In defense of animal fats in herbal medicine making....

It was a gorgeous day in August several years ago- slight breeze and not too hot not too cold. I stood on a messa of rock jutting out in the forest, surrounded by a circle of women in skirts, dresses, colorful scarves and herbal garlands circling their hair. Many were body painted, barefoot, and all were glowing with excitement and the energy of having spent a week together devoted to the green world, laughing, crying, singing, dancing, learning and reveling in sisterhood.
My teacher called forth women in the circle and I sprang up first and stood in the middle. Looking out at all the smiling faces, so beautiful and radiating power, she asked me what my commitment was- could be anything she said, small or large- but honor the commitment by following through and your power as a woman and healer would grow.
I took a deep breath and said, "I am going to study, promote and play with traditional fats in herbal medicine. And then I am going to write about it."

I shouldn't have been too surprised- I had been playing with plant infused animal fats for a bit by then. But really, did that come from my mouth? out of all the commitments one can make to the green world? I could have chosen anything under the sun really, but that is what sprang forth? huh.

Since then I have found really surprisingly VERY little in current literature about animals in herbal medicine. Oh, I know for a FACT that traditional peoples crafted animal fat herbal preparations as a matter of regular course. But find information on it?

We have convienently let this knowledge slip from our hands while an abundance of plant oil information drowns out the ancient voices in herbal's of nowadays. We are big on olive, grapeseed, almond, kukui, rose hip seed oil, coconut oil......cripes a quick glance at a Mountain Rose Herbals catalog and you can find any type of oil you could ever imagine, but not one single animal oil with which to craft medicine....
And my experiences talking about animal fats in salves and other preparations is usually met with enthusiasm by a handful of adventurous herbalists, indifference by others and downright revulsion by new students.
As a good friend once commented I was lucky I did not sell herbal products anymore. Without the use of essential oils and with the use of animal fat, I would have been long out of business anyways. heh, ain't that the truth.

What is this yuckfactor feeling regarding animal fat? I had a girl all excited to sign up for my soapmaking class until I talked with her briefly about some of the animal fats we would be using- hand rendered lard and tallow, when her face went blank, and she took a step back as if I had just said something offensive........"oh, well, I am mostly interested in vegetarian oils," she said.

I asked her if she was a vegetarian? "Well, no, but I would not want to think that something had to die for my soap you know?"
Uh, well, actually, no, I don't know. Rather than launch into the death and destruction an oil based economy can reap- as I was pretty sure her olive oil was not local- I chose instead to explain that my soap fats are personally rendered and come from animals well loved and cared for. I explained how fabulous they are for the skin, how superior the soap made from them feels, I talked about sustainability issues, how utterly ridiculous it is to ship oils, many from overseas, when I have an abundance of fat right here on my farm.

She still wasn't sold on the idea.
"Lard, its just, eh, I don't know, its just not my thing. The idea of it just kind of grosses me out."

Though I tried not to take it personally, my feathers were ruffled. How insulting that statement struck me in light of the tremendous gift my animals give me with their abundance........

That's about where the conversation ended. But it really got me thinking. Using animal fats in herbal medicine really turns people off. Whenever I encounter this kind of knee jerk reaction to something earthy and sustainable, I can't help but get excited and think- there really IS something here, probably important. And in animal fats in herbal medicine, that is the word or rather words- something important going on. An opportunity to use common, abundant and plentiful fat. An opportunity to create and support not only sustainable farming practices, but a way to support our local economy and connections.

Animal fats in herbal medicine first and foremost just plain make sense. A butcher
down the road throws away- THROWS AWAY- hundreds of pounds of pork fat each year because no one wants it. Not only do people not want to eat it, they certainly do not want to make soap with it or herbal medicine with it. Since when did we become a nation throwing away our backyard fat and buying sticks of chemical engineered pseudo plastic factory fat from the grocery store? Who pulled the wool-as they say-over our eyes on that one??
I am not going to get into the water on traditional fats in our diet in this post, that's just too big of a topic. But suffice it to say, I am a duck fat fried potato sort of gal.

But really, as far as herbal medicine goes- animal fats equal abundance of the green world. Fat exists on a happy, well fed animal, fed from the green world. Fat equals not being hungry- it equals having enough to not only be satisfied, but to put some up as well. Fat= good times and abundance. How can this be a bad thing? how can we NOT want to bring abundance and pleasure to our green medicines?? Slather ourselves in abundance? Heal from a place of abundance?

Fat comes from your backyard- everyone if they tried hard enough can source local fat. Last I checked, olive trees did not grow in southwest Michigan. Don't get me wrong, I like olive oil as much as the next person, but when did it become a the end-all-be-all in herbal oils and preps?

I know as a medicine maker that as with food, anytime you bring connection by way of personal relationship to your medicines you increase their potency, their power, and their effectiveness. It is hard to cultivate personal relationship with something in Italy, Spain or Greece.
Fats that are created from your local flora and local climate flavor are going to resonate with you much better, just as common local weeds will, when you use them in medicine.

Also, who you are as a person is directly attached to what you do as a person. And likewise, who you are as an herbalist is directly attached to what you do as an herbalist. In my mind, the path of the wise woman is one of action. Or a melding of heart ideas and action. Even when it might make one a bit uncomfortable, thats what we mean by health equaling flexibility- c'mon y'all, not all things have to bend to fit us, lets bend to fit them you know? By using something that would be wasted, by choosing something local, the green world smiles. By sourcing lovingly cared for animals and their fat you support the kind of farming you can feel good about right? You create another supportive market environment for this type of farming to flourish.


Not only that but animal fats are superior on the skin as far as absorbing and melding with your own, well, animal skin. They lubricate wonderfully, they hydrate deeply, and they bring numerous healing aspects just in and of themselves.
You can use them sans beeswax. I am a cheap, frugal girl. The kind of girl that would rather have runny jam than buy pectin- yes, or make my own- anything someone tells me has to be bought from the store in a hand crafted homespun recipe, well, I quietly just go about my business making do without said ingredient, and usually, everything works out just fine without it thankyouverymuch.

And not only do the plants spring from and bear the local imprint and expression of the land you stand on, but now the fat does too....truly this completes the song of the medicine- the land, and the animal fed from the land, you the healer, the medicine maker, rooted in intimacy in the land all coming together to create potent highly localized medicine. This is truly herbal medicine of the people.
And last but not least, you get to have a heck of a lot of fun bringing animal medicine to the table. Each animal, like each plant, holds unique, deeply magical qualities and throughout time in peoples who lived years ago, and some still today, each animal was valued and recongnized to hold special medicine power.

This bear fat, pig fat, goat fat, duck fat, deer fat, chicken fat, beaver fat.........all fats contain their own animal magic and qualities and its just really really fun to craft on that level, to think deeply about combinations and grow your intuitive medicine self through the process.....as you begin to start crafting with local fats you start to pick up on these subtle and not so subtle energies and this area can really be explored as it relates to crafting the perfect medicine for the unique individual.

And all those fat rancidity and mold issues with fresh plant oils??? whole nother ball of wax with properly rendered animal fat......but don't take it from me, try it yourself.
I've had no mold issues since using animal fats to infuse plants on the exception of when I get lazy and try to rush the rendering process. Sometimes I will get a batch that I render lazily. But even then, my mold issues with fresh plant oils went waaaaayyyy down when I started exploring the world of animal fat infused oils.

Yes, yes, the smell of them. Some smell stronger than others. Certainly women especially are highly connected to their sense of smell when they go to put something on their bodies. Let me just say this- if at first you are uncomfortable with the different smells, give it some time. Time to get flexible again. Like wild food that really gives your tastebuds a workout, so does some animal fats. As soon as you can get past the notion that only sweet and flowery or fruity smell good, you can come to appreciate the unique smells of animal fat and find your favorites in that realm too. I rather like the weird way bear fat smells.....and there is something comforting about the way goat fat smells too. So really, get past that and relax a bit. Everything does not have to smell like nothing right??

So much focus on herbal medicine is on the plants themselves that we often forget to consider the very real and physical inclusiveness of the menstruum we put them in and the energetic effects of how that menstruum was created- by whose hands, at what location, under what circumstances- be it alcohol, vinegar, or oil- and what that brings to the medicine making table. Its not a silent partner, and not a blank slate.

Remember, the path of the wise woman is about connection and meaning. If you are bringing fat to the table that you are not connected with, that has no local flavor or meaning, is not locally sustainable, and is sourced from far away places........ be it for soap or medicine, let that be room for pause and consideration. The wise woman will always consider first connection, meaning, and sustainability, and she will choose this over her personal discomfort because its simply the right thing to do. To walk in beauty, to build integrity, to be honorable in our relations with the green world, this is the lifeblood, the drum beat, and the deep wild heart of herbalism.

So, with that, I ask you to give animal fats a second try. See them for the abundance they represent, the connection and local flavor they can provide, and the special animal medicine energies they can add to your preparations....and make a space for them on your medicine making table.....

in love and animal fat abundance,
~Shawna