Castor Oil Fomentations

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.