When you get bit by a tick!!!!!!

I can not tell you how many times in the past three months I have received panicked texts, phone calls, or emails that go a little something like this......."Holy @#!*^&%$!!!! I've been bit by a tick! What do I do!"

So I have decided to let you know exactly what I would do. Now please understand that I am an herbalist and I am not a big proponent of antibiotics. In fact, I won't use them unless I am on my death bed. And of course, I am not a doctor....once more folks.....I am not a doctor. The FDA requires me to say that so they don't come knocking on my door. So if you try this protocol, you are on your own....even though I find it incredibly effective and suggest it to my clients. What am I supposed to say now...hold on....wait for it....

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product or advice is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. 

Phew!!!!! Don't we all feel better now.


This personal protocol would need to be adjusted for a child. This is meant for a full grown adult with no serious autoimmune conditions. Now with all of that said....here we go.

Everyone should own one of these little beauties....The O Tom Tick Twister. You can pick one up on Amazon.

Please do not yank, squeeze, squish, burn, or cover the tick in vaseline. All of these methods will cause the tick to regurgitate what is in its stomach, namely lyme spirochetes and a whole host of other co-infections right into your blood stream.You need to gently slide the prongs on each side of the tick where it is inserted in your body, lift ever so slightly and turn it in a clockwise motion about 2 or 3 turns. It should easily lift right out. If it doesn't, turn it counter clockwise about 2-3 turns. Place the tick in a ziplock baggie with a moist cotton ball or a small piece of wet paper towel and send it to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation for free testing.

http://www.bayarealyme.org/lyme-disease-prevention/tick-testing/

After the removal of the tick

Step 1: clean the tick bite site and your hands with 2 or 3 drops of tea tree oil or myrrh tincture.

Step 2: The fun and slightly messy step. Take an activated charcoal capsule and open it up onto a small dish. 

Step 3: Add just enough andrographis tincture and 3-5 drops or oregano essential oil to the activated charcoal in order to make a paste that when applied to your skin will sufficiently stick. I use a toothpick for this process.

Step 4: Smear the activated charcoal/andrographis paste onto the bite site and about an inch to 2 inches around it. Tape a piece of gauze over it and let it sit for an hour.  Remove the gauze and rinse with warm water. Your skin will be stained. Don't worry, that will go away and it's well worth it.

Step 5: Repeat steps 2-4 three times a day for the next three days. Please note that if your skin is sensitive or becomes irritated, only do this procedure once a day. My skin pretty much can handle anything. So three times a day is perfect for me. And Oregano oil is really strong. This is why it is so effective for an initial tick bite.

Step 6: Take 15 drops of andrographis tincture in water (oh you are going to want it in water my friends...there is nothing more bitter on the face of the planet. But don't forget, the more bitter, the more powerful, and that's what we want at this moment. So just pinch your nose, buck up, and chug it down) 3 times a day, for the next month.

Step 7: Take 1 dropper full of astragalus tincture, in water, 3 times a day, for next 3 months. If you live in a region that is endemic with Lyme....take it for the rest of your natural born life with some breaks here and there. No joke. And in reality, I personally feel that astragalus is one of the best immune foods out there. I'm sure elderberry and medicinal mushrooms (yes I am an absolute rebel and used the word medicinal when referring to a plant) gives it a run for its money, but my heart is with astragalus! Please refrain from using astragalus if you are in third stage Lyme or have a serious autoimmune condition. If you do or are, please consult your trained herbalist or naturopath before taking astragalus. 

If for any reason, you get a bulls eye rash, or a weird flu like fever with a potential splitting headache, swollen or painful joints, or any really odd symptoms that you have never had before.....please, please, please, please get into a Lyme literate practitioner as fast as your little legs can carry you.

Well there it is my friends. Please let me know if you found this helpful or what your experiences are with this protocol.

In the mean time....

               Green Blessing to you all!!!!!

Root Digger

This past weekend was the final class of my first level herbal apprenticeship at The Boston School of Herbal Studies. And as you can tell.....we became root diggers! Now as a shamanic practitioner, I watch for the messages within all processes. Especially harvesting herbs. Is the process easy? Is it difficult? Did you feel like giving up? Was it joyous and full of song? Did it start raining on your head? Everything that happens is a message from spirit. So here I was, on a gorgeous fall day, with a shovel in my hand standing in front of a row of elecampane plants at least 6 feet tall. I was ready. I had just spent the past week harvesting japanese knotweed at home on Nantucket. I knew how hard this process could be. So I took a deep breath, and plunged the shovel into the dirt. I did what I was supposed to. I was at least a foot away from the stem. I worked my way around in a complete circle wiggling the shovel back and forth to loosen the dirt. I plunged my hands into the earth to feel where the roots were growing. I thought I had it. I began to pull and nothing budged. I plunged the shovel back in, working my way around the base of the plant repeating the entire process....a second time....a third time.....a fourth time.....and on and on. I was sweating, covered in dirt, scratched all over and still nothing was moving. A class mate of mine was putting her effort in as well. We had all three teachers come over at different points marveling at how much effort this was taking. Pictures were taken, additional tools were offered, and moral support bestowed. I moved into the zone..... me, the earth, the plant, the sunshine, the sweat and the process. Nothing but focus upon what needed to be done. I could hear a voice in my head saying, "Just keep going.....you know what to do. Just keep going.....you know what to do." It took persistence, patience, faith, strength, focus, confidence, and belief in myself. When the root finally released itself from its earthy embrace, I turned to hear my class mate's and teacher's verbal accolades. I'm not good at receiving praise. It's something that I constantly have to work on. However, at this moment, I said my obligatory "thank you," and simply walked around the corner to where the rest of the class was chopping up the other roots that had been gathered. Another teacher took one look at me with my hands black with dirt and my hair falling out of my pony tail all around my face and said, " Wow! Goddess! My guess is you don't go easy on yourself."  I stood there and thought, "No. I guess I don't." Sometimes this is an amazing feature. Sometimes this is not. But it is who I am. And on this day, I was reminded of the effort it takes to do what needs to be done in one's life. I am an herbalist on Nantucket Island who specializes in helping people with Lyme Disease. I opened my practice in January, left a second job in order to dedicate more time to developing it, am in the process of doing the Nantucket shuffle as far as offices go, and crossing my fingers every day while asking my helping spirits for guidance. Being an herbalist is joyous and unbelievably challenging. You can't just say "I love herbalism" and hope clients simply drop out of the sky. You have to market, study, defend your right to be who you are, worry that the FDA is going to come calling, and figure out how to provide for yourself while supporting your clients as they go through the tremendous ups and downs of their own processes, while staying connected to the joy of why you got involved with herbalism in the first place. Not easy people....not easy at all. So as I stood there with my teacher's words echoing in my ears and thought back to what I just went through, I knew that the spirit of the elecampane plant gave me the lesson I needed at that moment. I could here elecampane saying, "You will have to dig deep now, you will have to work hard, sacrifice, hurt, heal, stay focused, use your knowledge, and not give up. And.....you will have those who will help, guide, and cheer you on."