Botanical Name: Asarum canadense

Common Names and Synonyms: Canadian Snakeroot, Indian Ginger

Background: Wild ginger is not to be confused with standard culinary ginger (Zingiber officinale).  North American Indians used wild ginger to season food and disguise spoiled meat.  Folk remedy applications for wild ginger include stimulation of appetite and relieving gas pains.  Wild ginger is a creeping  plant which  has a pair of heart-shaped leaves, a maroon-brown flower at the juncture of the leaves, and a rhizome which has a spicy, ginger-like fragrance.  Used for complaints by the Canadian Indians, it is sometimes called Canadian Snakeroot.  The root  was used for digestive problems and colic.
 

Graphics:

• Edgar Cayce typically recommended ginger in cases of intestinal disorder (such as inflammatory bowel disease or irritated colon).  In certain readings he stated that the therapeutic action was through the lymphatics associated with the intestinal tract.

• Wild ginger was mentioned in 76 readings between 1924-1944 with peak utilization in 1935 (14 readings).

• Wild ginger was most often recommended as an ingredient in a formula.  Most often, the wild ginger was to be in a processed form (i.e., extract, fusion, tincture, essence, or elixir).  In these forms, the most common amounts were as follows:

 

1/4 ounce	20 readings
1/2 ounce	17 readings
40 minims	3 readings
20 minims	3 readings
1 ounce	2 readings
2 minims	1 reading
1/4 dram	1 reading

 
• In several readings, the wild ginger was in a dry, pulverized form as follows:

 

1/2 ounce	6 readings
1 dram	2 readings
1/4 ounce	1 reading
1/2 dram	1 reading

 
• In several later readings, wild ginger and wild ginseng were sometimes made into fusions and taken together.

• Other medicines mentioned in the same readings with wild ginger include:
 

Ginseng	52 readings
Pepsin	31 readings
Stillingia	22 readings
Indian Turnip	18 readings
Valerian	12 readings
Wild Cherry	8 readings
Calisaya	6 readings
Tolu	6 readings
Rhubarb	5 readings
Sarsaparilla	5 readings

 

975-1
    So, in the first portion we would take internally a compound which would be activative upon portions of the system and the organism of the body in such a manner as to prepare the body for other conditions that will become necessary as helpfulness progresses in the body.  Prepare same in this manner:
    To 2 ounces of Strained Honey add 4 ounces of Distilled Water.  Let this come to a boil.  Then before it has cooled entirely, but after it has stopped steaming, add - in the order named:

    Essence from Wild Ginseng..............1/2 dram,
    Tincture of Stillingia.................1/4 dram,
    Essence of Wild Turnip..................10 minims,
    Essence of Wild Ginger (this should be made
       from the raw Ginger; not using an emanation
       of it or synthetic preparation, but that made
       from the herb itself)................40 minims,
    Essence of Cinchona Bark...............1/4 ounce, which will act as the carrier for adding the eliminations in the system.

    But this would be the ESSENCE from the quinine bark itself;  not that which has been purified, but use the bark itself and make an essence.  To 2 drams add 4 ounces of water and  reduce to a quantity sufficient to use with the above as indicated.
    Shake the solution before the dose is taken, which would   be half a teaspoonful twice each day; preferably before  the morning meal and before the time for retiring in the evening.
    Take the whole quantity.

1019-1
... [wild] ginger will work directly with the gastric now in the liver's activity ...

1278-1
    In those of the Ginger and Ginseng, act directly with the organs as are affected by the gland production in system.

340-46
    Then we would set up a better tonal reaction of the flow of lymph through the alimentary canal with the Essence of Ginger and the other ingredients as we have heretofore indicated for the body.  This needs attention, to coordinate better conditions through the colon.