VALERIAN

Valeriana officinalis: Valerianaceae

PLANET: Venus

ELEMENT: Water

TASTE: sweet, bitter, pungent	VIPAKA: pungent
WARMTH: warm with cooling potential	DOSHAS: V-P+K-

MERIDIANS: heart, pericardium, lung, spleen, liver

ACTIONS: nervine, antispasmodic, carminative, sedative, hypnotic, hypotensive, anodyne, stimulant.

INDICATIONS: insomnia, hysteria, delirium neuralgia, convulsions, epilepsy, vertigo, nervous cough, dysmenorrhea, palpitations, migraine, chronic skin diseases, flatulence, colic, cramps, one of the best remedies for vatagenic nervous disorders, clearing nerve channels of accumulated vata,

PRECAUTIONS: large doses can induce paralysis. Can produce paradoxic excitation, particularly in heated conditions. Should not be used for more than 2-3 weeks at a time due to addictive potential.

CONSTITUENTS: volatile oil (inc. VALERIANIC ACID, camphene, pinene, sesquiterpenes), volatile alkaloids, choline, ferments, tannic acid, glucose and fructose, resin

PREPARATION AND USE:
-tincture of fresh root 10-30 drops three or more times daily: 5-25 gtts is restoring to nervous system; 25-50 gtts: relaxing
-simplest preparation is a cold maceration of the fresh root.

USE IN MAGIC: Love, Sleep, Purification, Protection
-used in love and protection sachets
-can calm lovers' quarrels
-sometimes called "graveyard dust"
-use for cleansing any space and for self-purification

Note: The scent is apparently very attractive to cats and rats: it's postulated that the pied piper may have attracted the rats of Hamlyn by secreting Valerian root on his person.

USE IN PERSONAL GROWTH:
-helps to relieve self-judgement and the mental "spasms" one may indulge in during trying times.
-purification during times of self blame

"I fully acknowledge my goodness and worth, for I am a child of Divine Spirit."