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Garlic

William Woodville: „Medical botany“, London, James Phillips, 1793, Vol. 3 Plate 168: Allium sativum (Garlic) Hand-coloured engraving

Garlic flower essence for anxiety and fear

Garlic Allium sativum is native to central and south Asia. There are two subspecies and hundreds of varieties of garlic.

The phytochemicals responsible for the sharp flavor of garlic are produced when the plant’s cells are damaged. When a cell is broken by chopping, chewing, or crushing, enzymes stored in cells trigger the breakdown of sulfur-containing compounds. The result is a sharp or hot taste and smell

Culpepper says it purges the head of lethargy.

Garlic is a powerful and ancient herb, known for fighting infection and building vitality on the physical level and for its purging and protective qualities against malevolent energies and entities. During the Middle Ages, garlic was hung on doors at night to repel evil spirits.

FES says, the garlic flower essence works in a similar way to strengthen us against inner demons of anxiety and fear.

David Dalton of Delta Gardens says garlic flower essence energy is antagonistic to fleas, ticks and parasites; repels parasitic energies of insects as well as humans who are energy robbers.

There are more than 3,200 studies on the therapeutic power of garlic. Many are about preventing, slowing and reversing cardiovascular disease. There are more than 600 scientific studies on the power of garlic to prevent and treat cancer. (Aggarwal, Healing Spices, p. 127, 129)

Tacuina sanitatis (XIV century)

Recipe

Fire Cider, an herbal folk remedy was popularized by Rosemary Gladstar

Rosemary’s Fire Cider Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Horseradish freshly grated
  • 1/2 cup or more Onions chopped
  • 1/4 cup or more Garlic chopped
  • 1/4 cup or more Ginger freshly grated
  • Cayenne pepper fresh (chop it up) or dried (flaked or ground), to taste
  • Apple cider vinegar preferably raw and organic
  • Honey

Instructions

  1. Place the herbs in a half-gallon mason jar and add enough vinegar to cover them by 3 to 4 inches. Seal the jar with a tight-fitting lid. Place the jar in a warm spot and let sit for 3 to 4 weeks. Shake the jar every day to help in the maceration process.
  2. After 3 to 4 weeks, strain out the herbs, reserving the liquid. Warm the honey (so that it will mix in well) and add it to the vinegar, to taste. “To taste” means that your Fire Cider should be hot, spicy and sweet.
  3. Bottle, label and enjoy! Your Fire Cider will keep for several months unrefrigerated if stored in a cool pantry. But it’s better to store in the refrigerator if you have room.

Notes

A small shot glass daily serves as an excellent tonic. Or take Fire Cider by teaspoons throughout the day if you feel a cold coming on.

There are as many Fire Cider recipes as there are herbalists! Feel free to adapt this basic recipe to fit your own needs and tastes. (2025 The Science & Art of Herbalism)

Shop

FES Garlic flower essence is available at Grian Herbs Apothecary, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier, VT

Resources

Aggarwal, Bharat B. Healing Spices, Sterling, NY, 2011.

Culpepper, Nicholas. Culpepper Complete Herbal, Garlick, accessed 4/13/25 https://www.complete-herbal.com/culpepper/garlick.htm

Gladstar, Rosemary. The Science and Art of Herbalism, What is Fire Cider, accessed 4/13/25, https://scienceandartofherbalism.com/what-is-fire-cider/

Wikipedia. Garlic, accessed 4/13/25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic

Menstrual Apps & Privacy

https://www.learnbodyliteracy.com/menstrual-apps

Common Privacy Issues with Menstrual Apps

  1. Invasive advertising and spam sent by third-party companies due to data collected by menstrual-cycle trackers.
  2. Data not deleted even after an account is terminated.
  3. Some menstrual-cycle trackers share data with third parties without the users’ consent while others ask for consent but don’t specify which data will be shared. 
  4. Sharing personal information with sponsors and partners
  5. Glitches vulnerable to hijacking
  6. Data shared with law enforcement resulting in possible criminalization

Menstrual Apps That May Invade your Privacy Include

Period Tracking Apps



Apps which main purpose is to track the calendar days that you bleed & thus the total length of each menstrual cycle. You are able to add other kinds of health data in your charts like energy & mood. These apps use an algorithm to average your past cycles to estimate your future cycles. Some of these apps will include the fertility markers of cervical fluid & basal body temperature.

Examples include Glow, Flo, Clue, Ovia, Bellabeat, Life, Period Tracker

Fertility Monitors, Contraceptive Apps, and Smart Thermometers

Apps which connect to a device which takes a measurement of some form of biodata and then makes predictions based on these inputs. The two most common devices are accompanying basal body thermometers, or hormonal monitors which can measure estrogen & luteinizing hormone in urine samples. The predictions with these devices are also algorithmic, and thus can also be wrong.

Examples include Natural Cycles, Tempdrop, Daysy Fertility Monitor, Clearblue Fertility Monitor

Fertility Awareness Charting Apps


These are apps which mirror the analog fertility awareness chart. Typically a line graph is used to mark basal body temperature, and a section for cervical fluid and cervical position observations can be seen on the same chart. These apps, in contrast, do not make predictions about the fertile window. The user must follow the rules of their given method of fertility awareness to learn when they are fertile and when ovulation occurs.

Examples include: Kindara, Read Your Body, Femometer

Pregnancy Trackers



Apps to be used to track your pregnancy. Some of these are the same apps as period tracking apps, with additional features for pregnancy.

Examples include Pregnancy+, The Bump, Ovia Pregnancy Tracker, Flo Pregnancy Mode

Encrypted Apps

No digital tracking is completely secure.

But the best chance at privacy relies on having control over your own data and through encryption.

Encryption is a way to scramble data so that only authorized parties can unscramble it. Sometimes this is done by the app itself or by the phone you are using it on.

These apps do not collect your data or use encryption or both: