The Root of It is Where the Truth Lies

I am amazed at how quickly time, that linear eroder of the material world, seems to eat away at all held accountable to it. Autumn is here, the plants are dying back, leaving only traces of decay in their paths. The air temps in the mountains are crispy on the skin until the sky is high in the sky and all living things are getting quieter with the passing of each day. 

Autumn is a transition and it stirs in me a touch of anxiety and a lot of sentimentality. The medicines are there to give comfort though: it’s root digging season and Solomon’s Seal, Ginseng, Goldenseal, and Wild Ginger have taken up the surfaces of my kitchen in some stage of processing. And walks among the trees watching the leaves take on new color before they descend, the first few whiffs of wood smoke (pure comfort), and hoarding new books are also medicine…means through which to connect, to ground, to prepare and feed body, mind and soul alike.

Each season I choose a plant to get to know more deeply. This season I’ve chosen one, Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, which I have always cherished and employed with unfailing success in the treatment of a number of issues AND which contains, among others, the alkaloid berberine. This is a hot new word popping up in social media, targeted particularly at those who’ve heard claims that it improves metabolic function, potentially aiding in weight loss, controlling blood sugar and even improving heart conditions.  A Google search will turn up a thousand new berberine products readily available in their plastic containers and shippable in minutes. Whether or not this extracted and isolated compound has shown, through rigorous laboratory testing, efficacy in treating these dis-eases, I am not fully certain. But what I am certain of, is the berberine-rich plant- Goldenseal, a native forest botanical in Appalachia, has been used for many lifetimes’ of years to successfully treat infections of the ears, eyes and mouth, fight candida and other digestive tract invaders run-amok including parasites, and is a powerful wound healer.  In fact, berberine-host plants such as Barberry and Oregon Grape Root and many others, have been used across cultures around the planet for similar purposes.  What is more critical here, is that whole-plant medicine is a synergistic dynamic of many, perhaps many thousands, of phytochemicals. We don’t even know how all of those constituents sing and dance together within the cells of a plant’s makeup anymore than we fully understand how that synergistic magic operates within the profoundly complex living system of the human body and communicates with it. It is a universe of primal gaming. 

Experience has demonstrated results through outcomes:  Goldenseal is an effective locally-acting antibiotic. It is antiviral, antibacterial and antiseptic. It is also an alterative (blood purifier.) Its energetics are cooling and drying and it is a bitter agent, meaning you’re gonna pucker up as the saliva and then gastric juices get squirmy.  That bright yellow berberine stains all she touches but looks like sunshine on a gloomy day when you’re fighting the crud. 

In Southern Folk Medicine, Goldenseal has traditionally been used to treat styes, canker sores and fever blisters, gum infections and especially, when paired with black walnut husk, to rid the digestive system of parasites. I have seen it clear up candida over-growth quickly, and it is my go-to paired with Echinacea Purpurea root to fight off a virus or prevent one from latching on when I know I’ve been exposed. Again, experience through use over time and the wisdom of the elders have guided the appropriate use and application of this powerful plant ally. She and I may be conversing at length all Winter and for Winters to come.

Here are some sweet tunes that touch my sentimental heartstrings that I hope will also sing you into the beauty all around. And even if you don’t share my genre leanings, remember that  MUSIC IS POWERFUL MEDICINE, shifting our energy in a direction we’d like it to go–SO, BEND AN EAR TO WHAT MOVES YOU.

Gawd, I love this tune by Brent Cobb- Southern Stars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGplSUvjAKA

Though we share a name, this young band from Texas bears no relation in blood, but definitely in musical spirit. And my oldest beloved friend turned me onto them and I’m now smitten:

Briscoe, The Well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEUrcsny2XA

And in honor of Berberine and our friend Goldenseal, and that fine, fine state called Kentucky, Mr. Nat Myers’ Yellow Peril: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Zd9-Hzipc

If you’d like to learn more about wellness and health & wellness in the herbalist tradition, sign up for HerbLAB and discover the power of plants, or sign up for a wellness consultation.

Happy Fall Y’all!

Lori Briscoe, Herbalist & Educator