SC - Fw: [Mid] Tansy

[Alderton, Philippa]

Thought this had some useful information for us all.

phlip at morganco.net

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider that cain't be throwed.

- ----------
: Date: Monday, March 16, 1998 03:46:31 
: From: Sarah Lane-Dorrance
: To: Middlebridge
: Subject: [Mid] Tansy
: 
: At 23:43 15/03/98 -0500, you wrote:
: 
: >Last year was my first Pensic. I had heard that there is often a high
: >presence of undesirable insects, but was lucky not to have many last
year.
: >Something to consider as a repellent for inside your tents is bunches of
: >tansy. It is a better repellent than pennyroyal. Even flies don't like
the
: >odor and it's not unpleasant for humans.
: 
: Bunches of tansy and pennyroyal (I love the minty smell of pennyroyal!)
: work great as a fragrant bug repellent...a caveat, however:
: 
: While the herbs can be ingested if one is careful (tansy, in small
: quantities, is a good tonic, being a bitter herb used to cleanse the body
: of impurities; small amounts of pennyroyal can be good for the
digestion). 
: HOWEVER - both herbs are potential abortifacients. Pregnant women should
: NEVER ingest them! Even essential oils might be volatile and dangerous.
: Also, tansy can cause heart irregularities if taken in even a slight
: overdose (I found this out the hard way) and one should never, ever, ever
: ingest neat (pure) oil of pennyroyal, or even diluted oil of pennyroyal in
: quantities larger than, oh, a drop or two at most. Oil of pennyroyal is
: highly volatile and toxic; it is a poison; it has caused deaths.
Pennyroyal
: is in fact a very strong herb and needs to be used with caution. NEVER use
: oil of pennyroyal except for external use unless you happen to have the
: poison resistance of a Borgia prince.
: 
: BTW, pregnant women should also avoid black and blue cohosh root. Blue
: cohosh especially is bad. It is used to treat amennorhea. This means that
: it too will kill your baby in the womb and cause you to expel it. At the
: very least it can potentially cause birth defects. Stay away!
: 
: In general, pregnant women need to exercise as much care with herbs as
they
: would with ordinary medications. Modern people, used to refined pills,
: forget that herbs are often quite potent. In particular, many of the herbs
: used in medieval cooking (angelica, myrrh, artemisia...) have medicinal
: properites. You are unlikely to find them in modern cooking, because
modern
: people find the taste too strong or bitter, but when using a medieval
: recipe, look up the spices in a good herbal first.
: 
: Any pregnant woman should have a copy of a herbal (preferably a herb
: encyclopaedia that is up to date; I don't recommend Culpeper's, it has
some
: good information but also a lot of out-of-date information). This is
useful
: if she is a big fan of herbal tea, or if she uses a lot of arcane spices
in
: her cooking, or if she is a herbalist (in which case, she probably already
: has a herbal). most Celestial Seasonings teas, et al are not dangerous,
but
: it never hurts to check. If any herb is listed as a potential
abortifacient
: or strong toxin, she should avoid it.
: 
: Am hoping to start trying to get pregnant next year, after I have my
: master's, so I'm trying to do lots of research. as it is, I do know which
: herbs are really strong abortifacients (and poisons). Many women are not
: aware of the toxicity of certain plants. Plants are powerful. 
: 
: This has been a PSA...
: 
: 
: 
: Sarah Lane-Dorrance/Iseut la Gaunt-Roussie, called Midori 
: ICQ #3022977
: LadyJessica at internetphone.com                                   
: Editor, Exquisite Darkness
:           http://www.Geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3300/
: "We must not look at goblin men,
:  We must not eat their fruit.."
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: From:  Sarah Lane-Dorrance <sarah.dorrance at oriel.oxford.ac.uk>
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