Essiac Essentials

Positive Attitude to your Healing
     
    Whatever course of action you decide is best for you, be positive about it. Hating or resenting the illness wastes energy and you need all the energy you have to fight back. Don’t feel guilty if you have concluded that a course of chemotherapy offers your best possible chance. Accept it and welcome it as a positive force for your healing. Back it up with Essiac to help palliate the side effects.
    The same goes for radiation. Develop a positive and meaningful relationship with the machine. Give it a nice name, say hello when you get on the table and thank it when you leave. Drink your nightly dose of Essiac and apply it topically to alleviate damage to the skin and any scar tissue at the point of entry of the ray. Be prepared for the hangover effect from the radiotherapy which can manifest four to eight weeks after the treatment, leaving you feeling completely washed-out, with no energy. This so-called ‘somnolent syndrome’ will be self-limiting and will gradually settle down and go away. Those taking Essiac have frequently reported well-maintained energy and immune system levels, both during and after courses of radiotherapy treatment.
    When you feel ready for it, ask the doctor the name and grade of the cancer and get up the courage to take a look at your scans. They will not be the most familiar or the most flattering pictures you have ever seen of yourself but, once you have adjusted to the images, ask the doctor to show you the problem areas. When you are back at home and just about to drink your Essiac, remember what you have seen on the scans and — visualise the tea as a golden light surrounding all the tumour areas, soaking into every one of the cells .
    Don’t be put off if you think you are hopeless at visualisation. Simply by bringing the thought to mind will be enough to make the conscious connection with the power of your own healing.
    Without you and your illness, the doctors and the therapists, the drug companies and the herbalists would be out of a job. You are giving an uncountable number of other people a reason to get up in the morning and you are directly or indirectly putting their pay cheques in their pockets. They need you. It’s up to you how much you need them. The informed patient has the best possible chance of survival and quality of life. We all have to die but let it be on our own terms and in our own good time. Unquestionably that is the right of all living beings.
     

Chapter Seven

Finding and Harvesting the Herbs — What You Need to Know
     

     
    It is important to realise how little you need of the four component Essiac herbs — only 8ozs/225g in all — in order to provide yourself with sufficient to make the formula for a minimum of one year. This includes enough to allow for some degree of natural wastage — i.e. inadvertently spoiling a batch by overboiling.
    A good herbal supplier should be able to provide you with the correct herbs. However, not every herbalist or distributor can accurately identify the Sheep sorrel. If in doubt, talk to a qualified botanist.
     
    Checklist:
    • Buy the very best herbs on offer and organically grown if possible
    • Remember that you are entitled to ask direct questions and to expect direct answers.
    • National herbal organisations can usually supply lists of registered suppliers (See the “Resources and Suppliers” section at the back of the book). Call several companies and ask for price lists. Ask where they bought the herbs and how long they have been in storage.
    • If the herbs have been imported, ask the country of origin and the likelihood of the herbs having been irradiated in transit.
    • Don’t buy the herbs in plastic bags unless you have no other choice. If you suspect that the herbs have been stored in plastic bags or plastic containers for any length of time, do not accept them.
    • All food products have a shelf life and a sell-by date. Herbs are no exception. Don’t be persuaded that herbs that have been around for three years are still as potent as they were six months after harvesting. They are not.
    • There is a difference between wild crafted and wild harvested herbs. Wild crafted herbs are those that have been harvested from selected places and at the correct time of year. Wild harvested herbs could have come from wasteland around a landfill site at the end of a long, toxic season. Ensure that if you buy wild harvested herbs you get them only from a reputable