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, or ileum—yet these will change the vibrations in such a manner as to keep clarified the assimilations, and aid the pancreas, the spleen, the liver and hepatic circulation, in keeping a normal equilibrium. These [properties] would be found in those of the ambrosia weed . . . This will aid the digestive system, will aid the whole of the eliminating system.
454-1
Readings indicating a need for liver toning suggest a variety of substitute formulas for a ragweed and licorice laxative still on the market at the time called Simmons Liver Regulator. While some of the simpler versions contain only ragweed extract and grain alcohol, others include additional ingredients such as licorice, sarsaparilla, and tolu balsam. The following comments apply to a formula in the more basic category:
. . . Where this {Liver Regulator} is given for anyone, the better preparation would be to make it out of the Ragweed, which is the basis of same . . .
And you have better than Simmons Liver Regulator for activity on the liver! This for anyone! This is the best of the vegetable compounds for activities of the liver. Of course, if made commercially we would add some few other things to it.
369-12
Finally, another highly recommended use of ragweed is as a toner of the appendix through its capacity to “. . . stimulate the gastric flow not only through the liver and gall duct but to cleanse those areas about the caecum and appendix.” (349-20) The readings regard this stimulating and cleansing effect as a powerful appendicitis preventive, stating: “If the most hated of the weeds were used {green} as a portion of the diet, it would never occur . . .” (644-1)
These are strong words of high praise for the lowly ambrosia weed, which could become one of our most loved if we gave it a chance.
Healing Lights
There’s a great term for health-enhancing uses of light that hardly anyone seems to know. Heliotherapy, derived from the Greek word helios or sun, literally means the treatment of disease using sun baths. By Cayce’s day, the heliotherapy options had expanded to include several different types of lamps that emitted parts of the sun’s spectrum. Evidently it was quite common for health professionals, such as the eminent Dr. Harold Reilly, to use these lamps in their practice, and the readings include them in hundreds of treatments. Two of the three main types are at least somewhat familiar today. Fans of color therapy, take note—there are some interesting statements to ponder here.
Infrared lamps, with the most recommendations, have long been valued for their deep-heating and muscle-relaxing properties. Their rays lie just beyond the red end of the spectrum we can see and are longer than visible light. Unlike the infrared heat feature that comes with many massage appliances today, the lamps familiar to Cayce were quite large and were aimed at the body from at least a few feet away.
Referring to these emanations as deep therapy, many readings found them the perfect warm up for a spinal adjustment or massage, either before or afterwards:
. . . {Use} the deep therapy, or the Infra-Red Light. This should be given after the deep manipulations—for these tend to relax and allow the activities of the blood supply through the disturbed areas; both the impulses of the circulation itself and the nerve flow.
920-11
Just before the osteopathic manipulations are given, then, relax the body thoroughly . . . with the use of the Infra Red Rays. This should be the deep therapy . . . that is more inter-penetrating, that gives . . . the ability to prevent the improper . . . setting of tissue through all portions of the circulation. It will aid in those places where healing has not been accomplished, and yet make the proper corrections where tensions have been set up in the sacral and the lumbar area.
1083-3
The benefits of infrared light are truly deep if they extend all the way to the bones, or what Cayce referred to as structural portions of the body:
. . . Hence the deep therapy of the Infra Red should release these activities through structural portions as to build for a better, more stable, near normal circulation . . .
808-5
. . . {Use} as a stimulation for the deep therapy produced to the structural portions along the rib area especially.
2456-2
. . . The Infra Red is for the deeper application, or for the bone or structural portions of the body as related to their activity with assimilations and eliminations, while the ultra-violet works with deeper and the superficial, see?
443-4
As with the ultraviolet lamp mentioned above, using a plate of heavy green glass to modify the frequencies may also be advisable with infrared:
. . . use between the red ray and the body the green light or glass, that will take from that portion of the ray itself that which would be destructive to tissue that would replenish or rebuild . . .
338-1
The more unusual blue glass has a different function:
. . . use a blue glass between the body and the source of the light or the light itself. This would make for
