Let’s consider the wondrous bee. The miracle worker that is not only a champion pollinator vital to our food supply but also the giver of many healing substances.

The most popular of these is honey, that golden and sweet substance that’s been a food for humans throughout history. Now this sticky substance has found its way into skin care.

But honey’s not the only substance this mighty insect gives us. Propolis, bee pollen, beeswax, royal jelly, and bee venom are other popular ingredients finding their way into topical products to get the skin healthy and glowing.

Here’s the buzz on the skin benefits of these gifts from the bee.

Bee Products for Skin Care

• Honey

  This tasty sweetener, made by bees from nectar and honeydew (a sticky, sugary substance made by aphids), is truly a healing substance. It contains at least 181 ingredients! These include:

  • enzymes
  • organic acids
  • flavonoids
  • essential oils
  • proteins
  • amino acids
  • small amounts of vitamins and minerals

  Uses

  • Healing

    Not only a food, honey also has regenerative properties. It can help detoxify dermal tissue, improve skin elasticity and color, and smooth out wrinkles.

    Honey helps speed up skin cells’ healing activities. In fact, the Manuka variety is so beneficial for wound healing that it’s now used in clinical settings.

    For Acne

    Honey can also help heal acne scars. Apply it every day to scars to help the healing process.

    Always remove honey before going to bed. Remnants on the face can attract dust and dirt, which could lead to more breakouts.

  • Moisturizing

    Honey also helps soften the skin. It adds moisture to dry areas, and it makes creams, lotions, and oils easier to rub in. It’s a balm for chapped lips, dry hands, and even frostbite.

    In its sugared form, honey acts as a peeling agent.

  Usage

  If you decide to make your own skin care treatments, use only raw, unpasteurized honey. Heated varieties don’t have the same powerful nutritional and enzymatic properties.

  Dab raw honey directly on the skin to help with acne, candida overgrowth, eczema, or psoriasis. Or use it as a natural exfoliator to reveal brighter skin.

  Leave the honey on your skin for several minutes and then rinse it off.

• Propolis

  Commonly mixed in beeswax, propolis is also known as bee glue. It is a resinous substance that bees collect from tree buds, shrubs, and plants.

  Propolis has a whopping 300-plus active compounds, including:

  • esters
  • phenolic acids
  • flavonoids
  • aromatic compounds

  Uses

  With antimicrobial, antiseptic, antioxidant, antiviral, and antifungal properties, propolis treats fungal infections, skin burns, and acne vulgaris.

  Look for propolis in sunblock products and protective lipsticks, as it offers protection from ultraviolet radiation.

• Bee Pollen

  Bees bring pollen from plants back to the hives. Bee pollen has at least 200 active substances, including:

  • vitamins
  • flavonoids
  • hydroxy acids
  • unsaturated fatty acids

  Uses

  A strong antifungal, bee pollen is an anti-inflammatory and immuno-stimulating agent that can regenerate damaged skin tissue.

  With its high content of flavonoids, it affects cell metabolism and boosts regeneration.

  Bee pollen extracts and dried grains of bee pollen are sometimes added to natural cosmetics and skin care.

  Look for skin products combining omega-rich fatty acids with bee pollen to help with scarring and sensitive skin.

• Beeswax

  Beeswax is a natural secretion formed from the wax-producing glands in worker bees’ abdomens. It’s used by bees to build honeycomb cells. For us humans, it’s an important cosmetic ingredient.

  Uses

  An emulsifying agent, beeswax forms the base for many lip balms, lipsticks, and creams because of its softening and lubricating properties, which also help prevent water loss from the skin.

  Beeswax can help psoriasis, dermatitis, and the overgrowth of normal skin flora.

• Royal Jelly

  With such a regal name, it’s no surprise this ingredient is a supreme skin defender.

  Uses

  It has anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, antimicrobial, and regenerative properties to help repair skin tissues, wounds, and burns. It can also help heal shingles.

  Find royal jelly as an ingredient in balms, lotions, and creams. Products with higher amounts of royal jelly tend to absorb well with no greasy residue.

• Bee Venom

  It sounds scary, but don’t let the name sway you from bee venom’s healing properties.

  An effective, natural toxin rich in peptides, it offers antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antimicrobial actions.

  Uses

  Many like bee venom for its natural botox-like properties, which help boost collagen production and improve elasticity.

  Bee venom can be found in anti-acne products, as well as in treatments for wounds, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis.

  Bee venom’s recently been found effective for fighting wrinkles and photo-damaged skin.

  Those with dry, aging, and acne-prone skin benefit most from this ingredient.

  Look for bee venom-infused moisturizers to heal patches of itchy and dry skin.

Precautions: Bee Safe

Allergic reactions, though not common, can occur when using bee products.

Bee pollen is the most frequent allergen causing hypersensitivity, and beeswax is the least allergenic.

If you have allergies to bee venom, use caution with products containing honey and other bee ingredients.

Allergies to honey are rare. However, some individuals can experience skin rashes and eczema when applying royal jelly topically. Always do a patch test before using.

Reprinted with permission from Earth Medicines: Ancestral Wisdom, Healing Recipes, and Wellness Rituals from a Curandera by Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz ($24.95, Shambhala Publications, 2021)

The Power of Fire

Whether you are relaxing around a campfire, hypnotized by its flames or listening closely to the news of a nearby brushfire, Fire captures everyone’s attention. An alchemist by design, Fire is transmutative. The energy behind its flame is one of mystery, change, and destruction.

Nonetheless, after even the greatest of destruction comes renewal and rebirth as demonstrated by the mythological phoenix. Illuminating people with its medicine, Fire is the strongest and most powerful of all the elements, and it is something that I was taught to respect.

Ceremonial Fire

Throughout my life, I have witnessed Fire keepers tending to Fire for ceremony or dance. Fire keepers are designated community members upholding the age-old tradition of keeping a fire strong and hot, working with it, praying to it, and showing it utmost respect.

Keeping the fire strong is not simply for heating stones that may be used in a sweat lodge or providing light and warmth for a dance. It is also representative of the spiritual energy of the ceremony or gathering, which is why a fire needs to remain strong and must never die out until the end of the ceremony.

Depending on the tribe or tradition, sacred aromatics may be placed on the hot rocks heated by this sacred flame. This exchange is an offering and a prayer of gratitude. It is a reminder that when you work with Fire to see it as a living entity.

Fire for Your Body and Spirit

Nourishing my body with the bright Fire of the sun is not only one of my beauty secrets for glowing skin, but it is also a key to good gut health.

Eating daily an array of colorful fruits and vegetables is nutritionally healing, and their colors transport me to memories of sunny days. It’s no wonder that when many of us experience high levels of stress or consume too many processed foods, we can send our digestive systems into high alert.

Nutrient-rich plant foods infused with the sun not only invigorate our metabolism, but they can also energize our spirit.

Warming Herbs and Spices

Warming herbs such as ginger have widely been used for the digestive system, helping with ailments such as an upset stomach, nausea, and indigestion.

While studying Ayurvedic cooking, I learned that several of my common kitchen spices could be eaten to increase the digestion of food and raise the metabolic process in our bodies.

This is valuable because a strong metabolism causes more heat in the body, which helps with the digestion process and is believed to help break down and transform food. This action is called agni, the fire of digestion.;

Hence, consuming the correct herbs and spices can “feed” agni and strengthen its energy, thus allowing for healthy ingestion of nutrients.

The general signs that you may have a weak digestive fire are experiencing a poor appetite, feeling sleepy after meals, having excessive gas, and feeling heavy or lethargic.

Electuaries

An electuary is simply a mixture of powdered herbs and spices combined with honey to make a thick paste that you can take by the spoonful or add to warm water.

I have made electuaries using fresh plant material such as the zest of a lemon or grated ginger, but for the most part, they are traditionally made using dried powdered herbs and spices for a longer shelf life.

Any of these spices (listed below) are great for digestion and can be used on their own or blended to make your own special combination. It’s a straightforward method and a tasty way to introduce more Fire into your body.

Electuary for Digestive Fire

This recipe makes one small jar and is very flexible.

Ingredients

• [q:1/2] cup of runny honey
• 4 teaspoons ground spices of your choosing:
  • Anise seeds
  • Black pepper
  • Cardamom pods
  • Cayenne
  • Cinnamon
  • Coriander seeds
  • Cumin seeds
  • Dill seeds
  • Fennel seeds
  • Ginger

Equipment

• Small jar that can hold at least one half cup, or 4 fluid ounces

Directions

1. To begin, first decide which spices you would like to use from the list below, choosing one single spice or several spices for your creation. Don’t worry about exact measurements, but aim for roughly 4 teaspoons total. If any of your chosen spices are whole, you will first need to grind them using a mortar and pestle.
2. Once you have your blend of ground spices, place them in your jar and begin adding honey to create a thick paste, mixing and adjusting the honey if you want a thinner or sweeter electuary. Label the jar.
3. To use the electuary, take one small teaspoonful before meals to enkindle your agni.

There are several different types of preparations that combine honey and herbs in a synergistic way. Some herbs are better in certain preparations in order to optimally deliver their therapeutic properties.

Herbal Preparations with Honey

• Honey Electuaries

  Electuaries are mixtures of raw honey with anything intended to promote healthy balance or benefit in the body. In modern times, this process has been used in veterinary medicine, particularly with horses, but it has a long history with humans as well.

  The electuary is mixed using raw honey and dried or fresh plant material as a base to which many other healing aids may be added. Electuaries are eaten by the teaspoonful and are intended to be delicious, making often bitter or unpalatable herbs more agreeable to use in daily life.

• Honey Infusions

  Infusions are created by adding fresh herbs or spices to raw honey and allowing them to steep. There is no heat added in the process. Instead, infusions are stirred regularly and may be kept in sunlight for at least two weeks and up to six weeks to allow the flavor and the benefit of the plant to be transferred into the honey. At the end of this period, the herbs or spices are strained out. The enhanced honey is then left to be eaten on its own or added into recipes.

• Honey Tinctures

  Tincturing is a similar process to infusion but with the addition of alcohol or vinegar to the honey, herbs, and spices. No heat is applied. The mixture sits and is blended by frequent stirring over the course of four to six weeks. When time is up, the tincture is strained, the herbs are composted, and the resulting liquid is used in 30- to 60-drop amounts (dosage varies by herb).

• Honey Pian

  Pian is a Chinese word for “slices,” which is how pills were originally made. To make these pills, powdered herbs or spices are combined with raw honey to form a dough. The dough is sliced into small bits and rolled to the size and shape of a pea. They are eaten fresh or dried.

• Honey Fermentation

  Fermenting is the process of allowing the natural yeasts in honey to eat away at the sugar content and produce various levels of alcohol and probiotics. Fermented honeys can be amplified by adding healthful herbs, spices, or symbiotic organisms such as Jun. The resulting beverage or food is eaten and enjoyed to improve digestive health.

• Honey Oxymel

  An oxymel is a blend of honey and vinegar, enhanced with an herb or herbs for the purpose of healing the body. The blend has been used throughout history as a vehicle for delivering herbs that some find unpleasant on their own. They can be enjoyed by the glass or blended into other recipes.

  Making Oxymels

  The word oxymel comes from the Latin oxymeli meaning “acid and honey.” Apple cider vinegar is a well-known ingredient for making an oxymel, but there is room for experimentation, like using kombucha.

  Today, oxymels are popular drinks for health, like the common apple cider vinegar–honey-cayenne-lemon mixture, and even as cocktails with a sweet-and-sour punch and often a savory herbal flavor infused throughout.

  The Fast Way to Make an Oxymel

  1. Start with [q:1/2] cup to a half-pint jar of your favorite herbal-infused honey. Add  to [q:1/2] cup apple cider vinegar. Stir.
  2. Enjoy your oxymel with a bit of sparkling water or store it to enjoy by the spoonful. To make a refreshing drink, add [q:1/4] cup oxymel to [q:1/4]  cup sparkling water or adjust to your taste. If you are storing this oxymel, be sure to use a plastic lid for your canning jar. Vinegar will corrode a metal lid.