Now it's 40 years and many life happenings later, and I still want to help. I've been given the awesome gift of clairvoyance and an ability to connect with many unseen worlds ("the Otherworld"). I have spirit guides who pull me in the direction that I need to go, and I have 40 years of researching, experimenting and lessons learned ready to release to whomever wants to receive it. But I've noticed an odd thing (and I've blogged about this before): many people don't want to know and indeed become down right offended if I suggest that their "remedy" is less than viable. It seems odd to me because I soak up any and all information I can find on a particular treatment and always use myself as a guinea pig before I recommend it to anyone else as a real deal - if untested or unknown, I simply say, "Well, these plants are purported to be helpful...." But if someone knowingly posts false and misleading information about a remedy, I can't not comment - and trust me, I've tried to shut up and it's impossible! There are way too many false holistic prophets trolling the web right now, and as I keep changing, I'm finding it more and more a mission for me to correct these fallacies. The worst part about my self-imposed "mission" is that I'm gaining quite a backlash in the online world from those who push these false "cures" (and again, there are no cures for anything - every cell in our body is prone to relapsing into an unstable state at any given exposure to an invading toxin; combating a condition and being successful is a whole-body wellness treatment and consequent healing - way different from "cure" which implies a permanent outcome). So irregardless of any backlash this blog will now be about holistic remedies as well as paranormal events - in my life it's the paranormal world that enables me to use the knowledge the universal energy guides me toward in order to heal myself and everyone else.

So why am I blogging about this? Yesterday I came across someone on Facebook posting article after article about being bombarded by radiation. Personally, I'm not really concerned about it because we've been constantly bombarded by radiation since the first radio waves were sent into the great ionosphere, and unless a reactor blows up in my neighborhood, the chances of my - or anyone else's - accumulating more radiation than normal is low. So I didn't say anything because after all people will fear what people want to fear. But then she posted that she was safe because she applied Betadine daily to her skin, and so I answered with "the iodine won't work, but eating kelp or taking kelp supplements will" and then listed why: kelp not only ensures that the thyroid is healthy so that any radiation is rejected by the body, but is very low in cholesterol, a good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin C, Pantothenic Acid, Zinc and Copper, and a very good source of Vitamin K, riboflavin, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese. It's a good thing to eat y'all! What won't work against radiation is applying iodine on your skin - it doesn't work, period, and in fact can be toxic. Oh! And I just read that some other alt health site is promoting coffee enemas to expel radiation. OH DEAR GOD. Seriously, don't take a coffee enema - it won't work and will royally screw up your digestive system! Anyway, long story short, she declared that I was making her read too much, but she found website after website promoting iodine and taking epsom salt and baking soda baths.   As I've already blogged re the salt & baking soda baths, this is only effective immediately after exposure to remove any lingering radiation or chemical poisoning on your skin. To keep taking those baths can dehydrate the body and the baths are ineffective at best.

Just because ten alternative health sites may promote a particular "cure" (there's that word again!!!!) doesn't mean that they're correct y'all. The holistic, homeopathic field is overrun by charlatans - never forget that! And as much as my critics may try to label me as a know-it-all half-wit, I can't remain silent when I see lies, particularly when one's health may truly depend on being given the correct healing treatment. I have never been a fan of needless suffering, and I don't intend to back off now.

The one reference book I continuously rely on is A Modern Herbal by M. Grieves. This book was written in the 1930s and is an invaluable source filled with illustrations of the plants, what conditions the plants are known for healing, and recipes for preparing the concoctions. I usually go to this book first, then do online research to see if anything more current is known, and invite the universal energy to help out in research, knowledge and healing (ha!). It hasn't failed yet :D!

So on to the homeopathic remedies:

One of The Girls is a chihuahua named Maggie. Maggie's a shakin' fool when thunder or fireworks go off and is impossible to comfort. I've given her remedies/mixtures in the past that I found at either health food stores or our local organic pet food store, and absolutely nothing has worked. As the 4th of July approached, I was starting to become a shakin' fool wonderin' what on earth I was gonna do with Maggie during the explosions that we always have in this neighborhood. So I tapped into the universal energy, asked for guidance, and suddenly I remembered I had Valerian Root and passion flower in my stash of remedies. So I researched whether or not it's safe for pets to ingest either of these herbs and found that they're perfectly safe, although dosage obviously should be reduced from a human dosage level. Since the passion flower I have is in tincture form and contains alcohol, I chose the Valerian Root in a capsule to give to Maggie. I sprinkled about 1/4 of the capsule (human dosage is 3 capsules) on her dinner at 5:30, and when the fireworks went off at 9:00, she was totally unfazed. Didn't even blink when the booming started! She napped a little, but all three Girls nap at nightime while Jeff and I watch tv, so her behavior was normal. So the next time we get a thunderstorm warning, I'll sprinkle a little Valerian Root on some peanut butter and give it to her ahead of the storm; I'm also thinking that she and our yorkie Sadie - who dreads riding in a car - will benefit from this when we take our next road trip. Don't you just love it when a safe, natural alternative can be found for life's little problems????!

About the insects:

I mowed the grass yesterday and a swarm of biting gnats followed me the entire hour-and-a-half it took to mow. I got bitten on both sides of my face, 4 times on my left arm, once on my right arm, and once on my left wrist area. I have a quite severe reaction to gnat bites in that I swell and have huge red areas surrounding the bite, and although I usually take Benadryl to reduce the swelling/allergic reaction, I've been meaning to find an alternative to getting bitten in the first place (whole body wellness y'all - avoid the bug before it becomes an issue!). This morning when I walked The Girls, I was again followed by a cloud of those damn gnats. So I asked for help from my friendly energy guides and found out that patchouli essential oil and spearmint essential oil are good gnat repellants. Lavender essential oil is also a wonderful all-purpose repellant. I had the patchouli ess. oil and I had the lavender ess. oil (but no spearmint - must remember to get some!), and since I was heading back out to walk without The Girls, I applied drops of patchouli and lavender to my wrists, ankles and neck/throat. Mmmmmm - I smelled wonderful, to me at least! But guess what? This actually worked. The gnats were still dive-bombing me, but it's as if they hit an invisible barrier and turned away at the last second. Aha! Eureka! So my suggestion is for anyone who wants to repel insects, to use the below list as a guide, and apply the oils to your wrists, ankles, neck/throat and waist band (if going into the woods). If you're going on a long, several-hours or all day hike/trek, I'd suggest carrying the appropriate oil with you to reapply during the day since essential oils do wear off after a couple of hours. Some of the oils should be mixed with a tiny bit of olive or coconut oil before applying to the skin as they can be irritating - particularly the mints:

Specific Oils for Specific Insects 

ANTS Peppermint, Spearmint
APHIDS Cedarwood ,Hyssop, Peppermint, Spearmint
BEETLES Peppermint, Thyme
CATERPILLARS Spearmint, Peppermint
CHIGGERS Lavender, Lemongrass, Sage, Thyme
CUTWORM Thyme, Sage
FLEAS Peppermint, Lemongrass, Spearmint, Lavender
FLIES Lavender, Peppermint, Rosemary, Sage
GNATS Patchouli ,Spearmint
LICE Cedarwood, Peppermint, Spearmint
MOSQUITOES Lavender, Lemongrass

MOTHS Cedarwood,Hyssop, Lavender, Peppermint, Spearmint
PLANT LICE Peppermint, Spearmint
SLUGS Cedarwood ,Hyssop ,Pine
SNAILS Cedarwood, Pine, Patchouli
SPIDERS Peppermint,Spearmint
TICKS Lavender,Lemongrass, Sage, Thyme
WEEVILS Cedarwood, Patchouli ,Sandalwood

 Source: http://oilsforwellness.blogspot.com/2009/05/essential-oils-for-safe-insect.html