Edgar Cayce's Everyday Health. Carol Ann Baraff

the organs of the body, in the digestive and eliminating system) from the nerve plexus along the cerebro-spinal system, so that their activity produces nearer a normal impulse than is exercised by taking large quantities of cathartics . . .

      265-6

      As with massage in general, vibrator treatments are regarded as especially helpful for the weak and the elderly, “to quiet the body at times . . .” (326-12). The following instructions are typical:

      The use of the electrically driven vibrator should make for the relaxing sufficiently for the body to fall to sleep. Use this over the cerebrospinal system, or around the back of the head, the neck, across the shoulders, even down to the lower portion of the body, as has been indicated.

      728-2

      Of course, the relaxation is greatest when someone else is conducting the massage, but that’s not always possible, so investing in the type of long-handled massager that can reach all the way down the spine seems like an inspired idea. Good vibrations are closer at hand than one might think!

       Keeping Warm with Cayenne

      Baby, it’s cold outside . . . all right, only some of our winter so far has fit that description. But north winds will blow, and it’s important that we know how to stay warm inside as well as out. There is a growing awareness that one of the healthier forms of internal heating involves a liberal use of cayenne or red pepper.

      Capsicum frutescens, which grows wild in parts of the tropics, is closely related to both the chili pepper and the sweet red bell pepper. It is the primary ingredient in Tabasco sauce and is used extensively in Mexican, Eastern Asian, Creole, and Cajun cuisine. In herbal medicine it is typically employed as a general tonic and a specific for the circulatory and digestive systems.

      The Cayce material basically agrees with this usage, with over two hundred readings referring to capsicum, capsici, or cayenne. While the twenty-three references to cayenne focus primarily on its addition to the diet, capsicum and capsici are more often employed as ingredients in treatment protocols—keeping in mind, of course, that for Cayce food is always medicine.

      As remedies to be taken internally, capsicum and various forms of capsici are regarded as “. . . a stimulant to digestion and the whole body.” (4454-1) Another reading giving more detail states:

      Capsici—acts as stimulation to the secretions, as the other forces are assimilated in the medicine chest (as it were) of the stomach, or through the duodenum and its activity upon the properties that are taken as food values into the system.

      276-5

      Cayenne is regarded as just as powerful externally. One individual was advised:

      . . . A counter-irritant from the exterior forces will allow the circulation, both in the lymph and in the circulatory forces . . . to carry off and throw off more of the conditions. These, we would find, may be . . . any of the preparations whose basic force is of the cayenne nature . . .

      488-2

      Cayce’s high opinion of cayenne receives enthusiastic support from renowned herbalist Dr. Richard Schulze. An advocate of cayenne in both internal and external formulas, Schulze believes categorically that:

      Cayenne is the greatest herbal aid to circulation and can be used on a regular basis. There is no other herb that stimulates the blood flow so rapidly, powerfully and completely. After all, no other herbs give you a red face—that’s blood!²⁰

      After explaining his belief (one very similar to Cayce’s view) that all disease is caused by some form of blockage, Schulze concludes that: “Cayenne, without a doubt, is the best all-around, most powerful herbal unblocker for maintaining your body’s health.”²¹

      And how about pepper in the diet? Notably cayenne is strongly preferred by Cayce to other forms of pepper. Typical instructions are to use it liberally to season items such as potatoes, stew, leafy vegetables, chicken, and fish as the following excerpts show:

      . . . Potatoes, Irish potatoes, prepared with the jackets on. Best that these be boiled and then prepared with as much of the Cayenne pepper (no black pepper) as the body can take, with butter . . . and eaten in that manner . . . Fish may be used, but without the greases. Either that broiled in butter, or boiled or baked, and the seasoning of same should always have as much of the Cayenne peppers as the body can well take. No other spices.

      4281-3

      . . . A little potato may be used in same {stew}, and season quite highly with Cayenne or pod red pepper. Have this at least once a week.

      340-44

      . . . Extracts of beef, prepared properly, with as much pepper (Cayenne) as can be taken for the system.

      2553-7

      Leave off all salt, or any stimulants such as seasonings of any kind, except Cayenne Pepper. Use this in the preparation of leafy vegetables, and in fowl or chicken.

      5034-1

      Ah . . . feeling those heat units yet? Perhaps it’s time to hit the red hot pepper for warmer hands, feet, and heart this Valentine season.

       Reconciling With Ragweed

      Those who sniffle, sneeze, and swear their way through the annual hay fever season will probably be surprised to learn of this much-maligned herb’s important health benefits. A member of the genus Ambrosia (Latin for “food of the gods”), ragweed is a North American plant whose flowers produce copious amounts of pollen. These tiny granules are capable of bringing even strong men to their knees from around the middle of August until the first frost in October or November. As a trigger of hay fever symptoms, including sneezing, dripping nose, and itchy, watery eyes, ragweed pollen ranks number one, hands down, throughout most of the United States.

      The Cayce readings are notable in finding hope for the pollen sensitive in the ragweed plant itself, said to offer its own special homeopathic form of relief. Even more exciting is the suggestion that symptom reduction may be just the tip of the therapeutic iceberg. Most of the hundred-plus readings recommending “ambrosia weed” focused on its value as an internal cleanser and tonic for the liver and related organs. Since the liver is a major detoxifying organ, the theory is that a little TLC would make it that much more effective at knocking out those nasty allergens.

      Those who consulted Cayce about their hay fever were advised to start making a tea with the young, tender leaves well before the plant began to flower. One reading put it this way:

      Thus, we would find in this particular season, before there is the blossoming of same, the body should take quantities of this weed. Brew same, prepare, take internally and thus war or ward against the activity of this upon the body itself . . .

      These will prevent, then, the recurrent conditions which have been and are a part of the experience of the body. This will enable the body to become immune because of the very action of this weed upon the digestive system, and the manner it will act with the assimilating body, too . . .

      Begin and take it through the fifteen days of July and the whole of August, daily, half a teaspoonful each day.

      Thus, we will find better eliminations, we will find better assimilation, we will find better distribution of the activities of foods in the body.

      5347-1

      As an internal cleanser, ragweed is consistently valued for its capacity to stimulate the entire gastrointestinal system without creating a dependency. More details are found in the following reading:

      Will there be taken . . . in the system, at regular intervals, those properties that are not habit forming, neither are they effective towards creating the condition where cathartics are necessary for the activities through the alimentary canal—whether related to the colon or the jejunum,