Reply To: Medicine Making | Internal Preparations
Hi Emily!
When Amanda is speaking about dry conditions, she is referring to the system of herbal energetics which uses moisture content and heat to classify body constitutions and herbs. These categories include dry, damp, hot, and cold. You will learn more about this way of using energetics as you move through the program.
Dry constitution
These are some typical presentations when dryness has come to dominate the body:
* Allergy
* Eczema
* Exhaustion
* Low-grade Inflammation
* Chemical sensitivities
* Ageing, shrinking, withering
* Degenerative, catabolic diseases
As opposed to,
Damp constitution
Described as phlegmatic in cold people and choleric in constitutionally hot people there is a notable increase in congestion that fits many of the old concepts of toxicity & encumbrance. Cold and damp (phlegmatic) dominance can show up in such patterns as:
* Overweight
* Irritable Bowel
* Osteoarthritis
* Low Grade Infections
* Metabolic Syndrome
Many herbs lead to fluids leaving the boy (sweating, urination, glad secretions) which have an overall drying effect. So, this is to be taken into consideration when someone already has an issue with retaining moisture.
Ideally, for people on the dryer side, preparations with water, glycerine, or powdered herbs are best. However, if tinctures are what is available, the dryness can be helped by taking the tinctures with lots of water, and using moistening herbs either in the formula, or on the side. Marshmallow and oat are good examples of moist, demulcent herbs.
Type of alcohol
For alcohol, you can use unflavoured alcohol that you can get at the liquor store. Most people opt for vodka as it is high % and clear, while other people like to use Brandy, which has a sweeter flavour to it.
Some students have also been able to obtain very high-proof alcohol (90-95%) through distilleries. This percentage of alcohol is often used for fresh, very juicy plant material or can be diluted down to whatever percentage you’d like.
Here is a good article for more about tincture making, we will be adding more details into our guidebook for the next round of revisions!
https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/guide-tinctures-extracts
I hope this helps! Let me know if any more questions come up.