Herbs for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

I want to first take an opportunity to tell all of you who have signed up for my new Blog here at WordPress:  Thank you!  It is an honor to share my experiences and wealth of accumulated information with you – and today is no exception.

This week has been difficult for our family due to the passing of my teenage daughter’s close friend who had accidentally drowned (not knowing how to swim and being alone in a pool).  Seeing how this is indeed the “death” time of year, we didn’t expect someone so young to go beyond the veil way before his time – or so it seemed from our naive mundane viewpoint.  Only he knew his soul contract, and whether he accomplished things in that contract – and it isn’t for us to know.  We do know the one thing that we take in death is love, and that we will indeed see him again when the time is right.

During this releasing process, my body apparently took an opportunity to release a very old energy pattern that apparently I had subconsciously and automatically locked inside of it for quite some time – likely for what was at the time survival reasons that were not even in my awareness.

Whether our belief systems include reincarnation and past lives, or whether we tend to carry these patterns ancestrally through genetics (be they strengths or weaknesses), I find it doesn’t matter much, because it often is played out in our mundane lives at one point or another.  I have consciously been on a healing journey since 1993, and have corrected many patterns of behavior and thought that relate to fear, and particularly anger, and how to process it.  Many people believe that once you have mastered your behaviors that all prior problems with that pattern just disappear.

Maybe for them, but speaking as a quadruple earthy Capricorn, ruled by Saturn (the planet of physical matter), I have noticed that even when a new pattern is mastered, that it can take years to fully process the old patterns, and in my case, that is almost always through the vehicle of a physical illness.  Consciously, this is not the most comfortable way to deal with releasing – I would much rather do it like others, through dreams or visions,  or even through one day of just crying in the bathtub.  However, when the pattern is stored in your body on a physical level (and I am sure the body “walls” it off as to not disturb the rest of my body), I suppose when that “wall” is dissolved through new thoughts, behaviors, energy work and even nutritional changes, it makes perfect sense for the releases of old energetic imprints to be released physically, through ailment.

In the current case, the expression of the old pattern release is a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), which is the second one I have had in a year’s time, but never having one before in my life of well over 40 years.  According to Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life, this is about anger (“pissed-off”) and often at the opposite sex, especially a partner.  Is this my issue now?  No, and not for years.  Was it an issue?  OH yes!  It is also a family patterning, in that my mother tends toward UTI’s often, and we had discussed the differences between the way we handle our emotions – and she definitely suppressed her anger more than I did.

So, I receive even more confirmation from Spirit that herbal training was an excellent conjunct to my astrological and other training – if for nothing else than to assist the physical issues to process as quickly as possible.  This does not deny the use of energetic healing methods like Reiki or Flower Essences – in fact, it may have been these things that are helping remove these energy patterns too.  However, it is nice to know there is action to take physically, through the amazing plant kingdom, to bring that process of physical wellness more quickly than with energy work alone.

Any healer that has decided to heal themselves will tell you it is much more difficult than providing healing energy for others.  The reason is that the healer is not responsible for the recipient’s healing, but when the recipient is oneself, you are the healing instrument AND you are responsible – it can be tricky to coordinate these two tasks, but a healer than can do it is usually a fantastic healer for another.  Maybe because what we really are is healing teachers and healing facilitators – we actually heal ourselves with this help.

Being ever grateful for my herbal training, along with raw Garlic and unsweetened Cranberry Juice, I used herbs similar to Dr. Christopher’s for the first UTI occurrence at the 2008 Winter Solstice, and they worked in 3 1/2 days!  This summer, I had been inspired by Herbalist Kiva Rose to more fully explore the herbs that grow in my yard (commonly known as weeds), as it is much better to really have a relationship with the few herbs that decide to grow here, and not only know all of their possible applications, but to really have a relationship with the plants themselves, to understand their energy patterns, their astrological alignments (if known), and the extent of that herb to meet my intentions of healing at that particular time with particular situations.  While gathering many, I noticed many had qualities of healing the kidney and bladder areas, even if they worked differently to do so, and I thought that was interesting.  Now I know why!

While in great pain on Saturday early afternoon, I brought my pendulum with me to dowse which dried herbs, as well as herbal vinegars and herbal tinctures, would be the best energetic match for me, as well as the release of the UTI condition.  I did not have Cranberry Juice this time, and I wanted to see the effectiveness of these herbs on their own (along with avoiding all sugars, coffee, and non-herbal tea – and drinking at least 1/2 gallon of reiki-energized distilled water per day).  Here is what came up, and I did all the following:

Dried Herbs for Tea (also called an Infusion):

These herbs I had kept onhand in jars, and most were obtained from my local herb store:

Parsley, Nettle, Yarrow, Oatstraw, and Comfrey (small amount, due to constituents that could affect liver – usually not a worry, do your research – start with the 3 links in the right-hand column of this blog, under “Comfrey”)

1 tsp. combined herbs per 8 oz nearly-boiling water to steep 15 minutes per cup – 3 or 4 cups per day

I didn’t sweeten at all, but if you need it, you can use stevia – or if you prefer a salty, soup-broth taste, try a hexane-free tamari sauce instead.

Herbal Vinegar:

Goldenrod (if you want to know how to make it, Susun Weed has a nice tutorial, and I like the dill-like taste)

1 tablespoon prepared vinegar – 3 times per day, chase with water

Herbal Tincture:

Usnea (in Everclear) – 4 drops*

Dandelion (in Brandy/Vodka) – 10 drops

Cleavers (in Brandy/Vodka) – 10 drops

All three, 3 times per day, chase with water

* the Usnea Lichen grew in woods near where I live, not in my yard.

Additionally:

On the first day, I decided to smash a pretty large clove of Garlic and spread it on my over-medium farm-fresh eggs that we get from a friend.  Raw Garlic can be harsh to eat on an empty stomach – I am especially sensitive to this, as I have difficult nausea-type pain, and sometimes gas, which says that it is working – eating with food usually alleviates that for me.  And, it tasted wonderful!

Self-Reiki was also implemented – I used the Sei He Ki symbol visually on my Kidney, Bladder and Urinary Tract area.  I also decided to rest, since that helped alleviate the pain (I guess gravity makes it worse sometimes).

For those interested in Planetary Rulers – of those I could find:

Cleavers (Galium aparine):  Saturn

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale): Saturn

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale): Jupiter

Goldenrod (Solidago Canadensis): Venus

Nettle (Urtica dioica): Mars

Oatstraw (Avena sativa): Venus

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum): Mercury

Usnea (Usnea spp.):  (Unknown at this time, but I would give it to Saturn)

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): Venus

Results?  How about gone in 2 1/2 days? I couldn’t be happier!  I also cannot stress enough to learn even a layperson’s knowledge of herbs if at all possible.  Not only will it help you and your family achieve wellness more quickly and to not just mask symptoms, it gives a great sense of self-empowerment to know that many (unsprayed) plants we find in our yards can heal us – and your bank account stays happy too!  If you haven’t already, please explore my Herbalism links page on my blog to delve into a few resources.  Thanks for reading today!