Herb Journal: Thyme

Well, thank God, thyme came around just in time. As I was recovering from a semi- heart-attack from the super ultra horrendously drying Calendula, I felt as if I had just made it halfway through the desert, and if I couldn't get a sip of water, well, I just was going to give. up. At least until my mouth started producing saliva again. Wow, calendula, I'd just like to say, no thank you. In the desert where I live, you are an unwelcome flower when it comes to drinking tea. Otherwise, you are okay. So thyme. This is a tremendously cooling herb to me, at this moment. It just helped me to re-start the motor of my body and put it back into balance. I really like thyme. It helps me to focus, is incredibly cooling and hydrating. It was a welcome remedy for what felt like a body dying of dehydration. And ironically enough, thyme is also seen as warming, even HOT, drying and astringent. That can really only make a greater statement about how insanely drying calendula is, that thyme actually feels moistening. As I chug a glass of aloe vera juice to bring some sort of hydration and moisture back into my body, I will try to think about thyme, on it's own, and not in relation to Calendula. it is pretty intense, peppery, and stimulating to the digestive system. My stomach juices feel like they are flowing, and that is part of what makes thyme a culinary herb, it is a carminative, in that it aids digestion. My feeling of an impending athsma attack is being stymied as well by this unique and pungent herb, as it is a bronchodilator, helping to open the lungs and aid respiration when there is any sort of respiratory congestion, or complaint. Oh.. ok I just read that despite it's classification of hot and warming, thyme is helpful to the condition of heat affecting the nervous system, which is what I was feeling, sort of. A dehydrated panic. Sometimes, despite the energetics of an herb, it can serve to balance out the extreme of another, being cooling when you are too hot, warming when you are too cold. I think I also associate the color green with hydrating, refreshing.. it might be somewhat psychosomatic as well.