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I Heart Herbs ~ Stinging Nettle


*Please note - The information provided is collected from my various herbal books, classes, and personal research. I am not a doctor. Always, always, always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider before beginning any new treatment. Do your own research and think for yourself. Don't believe everything you read. Questions are good!


Stinging Nettle


Latin Name: Urtica dioica

Plant Family: Urticaceae

Character: astringent, slight bitter taste, cool, dry

Constituents: vitamins A, B, C, histamine, formic acid, serotonin, tannins, potassium, iron, sodium, calcium, formic acid, mucilage, mineral salts

Actions: astringent, diuretic, nutritive, lowers blood sugar levels, promotes milk flow, stops bleeding, circulatory stimulant

Parts used: aerial parts, root

Harvest while flowering. Harvest the root in the fall.

Stinging Nettle has a high vitamin C content and it helps ensure that iron is properly absorbed by the body.

Nettle stings because of histamine and formic acid in the hairs that trigger the familiar allergic response.


Stinging Nettle Knowledge

Caesar's troops introduced the Roman nettle into Britain believing they needed to flail themselves with nettles to keep warm.

A standard folk remedy for arthritis and rheumatism is urtication, beating with nettles.

Nettle root is traditionally used to treat hair loss and dandruff.

Drink the infusion as a tonic and for allergies. It's super yummy.

As far as drinking nettle, you can also make nettle lemonade and even nettle beer.

Use the tincture for arthritic conditions, heavy uterine bleeding, and skin issues.

Make a compress by soaking a pad in the tincture and apply to painful arthritic joints, sprains, tendinitis, gout, and sciatica.

Apply the nettle ointment to hemorrhoids.

The wash is good to apply to insect bites, burns, and wounds.

The powdered leaves can be used as an herbal snuff for nosebleeds.


Eating Nettle?

Yup. I like to throw stinging nettle in a stir fry of mushrooms and garlic. Once cooked down, it loses its sting, so don't worry about hurting your tongue and throat. Nettle is also very mineral rich, I love to add it in bone broths and soups. Nettle also makes a yummy addition to lasagnas and pesto.



Many herbalists tap in to the spiritual and 
emotional properties of plants. 
The spirit of the plant is just as important as 
the physical part of the plant. 
For true health is whole, and 
wholeness encompasses all, 
spirit and matter.

"Stinging Nettle" by Liselotte Eriksson

Spiritual & Emotional Properties of Nettle

  • Energetically the action of Stinging Nettle is deep.
  • The nettle plant helps to heal the energy around bitterness and scorn.
  • Stinging Nettle is a great elixir to ease any type of emotional pain experienced in the present.
  • It helps bring one out of a state of selfishness.
  • Nettle helps with possessive, obsessive, and controlling people.
  • Stinging Nettle can bring about a change of heart in a person.


Nettles Plant Spirit Prayer
from "Plant Spirit Journey" by Laura Silvana

"O loving kindness, drench the fires of our bitterness and scorn. Weep not, for the ills of the human heart can only be appeased by your unbounded, gracious love."

Nettle is excellent for grounding and aligns your source of power with that of Divine Right.


Peace, Inspiration, & Love,
~Amy
 Amy Riddle, C.C., Holistic Alchemist and Manifestor of Dreams is a life coach, tapping facilitator, reverend, creatress, teacher, writer, herbalist, and all out muse. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Alternative Medicine with an emphasis on herbs. She is a certified professional life coach with the Life Coach Institute of Orange County. Amy craves to inspire others to be healthy and whole in body, mind, and spirit. She has an affinity for striped socks, stinging nettle, and all things faery.