Sassafras
Botanical Name: Sassafras albidum
Common Names and Synonyms: Ague Tree, Cinnamon Wood
Background: The sassafras tree grows from ten to forty feet tall.
Small pale yellow-green flowers bloom in the spring, followed by
leaves having one to three lobes. Clusters of dark blue,
pea-sized berries appear. The orange-brown root bark of the tree contains
a fragrant oil which is used in soaps and perfumes. Traditionally,
the oil is used on the skin to get rid of scabies, lice, and other
infections. Once consumed in flavoring for candy, root
beer, chewing gum, and tooth paste, the oil, containing safrole has
been deemed a potential carcinogen by the FDA. Native to eastern
North American, sassafras was used by Indians and settlers as a treatment
for syphilis. Today, sassafras is combined with other herbs to purify
the blood and stimulate the liver. Applied externally, it contains antiseptic
properties making it useful in the treatment of skin wounds, sores and
rashes.
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Sassafras in the Cayce Readings
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Edgar Cayce recommended sassafras oil for both internal and external applications.
Taken internally in combination with other herbs, it was said to be a blood
purifier and digestive aid. Applied externally with other ingredients,
it was frequently used as a massage oil intended to penetrate the skin,
strengthen muscles and sinew, stimulate the circulation of blood and lymph,
and assist with nervous system coordination.
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Sassafras was typically recommended with other substances in a compound.
Although a wide diversity of formulas were given, the most common
substances mentioned in the same readings with sassafras were as follows:
| Tolu |
98 readings |
| Witch Hazel |
85 readings |
| Wild Cherry |
81 readings |
| Sarsaparilla |
76 readings |
| Calisaya |
72 readings |
| Capsicum |
53 readings |
| Stillingia |
52 readings |
| Camphor |
48 readings |
| Yellow Dock |
47 readings |
| Potassium Iodide |
32 readings |
Cayce Quotes on Sassafras
4742-1
... the Oil of Sassafras gives not only a palatable effect to the bitterness
(for it will be bitter!) but acts ALSO as a pepsin to the gastric juices
of the stomach itself, working WITH the rest of those as are combined -
see?
5664-1
... Sassafras as the CLARIFIER of the blood stream and the tendency
of the allaying of nerve pressure.
5522-1
... the oil of sassafras, acting as the stimuli to the nerve reactions
as they are stimulated through the manipulation.
5423-1
... the myrrh and those of the sassafras oil, these add to the STRENGTH
of the muscular tissue, of the sinew along the system, as to carry - the
one stimulating the muscular forces, the other carrying to the cartilaginous
forces, and to every nerve fibre itself, that of strength and activity.
849-43
Then the rubs and the massage, - keep these, as these have been
very well, with the same solutions; though in the next quantity we would
add, or we would prepare another pint of the solution and add to same ten
minims of Oil of Sassafras, and use this only about once a week.
This will be more of a burning solution, or an irritant, but is necessary
to stimulate the superficial circulation to come to the surface sufficient
to draw in more of the other oils.
396-1
To a tablespoonful of heated olive oil add a tablespoonful of tincture
of myrrh. Then add three minims or drops of oil of sassafras.
This will make for the tendency of stimulating not only the superficial
circulation but aid in causing the oil and myrrh to strike in to the centers
over the cerebrospinal segments. Especial reference would be given
to the lumbar and sacral area, both with the vibrator treatment and with
the hand massage with the compound.
379-2
(Q) Please give remedy for callous places on feet?
(A) When there are the applications that have been outlined for
the lower limbs, from the lumbar to the feet, these will naturally be improved.
For specific conditions, use this:
To a tablespoonful of Olive oil add a teaspoonful
of Tincture of Myrrh and three drops of Oil of Sassafras.
Use this to massage into the bottom of the feet
or over callous places in feet, massaging also the ankle, the heel, and
through the instep - WELL; only using sufficient that will be absorbed
in the system each time. This may be done each day, or - should it
produce tenderness, then only use every other or every third day.
Occasionally, once a week or such matter, dampen
baking soda with spirits of camphor and apply to callous places direct.
This will tend to produce soreness the first application or so. Then
they'll sluff off! Be well that this, of course, be bound - or a
cloth tied over same to keep it on when applied. Apply it, of course,
only at night.
265-10
Pour a little of this in a saucer, dip the fingers
into it and massage over those portions that have been massaged with the
saturated solution of Epsom Salts. This will leave a pleasant, tingling
sensation, and - for the first time or two - leave a little burning (as
from the Oil of Sassafras), but will restore more and more the normal equilibrium
and coordination throughout the whole system, overcoming the tendencies
for the active forces in the lymph and the circulation that make for the
disturbances.
5525-1
After the fourth to fifth treatment, leave out the
Sassafras Oil, for we will have created then an irritation to the exterior
portion of the body, along the cerebro-spinal region, especially in the
lower portion of body. This will disappear with the leaving off of
the Sassafras Oil, but this we desire to create in the system to be assimilated
by the system through the action of the cuticle, or the skin itself, and
we will find with the keeping up of these conditions that within six to
eight weeks the conditions will disappear.
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