APOTHECARY
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Calamus Tincture
$33
Ingredients:
Organic Calamus, Organic Cane Alcohol
Benefits: Anti-histamine, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, antiviral, bronchodilatory; helps treat depression, nerves, and poor circulation; digestive aid; sleep aid. Great for colds and flues, sore throats, headaches, congestion, asthma, ED, and amenorrhea.
Calamus
Calamus is something of a wonder herb, being used to treat many different ailments across cultures. It is an extremely interesting, yet often precarious plant, and it’s thought to hide its more subtle effects.
Its recorded history can be traced as far back as the 3rd century BC Han dynasty in China; Turks were said to carry to thwart infection diseases. while Benedictine and Chartreus liquors were flavored with it. Dutch children were given calamus rhizomes to chew as a type of gum, and Ancient Egyptians used it in perfumes. In magical practice, it has a long history of use in bringing luck, healing, money, and protection — it was thought that placing the root of the calamus plant in corners of the kitchen would protect against hunger, and Walt Whitman wrote 39 poems for calamus in his Leaves of Grass.
Calamus is most commonly used to treat gastrointestinal pain, neuropathic pain, and for its cognitive enhancing properties. Calamus has a potent interaction with GABA receptors, and is thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac as well.
In European folk medicine, calamus was often used to stimulate the appetite and aid digestion; in North America, it was more commonly used as a decoction to treat fevers, colic, and stomach cramps, while chewing the rhizome was said to ease toothaches. In Ayurveda it was used not just for treating digestive disorders but also for its ability to rejuvenate the brain and nervous systems.
Calamus works as a carminative and digestive bitter, stimulating digestion by promoting bile production, stimulating peristalsis of the intestines, and getting the stomach ready for food. Calamus has anti-anxiety and anti-emetic properties, and is good for all kinds of colds — throat, chest, head colds — due to its antibacterial and antiviral properties; one can also take calamus when around other people who are sick in order not to pick up their sicknesses. It can also help a person overcome the feeling of being rundown after getting a cold, and it is a powerful natural antihistamine.
Calamus can be used to treat motion-sickness, allergies, stuffy head, and mucous congestion; it is great for anyone feeling dizzy, nervous, or like they’re leaving their body psychologically: panicked, don’t know which way to go, or otherwise frozen by fear or disassociated. Calamus’ anti-anxiety effects also make it helpful for quitting smoking, though that is no easy task, as anyone who has had the nicotine habit can attest to.
Some of the most interesting effects of calamus are more subtle: it can help a person shift more easily into their parasympthateic nervous system and leave behind the tension of fight-or-flight behavior. It can also help open up one’s perception and help to escape the myopia that stress can bring on. It can aid meditation, and is great to take on long hikes, due to its gentle stimulating properties and, when appropriate, ability to mitigate hunger.
Native Americans held calamus to be a very sacred plant and used it in rituals to better see the spirit world. In larger amounts, calamus can provide an altered state, though it is a subtle perception shift and one that can be easily missed in a stimulating environment. Rather, these effects are best felt out in nature or some form of solitude.
Another interesting aspect of calamus is its ability to be both stimulating and relaxing. It does this by putting one’s energy into balance. In this way it’s able to increase energy and stamina, and even allay hunger in situations like a long hike or a long night at the library; yet it can calm the central nervous system and even stave off panic and anxiety attacks, particularly the small, daily anxieties that so many of us experience from time to time. Which is not to say it can’t help in full-on panic attacks, but only that it’s not always easy to remember to take it in those situations. It can also help following traumatic situations, to help a person recover and work through the aftermath with more wherewithal and without completely falling to pieces.
It goes without saying that it’s one of our favorite herbs here, for its variety of uses, some quite. profound. A plant that can be both stimulating and relaxing; a grounding influence and yet open up the one’s access to the spiritual world. It is a potent herb, best used in small amounts and with intention. There is a reason calamus is revered across every culture that uses it.
Note: There are some questions about the safety of calamus, primarily one of its primary active compounds, B-asarone. However, European and American varieties, which we use, have very low toxicity compared to the Indian varieties that were used in the test studies. There are a lot of questions about the way those studies were done with regards to mega-dosing amounts that, in human equivalency, no one could ever take.
Calamus can potentially lower the heart rate and blood pressure, and it should not be taken by anyone with kidney or liver disease. It can also potentially decrease the effectiveness of anticholinergic drugs; and may increase the risk of side effects in cholinergic drugs. Do not mix with blood pressure medication, as it may cause the blood pressure to drop too low.