(lat. Geum urbanum L., syn. Caryophyllata officinalis)
Colewort is a perennial with a strong rootstock. It can be found on forest edges, in bushes and generally in shady, cool spots. The rootstock is dug in March-April or October-November preferably at full moon or declining moon, and the flowering herb should be collected in June-July. The root is washed, dried in light shade, then cut into pieces of several centimeters and stored in paper or fabric bags.
The ingredients are: essential oils, eugenol (analgesic and antiseptic effect), tannins (3%), and bittering agents.
Colewort has digestive, contracting, numbing, stimulating, heart and nerve- strengthening properties. It is used internally for treating diarrhea, digestive disorders, stomach inflammation, fever, nervous and muscle pains. Paracelsus says that all febrile plants have simultaneously a stone breaking effect, therefore colewort is also used as an antidyscratic plant.
Paracelsus also used colewort for purging the “tartarus” (I, 607). According to Paracelsus, an important cause of diseases is to be found in the slag and toxins, mucus and the deposits in the body. Paracelsus calls such diseases tartaric or stone diseases. He says tartarus is nothing else but the excrement of food and drink, which coagulates in man through his spirits. If this tartarus does not mix with man’s excrements, and if it is not expelled with them, this has consequences producing various diseases in various ways. For all we eat and drink contains mucous, loamy and stony. If the stomach is healthy and strong, he immediately separates the impure from the pure. The pure penetrates the limbs to feed them, the unclean comes out with the urine or stool. If the stomach is weak or diseased, the food rottens, resulting in pain and other diseases. The toxins of putrefaction migrate to the liver, where they are degraded and converted. If the liver is constantly contaminated with toxins, its functions are impaired over time, so that it can no longer manage its tasks properly. It is necessary to know that when the alchemist (stomach, liver) is sick, and therefore the poison cannot be separated from the good, poisonous and good passes together into putrefaction and a “digestio” is created. (I, 137ff) We call this a “dyscrasia” or a disturbance of the saturation mixture, and in Ayurveda medicine one speaks of “Ama”.
Paracelsus now says: “Whoever wants to be a doctor must know the signature of tartarus, then the signature of the medicine.” (1, 610) “Every medicine against tartarus shall be so strong that it loosens and dissolves tartarus so that it would become a liquid, a jelly, a mucus, and does not coagulate again. When this destruction has taken place, nature drives him out. Therefore, only the things that have such an arcana are to be used. They have the power to dissolve tartarus in man, like an acid (aquafort) the iron. These are not caustics, but remedies. When God has created grinding iron, stone, etc. preparing them into a sap he has also given power to the medicine so that man can be helped, experience and honour the miracles of nature” (I, 608) Colewort has the power and signature to derive the tartarus and “break stones”.
Paracelsus also uses colewort as a “drink for the brain” (II, 462) He says, “It is better for the power of the roots to be put in wine before distribution rather than consumed raw. But in every way the root is a useful purgation “. III, 607
Avens tea
Add 1 tsp (3 g) of root to 250 ml of water, allow to stand for 15 minutes, strain and swallow, drink 2 cups per day.
“Stomach and digestive disorders are favorably influenced by tea from herbs or root, it regulates liver and bile functions. Leucorrhoea, which often occurs in nervous women, is improved and cured by the use of the root in the form of tea or tincture. At all, the nerve costume seems to improve a lot by use of colewort …
Geum urbanum, root or herbs, sewn into a sachet and hung around the neck (the sachet should be at the heart level), is intended to protect people who are at risk of heart attack. This remedy is recommended by medical practitioners for prevention.” (Hirsch & Grünberger, p. 419)
Avens wine
¼ kg of roots are mixed with 1 liter of good white wine, allow to stand for 10 days at room temperature and then evaporate. If necessary, drink 1 liqueur glass.
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