Milk Thistle : Magick Medicine From Mama

Again, I’m not an herbalist, but milk thistle is a plant I’ve come to know in the last few years through direct experience. It’s very abundant in the Pacific North West area. Most people avoid these plants because they are all spiney and pokey, but they are almost 100% edible and actually have amazing medicinal qualities. The entire plant is edible with the exception of the spiney prickles themselves. The leaves are a great addition to salads(make sure you remove those prickles), the seeds can be eaten – though take it easy they are POWERFUL liver cleansers. The roots too can be made into a nice earthy tasting tea, or fried up in a stir fry or even eaten raw if you’re hardcore.

This plant is a great source of free food and offers amazing health benefits.
Traditionally Milk Thistle, also known as blessed thistle or holy thistle was used to increase milk production to help mothers breast feed their babies, as well as curing many ailments of the liver. Because of its liver cleansing properties, it’s a very useful plant for helping people with alchohol or drug toxicity problems. One other interesting use is that Milk Thistle extracts have been used to cure Death Cap mushroom(Amanita phalloides) poisoning. Nice to keep in mind for you amanita freaks out there. Seriously though if you’re trying to detox your liver, Milk Thistle will rock your socks.