Across cultures and history, castor oil has accompanied human life as a natural healing plant. In our modern times, it has been mostly used internally to strengthen digestive and immune function - much to the chagrin of mid century children. This precious oil has even more important external applications. For healthy skin and lustrous hair, even for household uses, castor oil is a gift to mankind. Grown as an ornamental garden plant with showy red seedpods, reaching about 6′, this plant has both healing and poisonous qualities.

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Health Benefits and Uses:

Castor oil is one of these magical, natural substances that have defied specific medical classification. With effects so powerful across a wide variety of physiological imbalances, the oil was almost exclusively studied for internal use. This blog is focused on the external applications of castor oil as packs. Castor oil packs are a highly recommended therapy in my practice and I also have personal experience with its beneficial use.

From top to bottom castor oil packs have been effective in breaking up tumors, congestion, blockages, heal inflammation and infected areas, help with cleansing the liver and gall bladder, remedy constipation and other digestive ills. The use of this unique oil is undisputedly recognized by our body as a welcome, familiar substance that soothes, realigns, reconnects and heals.

A few years ago, I felt some growth in my right breast, they were not painful, but they were hard little lumps, several of them. Having naturally fibrous breasts for as long as I recall, it didn’t strike me as that odd, and yet something kept nagging at me in the back of my mind. At 40, I had my first and last mammogram, a test method that over the past 10 years turned out to be of little value to prevent death from breast cancer. It is also very uncomfortable and projects 40 times more radiation into the body than a dental X-ray. It tends to be quite uncomfortable for women with denser and larger breasts. So, not an option I would choose for myself again.

Castor oil packs to the rescue: Being versed in how Edgar Cayce remedies often involved castor oil packs, I applied a pack across both breasts 3-4 nights a week with a heating pad for a couple of hours, and leaving the pack on overnight. After three weeks of this, there were no more spots or even lumps, my breasts were soft and firm. I cannot tell you what the lumps were and as far I was concerned, this method prevented an almost certain biopsy, which is invasive and a painful procedure. Besides I was clear that cutting into anything tumorous in the body - where waste and toxins are stored along with other debris - would certainly open the tumor to spread the previously contained toxins through the neighboring tissue, which would entirely defeat the body’s own method of containing such toxins. Too often I’ve listened to the stories of how biopsies are related with the spread of cancer instead of helping to prevent it.

Consider the fact that every tumor cell, is bathed in interstitial fluid, which drains into the lymphatic system and has an individualized arterial blood supply and venous drainage like any other normal cell in our body. When a needle or a knife is inserted into a tumor, there is the jeopardy of dislodging loose tumor cells into the circulation or into the tissue fluid. Thus the spread of cancer cells is facilitated.

Caveat: On rare occasions someone’s skin is sensitive to Castor oil - please test the oil prior to your first use on the tender skin inside your forearm and wait an hour or two. If no reddening or other issue occurs, please use it.

Any number of abdominal and reproductive issues are helped with the application of castor oil. Consistent use as described is important. A warm castor oil pack for 1.5 hours four days on three days off for 2-3 weeks is often enough to make a healing difference and eliminate many symptoms that have not had proper healing with or without medication. According to different accounts by patients, many surgeries have been prevented by the application of castor oil packs. How does it do that? While taking castor bean oil internally has been studied extensively, there are no double blind studies on the external application of castor oil packs on various parts of the body.

We have lots of testimonials through the Edgar Cayce Foundation and I found the book by Dr. William A. McGarey MD “The Oil That Heals” a great source of very interesting facts. Many years ago when I first came to the US, I bought Dr. Reilly and Ruth Brod’s book “The Edgar Cayce Handbook of Health Through Drugless Therapy” which is still available on amazon. I wanted to study the remedies with Dr. Reilly, but he died right after I arrived in New York.

Since both these books were published, we have learned so much about the ‘gut brain’ and how it correlates with all physical and neurological functions. Wikipedia: “The gut–brain axis refers to the biochemical signaling taking place between the gastrointestinal tract and its gut flora on the one hand, and the nervous system on the other.[1][2]

During research on how Cannabidiol CBD oil helps children with epilepsy, a point was made of the strong connection of the various nervous systems affected by the electric disconnect from the brain to the tail bone. I was fascinated to read in Dr. McGarey’s book that castor oil packs had shown the same ability to reconnect the Vagus nerve all the way through its length and its branching thus reestablishing the previously interrupted connection.

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Pondering that the Vagus nerve runs the entire length of our torso from the brain stem into our intestines, and branches its function throughout the abdominal organs, it was easy to realize that castor oil beneficially affects the ganglia and to connect the ganglion function of this vital nerve with the healing application of the oils.  By applying a castor oil pack to the abdominal area, it covers the physical gut as well as the correlating lymphatic and nervous systems located in that area. The effects are manifold and much healing has been documented through this simple application. It is such an easy to use and inexpensive method for many ills.

This signaling function is facilitated by the application of castor oil on the abdomen and by the importance of a healthy microbiota, which together create the much needed balance and functional excellence of a healthy human body and mind. Our microbiome affects powerfully how we think and affects our mood. The correlation and connection between the brain and the digestive system was discovered in the early 1920’s and shut down with the invention of the EEG machine, which relegated all the attention and causes for neurological issues to the brain itself, not yet understanding that the brain is just where it happens, not where the problem or imbalance originate.

Castor oil packs seem to restore the proper correlation and signaling between the gut and the nervous system, in particular the para-sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for restoration, renewal and healthy sleep. An excellent outline of what castor oil packs can do for us, watch this video from Dr. Marisol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMNFAhXx-t4

For the proper application please watch a video online, or follow the instructions that come with the supplies such as oil and wool flannel. It’s become a popular natural remedy by 2023.

Available at The Health Cupboard on N 5th St Hway, Reading and from Baar.com for everyone else. Instructions are on the oil bottles as well as the wool flannel squares that are sold separately, which if carefully stored can be reused for a long time. I have reused mine for about 2 years now. I keep it in the fridge between uses, don’t wash it and simply apply more oil when needed. To your Good Health and Healing.