iii: Of Weeds & Weans
Lifting heavy little hearts Joseph Nolan Sometimes rough winds really do shake our darling buds of May, and cuddles just aren’t enough. Things beyond our control— and certainly beyond that of our children —can cause heartache and heartbreak, grief and fear, and reveal the awful fragility of life from which we try to shield them. Death in the family or community, the loss of a pet, illness or accident, divorce, moving far away, changing schools, witnessing a traumatic incident, even the birth of a sibling… all of these can destabilise a child’s world and cause deep unhappiness. For older children and adolescents, the betrayal of friends, trouble at school, and disappointment in sports or academics can be terrible. Children may also be navigating their own and others’ identities in terms of race, gender, gender expression, orientation, disability and neurodivergence, and those on the receiving end of bullying will need extra support. So how to heal and safeguard the hearts of children? La Vie en Rose For the emotional heart and its injuries, you just can’t beat Rosa damascena (Rose). For grief and sadness, insecurity, poor selfesteem, low confidence and fretfulness, Rose is the cure. Rose has been associated with love since time immemorial. It could be considered an aphrodisiac— its intoxicating smell quickly evokes the sensual —but 15
Rose’s love is deeper. It opens the heart and improves the capacity for compassion and love— and, most importantly, the capacity for compassion and love for oneself, the lack of which is so often at the heart of emotional and physical ills. Rose is the number one remedy for patients as diverse as babies who have experienced a traumatic birth, their mothers and fathers (the latter too often forgotten in the birth narrative), nursery-goers struggling with separation, bullied school children, and adolescents experiencing their first heartbreak. I use it, too, for those who have suffered unspeakable abuses and traumas as children. It is a remedy as sure and reliable as any in the dispensary, invaluable for healing the emotional ailments of even decades past. Rose tincture is fine, especially homemade in brandy, but I prefer it in tea— usually as an admixture in blends for other ailments — or in sublime aromatic water. Floral waters are made by distillation and so contain none of the tannins or other large molecules found in teas, but only light volatile aromatic compounds— the spirits of the flowers. Rose floral water can be given to absolutely anyone as a medicine, as well as used to wash the skin and freshen the air, and can also be added to beverages. I also like to use the syrup and glycerite sometimes for especially complex, serious cases, and for people who need a little extra love. Hawthorn for the Heart For matters of the heart, physical or emotional, Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn) is supreme. I use it or C. laevigata (Midland Hawthorn) to treat anxiety, fear and sadness. Palpitations or awareness of the heart beating, sometimes coinciding with a fear of death, are good indications for Hawthorn. For grief, or to treat a more general sadness, listlessness or lack of sparkle, Hawthorn helps restore a sense of cheerfulness and fun. Simply put, it lifts the heart.
