Earth Day Greetings

Earth Day, 2010
40 years on and I remember the first one!

I said at the end of the last newsletter that I wanted to talk about skin, sun and health. Since it is Earth Day it seems appropriate that as we celebrate the earth we celebrate the sun’s life giving forces on our jewel of a planet. The ancients worshipped the sun under names like Helios, Apollo, Ra, Hathor, Surya, in world mythologies. Shrines and temples were built to honor and welcome the Sun’s rays back to earth after the darkened winter period.

The sun is what allows all life on the Earth, plant, animal and human. The power of sunlight in the process of photosynthesis for plant growth and the production of Vitamin D in the human body are Nature forces at the top of their game, so much out of so little. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient created by the sun’s rays in the skin in the presence of oils. It is a necessary part of a healthy functioning body including the immune system, bones, teeth and skin. It helps prevent autoimmune conditions and functions as an antibiotic in the body. Low levels of this basic nutrient are found in patients suffering a variety of chronic diseases; indicating not cause but possible involvement of deficiency conditions. Its comprehensive application in the body could render it the Beauty Vitamin since health is what allows our natural beauty to shine.

And then mid Twentieth Century modern sunscreen was invented and immortalized in the Coppertone ad of 1959. The iconographic marketing campaign showing a little girl with a distinct tan line where her puppy is tugging at her bathing suit set us up to first use sun screens occasionally when spending hours in the sun then, over time upping the recommendation to be covered anytime the sun was shining. In our modern era the sun has been linked to ageing and cancers thus our collective retreat from exposure of any kind. But along with this repudiation of the sun has been a rise in many more diseases and conditions that are increasingly becoming linked to Vitamin D deficiencies. The incidence of skin cancer has actually grown since the introduction of sunscreens and rickets, a Vitamin D deficiency disease of a past era, is on the rise again.

What has occurred in our culture since the 1950’s is the significant increase in synthetically created chemicals in our food, air, and water and most specifically, our products for use on the body. Could it be that the culprit in our sun-associated conditions is not the sun after all, but the laboratory concocting un-natural chemical compounds that are not in the body’s naturally occurring dictionary of usable foods and skin care substances?

Well, it so happens that the earth has our interests at heart, as it produces compounds in plants that protect us from excess sun where the sun is highest and hottest. In Africa shea butter is used for everything from cooking to sun protection. In the Pacific coconut oil and cocoa butter are the locally produced oils. In India Sesame oil is the predominant oil and it has been tested at an SPF rating of fifteen. Where the sun is highest and hottest the plants produce compounds that provide the skin with protection from excess sun! How brilliant is that? And just putting good quality oil on our skin while in the sun helps produce Vitamin D in the skin.

Those of you who have used our products for a long time know that we only use the purest and the best oils, organic, unrefined, and authentic and what your ancestral body cells would recognize even in the 21st Century! All of our products are earth and plant based so that your body is in tune with the rhythms of the earth and its beautiful cycle of life!

Happy Earth Day! Love her!

Spring/Dandelions

Newsletter Easter Monday 2010

Spring again, really the beginning of the year when the garden, all of a sudden, is alive once more. Dandelions are the first flowers to bloom heavily and abundantly and are ambrosia for the bees and other pollinating insects providing abundant food for them after a winter of limited fare. This fullness of pollen and nectar is a gift to all the bees and pollinators, as dandelions do not require pollination to set seed and reproduce.

Dandelions are symbols of abundance, raying discs of golden yellow mirroring the now rising sun as it climbs up in the sky towards summer. Then an abundance of seeds making their presence in the garden and surrounding area secure for the future. Dandelions are excellent spring plants for shaking off the winter and welcoming spring. Eat all parts, roots, leaves and flowers. Known as a ‘blood cleanser’ due to its ability to improve the liver and promote good digestion, dandelions are a welcome presence in the garden this time of year. Really!

Yellow, the color of spring, which includes the daffodils and forsythia as well as dandelions, is the color representing happiness, higher mind and illumination. There is an intelligence to the dandelion that I marvel at. Anyone who has a lawn that is not sprayed with weed killer and mows intermittently as I do, will have witnessed how first thing in the spring, the dandelion flower grows on a tall stem high up towards the sun. Then, with the introduction of mowing, the flower abandons the stem and height and tucks itself down into the rosette of leaves at ground level out of the reach of the rotating blades. A plant that adapts, and quickly, to its immediate environment! We should all be so able!

I have written before about the ability of Dandelion flowers to aid the body, both at the cellular and energetic levels to release what is held in the physical form. The physical body can be viewed as a template that holds our uniqueness and our experiences for us as we live our lives. It is a sensitive medium like a wax tablet that imprints our experiences both favorable and unfavorable. When experiences are too strongly felt, such as tight shoulder muscles, and interfere with our well being something that can aid the release is in order. This is the power of the lowly dandelion flower.

These special properties can be captured in infusions and in flower essences. Both of these dandelion flower preparations have releasing and purification properties and both are in our Dandelion Flower Oil. Aches, pains and tension are literally erased when the oil is massaged into the muscle system. As a sleep aid I now keep a bottle of the oil by my bed and rub it into my torso area from my neck to my belly when I can’t get to sleep and the next thing I know is it is morning and I am waking up, well rested and ready to begin anew. It is kind of like spring in the body. http://www.solumandherbe.com/index.cgi/pid=2|35/DANDELION-FLOWER-OIL-2-oz.htm

Next Newsletter will talk about our skin and the sun. Coming soon.