Rosemary Gladstar’s book the Family Herbal: A Guide to Living Life with Energy, Health, and Vitality is one of our family favorites and we are very excited to have this opportunity to talk with her and share her herbal wisdom with all of you.
Just to help whet your appetite for that upcoming talk, we wanted to share with you one of the remedies from her book. She describes this remedy, Jethro Kloss’s Liniment, as “a very old, very strong recipe & useful for reducing inflammation of the muscles, cleansing wounds, and soothing insect bites.”
This liniment was first concocted by a famous old herbalist named Dr. Jethro Kloss, hence its name.
The herbs in this liniment by Jethro Kloss have antiseptic, warming, stimulating, and anti-inflammatory properties. They will also help increase circulation in areas where muscles are sore.
We haven’t made a liniment in a while, and wanted to update our supply, since we definitely find that it is a great addition to our herbal family medicine chest. I used our liniment a lot for sore back muscles during my first pregnancy and found this one by Jethro Kloss to be very effective, and it is very simple to make.
Herbal Liniment by Jethro Kloss
What you’ll need…
- 1 ounce echinacea powder
- 1 ounce organically grown goldenseal powder (I do want to emphasize the organically grown part of this description. This plant is endangered in the wild from over-harvesting, so be sure and get it from a healthy, cultivated source. If you can ‘t find that, Rosemary suggests substituting chaparral or Oregon grape root)
- 1 ounce myrrh powder
- 1/4 ounce cayenne powder
- 1 pint rubbing alcohol
Ok, start by weighing out the powders and putting them in a pint jar.
Pour the rubbing alcohol over the powders, leaving a good 2-inch margin above the herbs. Stir and put a lid on the jar. Place the mixture in a warm location and let it sit for 4 weeks.
Strain and rebottle. Label the bottle clearly FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY (rubbing alcohol should not be taken internally).
We’ve found that bottling our liniments in a spray bottle is very handy. It’s easy to spray it onto areas with sore muscles or onto wounds that need cleaning.
Enjoy this wonderful addition to your family medicine chest from Jethro Kloss.
