BARLEY, BASIL and BORAGE

Barley
hordeum vulgart

Barley as a tea? Yes, certainly!
The process of boiling barley grains until they
are soft and then straining the thick liquid
from the soggy remains, produces a substance
which can be called tea.
Before serving, flavor the thick barley liquid
with a little lemon juice or cinnamon, or mix
with a fresh fruit juice to thin it a little.
It is such a valuable panacea for the modern scourge
of so many females-cystitis
- I feel it should be included as an important household remedy.
Barley tea should be taken in half to cuptial doses
during painful urgency and frequency of urination
in a cystitis attack.

It can soothe the irritated bladder
linings and bring symptomatic comfort quickly.
Meanwhile, professional advice should be sought
to discover and correct the cause of the cystitis.
Even for those other present day curses
of monilia and trichomoniasis, barley tea, can be
a boon while the symptoms are troublesome.

BASIL AND BORAGE
These two pleasant-tasting herbs have quite marked
cooling and tonic effects.
Together they make an ideal Housewife's tea to remedy
that midmorning slump which occurs after
the family has gone to work and school,
the house has been tidied and the lady
of the house feels the need for a general pick-me-up.
The powerful and fast-acting basil balances
the slower and more cooling Borage to rapidly stimulate you,
then maintain you at that improved level.
Basil is an annual plant found in most tropical regions.
It can be easily cultivated as a kitchen herb.
Many people fail to pick it during its growth period,
only to find at the end of the season
that the basil is yellow, woody,
dying off and rather useless as a household plant.

Borage does not suffer from this problem.
If you have ever grown Borage you know that you will
never get rid of it from your garden.
It will self-sow and distribute its little seedlings for many
yards around, even onto your neighbor's property.
There will be no shortage of Borage leaves to mix
with the basil leaves for your household tea.
The therapeutic properties of both plants are remarkably
reduced after the leaves have been dried.
Tea prepared from the dried ingredients has a less
noticeable effect than that made from the living plants.
The basil half of this mixture is a general pick-me-up
tonic and stimulant for the tissue of the brain.
It clears the head and can help remove that pressure
feeling (which later in the day can produce
a pressure headache and feeling of nausea.
Borage works through the kidneys,
the skin and, the heart to support energy
by maintaining good circulation through those organs.
A noticeable boost in energy is often
the first feeling after a cup of basil and Borage tea.
This effect can last for the remainder of the day.

Thus the tea is better taken as a midmorning beverage than at night,
when you really don't want to produce a surge of energy,
you just want to go to sleep!
So try Basil and Borage as your morning cup.


Info from: Coven Of The White Lotus From: mare
~*~Eireannach~*~
11/5/2002