Herbs and the Summer Solstice

By Celeste Levitz-Jones, Herbalist & Licensed Acupuncturist, Five Point Member-Owner

Friday marked the summer solstice, or the most “yang” point of the year. Yang is associated with heat, light, ethereality, and movement, compared to yin, which is more cold, dark, substance, and stasis. This fire-element season is ruled by the Heart, meaning the summer is a great time for connection, community, friendship, joy, and laughter. 

Typically our clinic sees a slow down in the summer months. Not only are folks vacationing, but people just feel better when it’s warm and sunny and they’re sipping an overpriced mocktail on a patio with friends. We all endure the harsh winters because Chicago summer vibes are *immaculate.* 

However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and some may experience increased anxiety, palpitations, mania, insomnia, or hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating. Some skin rashes, anything we’d classify as “damp heat” in the lower body–such as UTIs, BV, yeast infections, flareups of IBS/Crohn’s/UC–and other digestive issues can worsen in the summer heat and humidity.

Herbal Medicine can be a great way to treat summer ailments by settling the heart, clearing the skin, and calming and regulating the digestion. Even if you’re in great health, we recommend a minimum of 4 acupuncture or herbal treatments per year, around each solstice and equinox, to help your body adjust to the changes in the seasons.

A summertime herbal recommendation from our apothecary, no appointment necessary.

Curing Pills - while a custom formula is always most effective, curing pills are great to have on hand to help settle stomachs in many scenarios:

✈️ They’re great to take while traveling, especially to places where you may be eating street food or drinking water that has more microbes than our systems are used to

🍉 Bring to a bbq or one of Chicago’s many street festivals where you may be consuming heavy, rich foods in the heat.

🍹 They can help counteract the effects of alcohol on the digestive system, so you can get through patio season with less nausea, heartburn, and whatever may go wrong on the other end.

Book an herbal consultation with Celeste!

Your appointment will take place in a private room. This appointment does not include the cost of herbs, which may vary, but averages $30-45 per week. Herbal medicine is available for purchase in various forms including dried raw plants, powders, and capsules.

Through Celeste’s undergraduate studies in psychology and gender studies, she realized her passion for treating psychological issues, particularly those stemming from traumatic experiences. She chose East Asian Medicine as her healing modality because it recognizes the mind-body connection and strives to treat both simultaneously. She graduated from PCHS in 2014 and earned a Diplomat in Canonical Chinese Medicine. Celeste specializes in psycho-emotional issues including depression, anxiety, and panic disorders. Her treatments regulate the nervous system, calm the mind, and address related symptoms such as digestive disorders and insomnia. She is compassionate, patient-centered, and empowers her clients to heal themselves.

Celeste’s current hours are Monday and Tuesday 12-7 and every-other Saturday from 9:30-4:30 for herbs and/or acupuncture.

‘Notes from the Apothecary’: Mugwort Musings

Ài yė (Artemisiae argyi Folium)

Ài yė, commonly known as mugwort, hails from the category of Herbs that Regulate the Blood. Ài yė is a warming herb that can be used internally as a part of herbal medicine formulas often used for gynecological needs to stop uterine pain or support fertility as the acrid flavor helps to disperse warmth throughout the body and the bitter flavor helps to condense and drain excess dampness within the body.

In everyday East Asian medicine practice, the herbalists at Five Point are often burning a compressed version of Ài yė to use externally in the form of pole moxa to help a pregnant patient turn a fetus in the breech position or with Ibuki moxa to warm specific points to increase circulation and support the immune system. The most popular product containing Ài yė is in the form of moxa packs that contain loose herbs that will warm with the goal of helping decrease menstrual cramping, soothe low back pain, or warm cold hands.

This is a product that is nice to have in your home apothecary, and is included in our Five Point First Aid Kit alongside other helpful products helpful to have ready for use. Please ask your practitioner about moxa packs or other Ài yė products to see if they could be supportive tools for your treatment goals as we transition seasons from Winter to Spring.

All proceeds from our Apothecary items will directly support developing more community education and sliding scale seasonal offerings in the months to come. As always, we appreciate your support!

Winter's Greetings

Winter Solstice

In the northern hemisphere, September 23rd marked the 2023 autumnal equinox, which a month later was followed by a first snow fall on Halloween.  While it felt like the return of winter was a bit early, the rise and falls of temperatures over the next month allowed for a more gradual transition into the season.  As we inch our way closer to the winter solstice on Thursday, December 21st , we have collectively been experiencing decreased hours of light with increased hours of dark.  The winter solstice, also known as Midwinter, occurs when the earth’s poles are furthest from the sun, gifting us with the shortest day and the longest night or period of darkness for any given year.  Over time and in various cultures, this day has often been marked with winter festivals of light and reflection to prepare for a gradual returning of the light. 

The “Lucky Holiday” Mushroom

If you have been in clinic lately, you will find the seasonal programs committee adding light in the form of tiny fairy lights to little mushroom clad scenes.  While many have seemed delighted by the mushroom décor as we prepare for the winter season, others might be asking: why mushrooms?  Fair question.  For the mycological enthusiasts among us, we are making models of the Amanita muscaria, the mushrooms who don red caps with white speckles.  In Germany, this mushroom is often referred to as Gluckspilz, or the lucky holiday mushroom because these are the fungi that readily grow next to pine trees.

The Doctrine of Signatures

Admittedly, we do not readily use the Amanita muscaria in our everyday East Asian herbal medicine.  That said, we do often use mushrooms in formulas to treat myriad conditions, from gynecological issues to hypertension.  Moreover, understanding a bit more about our ‘fungi friends,’ if you will, has the potential to give us further insight and broader understanding of how we are connecting with herbs in a general sense.  One guiding principle in East Asian herbal medicine practice is called Doctrine of Signatures.  This principle, also referred to as Systematic Correspondence or Sympathetic Magic, simply means that the herbs themselves are giving us clues as to what their therapeutic effects might be by simply being who they are.  In short, noticing where and how the herbs grow in the natural world, noticing the herb’s color, and distilling down what part of the plant substance we are using often gives us insight in what that herb might be doing when consumed medicinally.  

Mushrooms as Medicine

Poria cocos (Fu Ling) is a mushroom that we readily use in East Asian herbal formulas.  When thinking about where mushrooms grow from a Doctrine of Signatures perspective, we can all imagine the mushrooms coming into being in moist woodlands or the innards of a decaying tree that many of us have encountered on hikes in forested areas.  Even within the city limits, I have encountered mushroom clusters seemingly popping up at the base of boulevard trees overnight after a rain.  You can imagine by virtue of the damp environment in which mushrooms grow, that they may have a therapeutic action focused on managing dampness.  Not surprisingly, Pori cocos (Fu Ling) is the representative herb of the herbal medicine category, Herbs that Drain Dampness. 

Calming the Spirit 

Four layers of the Poria fungus are used in East Asian herbal medicine, with slightly different actions dependent on the layer used.  The innermost layer of the mushroom, which also includes part of the root of the pine it grows near, is called Fu Shen.  From a clinical perspective, this fungus helps to drain dampness but also has a particular affinity for calming the spirit—calming the shen in East Asian medicine terms—and helping to regulate the nervous system.  From a Doctrine of Signatures perspective, having the pine root integrated into the herb may represent the calming rootedness this herb is helping to provide our bodies when consumed.  While mushrooms can be lovely to consume as food, should you be interested in learning more about whether a formula containing mushrooms may be the right fit for your clinical presentation, it is always recommended to meet with one of Five Point’s herbalists who is formally trained in how to diagnose and treat specific health conditions.    

Connected Community   

In the clinic, we have been reflecting on how to best connect with community while continuing to move through these often turbulent, heartbreaking, and all too often troubling times.  We have been busy curating a Five Point Winter Open House and mini–Holistic Market to be held this upcoming Sunday, December 10th from 1:00 – 3:00 PM, trying to balance reflective practices with time to connect directly or indirectly in community. We will be sipping tea, practicing solitude together through an East Asian- and nature-inspired crafts for children and adults, and sharing our updated Five Point Apothecary with items to accompany you through the winter months ahead.  Patty Sugrue, LCPC will help us respond to winter’s invitation to rest with a Cozy Story Time for Grown-Ups, giving your busy mind a gentle place to explore, with cozy details and no drama. In addition, Hope, one of our psychotherapists, has been beautifully holding space to connect through art and embodied practices to come together in community throughout their Hope and Grief series, the last one which will be held this upcoming Saturday from 1:30 – 3:30 PM.  

Looking forward to connecting with you all when the time is right – be it at our Winter Open House or in clinic soon! 

-Ashley 

Acupuncturist, herbalist, and public health-informed nature enthusiast 

Sources:

• Bensky, D., Gamble, A., and Kaptchuk, T. Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica Revised Edition, Eastland Press, Seattle, 1993. 

• Why Mushrooms are a popular Holiday Decoration Little Pine Learners.  Accessed December 6th, 2023.  

New Herbalist and Acupuncturist Joins Five Point

Five Point would like to proudly introduce the newest member of our team: Collin Campbell, L.Ac. Collin is the husband of member-owner Leah Finch and a talented, experienced herbalist and acupuncturist. 

Collin graduated from PCOM with an extra 2700 hours of clinical experience under the tutelage of two senior professors: Frank Scott, LAc., Academic Dean at Pacific College, and Marie-France Collin, LAc., Department Chair for Acupuncture at PCOM. He was a senior intern in the Chicago Veteran's clinic, and was a co-founder of the oncology clinic at KMF Acupuncture. He is the first diplomate of the Institute of Classical East Asian Medicine to be awarded clinical fellowship. Also, he is an assistant instructor of the Chicago branch of ICEAM under the direction of his teacher, Stephen Bonzak, LAc., and under the mentorship of ICEAM's founder Dr. Arnaud Versluys, LAc. Though Collin is a skilled acupuncturist, his real passion is the study of classical Chinese herbology. His areas of special interest are dermatology and men's health issues.

Outside of work, Collin enjoys riding his bike and hiking at the Indiana Dunes with his wife and dog. Collin is available at Five Point on Fridays from 10-3 and Sundays from 1-6 or by appointment.