SAFFRON

Crocus savitus: Iridaceae

PLANET: Sun

ELEMENT: Fire

TASTE: pungent, bitter, sweet	VIPAKA: sweet
WARMTH: cooling	DOSHAS: V= P= K=

MERIDIANS: spleen, heart, liver, kidney

ACTIONS: digestive tonic, carminative, aids assimilation of nutrients into deeper tissues, alterative ("one of the finest blood vitalisers known"), emmenagogue and abortifacient, antispasmodic, antiinflammatory, stimulant, aphrodisiac and rejuvenative, clears Pita, regulates spleen, liver, and heart, sattvic (balances all energies).

INDICATIONS: weakness, convalescence, delayed menses, menopausal symptoms, impotence, infertility, anaemia, depression, enlarged spleen and liver, neuralgic and rheumatic pains, chronic cough, asthma, and chronic diarrhea

PRECAUTIONS: can cause miscarriage; in large doses, it can be narcotic, toxic, and lethal, causing hemmorhages

CONSTITUENTS: a yellow pigment called CROCINE, a glycoside called PICROCINE which forms SAFRANOL (provides characteristic smell), vitamins B1 and B2, essential oil, fixed oil

PREPARATION AND USE: boil in milk and honey: only 100-500 mg is standard dose
-best simply used in cooking

NUTRITIONAL USE: as a spice and colouring agent in food

USE IN MAGIC: Love, Healing, Happiness, Raising Wind, Lust, Strength, Psychic Powers
-Phoenicians baked saffron into moon-shaped cakes which they ate in honour of Ashtoreth, Goddess of the Moon and Fertility
-love and lust sachets
-used to wash hands prior to healing rituals
-Persian women wore it to insure speedy delivery
-dispels melancholy
-infusion helps one see future
-sheets were rinsed in saffron in ancient Ireland to strengthen the arms and legs during sleep

USE IN PERSONAL GROWTH:
-stimulates digestion and assimilation of the lessons of experience
-imparts an energy of love, compassion, and devotion that helps one see one's role in the dance of life more clearly
-sattvic

"In the peace and stillness of a moment of beauty, I can learn as much as in a day of striving."