I have just read that if you put six leaves of sage into the juice of a lemon, soak it overnight and first thing the next morning drink it, diluted in a mug of warm water, it will help with menopausal hot flushes.

This got me thinking about sage and what a wonderful herb it is. Now it is mainly used for culinary purposes but that is sad as it is so much more than that. The ancient Greeks revered sage as the “immortality herb” and the Romans, who were very influential in bringing us many herbs from the Mediterranean, used it as a digestive for helping to break down fatty meats – translated into modern terms, the bitters in the sage will promote digestive bile which helps the liver to process the fats.

(Hence sage and onion stuffing). They also used it as poultices over wounds as it has the most wonderful anti-microbial and astringent elements. Sage was known as the ‘salvation plant’ and gets its name from salverum, which means cure or save. Throughout the world and history, it has been one of the most versatile and useful herbs. The indigenous people in America used sage for smudging (this is a practice of burning the stalks and letting the smoke penetrate the room and your aura and it clears away negative energy as well as being anti-viral.).

For me, as I am doing exams at the moment, sage acts as a brain tonic (along with rosemary). It protects the nervous system from damaging free radicals and is reported to help memory and cognitive function as well as slow down ageing of the brain, so it could be extremely good for Alzheimer’s.
It has phytoestrogens which are plant hormones that mimic our own oestrogen.

These can help balance our
system and it
is helpful in
the
menopause for controlling some of the rather nastier symptoms us women have to put up with including night sweats and insomnia as well as a foggy brain. Traditionally it was used to enhance fertility.

Infuse the leaves for 10 minutes in boiling water and drink as a tea (with some lovely local honey), or gargle as the antiseptic properties are excellent for sore throats and mouth ulcers and if you rub the leaves and put them on your gums, it is said to help with toothache.
The wonderful essential oils have antimicrobial and calming properties which can help gut infections by getting rid of unfriendly bacteria.

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