Castor Oil Fomentations
Jo Francks MH
Castor oil has been used for centuries as an aid
for healing. The most widely used application of castor oil is to use it as a
fomentation. Dr. Christopher taught that a castor oil fomentation is used to
get rid of hardened mucus in the body, which may appear as cysts, tumors or
polyps. He said that a castor oil fomentation over the liver area will open the
constipated capillaries within the liver. The fomentation will draw out poisons
and flush them out of the liver. A castor oil fomentation can also be used over
any part of the body experiencing congestion, pain or stagnation. It can be
used over the abdomen for constipation or menstrual cramps, uterine and ovarian
cysts and endometriosis. It can be applied to sore or arthritic joints and sore
muscles.
Please note that Dr. Christopher never
recommended that castor oil be taken internally.
Before doing a castor oil fomentation prepare
the area you will be laying on by placing some plastic sheeting or some towels
to catch any oil that might drip. Castor oil cannot be washed out of any
clothing or bedding. A castor oil fomentation is done by placing a natural wool
or cotton flannel cloth folded into 3 layers saturated with castor oil but not
dripping over the liver and/or abdominal areas. Cover the cloth with a piece of
plastic, then a source of heat which can be a heating pad turned to a
comfortably warm temperature or a hot water bottle filled with very warm water.
Cover with a towel and secure all this if needed with a towel wrapped around
the torso and secured with safety pins. This will be left on for at least an
hour and can be left for up to 8 hours but usually an hour or two is the proper
length of time. If a water bottle is your source of heat it will need to be
refilled with very warm water several times to maintain the warm temperature.
Another option is to alternate hot and cold while the fomentation is in place.
The point is for the skin to absorb the castor oil. Dr. Christopher recommends
in The School of Natural Healing book to do the fomentation for 3 days and the
following 3 days massage the same area with olive oil in a circular motion
towards the heart and rest on the seventh day. The program can be repeated each
week for al long as necessary. If the skin becomes sensitive to the oil cut back
on days and time to what your body can handle. The castor oil goes through the
skin into the liver area and lymph glands and starts drawing out the poisons
and flushing them out, while the olive oil goes in and helps heal and rebuild
new tissue. The saturated oil cloth can be reused many times. When not in use,
store it in a heavy duty resealable plastic bag or a glass jar.
Castor oil has many other benefits and is
something worth having on hand when needed.
