Castor Oil: Ancient Remedy for Profound Healing
This week I want to highlight one of the most powerful, easy to overlook remedies in our medicinal repertoire. Ricinus communis, or the castor oil plant.
Castor oil packs are a recommendation I give to all my clients, no matter their ailments or level of health. Read on below to learn more about how exactly castor oil works in the body and a few of the top uses (there are hundreds) I recommend it for.
What you likely do not know is castor oil goes by the name palma christi or “the palm of christ” as it has been an ancient, holy remedy of healing and ceremonial worship for thousands of years.
Castor oil, native to the Ethiopian region of tropical East Africa, has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs dating back to 4,000 B.C. It is mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian medical papyrus of herbal knowledge, the oldest preserved medical text of humanity, dating to c. 1550 BC.
In the Sudan, Tanzania, and Kenya, it was held in higher regard than the popular sesame oil and was valued above olive oil. Castor oil was and is used extensively outside of Africa as well in Chinese, Ayurvedic, and Naturopathic medicine.
Castor oil liver packs are one of the most common uses of the oil in Naturopathic practice and as spring is the time of the liver and a perfect time to give our liver and lymphatics a gentle detox - this is the perfect time to incorporate them.
Read my post How to Create A Castor Oil Pack for instructions.
Q: What exactly does castor oil do?
Castor oil has many functions in healing the body and the top ones are:
Decrease inflammation in joints, skin, and systemically in organs (good for sprains and arthritis)
Improve function of the immune system, balancing highs and lows
Increase lymphatic flow and improve circulation (preventing cellulite, bed sores, healing cuts and bruises, reducing peripheral edema and diabetic circulation issues)
Increase gut motility and immune function in the digestive system
Support natural liver detoxification
Increase bile fluidity in gall bladder (preventing stones and increasing function)
Activates your parasympathetic nervous system supporting relaxation, vagal nerve balance, reducing impacts of stress
Reduce pain, bloating and cramps from digestive discomfort or menstrual cycle
Great for healthy skin, scalp, and hair growth
AND MORE!
First a little physiology lesson…
Castor oil absorbs directly into the lymphatic system through your skin and is carried throughout your body in the lymph. Lymph is a fluid of similar composition to plasma (the non-cellular fluid portion of your blood) and is partner to the veins returning fluid from the tissues to be recirculated by the heart and arteries. It is the collection of all the interstitial fluid (the fluid that runs between ALL cells and tissues of the body) into lymphatic capillaries that then pass through all your lymph nodes where bacteria, viruses, and other foreign invaders are filtered out by your white blood cells.
The lymphatic system is part of both the immune system and circulatory system transporting immune cells, proteins, and fats from the tissues back into circulation. You can think of it as the paths, roads, and highways that your immune system uses to move around the body.
Back to castor oil: it goes straight into the lymphatic system and it works as an anti-inflammatory and counter-irritant. In addition to the nourishing fats of the oil, castor oil also contains a terpene that is slightly toxic. The difference between a medicine and a toxin is dose. In this case the terpenes of the plant work to activates things in the immune system. It gets everybody paying attention and woken up to what needs to be detoxified and cleaned out of your system.
Reestablishing Flow
Castor oil keeps things moving where there's not movement. It increases circulation. It gets your white blood cells, nutrition, and waste products moving in and moving out.
This action makes a big difference helping your liver do its job detoxifying the body. Castor oil is like cleaning out your body’s pool filter, the liver. Additionally castor oil is incredibly helpful to the mesentery, a continuous organ (only recently named and organ in 2017!) that connects your intestine to your abdomen and is the holding place of much of your lymphatics, immune and nutritional circulation into and out of your digestive track.
Castor oil also finds its way into your intestines and stimulates pyres patches, which are collections of lymphatic tissue or hang out zones of your white blood cells in your digestive tract. Peyer patches keep the intestinal flora at appropriate levels and pathogens at bay, thereby preventing infection. They also play a key roll in preventing food allergies.
Imagine lymph nodes like central command of your immune system where your white blood cells hang out and talk to each other.
One WBC says to the other WBC, “Oh, hey, I saw piece of strawberry down by the big toe. We got to go get that guy!”
To which WBC says back, “Well, did you know there's a virus over in the gallbladder? We got send out someone to take care of that. And on my way over here, man, I saw some extra bacteria over in the colon.”
Lymph nodes get bigger when WBC start multiplying and increasing in number to go out and defend your body against attack. We say they ‘swell up’ or are ‘swollen’ but that is incorrect, they are the expansion of your immune forces preparing to go off on their missions of healing.
So castor oil actually gets into the lymphatics and goes through the liver, it goes through the gall bladder, it gets into all the pyres and it actually is cleaning, stimulating, releasing, detoxifying and helping all of these areas work more efficiently.
I could go on!! But I won’t. If you want to learn more read “The Oil That Heals: A Physician's Success with Castor Oil Treatments” by William A. McGarey.
What can I use castor oil for? (COP - castor oil pack)
Every night, 7-days a week, for 45-minutes for overall health and longevity
COP to abdomen for all digestive concerns (gas, bloating, GERD, diarrhea/constipation, IBD, IBS)
COP on abdomen nightly during acute cold/flu, virus or bacterial infection
Local application for sprained, injured, or chronically inflamed joints
On wrists for carpel tunnel prevention/healing
On hands under cotton gloves to sleep for arthritis
On lower abdomen for menstral cramps & PMS
Locally for neck tension, back pain, general body pain
Dry eye or conjunctivitis (you can safely place 1 drop of castor oil in the corner of your eye before bed - it will leave a film on your eye diminishing your clarity of vision for a while, so be safe with this)
Apply to eye lids for eyelash growth
In DIY skin care for deep moisture, prevention of cellulite
Scalp and hair treatment
Acne, boils, skin rashes, eczema, psoriasis
Combine with coconut oil and essential oils for anti-fungal treatment
Use with almond oil or other natural consumable oils to make DIY vaginal lubricant. Castor oil will heal tissues, increase circulation and prevent postmenopausal vaginal dryness