Joined: Dec 10, 2006 Posts: 2346 Location: N.Wales
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:26 am Post subject: Digitalis
In Hereford,a few weeks ago, I managed to pick up an amusing read called ' Witchcraft in the world today' by C.H.Wallace plus 'Witchcraft and Black Magic' by Peter Haining, both original presses. The former book, despite the sensationalist way that it portrays the information, actually contains a great deal of information from different countries plus I found that a lot of the content related to Traditional, and not just modern ideas of Witchcraft (i.e.Wicca). One sentence which caught my eye was "An English Witch, for example, is credited with the discovery of the stimulant properties of the foxglove plant'..has anyone heard of this? _________________ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes - Marcel Proust
Joined: Jun 14, 2007 Posts: 1413 Location: New York, USA
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:11 am Post subject:
Mrs. Hutton of Shropshire was the woman and she was allegedly a "botanist," "wise woman" or "witch" (depending upon who tells the story) who used foxglove in one of her concoctions for dropsy. Dr. William Withering was the physician who isolated the digitalis and put it on a scientific footing.
The validity of the story about Mrs. Hutton has never been authenticated, as I recall.
~53rdspirit _________________ Are there such beings as witches now? We hear of none. --Then the last grand question, to which a secret of some importance is attached--What has become of them? Demonologia, JSF, 1827
Joined: Feb 02, 2008 Posts: 425 Location: Afrique du Sud
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:52 am Post subject:
Sorry to go off-topic for a moment but can you tell me why the name "foxglove"?
Star _________________ Recognition becomes Release when we realize that the void and the abyss into which we have been peering, and which we have been fearing, is actually the Home we have been seeking.
Sorry to go off-topic for a moment but can you tell me why the name "foxglove"?
Star
yes, its a compression, it means little folks glove, the foxglove is traditionally, in England considered to be a fairy plant. As such uprooting one is considered be an unwise thing to do.
Joined: Feb 02, 2008 Posts: 425 Location: Afrique du Sud
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:15 am Post subject:
Aaaaah....that makes perfect sense now!!! Thank you Shadowmeld!
_________________ Recognition becomes Release when we realize that the void and the abyss into which we have been peering, and which we have been fearing, is actually the Home we have been seeking.
Joined: Dec 04, 2008 Posts: 124 Location: Essex, UK
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:34 am Post subject: Re: Digitalis
woodwose wrote:
In Hereford,a few weeks ago, I managed to pick up an amusing read called ' Witchcraft in the world today' by C.H.Wallace plus 'Witchcraft and Black Magic' by Peter Haining, both original presses.
How do you do that?!?!? I have been looking through second hand book shops and NOTHING... NADA! Ok, admittedly it has only been recently... but I have decided that I live in a very Christian area and perhaps all books have been burned...
Joined: Jul 23, 2006 Posts: 804 Location: Old Man's Mountain
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:46 pm Post subject:
It might be because you're looking in the wrong sections Lusete. Stay away from the occult and new age section (the good stuff usually is burned and what's there is usually Syvlia Brown). Instead, check out the mythology, folklore, botany, and gardening sections. I have found the most amazing second hand books in the weirdest bookstores by looking in these sections -- if the store has sections!
I'm going to have to look up those titles Woodwose - what are the publishing dates for them? _________________ "Everything worthwhile is dangerous" --V. Anderson
Some of the best witchcraft books are at the core, anti-witchcraft, written by Priests or Monks, or even scientists and historians. And they log the practices of the witches. Some of the books, the entire point is to compare Catholics to pagans in order to discredit the Catholic church. The Golden Bough is an excellent book on magic and pagan mythology, and there was scandal because he compared the mythology of various pagan stories to the stories of Jesus in the Bible. Really the best witchcraft books are not written with witches as the audience and the books are usually rather old.
I found my copy of the Golden Bough in a random pet store next to a modern psychological study of superstitions.
I never donate my old witchcraft or even old wicca books to thrift stores because I figure they won't carry them, instead I go to a local youth wicca group and give them to the teen's library. If it is a book that I think is not good for teens, (like SRW), then I swap it online with someone for incense or something.
Joined: Dec 10, 2006 Posts: 2346 Location: N.Wales
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:48 am Post subject:
53rdspirit wrote:
Mrs. Hutton of Shropshire was the woman and she was allegedly a "botanist," "wise woman" or "witch" (depending upon who tells the story) who used foxglove in one of her concoctions for dropsy. Dr. William Withering was the physician who isolated the digitalis and put it on a scientific footing.
The validity of the story about Mrs. Hutton has never been authenticated, as I recall.
~53rdspirit
Now this is why I was confused...I had always thought that it was 'Withering'.. _________________ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes - Marcel Proust
Joined: Dec 10, 2006 Posts: 2346 Location: N.Wales
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:53 am Post subject: Re: Digitalis
Lusete wrote:
woodwose wrote:
In Hereford,a few weeks ago, I managed to pick up an amusing read called ' Witchcraft in the world today' by C.H.Wallace plus 'Witchcraft and Black Magic' by Peter Haining, both original presses.
How do you do that?!?!? I have been looking through second hand book shops and NOTHING... NADA! Ok, admittedly it has only been recently... but I have decided that I live in a very Christian area and perhaps all books have been burned...
Lusete
Aha, part of my gift is finding things...and I usually find what I want at the right time...Example...I have been wearing a piece of a tree for years and just knew that it was for protection, and sure enough no harm has come to me on the land. Recently, I found another book and deep in the pages I found a reference to the SPECIFIC part of the tree I was wearing was traditionally for protection. I had been searching for YEARS for a reference to it. I find that, as echoed before, don't look in the New Age, MBS section, look in history, folklore, even fiction. The most unlikely the place, the more likely you will find something that is honestly priced too _________________ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes - Marcel Proust
Last edited by woodwose on Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:23 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Dec 10, 2006 Posts: 2346 Location: N.Wales
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:00 am Post subject:
Lolair wrote:
I'm going to have to look up those titles Woodwose - what are the publishing dates for them?
The Peter Haining one is 1971 and I forgot to mention the glorious illustrations in colour. I like his books as they combine historical witchcraft, cunning folk and humorous bits on Wicca such as naked Wiccans (check out his 'An illustrated history of Witchcraft') Not that I am a perve( ). 'Witchcraft in the world today' is 1967. You can get the former and latter for pence on Amazon. _________________ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes - Marcel Proust
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 4:10 am Post subject: Re: Digitalis
woodwose wrote:
One sentence which caught my eye was "An English Witch, for example, is credited with the discovery of the stimulant properties of the foxglove plant'..has anyone heard of this?
A stimulant in which way woodwose? As in the way amphetamines are are stimulants, or more like the stimulating effect a certain blue diamond shaped tablet can have on the male member? Or in yet another way that my brain can't think of because I'm not even halfway through my morning coffee.
Joined: Dec 10, 2006 Posts: 2346 Location: N.Wales
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:25 am Post subject: Re: Digitalis
Shadowmeld wrote:
woodwose wrote:
One sentence which caught my eye was "An English Witch, for example, is credited with the discovery of the stimulant properties of the foxglove plant'..has anyone heard of this?
A stimulant in which way woodwose? As in the way amphetamines are are stimulants, or more like the stimulating effect a certain blue diamond shaped tablet can have on the male member? Or in yet another way that my brain can't think of because I'm not even halfway through my morning coffee.
Er, no...as in a heart stimulant _________________ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes - Marcel Proust
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:34 am Post subject: Re: Digitalis
woodwose wrote:
Er, no...as in a heart stimulant
ahhh right I see. Well I don't know who is credited with it's heart stimulating properties, what I do know though is its heart stimulant properties depend on two things, the dosage consumed, and the state of your heart.
If you are in atrial fibulation for example, digoxin (sometimes called digitoxin and being derived from the digitalis) will slow your heart rate down by reducing the amount of electrical impulses able to pass through your heart muscles from the atrium to your ventricles, slowing down your HR.
It can also increase your bloodpressure by increasing the force of each contraction (blood being pumped out at with more vigor increases your systemic vascular resistance which pushes up your BP) . It blocks an enzyme that inhibits calcium from entering the heart muscle*, calcium increases the force the heart beats with, so reducing the amount of enzyme, increases the amount of calcium being absorbed which then also gives a more vigerous beat.
The active ingrediant in digoxin is extracted from the digitalis, and is broken down in the kidneys so to anyone who might be using this themselves straight out of the garden rememeber to reduce your dosage or find something else to use if you have any kidney problems.
*well actually no it doesn't, but I'm simplifying because it does in a round about way, I can explain how it happens if you like, but it would be off topic.
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). 'Witchcraft in the world today' is 1967. You can get the former and latter for pence on Amazon.