Drink sage tea, be sagacious
If people who know all the words want to compliment a person’s level-headedness and wisdom, they might call the level-headed one a sage. The origin of the word goes back to a Latin word meaning fair-minded, reasonable and that cool greenish-gray herb we can use when we invent stuffing.
Even though there have been fair-minded, wise folks in all cultures everywhere for all time just like now, the herb we call sage originated long ago around the Mediterranean Sea. Dioscorides lived in the first century A.D., and when he wasn’t wishing someone would invent croquet, he was writing the five-volume De materia medica about herbal and medicinal knowledge which remained relevant for hundreds of years. He recommended using a sage salve for treating wounds and sage tea for sore throats.
Greek folks somehow figured out packing meat in sage leaves would help preserve the meat, but I’m not gonna try it. Romans have been presented through history, maybe unfairly, as gluttonous slobs who ate too much, but history also notes they used sage teas for aiding digestion and made a poultice with sage to heal wounds.
Throughout Europe, sage earned a reputation for a litany of medicinal benefits. Charlemagne, who was emperor here, emperor there, had it grown in all his realm, even as a commodity for trading. Turns out Chinese traders had learned about European sage, and it was valued highly enough they would trade four pounds of Chinese tea for one pound of European sage.
Big Boss Charlie also ran a medical school in Salerno, a town on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, in which the garden prominently featured sage. During his reign, it became customary for sage to be grown in all monasteries, and for centuries afterward monks used sage with other herbs for treating fevers, strengthening mental clarity and salving skin ailments and itching from insect bites.
After word about sage reached Asia, it became part of the Indian medical tradition. They used sage tea for not only indigestion but for all afflictions of the mouth and throat. In China, tea from Salvia officinalis, the same sage variety as the one grown in Europe, has been used for centuries to protect brain and liver cells from deterioration. They also believed drinking decoctions with sage in them would calm the nervous system and help keep memory sharp. Maybe with enough sage tea, they would be sages.
- officinalis, known as garden sage, is the predominant variety, and it has greenish-gray leaves and becomes a small bush two feet tall or so. The stems get woody the second year. The purple flowers against the gray-green leaves make garden sage a candidate for perennial flowerbeds. It is tolerant of most soils as long as the soil drains well, though it prefers slightly acidic soil like we have in our area.
Sage plants might take hold of a spot in the garden and stay a few years. With a layer of mulch, they can handle cold winters and roar back in spring. Right now is a good time to harvest leaves. Carefully pick the big leaves, spread them on a tray for dehydrating and store the dried leaves in a jar or crock. If your sage plants are well-established, you can use older dried sage leaves as a scented mulch and refill your crock with the new ones.
Varieties of sage with purple, golden, white or variegated leaves can be used in similar ways. Pineapple sage grows taller than garden sage and has showy red flowers which pollinators appreciate.
Native Americans gathered twigs of white sage together, lit the bundle on fire and used the smoke to cleanse a space of negative energy. S.apiana is antimicrobial and might even deter unwanted insects and enhance psychic avenues, depending on whom you ask.
Our experience recommends sage for body, mind and spirit, and you don’t need a password to be a sage.