Steven Horne's Newsletter Articles

April 6, 2021

Eyebright: The Herbal Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor

Spring is here! Flowers and leaf buds adorn the trees and soon spring flowers will be popping up everywhere. Unfortunately, for too many people, this is a miserable season because of hay fever, or seasonal allergic rhinitis. For these unfortunate souls, spring means a stuffed up, itchy nose, red and watery eyes, and other unpleasant symptoms. That’s why I’m discussing eyebright, which is one of the three main herbs I use to counteract respiratory allergies. Eyebright is one of those plants that…

March 30, 2021

Vervain: The Perfect Nervine for Hard-Driven Workaholics

One thing that makes someone a better herbalist is the ability to match herbs to personalities instead of disease patterns. If someone is stressed, tense, or anxious, just about any nervine herb will probably help. And a formula containing several nervine herbs will almost definitely help. But, if the herbalist is familiar with many herbs, he or she will be able to select an herb based on what they observe about a client’s personality for even better results. Vervain is a great example of this.…

March 23, 2021

Passion Flower

If you only know herbs from labels on a bottle, you’re missing a lot. Passionflower is a perfect example. The flowers on this plant are amazing to look at. Spanish explorers saw a symbolic relationship between the patterns in these flowers and the suffering (or passion) of Christ, hence the name. They saw the three styles as the three nails, the five stamens as Christ's wounds, and the long, thin fibers of the corona as the crown of thorns. The passion they saw in passion flower represents suffering,…

March 16, 2021

Beyond Beer: The Sedating Power of Hops

Hops are widely cultivated, not for its use as an herbal medicine, but as an ingredient in beer. How it came to be used for that purpose is an interesting story related by Stephen Harrod Buhner in his book Sacred Herbal Healing Beers. In the past, people didn’t make tinctures by soaking herbs in alcohol, they made medicinal wines and beers adding the medicinal herbs in with the barley, grapes, or other substances being fermented. Many of these original spirits were mind-altering and stimulating…

March 9, 2021

Valerian: A Smelly Herb That Really Works

When I’m teaching people about edible wild plants I talk about the difference between plants that are edible and plants that are palatable. Not everything that’s edible tastes good. Some wild foods you’d eat because you like them, and others you’d eat only if you really had to. It’s a similar thing with herbs. Some herbs are quite tasty and pleasant to take in a liquid form. Others make you glad you can take herbs in capsules. Valerian is in this latter category. It’s not only bitter-tasting,…

March 2, 2021

Get Ahead of Stress and Exhaustion with Skullcap

When I started documenting commercial herb formulas in the early 1990s, one of the most popular combinations was the sleep formula containing hops, valerian, and skullcap. About ten different companies made it (sometimes with other ingredients, but always with these three). The formula that I used was called HVS, the first letters of the three herbs. Later the skullcap was replaced with passionflower because harvests of skullcap are easily contaminated with germander, an hepatotoxic plant that often…

February 23, 2021

Lily of the Valley

While almost all commercially available herbs are extremely safe and you can freely experiment with them, there are some that can be toxic when misused. I'd like to talk about one such remedy that I've safely used for serious cardiac problems for years—lily of the valley. A Remedy for SliversLily of the valley is potentially toxic when ingested. But, it is safe to use topically, which is the first way I made use of it. In the early 1980s, I was making my living helping my father and uncles who…

February 15, 2021

Olive: An Ancient Remedy for Modern Times

Native to the Mediterranean region, the olive tree has long been a symbol of spirituality and healing. The olive branch brought back by the dove released from Noah’s ark caused the olive branch to become a symbol of peace. This symbol is found in the seal of America, which depicts an eagle with olive branches in one talon and arrows in the other, symbolizing both the desire for peace and being prepared for war. Olive oil was used to anoint kings and priests and was probably the oil used for anointing…

Eyebright: The Herbal Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor

Vervain: The Perfect Nervine for Hard-Driven Workaholics

Passion Flower

Beyond Beer: The Sedating Power of Hops

Valerian: A Smelly Herb That Really Works

Get Ahead of Stress and Exhaustion with Skullcap

Lily of the Valley

Olive: An Ancient Remedy for Modern Times

Articles

Webinars & Classes

Useful Links

Contact Us