Nothing speaks to my heart quite like a skyline silhouette of spruce trees, the quintessential look and feel of my home forest, the Great Boreal. Such presence these trees hold. Beautiful evergreens, holding their needles, color and proud stance the whole year through. I can remember as a child being compelled to venture beneath the boughs of old spruce trees, finding peace under the branches. I remember too rolling the sticky sap between my fingers, loving that the soothing scent lingered long afterwords. I didn’t know then that my life’s work would involve wild medicines of the Forest, but looking back at all my little rituals and ways, it all makes sense now.

Black Spruce has long been my most beloved essential oil and I have used it as the base of many intentional scent adornments. Since living and wildcrafting here on the land I have made use of the tips of White Spruce in the spring, drying for later use in teas and syrups for coughs and colds. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago when a real need presented itself did I look to the resin for its healing gifts.

My husband works so very hard for our family here on the homestead and in the transition from fall to winter, as root vegetables were being dug, along with a root cellar to put them in! And building work was being completed on our home, his hands became really sore, stiff, dry and even cracked and oozed. We tried a few balms and wild medicines in the house with overnight application with gloves, but nothing was really relieving the situation significantly. In a moment of clarity my mind wandered to Spruce, and how the scaly, dry bark cracks open and the healing resin comes oozing out to protect and heal the tree of its wound. In herbalism this is whats called a doctrine of signatures, basically through the plants action or form, it tells you of its healing use. I love these moments where this plant guidance comes intuitively. I have studied plants and herbal medicine for well over a decade, but nothing learned or understood from a book or class has ever given me the kind of insight gained from just being and listening to the plants and natural world around me.

So I was off to the nearest stand of White Spruce (Picea glauca) trees near our home. There I was able to carefully harvest the precious droplets of both new clear sticky sap drops and old hard resinous amber drops from the bark, the drops that had fallen away from the trees place of healing and sat waiting to be picked atop healthy bark, the places where it was no longer needed by the tree. In traditional manner of my culture, and especially because this was the first time I was harvesting the resin, I offered Tobacco first, a sacred way of connecting with spirit and asking for cooperation with the medicine, and importantly permission from the plant. Take the time to connect and listen to your intuition and you will know if it is the right time and place to harvest any plant medicine. The importance of asking and making offering when harvesting wild medicines cannot be understated. Always there must be an exchange, even if all you have to offer is a prayer, just mindfulness is what I believe to be the key.

This resin remedy I was creating was need based so I did a quick double boiler method (see recipe ) to infuse the oil and then immediately added the beeswax to make the salve. I then had my husband start applying it throughout the day and importantly with gloves on at night. After 2 days his hands were considerably better, less stiff and sore and no longer cracking. After that it was only needed off and on for upkeep. I have been plagued in recent years with dry cracked heels, especially in winter, I took my own advice and started applying the resin salve to my feet at night and in short time was pleased with much smoother, lovelier feet.

SPRUCE RESIN SALVE (folk method) (double boiler quick version, see below for slower, more intentional infusion version)

1/2 cup spruce resin (picked as clean as you can of impurities)

1 cup unrefined, organic oil (olive or sunflower)

3 Tbsp beeswax

add oil and resin to top of double boiler pot.(I just use a glass Pyrex measuring cup hooked to the side of a small sauce pot) Slowly allow water to simmer at low temperature (stirring oil often) and allow resin to dissolve into oil. When dissolved, to remove any remaining impurities, pour the oil through a cheesecloth or a piece of an old clean t shirt into a clean and sterilized jar. Clean top pot (or Pyrex measuring cup) by wiping with a clean cloth. Then re add oil infusion, then beeswax and continue to allow to melt down at lowest heat possible, When beeswax is completely dissolved, remove top pot from water (wipe bottom of any water so it doesn’t drip into your salve) and pour into clean sterilized jars or tins. Then allow to cool completely ( i usually let sit several hours or over night and cover with something light like a clean cloth to keep dust out) before closing with lid and labeling with the date, ingredients, and if you like, where the medicine was harvested ,and if you are me , the phase of the moon. It is important to let salve fully cool before putting lid on to prevent condensation which may spoil it.

After finding it to be such a wonderful medicine for our house, I put myself to the resin hunt so i could craft a larger batch of infused oil to make more salve. It took me to further reaches of the land with older trees and only the tracks of rabbits and coyotes between the gnarly beautiful birch and old tall spruce. I collected enough to start a slow infusion this past New Moon. I am interested most in slow herbal infused oils, crafted with consideration of the moon cycle. A new moon start and a full moon pour for oils and tinctures. I have always done this, as it is an old folk way of crafting medicine. There is a potency to this, the way I have come to understand is to start an infusion during the new moon is that precious seed of potential planted in the dark, the intention of the medicine to come. To pour the medicine at full moon is to bring the medicine forth under full light and full expression. How long I let an herbal medicine infuse for ends up being intuitive and of course depending on the plant material itself. It can be 2 weeks, often it is 6 weeks or longer and  it has been up to a year. The key to the longer infusions specifically is to place them somewhere warm and away from direct sunlight. Also you want to shake them often, daily if possible.

Spruce resin salve (slow infusion)

To craft the slow version of the above recipe, add oil and resin to clean and sterilized jar, cap and place somewhere out of light and warm (if its winter, near but not on (you don’t want to burn it!) a heat register, or for me, its behind the wood stove where its also dark, but then I have to remember to shake it daily, which can be challenging if its not in plain sight! In summer I will wrap the jar in fabric and let warm in a sunny window.(Please note there are certain herbs where a sun infusion is recommended, but as it is known, light also compromises the potency of plant material so for the most part, i personally keep infusions warm in the dark).  When ready, strain and follow instructions above for creating salve. You can also keep as oil for massage to treat an aching, sore and stiff body. I encourage the magickaly inclined to try infusing from a new to full moon for however long you are called to, but many herbal texts will say that for most plant material, 2 weeks, with daily shaking will suffice.

With this Full Moon I poured my oil and crafted this salve. Unlike other oil infusions where one is drawing the medicinal qualities out of plant matter, for a resin infused oil, one is simply sort of dissolving the resin into the oil, and only extra bits of bark and really old resin and such are strained out. This is why i felt a new moon to full moon was sufficient. I also wanted to be able to have some to gift this Solstice season. I also will be looking to harvest more resin and do another batch with a longer infusion, perhaps a few moon cycles and see what differences are offered up in the results. Already the difference in the quick method compared to the slower 2 week infusion has yielded a far deeper and more complex capture of the volatile aromatics, which in themselves is a potent medicine for both the body and the mind.

Also, as I am reading more on the traditional uses (woodland cree), I would be interested to incorporate not only the fresh tips into the formula, but the inner bark as well. I am also interested in harvesting the resin when it is much gooier and fresher in the summer months, or if I’m using old hard resin again, perhaps ill try powdering it before adding to oil, but for now, I am grateful to have another wildcrafted medicine easily available during our long winters.

While I was at it, I used some of the resin salve to create a Spiced Spruce Resin Lip Balm, and I also poured a wild mint oil that had been infusing for many moons and crafted a Wild Mint Cocoa Lip Balm. Lovely little expressions of the Forest for solstice tide.

Spruce Resin Traditional Use: indigenous people of the boreal forest have used spruce resin topically to heal wounds, burns, insect bites, and to treat cracked and dry hands and feet in winter. It has also been boiled as a tea for sore throats and coughs, aswell as chewed straight up for the same reason. It was also chewed to prevent tooth decay.

The Medicine: Spruce Resin has strong antiseptic and antimicrobial qualities making it useful in both cleaning and keeping a wound free of germs. It is useful for cuts and abrasions, will soothe acne and winter patches of eczema, and will gently draw out boils and even splinters.It can bring warming blood flow to stiff and sore muscles and joints, and ease the inflammation of old injuries. The scent of spruce is wonderfully grounding, warming and uplifting. It eases anxiety and feelings of disconnection from the Earth.

The Magick: specifically the aroma of spruce connects and aids us in communication with the great spirit. It can help deepen our relationship to other plants and to animals. Spruce can also aid in prosperity magick and removing emotional blocks to growth. Spruce is Peace bringing and Protective.

The Meaning: to me, Spruce is the perfect winter remedy to keep one grounded and strong, it has the ability to connect one to the land, to the purifying, silent, strengthening quality of winter. It is a blessing that  warms the cold and stiff maladies of the season. To get a sense of its qualities of fortification, one must only look to the mighty tree itself, tall, strong, formidable. It is uplifting and reminds us of the Earths green gifts even as the rest of the land sleeps under a blanket of snow.

I am so grateful to have you, dear friend and fellow magickal plant person,  read the words of my very first blog post, I hope you enjoyed it, bare with me as i get better at this. oh and I welcome you to comment or ask questions. The intention here is to be able to learn, create, share, inspire and connect.

Thank you,

Toniese