422 Lifetime Visits for This Realm, 2 Wizards Have Been Here Today
Integrative medicine is known for treating the patient’s mind and body, considering how these are closely connected. Epsom salt is one tool that integrative medical specialists often recommend for its physical and mental health benefits. While no clinical trials have confirmed the benefits of Epsom salt, many doctors promote it for its ease of use, reasonable price and minimally invasive delivery. Naoki Umeda, MD, from Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine, shares seven valuable insights on the health benefits of Epsom salt as well as its recommended usage:
It’s nothing like table salt. Epsom salt was named for a bitter saline spring at Epsom in Surrey, England. It is one of many naturally occurring mineral salts, a compound of magnesium and sulfate.
Epsom salt is good for the mind. Epsom salt helps stabilize mood and relieve stress, anxiety and depression. In fact, some researchers claim that taking magnesium increases serotonin (happiness or relaxation hormone) production in the brain.
Epsom salt is good for the body. Epsom salt helps relax muscles and relieve pain in the shoulders, neck, back and skull. For example, by relaxing the muscles surrounding the skull, the magnesium in Epsom salt may help release a headache or migraine.
Some researchers also think that magnesium is good for reducing inflammation in internal organs. This may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and improve digestion/bowel movement. Integrative medical experts commonly recommend Epsom salt to patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and cold intolerance.
It only takes 15 minutes to benefit. Put 300 grams of Epsom salt into a bathtub filled with hot water. In just 15 minutes, you will start to experience the mental and physical benefits of Epsom salt.
Epsom salt is for external use only. Some may claim that drinking Epsom salt is good for detoxification. The truth is that drinking Epsom salt causes some people to experience serious side effects such as severe diarrhea. Sudden and dramatic changes in bowel behavior can be very dangerous and cause dehydration and discomfort. There are no studies to prove that taking Epsom salt orally is safe or beneficial.
Salt is such an innocuous substance, isn’t it? We shake it onto our foods thoughtlessly, making the most bland and tasteless meal more palatable. And yet it is such a powerful magickal ingredient!
Salt has so many uses. In a mundane sense, aside from making food taste better, it can be used in all sorts of healing capacities included soaks and scrubs. On a more magickal level, it’s purifying and protective abilities are pretty potent. You can use just about any kind of salt, including table salt, for basic purification and protection spells. But what’s even better is using one of the many and varied types of salts for more specific purposes. To employ the magickal benefits of salt, try adding specific types to special, homemade foods, soak in a salt bath or make a salt scrub with fresh herbs. Sprinkle it into shapes such as cast circles or a pentacle on your altar. Cleanse crystals by sprinkling a circle of salt around them and leaving them to charge in moonlight, (it is best not to immerse most crystals in salt as it can be damaging.) So many wonderful uses.
Specific Uses for Epsom Salt
Magickal Properties: Purifying specifically the body, detoxification. Perfect for ritual baths.
Inorganic salt; magnesium sulfate.
Pure white.
Used primarily for bathing, cosmetics and soothing sore muscles.
