Bears, Burdock & Dreams
As a part of my son's homeschool curriculum, we do monthly herbal deep dives. This month (January) I chose to introduce him to Burdock. Naturally, this has only inspired me to deepen my relationship with the plant. I have been sitting with Burdock daily, integrating the wisdom that this plant medicine has to offer.
Arctium lappa is Burdock's Latin name, Arctium translates to “of the bear”. Burdock’s energy reminds me very much of a bear, it has a warming, soothing and oily quality with a little bit of a spicy and bitter bite.
Bears depend greatly on their ability to properly store, utilize and assimilate fats and proteins in order to keep their nutrient stores up so that they can hibernate in the winter time. When they arise in the spring time, they begin munching on berries and oily roots to fatten up, stimulate movement in the body and activate the digestive system.
So as we can imagine bear medicines increase our ability to absorb and utilize fats and oils, to bring warmth to the digestive tract, get things primed and moving, and to strengthen our root, the core essence of who we are, establishing a deeper trust in our instincts and needs and learning how to listen and follow them.
Bears enter into the cave every winter and hibernate. This reflects our ability to go deep into the dream realm, bear medicine helps us to enter our own dreamtime cave. Our dreamtime is linked with our digestion. Serotonin which is a precursor to melatonin (melatonin, is a hormone that is responsible for the amount of time we spend in REM sleep, where our dreams happen) is absorbed in the gut, my theory is that because of Burdock’s ability to improve digestion and assimilation we are better able to synthesis melatonin which in turn increases our dreamtime and our ability get into deeper states of sleep.
Burdock is a medicine that connects us with the archetype of Pluto, Pluto is the God of the Underworld, A keeper of the hidden and it relates with our primal instincts and essence. Pluto rules the breakdown and the revival, the act of transformation and alchemy itself. Pluto governs over the gastrointestinal and reproductive systems in the body.
Burdock being an herb of Pluto, helps to restore our primal life force essence, like a bear returning from deep slumber to gain strength and vitality. In the context of winter, when we sit with burdock in this season, we ideally are able to take the material from the season's past, re-organize, alchemize and transform it so that we are able to rise again, not burdened by the dense weight of the past but rather liberated and elevated by it.
Burdock root contains a constituent called mucilage, this substance is like it sounds, mucusy. Its action in the body is to lubricate and interface with our mucosal tissue (a large majority of the major organ systems are lined with mucus membranes, this mucosal lining offers protection as well as absorption) Burdock has an affinity for the mucosal lining of the lower gastrointestinal and the urinary tract, offering a soothing coat, protection and assistance in getting things moving. Due to the affinity with the kidneys, metabolic waste (cellular trash, buildup and/or excess) from the blood and the liver is then excreted via the urine, and the skin. After long term use we can generally see a reflection in the skin (sometimes it leads to breakouts, which could be the release of excess toxins) this leaves us with a glowy and even complexion, mirroring the hydration and the cleansing action in the body.
Cholesterol is a building block of our sex and stress hormones, we find a lot of cholesterol in fat (particularly the saturated kind) because Burdock helps us to digest and utilize fats more efficiently, it in turn supports the endocrine system function and our ability to cope with stress. Winter can actually put a lot of stress on the body, due to the extreme weather conditions making Burdock a great winter time remedy.
Overall Burdock is indicated for the feeling of burnout, poor or sluggish glandular function in the lymph, pancreas, prostate, adrenals and liver, poor sleep, blood sugar liability and water retention.
Burdock is an Earth medicine, if we look at the medicine wheel, sometimes (depending on what lineage you refer to) the element of Earth falls in the west. West is associated with the bear, the jaguar, dreamtime, liminal spaces, death, the unknown, our shadow and our primal drives. Burdock supports harmonizing this element, whether we have too much Earth or not enough. When we are unsure or uncertain, or perhaps too comfortable, Burdock helps us to find middle ground, and walk away with confidence in who we are, and above all find some confidence in our ability to cope with and walk into the unknown.
Here’s a recipe on my Instagram for a Winter Glow Tea, featuring Burdock if you’d like to start working with it’s medicine.
