Silver essence to soothe,clear, bring light

a month with silver birch

birch buds

Hello friends, familiar and new, and welcome to a house in a hamlet in a forest. I’m Jan and I hold spaces for those on journeys of transformation. I believe story is powerful and that the earth offers healing through our daily connection and herbal allies. My Sunday posts are always free and you are so welcome here. Let’s create a little alchemy together.

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I began this year with an image from birch that was a small but vital epiphany about various aspects of how I'm creating some alchemy along my path. Birch is a tree and herb of beginnings so the new year epiphany seemed appropriate, but birch is winding its way through this year with me and I've recently spent April with birch.

Birch (silver birch or Betula pendula; white birch or Betula pubescens) is a tree that played a role in my novel, smiling at grief in a house in a forest where life grows. It's associated with one of the characters, the oldest member of a small community that has survived cataclysm.

Birch made her think of Isabelle, asleep now before the long day ahead. She’d gathered the tips of the branches in Spring, steeped and distilled them together with the small harvest from the Gaultheria shrubs she had seeded in the forest, to extract powerful wintergreen oil that would soothe so many pains, but some of the twigs and and buds, alive with sap, she had kept to make a gentle essence of birch ... Silver essence for a silver woman, Lisette had said, savouring the fresh hints of mint and wintergreen, the cooling astringency beneath the fragrance of the aged alcohol. The birch trees were in full summer leaf now, releasing their clean mintiness into the air after yesterday’s rains and the morning’s dew.

A pioneer tree, among the first to emerge after the Ice Age, birch is early to leaf in Spring. A tree with a remarkably flexible trunk (as well as often having several main boles) and extraordinary bark, protective and versatile...

Birch is the first tree in the Celtic ogham alphabet. And the Irish Book of Ballymote says that Ogma, the god of literature and eloquence, wrote the magical alphabet ‘in Birch’.

Birch has strong associations with May — heralding Summer at Beltane — particularly in Wales where maypoles were made of birch and birch burnt in Beltane fires. Birch wreaths have been given as love tokens and birchwood was one of the choices for cradles to protect babies .

It is also associated with Autumn — with scattering leaves on graves, with Samhain. With the time of year when hallucinogenic and visionary fly agaric grows — a symbiotic, mycorrhizal relationship.

Birch is agiven strong mystical significance in some shamanic traditions. The Buryat of Siberia saw it as ‘the guardian of the door’ to the sky. And whilst in Scandinavia it is the Ash tree that is seen as the world tree (Yggdrasil), other cultures see birch as the Tree of Life.

Birch is not only associated with tradition and ritual across many cultures, but is also a powerful healing tree. Its ability to draw large quantities of water into itself and the resulting suppleness are more than metaphors.

Birch is a purifier, aiding the kidneys and the body's water system. And birch supports tissues, keeping them supple and hydrated. The affinity with the kidneys also makes it helpful with urinary tract infections. It makes an astringent tea that is diuretic and cooling internally, as well soothing for the skin (cooled first). The tea is also mildly sedative — a good addition to night time teas (as long as it's not too close to sleep so that you are not running to the loo in the night).

Birch is wonderful Spring tonic, rich in vitamin C, minerals and healing compounds. Betulinic acid makes birch anti-inflammatory, which makes it a wonderful ally for conditions like arthritis, as well as digestive issues. Additionally, methyl salicylate in birch has the same chemisttry as wintergreen, a powerful pain reliever.

Story
wellness
a personal journey

I've been spending time with birch —

drinking birch tea slowly
taking drop doses of a gentle birch bud essence made this Spring
walking amongh the trees in the forest.

There is a dream quality to stands of birch.

Birch
owls
moonlight
quiet

In the stillness, birch invites rest and restoration.

It is not only the tea that is bright and cleansing, simply being amongst birch, straight and pale when the trunks are single.. there is an elegance and clarity that clears the vision, as much as it clears the body.

A lightness — pure and clear.

Birch asks:

What needs renewal?
How do I rest?
Can I be still?

Birch bud essence

4-5 handfuls of birch buds 1/2 litre of filtered or mineral water 50ml brandy (or organic cider vinegar if you do not use alcohol)

Place the buds into water in a clear glass bottle and leave in the sun to macerate for a day or (if the sun is not strong) gently bring to boiling point in a pan and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Strain and add 50ml of the flower water to 50 ml of brandy (or cider vinegar) and keep in a dark 100ml bottle. It’s a very gentle remedy, used in drop doses as needed.

Birch tea

If you are spending time with a particular herb over a period, make a simple tea with the single herb (if it's palatable). Simple birch tea has a refreshing, slightly astringent but aromatic wintergreen flavour.

Levitea

If you would like a blended tea using birch, this aromatic and slightly bitter infusion is a wonderful digestive that will leaves you feeling lighter. It's also good for the respiratory system.

5g each of peppermint, birch leaves, thyme, hyssop & ground ivy.

Steep a couple of pinches per cup in boiling water for 7 minutes.

If you would like to explore ways to work with me herbally, DM me.

Birch is a well-tolerated herb but a few people have sensitivites to betulin and/or to salicylates. Please remember that herbal posts do not constitute medical adivce. If you need help with a specific isse please seek a trusted practitioner.