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Anise Star Pods|
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Description
Looks like a wooden 6-armed star with
each arm holding a lovely, glistening seed. The way the
little seed sits comfortably on the star pod looks similar
to a beautiful pearl sitting within an oyster.
Smells like strong and spicy licorice that
you found along a footpath in the woods.
Tastes like it smells, but the spicy part
kind of sneaks up on you at the end. Eating a whole anise
star pod is rather like chewing on a stick in that it feels
like wood and continued chewing mashes it into a pulp. The
real 'star' of the taste-bud sensation show is the little
seed - licorice-like, hot and spicy! (Easier to chew, too.)
Feels rather magical in your hand. How did
mother nature know you would one day want to hold a star?
Virtues
Star anise corresponds with the virtues of:
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Forgiveness |
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Individuality |
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Responsibility |
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Strength |
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Trust |
Spiritual Information
Star Anise is a powerful spiritual herb that helps you to experience your connection to divine energy and to trust that you are loved. Star Anise enhances your ability to trust responsibly - not withholding earned trust and not giving away trust to the unworthy.
Star Anise helps you to sense spirit's gift of eternal grace. Trusting that what you are experiencing will serve a greater purpose helps you to remember that you are never alone. In fact, we're all in a state of grace so long as what we do reflects our spirit wisdom. You just can't go wrong following spirit guidance.
Star anise also helps you build inner strength so you can more easily define who you are and want to become. You surely want to reach some milestone in your life that tells you that you've 'made it'. But before you can make it to that success point, you have to know who you are right now.
Only by having the strength to examine your current 'you' can you hope to determine the changes you need to make in your life in order to become the 'you' that you want to become.
Magical and Historical Information
The Chinese often chew anise after a meal, both to help digest their food and sweeten their breath.
Star anise is used to calm and lull you into sleep, adding sweet dreams and psychic visions to your slumber. Star anise is also reported to turn back your beauty clock and to bring you success.
Health Information
Star anise effectively relieves nausea, bronchitis and cough, and increases appetite after sickness. Remember that when you use herbs as natural medicine, more is not better.
Natural medicine theory is similar to drinking the 'hair of the dog that bit you' first thing in the morning to relieve a hangover, or receiving allergy shot serum filled with minute doses of the allergens that would normally cause you trouble.
A little bit of an herb introduced to your body helps your system to recognize and use its healing properties, but not fight it. When your body fights an herb, you get sick. That is why so many of the herbs you see used medicinally can also cause the symptoms they're taken to relieve.
I suspect that the people adversely affected by herbs fall into the 'more is better' mind-set, and unknowingly poison their system by taking too much of an herb into their systems.
Warning: Recently I discovered an article stating that some varieties of star anise can cause temporary nausea or seizures when ingested. The article also stated that star anise of the Chinese variety (illicium verumand) is considered entirely safe for human consumption, but you will often find illicium verum, the Vietnamese variety, for sale.
I have chewed an entire Vietnamese variety star and made several cups of tea with that variety of star anise. I've had no complaints or health troubles resulting from illicium verum. However, your reaction may be different, and you must choose to eat or not to eat any herb for yourself.
Nutrition Facts:
Anise seeds are the shiny seeds located on each arm of the star. I cannot find nutrition information for the whole star - probably because I'm the only person in the world who tried to eat a whole one, so this data applies specifically to star anise seeds.
Anise seeds are a very good source of iron and manganese. Anise seeds are a good source of calcium, copper, dietary fiber, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin C, and zinc.
Star Anise Summary
Star anise has a history of helping people to feel better. It is a powerful herb that soothes digestive and bronchial complaints while promoting your sense of well-being. It is a wonderful addition to both your spice cabinet and your family's medicine cabinet of natural preventative and healing herbs.
Incorporate star anise in your family's diet by trying one or more star anise recipes. Bluelady recommends starting with Mother's Milk to get star anise's full impact and flavor.
Over the years, star anise has been eaten, pulverized and placed in capsules, burned as incense, brewed for tea and distilled for its oil. Natural medicine hails its soothing abilities for digestion and cough, and folklore/magic describe star anise's calming and intuitive properties. Once again, medicine and kitchen witches agree.
Star anise's ability to relax your mind and body supports its uses as a youth regenerator and success charm. After all, don't we all feel and look fresher after a great nights sleep? And doesn't connecting to spirit practically guarantee success? It makes sense to believe that the same chemicals that help your body also have an effect on your mind.
It also stands to reason that star anise's chemical composition affects you no matter how you prepare it. Oils, smoke, or ingesting star anise will each have the desired effect, perhaps to varying degrees, depending on your intent when you use the herb.
So go ahead and focus on what you want, then think, pray, smoke, eat or smell your way to wellness with star anise.
Examining tradition is a valid way to learn how an herb will work for you. Scientific proof may be lacking, but the human experience is a truthful representation of things science may not yet show.
©2005 Bluelady Muse; All Rights Reserved