Alder Wood Chips

Alder Wood Chips
Alnus spp

Grade
Pharmaceutical

Magical Properties
- Divination
- Music
- Poetry
- Weather magic
- Teaching
- Decision making
- Rituals of death & dying
- Protection for the deceased

Traditional Uses
- Alder-bark teas are used as a gargle to treat inflammation of the mouth and throat, tooth and throat pain, and bleeding gums.
- Alder bark is used to make a lotion or poultice, and the leaves to treat all sorts of skin conditions, eczema, infected wounds, burns, and haemorrhoids.

Other Names (Also known as)
California Alder, Sierra Alder

All of our herbs are wildcrafted unless they state otherwise.

When purchasing, please ensure you select the correct weight from the product options.

The medicinal effectiveness of herbs can vary considerably from one batch to the next. A herb's potency depends on many variables, such as the soil it is grown in, the time of harvest, method of drying and conditions of storage. For this reason we carefully select our herbs and suppliers. These herbs are dried from their natural state, and cut, chopped or left whole as appropriate. Herbs are classified using their botanical name, and organic products are certified.

Please note that if you are based outside of the UK it is your responsibility to check your local customs and import rules with regards to shipping dried botanicals. We cannot be held responsible for items that are withheld or destroyed by your local authority.

Quality and authenticity are our watchwords. Herbs are classified using their botanical name, and organic products are certified.

Always seek professional medical advice before using any herbal product, especially if you are already taking medication

Sale of some herbs in the UK is restricted under the the Medicines (retail Sale or Supply of Herbal Remedies) Order 1977.

Decoction
This technique is primarily used for hard to extract herbs, barks or roots. Use a 1:1 or 1:1.5 ratio of herb to water and simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered. Strain.

Formentation
To create a formentation it is necessary to make a large infusion (see tea/infusion) of the herb of your choice. You then soak a cloth in the tea and place it on the affected area after it is at a hot yet tolerable temperature. These are especially good for sprains, swelling, general aches and pains, and bronchial problems.

Poultice
A poultice is a very direct form of healing. This is very simple and good in emergencies. It only requires the herb of your choice and a hot towel. Heat a towel in a microwave by moistening first or use any other method you see fit. The towel must be hot, but not so hot that it would damage the skin. Lay the herb on the skin and cover it with the towel. Repeat as necessary.

Tea/Infusion
This is a very common way to ingest herbs. Use 1 teaspoon dried herb to 1 cup of hot (not boiling) water. Steep for 5 minutes. Add fructose, sugar, or honey to sweeten if desired. Some herbs don't need sweetening such as liquorice.

Incense/Ritual
Blending herbs with resins and other gums to be burnt on charcoal or a special loose incense burner is a great way to not only aid in creating a magical atmosphere, but also to release the energetic properties of the herbs into your space.

Spellwork
All of our herbs, resins, gums, barks, berries, roots, flowers and leaves are all suitable for use in spell work or herbal magic of any type. Whether you are creating mojo or charm pouches, spell bottles, magical bath blends, incense, powders or other energetic concoctions. 

Before taking any herbs internally, please seek the guidance of a professionally trained herbalist or equivalent. 

One thing we get asked over and over is requests from customers asking when items will be back in stock so we thought we would create this little information tab to give a bit more context to our answers.

In short, if an item on the website is showing as out of stock - then chances are fairly high that we don't have it (even in the shop itself) - but the page will give you an option to pop in your email address so that when the item is restocked, it will send you a notification.

With regards to lead times on when things will be back, we cannot give you a timescale for any of the items. As many of you may, or may not know, we make 95% of the items ourselves. Because of this, everything is made on rotation, during various phases of the moon, and needs to be charged in some format before it hits our shelves. There is no timescale for this, we make things as quickly as we can in as big a batch as we can without is becoming a commercial production line. You will notice that certain things go out of stock quicker than others - this tends to be because when items come back, customers will buy multiples of that item - and so that bigger batch sells just as quick.

So, if you are looking for an item that says its out of stock, please do not chase us asking when they will be back in - we won't be able to give you any times. Please just pop your email address in the notification box and you'll get a reminder as soon as we have made some more.

Some customers have 'politely' informed us that we clearly need more staff or need to make bigger batches of things. Unfortunately, we aren't going to do either. We want to keep this a small independent, non-production-line based business - and we also want to make sure that the products we created are made by us and charged by us.

We promise, the products that we produce are worth the wait. And most importantly - are authentic - as opposed to mass produced crap!

If you have any other questions or queries regarding this, please drop us a message using our Contact Form.