Feed the Hope…

I read this commentary on US politics.

Yup– republican & democratic presidents have been two wings of the same predatory bird…
AND hope exists. Another article I read the same day:

http://www.naturalnews.com/041849_consciousness_revolution_minds_human_civilization.html

I don’t know that I agree w/ anyone 100%. I do know that more and more people are thinking, learning, and growing. Some of them are even changing behaviors– something more difficult than the other 3 combined.
YHWH told me, “Find the good, green spaces. Touch it. Make it grow.”
It’s not just about plants. It’s people, too.
You can’t break up all the asphalt that covers an entire planet with a jack-hammer: your shoulders would give out before you could make much head-way.
You CAN plant seeds, and find the blackberry & ivy that have already found a crack to grow in. Those plants that grow up through the asphalt are strong. Help them grow.
Yes, there’s a horrible conspiracy going on somewhere… it’s even trace-able via corporate connections & ownership. Mathematically provable “conspiracy theory.”
AND the truth is that $ is *not* god. Only an idol. An idol whose hands and head are threatened.
“He has shown thee, O man, what is good, and what YHWH requires of you: but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy Elohim.”
If you’re given a jack-hammer, by all means, have at it! But when you’re spent, remember to plant the strong sprouting seeds in the wake.
Healthy plants produce seed after their own kind. Unhealthy plants will eventually die and become fertilizer for the next generation. Eventually, hybrids and GMO’s will die out. There will be a new generation to feed. Blackberries & ivy & “good, green spaces” may come in handy.

Oyster mushrooms break down petroleum & petrochemicals. Zeolite clay absorbs radioactive particles. The world is designed to regenerate. We can help, and it can help us to survive, and eventually thrive.

Behold, the hand of YHWH is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. –Isaiah 59:1

YHWH said to Moses, “Has YHWH’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.” –Numbers 11:23
The arm of YHWH is longer than “the long arm of the law.”
No less true today than it was for the Hebrew children in ancient times.

It’s still reality, even when the corporate monsters loom large. Eventually, it’s all just words on paper that say a corporation exists. Paper rots. Life is designed to continue.

Calling All Earth-Beings!

LOVE this Article!!! FOOD GARDENS EVERYWHERE!!!
“National Security” is in the “…plants yeilding seed after their kind…” –Genesis 1:12

Human Sacrifice on the altars of the military-industrial complex “gods-of-war”, or on the altar of the gmo “gods-of-prosperity” does not contribute to “National Security.” It’s time to transform our world, beginning with heirloom seeds in our own homes.

There’s an Ancient Instruction:
“Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.” –Jeremiah 29:5
“…you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisified. You shall say before YHWH your God, “I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me: I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.” –Deuteronomy 26:12-13
“He has told you, O earth-being*, what is good: and what does YHWH require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” –Micah 6:8

The word “earth-being” is often translated “man”, but is better-translated “earthen being,” in reference to the Genesis account of the human being made “from the dust of the ground,” and being called “Adam.” The word “adam” is related to the word “adamah,” meaning “ground” or “earth.”

Here’s the Ancient Hebrew Pictograph:

When we find the humility to embrace the fact  that we are built from the earth, and will one day return to it, we can find beautiful “grounding” in our original occupation as gardeners. The freedom to be the “earth-beings” we were designed to be is the most basic of human rights.

May we be blessed to build a world where that right is honored and exercised in profusion!

We All Want Peace*

Everybody’s running around with two fingers up– if they aren’t busy lifting just one finger at the driver that just cut ’em off. Even so, that driver really just wants peace. We want to know that we’re going to get to work on time, that rent will be paid, that our electricity won’t be shut off, and that we’ll be able to put gas in that car so we can do it again tomorrow. (I use “we” loosely, here– different folks have different struggles) At the core of our beings, we want to feel “secure,” knowing that we’re protected from hunger, cold, and loneliness.  We want peace.
What’s funny is that our language doesn’t tell us what peace is just by looking at the word. It’s kind of a nebulous “good thing” out there somewhere that nobody seems to have (unless they happen to smell like weed, and even then, it’s only for as long as the high lasts).

Shabbat Shalom!

A few thousand years ago, and still today in some places, the word for peace was a real, concrete picture of that nebulous thing we all want. Originally, the Scriptural, Hebrew word was “Shalom,” spelled “Shin-Lamed-Vav-Mem.” (second word in the pic)

The Shin is the picture of the two front Teeth. Lamed is a picture of the Shepherd’s Staff. Vav is the Tent Peg, and Mem is Water. The Teeth is an image of protection and defense. The Shepherd’s Staff provides guidance and direction, pointing the way out for the sheep to find everything they need. The Tent Peg is the picture of securing or “nailing down.” Water is our source of life. Shalom is defined in Jeff Benner’s Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible , word #2845, “Complete: Made whole or complete by adding or subtracting. ‘To be in a state of wholeness. Also to restore or make right through payment or restitution. ‘A state of being whole, complete, or full. Also an offering of restitution or payment. ‘A greeting as a desire for completeness to another.”
Shalom is “The protection of the Shepherd, nailing down the water.” We are at peace when we are protected and provided for by our Creator, and when we are made “complete.” In order to be “complete,” we need air, water, food, and shelter. Without land to grow food on, we are incomplete, and the land is incomplete without the humble people who care for it, watching over it with sensitivity to see that seeds sprout in it. Finding those humble people gives the rest of that picture of completeness– we’re no longer lonely 🙂

*Originally posted January 28, 2010 on my old blogsite

PRACTICAL FAITH: If It Don’ Work, Don’ Bother!

Life is rich with natural, functional, healthy systems that really do work. Chemicals, Smog and sundry other nuisances obscure our view of the beauty around and within us that works well. That beauty exudes its richness through “Faith.”
The original word for “faith” in Scripture was “emunah”, and it had a lot more to it than the nebulous “belief” I was once taught.

Aleph-Mem-Vav-Nun-Hey: (read the opposite direction in Hebrew)
-Bull’s Head (Strength, First, Authority)
-Moving Water / Blood
-Tent Peg (Nail Down, Secure)
-Sprouting Seed (Offspring, Continuing)
-Man Standing in Awe (Wow, LOOK!)

Faith without works really is dead. The picture of Emunah (Original Faith) is Strength Watering and Securing the Sprouting Seed and Standing in Awe, Looking at the results.
Real Faith is real work, implementing the Natural Laws given in Torah, and seeing the results of working within those tangible, functional, “Good” Rules.  Emunah is really better-translated “Faithfulness.” When we are faithful to YHWH’s Teaching and Instruction, we experience the results of real, active, living faith.
If faith produces the Tov (Functionality / Goodness) described in Torah, it’s real faith, and you can hang your hat on it. Just like we invest strength in following the Natural Laws, planting a seed and watering it and watching it sprout and grow into food, there are a multitude of rich laws that can feed, heal, teach, and guide us if we’ll implement them. Faith that implements the Teaching and Instruction of YHWH is recognizable in the Tov it produces.

(Originally published March 3, 2010 here)

Perfection Disorders

I grew up trying to be perfect & do things perfectly.  I wonder how many other people  did. Eventually I gave up. It’s like getting into a spaceship and starting out for a planet located an infinite distance away. No matter how far you travel, you never get any closer. It’s not about becoming perfect. It’s about the journey.
2 original words / Ancient Hebrew pictographs for you:

Break or Keep:
Trample or Guard

1. Break– “to open the head” (as in a head of grain). It’s the picture of throwing the Teaching and Instruction down on the threshing floor and trampling it.
2. Keep– “to guard and protect” It’s the picture of the shepherd building a corral out in the wilderness where there aren’t any 2×4’s. He makes a short wall of rocks and then surrounds the top with thorn bushes, and then stays there, protecting his sheep from the wild animals.

The word “Break”  (in red) is taken from Psalm 119:126, as an example. It corresponds to Strong’s # 6565, and to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible’s # 1388-B. There it is translated, “To open the head” and “To throw something on the ground and break by trampling”. You can see the open mouth (the letter Peh) with the two guys’ heads (the letter Resh).
The word “Keep” (in blue) is taken from a few verses later as an opposite: verses 134 and 136. They correspond to Strong’s # 8104, and to the AHLB’s # 2853 (V). The AHLB translates it, “To guard” and “To watch over or guard in the sense of preserving or protecting.” You can see the two front teeth (symbolizing protection, biting, or tearing) protecting the water (sustenance for life) and the head.  Another meaning for the Mem (water symbol) is blood (life source), so it could be “the teeth protecting the blood and the head.” This picture used in correlation with “keeping the Teaching and Instruction” or mistranslated, “keeping the law” is a vivid one, demonstrating the life-guarding properties of Scripture.
“Keeping or Breaking the Law” isn’t the terror we were taught. It’s a real, do-able, rich lifestyle. Rather than “Obey perfectly”, we “walk in it”, so as not to “trample it.”
There’s space for things not being perfect. YHWH isn’t that naive 🙂 The Creator just wants us to love living, and gave us Instructions on how to make that happen.  “Peace be the journey.”

As always, I’m not the expert: for more info, see the American Center for Ancient Hebrew Research:

http://ancient-hebrew.org/

or their youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ancienthebreworg

Living Real: Single-Income Economics

A friend asked me to share what economic, practical thoughts I have on how we make it as a single-income family. First off, I have to acknowledge: we’re well-blessed, and I “get it” that not everyone has all the tools in their basket that we do. That said, other people do have tools in their baskets that we don’t. In a nutshell, we have to find thankfulness for what already exists, rather expending time, energy, money, and frustration on pining after what isn’t. In a world where instant gratification and marketing and sales and “shoulds” and “obligations” are often hailed as gods above real needs, real relationships, and multi-generational investments, finding thankfulness for what already exists is not always the easiest path. We don’t walk it perfectly, but we do walk it, learning along the way.

In no particular order, some things that make our world function on one income:

1. Home Hair Cuts: I do all of them, including my own, and I get compliments on them! If you’re not brave enough to try it right off, practice on a doll, and barter with someone who’s done it before ’till you’re feelin’ ‘yer oats 😉

2. Drying Line: Cuts down on the power bill. Wood heat in the winter helps w/ this, as it serves dual purpose: re-humidifies the air a bit, and you’re not paying for the heat twice.

3. Bicycles: We have an update post here on the “family car.” Between insurance and gas and overall health improvements, it’s been an awesome gift in our world. Not an easy one to initially imagine, considering I was pretty arthritic when we first gave up the car, but no regrets 🙂

4. Giving: Ancient Hebrew Pictograph of the word give here. What goes around comes around. Find someone in worse shape than you are (it’s usually not as difficult as it sounds), and do something about it that you *can do.

5. Become Debt-Free: Ancient Proverb says, “The borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” Find a way out of your slavery.

6. Family Relationships: It’s a team effort. We all have to understand that we’re working toward something bigger and more important than money. We have to find the place where we want to build each other and our home into a healthy, peaceful place more than we want the next trinket.

7. Grow Something To Eat: The closer we get to dirt, the more “grounded” we can be, not only emotionally and physically, but also financially. Our health is one of the most expensive things to lose, and one of the fastest ways to improve it is through organic gardening. Chickens are good, too. Check with local restrictions, though. Some cities will allow hens but not roosters, and there may be a restriction per square foot of land area.

8. Tiny House: More land; Less House; Less Stuff. Find the minimum quantity of “stuff” you need to be happy, and do the house size that just barely fits. Land gives food. House & stuff just drain the budget. Shelving, bunk beds, and Straw-stuffed (make sure it’s clean & dry) mattresses have been a great help for us in making a small house work.

9. Natural / Alternative Medicine: There’s a learning curve to it, and the first few years, we did use modern medicine for a bit. It didn’t work for us, so I studied on my own, and listened to the health-nutty guru’s that had conquered this, that, and the other thing. At this point, our world doesn’t revolve around gas money to get to the doctor’s office. The doctor can’t research as quickly or as effectively or as intimately as I can, here, from home, on my computer. Outside of dismemberment, I haven’t found any use for modern medicine: I can do better for my own family. They’re just people with fancy papers who have been through a system that’s run by money. I’m not. I’m just as smart as they are, but less brainwashed, and better-motivated. All of that said, check out the disclaimer below 😉

10. Growing Herbs: Seasonings and Medicines and a lot of herbs that double as both. A gold mine!

11. Convection Oven: In the absence of a very efficient wood stove (will post on Hubby’s invention / modification later) that runs on twigs, rather than logs, a convection oven uses a lot less energy (money) than the regular sort. Our counter-top version was a second-hand purchase, and has been great!

12. Craigslist: That second-hand thing. The world gets a lot less trashed with re-using what someone else figured out they didn’t need. Meanwhile, I pay less than half what everyone else did for theirs, originally.

13. Build Something: Hubby’s built a business that will, hopefully, sell for enough to pay for the materials for us to build a place where we won’t have to pay rent anymore! Meanwhile, he’s built a sauna for me (LOVING MY MAN!!!), and a shed to sell or maybe trade for the vehicle to move us to our new place to build 😀

14. DIY: Look up whatever it is you find you need, and build it, make it, cook it, brew it, medicate it, repair it. Whatever it is, chances are, it’s just not that complicated… unless it’s a computer… and you’re like me about computers. Still working on conquering that “giant” in my world. LOL!

15. Writing? I’m writing a book… hoping it sells a billion or two copies, and we can retire, fat-and-happy! LOL!

Love to all of you, who are working to do the single-income thing! It’s been well-worth-it for us: our babies know who we are, and we know them. We’re building our home together, one life lesson at a time.

Standard Disclaimer:

I’m  no doc, and don’t pretend to be one. I am therefore not legally licensed to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or otherwise mitigate any disease, and neither is the stuff I generally choose for healing… but then, I’ve not been educated / indoctrinated by boards with big pharma reps on them, either   so do your own research and find what works for you

Bicycle Built for Five… Six.

So this post was from a few years back… and now we have another kiddo ready to pedal… so Hubby played with the welding torch, some pieces-parts of old bikes, and a grinder. The result: we’ve got a tandem in the works to put on the back of the “Wagon”, with some reinforced hitches. MacGyver got nothin’ on Hubby! LOL! He refinished the “wagon box” yesterday, and it’s lookin’ classy 🙂

Here’s the first part of that story:

“Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true…”  OK, so he didn’t have this thing when he proposed, but  we didn’t have 5 people to put on it then, either LOL! Hubby traded some work for a bike, and traded that bike for this… in not-quite-so-good-a-shape as it’s in now, and started tinkering… he fixed this and that… added two hitches to the back of it to put the two big kids’ bikes on…

Then he added the two little ones’ car seats, tethered down (yes,the thing goes fast, and deserves car seats)…

…and a “Wagon Box” and Cover…

The babies and I went on a 25 mile ride about a week ago. Today was more laid-back. Here’s Mamma’s Wagon at rest:

My Two Useful Engines:

Pappa Relaxin’

Bikin’ Baby On the Prairie:

Baby Girl tryin’ out the driver’s seat:

It’s kind of our answer to the oil crisis, economic challeges, and our total health picture all wrapped up into one. We sold our family car over a year ago, and I’d been driving a granny-trike with a double baby trailer on behind, and the two big kids have been on their own bikes. I like this much better– THANK YOU, HUBBY!!! It’s great for keeping track of everybody, and this machine was designed to haul! On our longer jaunt, we had a few people lean out the window and take our picture.  We had a beautiful educational opportunity, too. As we were driving under an overpass, a lady leaned her entire upper body out the window of her car, and yelled, “THAT IS SO BI***IN’!!” We got to discuss the intention behind what a person says, and the differences in our vocabulary choices for expressing those positive intentions LOL!

The Chicken Doctor

Dr. Leavesheal here: in-home, private care physician to family, dog, and miscellaneous chickens!

We have gentle giants in the chicken world. Critters fly over the 6-ft fence, even if their feathers are trimmed!

Littlest Hen got into the compost bin (probably a few days ago), and got a-hold of somethin’ bad– non-chicken food. So my chicken-whispering twiddle-be-buttons brought her in yesterday, and want me to raise the limp pile of feathers from the dead. Tears in babies’ eyes, and I ‘gotta try… so we break out the Carbo Vegetabilis (homeopathic medicine. I call this one “bringum back from the deadum”– good stuff if you need it).  To clarify, the bird was still alive, but just barely. Feet & comb had turned yellowish (normally has gray feet & a red comb), couldn’t stand up, or lift its head, may or may not have been unconscious. Swollen legs & feet. NOT a happy bird… and twiddle-be-buttons know, without a doubt, that Mamma can “fix it” LOL! OY!

So I give the limp pile of feathers a 200C of Carbo Vegetabilis, and in about 15 minutes, it’s awake and lifting its head. Another 15 minutes, and it’s trying to stand up. Eventually, it’s kinda wobbly, but standing there. Not pecking at any food or anything, but it’s upright. So it doesn’t get better from there: just kinda stagnates at that wobbly standing up stage. So I give it another dose of the Carbo Vegetabilis 200C, and it perks right up– pecking at food, eating well, scratching and preening. Healthy-looking critter 🙂 Babies are all-smiles, and the world is right, “…and peace returns to the castle.”

So we watch said barn animal in my living room for another hour or so, and I’m thinkin’ it’s time for healthy-looking chicken to return to other healthy chickens, and I have the twiddle-be-buttons take critter back out to the chicken yard. Sounds logical, right? I mean, the thing does its poop-pee combined chicken thing, and that’s got to be cleaned up as often as it happens in here, whereas out there, it’s just good stuff given back to the land… sounds like a happy ending to me…

Well… fast-forward another few hours, and the babies are out there checking on it, and in they come, teary-eyed again, and Littlest Hen has a bloody gash in its neck, some kind of grey liquid dripping from its beak, and its feet & comb have turned yellow again, with legs & feet swollen. Definitely unconscious this time, and not looking good, but, again, still alive, and, again, twiddle-be-buttons have full confidence in Dr. Mom. This time, Dr. Mom’s not feelin’ so very confident, but again, with babies’ tears right there watching, ‘gotta try!

So this time we do a few doses of Carbo Vegetabilis 200C , 15-20 minutes apart, and when it’s strong enough to lift its head and do the wobbly-standing-up thing, we give it a dose of Arnica 1M for the trauma / injuries. (different from the topical stuff– never do the topical stuff on an animal: it’s toxic if they lick it off) In between doses of Carbo Vegetabilis, we put some olive oil on the wounds. Long story short: we have a functional chicken, scratching, pecking, preening, who is enjoying lots of attention from smiling babies, and healthy chicken-treats… walking around my living room! LOL!  Life is good 🙂

For more info on homeopathic medicine, check out this free, online intro to homeopathy course:

http://www.hpathy.org/homeopathybasic.asp

Arnica and Carbo Vegetabilis are two of thousands of different remedies for different health pictures, which work equally well for animals and humans 😀

If you’re interested in homeopathic treatment for poultry, specifically, there’s a free e-book:

http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=YUVPAAAAYAAJ&dq=free+homeopathy+poultry&lr=&as_brr=5

Oh and Standard Disclaimer:

I’m  no doc, and don’t pretend to be one. I am therefore not legally licensed to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or otherwise mitigate any disease, and neither is the stuff I generally choose for healing… but then, I’ve not been educated indoctrinated by boards with big pharma reps on them, either   so do your own research and find what works for you

Happy learning!

L’Chaim!!! Living Language

What if words weren’t just abstract combinations of symbols that make sounds? What if there were concrete pictures in each word we used, that, when we thought of that word, brought up that particular combination of pictures, with real, concrete meanings behind them? What if those pictures gave us not only concrete understandings of the concepts behind them, but also gave us mental, emotional, and physical healing paths to pursue? What if all of that were connected to finances, food, shelter, relationships, and every other major area of “discussion” in our lives?

Here’s to a Living Language– one that’s coming back from the dead “L’Chaim!” 🙂

You’ve all heard the song L’Chaim from Fiddler On The Roof, right? Means “To Life,” right? Well… yes, but that’s an abstract picture– what is “Life”? Can we draw a picture of it? The Ancient Hebrews did 🙂

Chet- Tent Wall: Separation, Inside / Outside

Yud- Arm: Administration, Authority

The “Stomach” or “Life” is our “Inner Administrator”, or “Gut Instinct”, separated from the
Whole Breath of Life (Gen. 2:7) in this “Life”… but that’s another post… should expound on that some more, sometime…
OK… so what does “Life” have to do with “Stomach”? It’s the same word in the Ancient Hebrew Pictographs… Why???

From the AHLB # 1171:

“When the stomach is empty, one is famished and weak, and when it is filled, one is revived. This organ is seen as the life, as an empty stomach is like death, but a revived stomach is life.”

When you’re a nomadic shepherd in the wilderness, your entire life revolves around finding food for your sheep, and for yourself. But we’re modern folk, and we’ve moved beyond those “base” needs… right? …maybe …maybe not.

How many people out there are making choices between healthy foods and medical bills? …or between healthy foods and medical insurance? …or between healthy foods and drugs to deal with the diseases that have arisen from our modern, “convenient” diet? Maybe money could solve that problem for some folks, but it takes more than money to fill a stomach with life. I could take a mint and go buy dinner out every night, but it wouldn’t solve my health problems, or reduce my need for medical insurance or drugs. There’s more to it than money. Money is a tool– a means to an end, but it doesn’t solve problems on its own. Knowledge of how to use that money… or other tools can bring Life on a gut-level– both physically and emotionally/ mentally.

So where do we go to find that Knowledge? Two places work for me: Torah (Teaching and Instruction, originally written in those Ancient Hebrew Pictographs), and other Breaths of Life– particularly those who have studied  Ancient cultures, who knew bits of Truth that have been shoved aside, and driven out of mainstream culture by the money gods 😉

So if I’m lookin’ there for my Teaching and Instruction about how to keep my “Life” / “Stomach” functioning properly, what do I find? First off, I find that before anything else happens, there’a a set of Teachings that apply to all of Noah’s children– everybody.  They’re pretty basic. It’s re-stated pretty concisely later on in one of the Prophets:

“He has shown thee, O man, what is good, and what YHWH requires of thee: but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” –Micah 6:8

Pretty basic, right? So what does that have to do with my guts??? Let’s go back to those original Teachings that were for everybody… (click on the link, check out #3, specifically, and come back to me 🙂 How many ways does our modern society impose cruel conditions, cruel feeding, housing, and modifications on the animals that we consume as food? Our “sanitized” world, where we don’t have to see the animals, either the way they live, or the way they die to become our dinners is pretty bad / dysfunctional, honestly. The results are in our guts. We have astronomically high incidences of intestinal disorders, and food allergies, oftentimes produced by compromised gut lining. The genetically modified corn that we use to feed livestock in their unnaturally cramped quarters isn’t the same fare they’d be getting if they were free to graze– it’s a synthesized freak-of-nature that produces infertility in man and beast.     When we’re cruel to animals, we reduce our own “Life.” Our Chai (maybe related to “Chi” for those who are familiar with Chinese medicine?) is negatively affected and diminished by our choices to trample these Natural Laws. According to Chinese medicine (one of those “breaths of life” that have found Ancient Truths that we’ve swept under the rug in our modern “sanitized” culture), all health begins in the gut. Therefore, if we have illness (mental, physical, or emotional) in our “Life”, we must look to what could be dysfunctional in our gut (bm’s too fast or too slow, anyone? LOL!), and heal the “Stomach.” If our “gut instincts” are off in relationships, and get us into trouble, we must look to where our “Gut” / “Stomach” needs healing.

Like it or not, we are still living in animal bodies– no matter how many layers of paint & nonsense we use to pretend otherwise (just keepin’ it real, here LOL!) We are no better than our ancestors, and we would do well to hear their wisdom.

No, I don’t expect you to get from here to “Idealsville” overnight… maybe not even ever. A wise friend once told me that it’s like getting into a spaceship, and heading for a planet an infinite distance away– you’ll never arrive, because it’s an infinite distance away. That’s not the point. The point is to be pointed in that direction. Each step we take in the right direction is a footprint that the generations behind us can trace to find the Way again, making the path more clear for others after them.

For more info on the pictographs, see http://ancient-hebrew.org/

or http://www.youtube.com/user/ancienthebreworg

Arthritis Adventures…

So I grew up eating pork & shellfish, stepped on a few rusty nails, dug up a septic system when I was a kid (forced labor LOL!), had a run-in with a chemical something-or-other in an on-campus apartment in college, and spent a few decades running around getting Rx’s from docs for various ailments, which didn’t work, and then hunted down natural healing & detoxes, which finally did. After that mess, I’d finally got my body back, and I hit another “chemical something-or-other,” with a husband and 4 babies in-tow! My best guess is that it was an ex-meth house made over like a dream-home rental. At any rate, that sent me into a tail-spin, and fast. We got outta there, quick as we figured out it was the house, and I’ve been healing since.

One of the things the doc tried to pin on me was Rheumatoid (autoimmune) arthritis. He told me I had fibromyalgia, and that my “something-or-other” was high. I asked him what it was, and he said, “Oh, it’s a big word. You don’t need to worry about that.” …um, yeah… that went over like a lead balloon! I’m no doc, and don’t pretend to be one, but don’t tell me that somethin’ in my body is “too big a word”, and that I “shouldn’t worry my pretty little head about it.”!!! I was livid! All done with that doc, LOL!  My body got a LOT better once we got out of that house, but it took time and a LOT of work to make the headway that enabled me to become a strong, active, and even athletic woman again.

With that nut-shell background, a bit on what has been helpful for me in fighting the symptoms of severe, crippling (had to be carried when I could no longer crawl) arthritis:

MSM: methylsulphonylmethane– organic sulphur. No USRDA on it. Too much can give loose bm’s (which is a place where the zeolite can come in handy), but when I’ve been hurting badly, 2,000 mg every 2 hours has helped immensely. 3-5,000 / day maintenance dosage seems to be about right for me now. Also a nice anti-cancer tool.

FYI (by Garden of Life) or Rejuvenzyme (cheaper, but same strength of stuff): It’s pineapple enzymes, but super-potent: stronger than regular bromelain. Works better than Ibuprofen, and without the side-effects.

Wild Yam Root: terrible tasting stuff, and it took a good bit when I was in real pain. I’d take 2 heaping Tbsp of it every 2 hours, alongside the MSM when I needed it. I ordered it in by the pound b/c it’s cheaper that way, but it’s like swallowing gravel, so I had to be sure to have plenty of liquid on-hand to get it down. Again, an anti-cancer tool.

Ginger Root (Rhizome for technical folk): STRONG-brewed tea– great anti-inflammatory stuff. I was doing 3 quarts / day of about a heaping TBSP of ginger root powder per quart of hot water. Be sure to cover it while it brews to keep in the healthy stuff– steam can leach out some of the best properties in teas of all sorts. Also great for warming up cold tummies, and great for digestion.

Aloe Vera: 2-6 ounces / day– recipe here, and another post I wrote on it, with the Ancient Hebrew pictograph here. I’ve seen this plant do some beautiful things, both inside and out! Another anti-cancer tool in my basket!

Cod Liver Oil: 4 Tbsp / day– more info on my experiences with it & what king here. Great for weight loss and detox, too!

Zeolite: Great for drawing toxins out of the body. Slows down bm’s a bit if you have difficulty with diarrhea. Special kinds of minerals are just amazing tools!

Arnica: (only if you have some form of trauma you’ve dealt with) I was at the 1M level, as-needed for quite a while, but have since healed, got a reaction (“proving,” meaning that I’d healed at that level, and needed to move down to a lower potency) at the 1M level, and moved down to the 200C level, eventually had a reaction at that level, and was able to move down to the 30C level, again, as-needed. Only need it very occasionally now 🙂  More info on different potencies and how I use them here.

Diet : No GMO’s, No sugar, no grains except for brown rice, no legumes, TONS of Brassicas (broccoli, kale, collards, maca, etc.), no “unclean” animal meats (pork, shellfish, etc.), and for a while there, no dairy or eggs. Later on, I’ve been able to incorporate eggs & dairy back in, slowly and carefully– no hormones or antibiotics, no blood spots in the eggs, and the milk has to be RAW, and CULTURED– raw-milk organic cheese, or keifer, for example.

Sauna / Sweat: Great for getting rid of pesticides and petrochemicals– my joints LOVE sauna sessions. More info here.

Exercise / gentle movement, increasing as able– this one started out as moving whatever small appendage I was able to move in the mornings when I would wake up in the toxic house. Eventually, I’d be able to move another finger or toe next to that one, and so forth, until I could crawl, and then walk (most days). During that time, it was a choice– I could lie there and just quit breathing, or I could move a bit, even when it hurt. I recommend moving… as gently, and as much as possible 🙂

Heat at night: When I was living in the toxic house, I found that my lymph fluid would kind of “freeze up” in my joints– I’d wake up in the mornings with lumps everywhere– fluid that “got stuck” All but two are gone now– one in my right hand, and one in my left leg. Still working on those, but they don’t impede movement anymore 😀 Anyhow, I warm a cotton bag filled with rice or other grain in the oven or microwave ’till it’s as warm as I can touch, wrap it in a towel to hold the heat all night, and put one on my guts (where lymph fluid is supposed to drain into so that it can be eliminated through the normal channels), and one on whatever joints were worst-off, and elevated those joints, so the lymph fluid would flow back down toward the gut for natural elimination. I invariably woke up with better functioning when I started doing this.
I’m currently working on a book– if you have time to investigate any or all of those links (yeah… I know LOL!), I’d love feedback on what is / isn’t clear, helpful, etc– The book will be entitled, My Body Knows Torah… And I’m Not Jewish! (btw, for my Christian friends: Torah is the first 5 books of the Christian Bible)
OH… and the disclaimer thing:

I’m  no doc, and don’t pretend to be one. I am therefore not legally licensed to diagnose, cure, treat, prevent, or otherwise mitigate any disease, and neither is the stuff I generally choose for healing… but then, I’ve not been educated indoctrinated by boards with big pharma reps on them, either   so do your own research and find what works for you

I’m also no rabbi, so please don’t take my experiences and path as your Rx for Kosher living