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September 30, 2024 17 mins

Guest Host Lisa Garr and Herbalist Lisa Fazio discuss herbal medicine for healing and energy clearing herbs.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome back to Coast to Coast AM. My guest is
Lisa Fazzio, and she has a book out called Della
Medachina and we're talking about the book is talking about
Italian folk medicine. And I'd love to find out from you, Lisa,
how what types of herbs that you can recommend for

(00:26):
just first of all, for healing if someone has, for example,
upper respiratory illnesses are going around a lot at this
time of year, can you recommend anything for breathing and lungs.
And I know that you have a history in herbal
first aid, and I think that's so fascinating. Can you

(00:46):
tell us a little bit about that. We can go
through a couple of different herbal remedies.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
So for respiratory conditions, my favorite and like the most
the one, the one plant that addresses almost every respiratory
issue is mullen.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Oh yeah, And what do you do with the mullein.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Well, usually we use the leaf mullen leaf and just
a simple tea is often one way to use it.
Now this time of year, for instance, as we're going
in the fall I live in the northeast New York
State and at around X so it's starting to get

(01:34):
cold and flu and all the things are starting to
will start to increase. So I start preparing this time
of year with different herbs, and mullen is one of them,
which I put in my tea almost every single day.
So a simple tea can be made with the leaf
and I have it growing here.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
What about I mean our the drops good or with the.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, so that so that tincture or the alcohol extract
or usually it's going to be an alcohol extract.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Uh, is great?

Speaker 4 (02:11):
You know you just take a dropper.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
So could that be used like cough medicine where it
would stop the spasms of coughing.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
It's not particularly anti spasmodic, like we have others that
might do that. But yes, so mullin. So every plant
has a certain has a certain set of things that.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
They're really good at.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
So mullin is really good at like if you've you've
got like a lot of dryness, so like more for
dry cough like smoker's cough. But also it'll help pull mucus,
help a little bit with expectoration, and then it also
helps to tone the tissue so that the tissue can

(02:51):
your lung tissue.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Can function better and rebuild.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
So it's kind of like an overall so you know,
there might be depending on the condition, there might be
other IRBs, like it's in an acute illness that I
would use with it. You could use it alone too,
like if that's all you had.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, it's always great.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
So the other one that I really like is marshmallow
melova and the root. You can use the root, leaf
or flour, but the root in particular for dry hacking, coughs,

(03:35):
sore throat where there's just like a lot of heat inflammation.
I like to make a cold infusion. So cold infusion
it is really simple. You just have some marshmallow root,
which you can buy at any herb store. Usually you
can order online, and then you put you know, I

(03:59):
don't know, a table spoon in like like a little
jam canning jar. I don't know what size those are,
pint or half pint. Put like a tablespoon, pour cold
water over it, drill it on it. You can shake
it every now and then you can leave it in.
Just leave it like that. It really quickly develops into

(04:22):
like this really kind of slimy, mucillogenous drink okay, and
then you strain it and you drink it and it's
great for restaurants, sactions, digestion. An Italian folk medicine, malva
or marshmallow is kind of one of those elixir kind

(04:43):
of plants. It's like a panacea. It's like anytime you
need anything, you.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Can take marshmallow roots.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
Partly because it'll leads very arid, you know, in a
dry place, a hot and dry place. So a plant
like marshmallow that's cooling, and it is very appropriate for
anything where there's hot, dryness.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
And yes, especially now where it's going to be getting
into the colder months and the the rise of these
upper respiratory flus definitely is on the rise as more
people are going inside. And good to know those are
really really good things to know.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
So the irvlism can be used for not only for
health reasons, but also for clearing reasons. What types of
herbs do you recommend for Like, you know how sage
is known as clearing the energy in a room. Is
there a particular urge the herb that you feel that

(05:46):
is good for energy clearing in a space?

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (05:50):
So We have different names for this in Italian folk medicine.
Fumagaccione or a humigation is one of the work, one
of the herbs, one of the words, and yes there's several,
and one of my favorites is mugwar Artemusia, So several

(06:11):
different Artemisia species that are native to southern Italy and
the Mediterranean, and any of those can be used for
those purposes.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
For clearing energies. Right, yep.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
What do you think about sage? Does it do the
same thing or is that a different culture?

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well, there's different kinds of stages, right, so any stage,
any stage will work.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, Now what does that do? I mean, what tell
me how that works?

Speaker 2 (06:42):
The properties in a plant that could actually clear energy?

Speaker 4 (06:47):
Okay, well that depends on your Yeah, so there's there's
many right, So if we look at it from like
the scientific view, we know that a lot of these
clearing energetic clearing plants are have chemical actual chemical constituent
that will actually like their anti infect their anti microbial

(07:12):
that they will clear actually clear the air in a space.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
So that's one.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
Yeah, So that's one. That's one thing. And then energetically,
the idea is that the spirits the other animate forces
in a space will be repelled by.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, okay, so that's two different ways of making of
clearing something.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
Well the other so there's one other. So the other
one is it will repel or it will attract certain
protective energies. So h in like, for instance, different types
of trance work, which is a big part of Mediterranean

(08:08):
history and spirituality, in sense, different types of plants burning
would be used in temples and other sacred spaces during, before, during,
and after certain ceremonies and rituals to invoke particular deities.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yes, I mean historically you have the frank concense right right,
and those are biblical herbs.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
What were the are those?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Do those also have the same meaning in Italian folk medicine.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
Well, those aren't native to southern Italy. They're more like
going towards like North Africa. I'm not actually so sure,
but in the levant area.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
So here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
Every plant is going to have a different You sort
of can think of it as a code, so it's
like a code or an energetic imprint, or you could
also think of it as a pattern of consciousness that
it will match with and each of the gods and
goddesses or the deities and folk Catholicism, you could say

(09:29):
also the saints will have a matching pattern, so you
would you would choose different formulas, mixtures of herbs, sometimes
with other substances, like for instance, with kiffy, which is

(09:50):
a Greek type of temple incense, and sometimes there'd be
like honey in it, in wine seeds, berries, and it
was made in a specific way and that would match
with it's coated for whatever energy you want to bring

(10:11):
into the space.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Oh, very interesting, and.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
This would match with this also matches with rhythms, musical rhythms, sounds, vibrations,
as well as chance and prayers.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
That would be something great I would love to have
in here. But we would set off the smoke alarms.
So is there a few other way to do that
that doesn't involve the smoke.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
Yes, so it's not gonna be insane because smoke is clearing, right.
But you know, you know, one of the things now
people do I s people do is use like sprays,
you know, like you could use an essential oil in
a spray bot in a spray bottle or like uh,

(11:04):
some type of other display in a spray bottle. Sometimes
people use flower assences. So you could use a which
is a whole different thing, but you could put flower accents.
It's actually the most ecologically sustainable would be to use
a flower assence.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Okay and spray your space so that yes, that would
make a little bit more sense. So what flower essences
would work for clearing a space?

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (11:35):
And and the body?

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Oh okay, ye yep, please the body important? Yes, yeah,
so rose or is there any te.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
So there's there's flower assences that are just like smoke.
There's flower acids and incense. There's flower assences that are
more have more of an affinity, have more potency in
terms of like protact and clearing. So you know, garlic, okay, garlic,

(12:06):
garlic in any form uh is used that way. So garlics,
you can use the garlic flower essence.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yarrow, yarrow, yarrow. Yeah, I've heard of yarrow rue. Oh yeah,
mm hmm. Rosemary mm hmmm.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
I like to burn rosemary, but you can also do
the flower essence.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
So rosemary is wonderful. Even to cook with rosemary is wonderful.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Yes, rosemary is wonderful.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, it's a it's across the board. And so also
so we've talked a lot about protection. What about blessing?
What about blessings? Ways, Yeah, in terms of either rich
or plant dialects or anything between herbal healing and the
traditions quick blessings.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
Right, So yeah, So blessings again is the invocation of
a pattern of consciousness, right, such as in a Talian
folk medicine, a saint or some type of other type.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Of deity where a lot of.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
Times in Italian folks, and we're going to be using
a prayer, so for instance, the Hail Mary, okay in
that will invoke the Virgin Mary and other other ways
that we would do. That would be like petitioning a

(13:49):
particular saint. And there's different ways you petition saints. So
Sandiseppi or Saint Joseph is well, we petitioned Saint Joseph.
This is kind of funny, and probably many of your
listeners have heard of this. I don't know. Is that
say you want to you have a house that you

(14:10):
want to sell, yes, because he rules real estate and
and it's not selling. So one of the praes is
have you heard of this?

Speaker 3 (14:23):
To bury the statue upside down or something?

Speaker 4 (14:27):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (14:29):
And then the thing is you have to go back,
and you're you're supposed to go back and get him
once you sold the house. So that's that's the tricky
part of somebody's already living in.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
So why does that work? Why the upside down? Where
does that stem from?

Speaker 4 (14:46):
I'm not sure, honestly, I don't know why he has
to be upside.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Down and buried and buried.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
That. I'm not sure where that comes. Where that comes from?
You know, I think probably if I had a guess,
I'd say, you know, we're putting him into the other world.
We're connecting. We're taking this solid material object imbibing it.
You know, there's a certain prayer that you say, So

(15:15):
you're going to say the prayer and then you're going
to put him underground because that's like our access to
the underworld. But I don't know, I'm making this up,
like I'm just one. I'm guessing just knowing what I
know that that's probably that could be one of the
ideas is like, so the thing is that the saints

(15:37):
and the deities plants is there are threads that connect.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Us to.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
The social field beyond what we can see. Right, So
it's like the field of not just the human relationships
that we're in, or the material or physical relationships that
we're in, but also the spiritual relationships that we're in
that are actually part of social life in this tradition,

(16:15):
and so these things. But because we're in this, we're
in this three dimensional form, we have to there's things
that we humans have designed and developed to help us
to connect or link or build bridges to the spiritual

(16:36):
or the divine.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yes, that's what the entire concept around full medicine is
is that it's possible, and it's been done throughout history,
and I love that you're bringing it to modern times
through the book and teaching us different ways to connect
with the ancestral traditions and they have worked in the passage.

(17:00):
Have you ever seen an apparition or some type of
thing that has actually manifested itself?

Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yes, I mean I don't know. I'm not sure what
do you mean by manifested itself? Like, I've never tried
to make anything man like. I've never tried to do.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
That, Okay, Yeah, I mean in terms of making it
seeing an actual spirit or anything that could help elaborate
something like that.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
I mean I've seen things that I might you might
say were like a ghost.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, something like that, right, Yeah, but not.

Speaker 4 (17:46):
I've never intentionally tried to see They've never done anything
to try to do that.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at
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