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With a long history of traditional use, Medicinal Spice Oils have proven themselves time and again as safe yet potent healers and preventers of disease. Modern science has verified these traditional uses. See articles and research below on the following:
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Remembering Rosemary A prized culinary herb, rosemary can make any meal a meal to remember. But can it also help you remember phone numbers? By Marty Traynor, Healthwell, September, 1999 Scientific Name: Rosmarinus officinalis If you notice someone standing in an herb garden, rubbing the glossy thin leaves and tiny blue-lilac flowers from a small evergreen plant against his brow, don't be alarmed. He may just be trying to improve his memory so he doesn't forget his wife's birthday. And the plant he's rubbing on his forehead and temples is rosemary, a shrublike evergreen native to southern Europe and Asia Minor. The herb has long been prized as a hair conditioner, a skin toner and as a flavoring in cooking, but its attributes go far beyond traits that please or stimulate the senses. Ancient Greeks and Romans believed the herb strengthened memory, and students would rub rosemary oil on their temples or weave rosemary sprigs into their hair before they had to take examinations. The Romans brought the herb to Britain, where its association with memory became even more established. Brides carried rosemary in wedding bouquets so they would not forget their loved ones as they began a new life, and rosemary was scattered at graves to signify eternal remembrance. Shakespeare's doomed Ophelia says, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance," in Hamlet. Fidelity is also associated with rosemary, and brides were encouraged to sprinkle dried rosemary in their bedding to ensure that their new husbands would remain faithful. Young women, curious about whom they would marry, also turned to rosemary. English folklore says that at midsummer's eve, if a woman places a plate of flour under a rosemary bush, she will awake to find her husband's initials written in the flour. If a woman wished to see her one true love in a dream, she would sleep with a sprig of rosemary under her pillow. Others believed that placing rosemary under a pillow or bed would prevent nightmares and guarantee a good night's sleep. This belief may have originated with the Greeks, who burned rosemary to keep illnesses and evil spirits away. Because rosemary originally grew on the shores of the Mediterranean, it can be difficult to cultivate in colder climates. But with a little assistance, it can adapt. And for gardeners interested in herbal lore and superstition, the plant's other attributes may make any additional gardening chores worth the effort. However, there is one last caveat. Bachelors can plant rosemary without worry, but husbands may want to watch out -- one belief from English folklore is that rosemary thrives only in household gardens where the mistress is really the master.
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