New Moon Balm🌙
“During the day the Sun causes wounds. And in the night the Moon heals the wounds. The mountain waits all day for the night when his moon will be finally bright.” – Suyasha Subedi
New Moon Balm
🌙an Infused CDB Oil with essential oils Balm
For years I have heard of the power and benefits of CBD, so I wanted to find a quality product to try on my massage clients and myself. However, I struggled to find information about the quality of products, and was overwhelmed with choices.
Luckily, a friend and fellow massage therapist got a hold of some high quality, pure CBD oil from a friend and grower in Southern Oregon. We integrated this oil into our massage practice as an add-on for pain, and everyone was exceedingly happy with the results. I combined it with some of my favorite essential oils and found the perfect recipe for pain relief. I wanted to make an easy to use version of this to share, which led me to make a balm.
The first step was to source CBD. What I had used before from Southern Oregon was only available if I drove 12 hours and paid the big bucks– it simply was not sustainable. I could not find a local source in the amount I desired, so I decided to take things into my own hands and grow some plants.
CBD Plant growing
My growing experiment was a success! I grew only one plant of the strain AC/DC last year and ended up with a large amount of CBD flowers to play with.
Next, I immersed some of the decarboxylated flowers into a high quality, pure olive oil to make the infused oil for the balm. The hard part was waiting 4-6 weeks for the herbs to fully infuse into the oil. Finally the oil was ready and potent, so I strained it through a cloth and got ready to make the balm I’d been dreaming of all year!
CBD infuses well in fat, so using an oil is a good way to extract the medicinal benefits of the herb. It is extremely good for relieving pain and inflammation in a safe and effective way. The strain I grew is a high CBD strain, but does still contain a small amount of the psychoactive ingredient THC. I found no noticeable effects from the THC when used topically (and trust me, I’m sensitive).
The essential oils I chose are good for relieving discomfort as well, but work on the body in a slightly different way. Deep Blue is a blend of several essential oils- Wintergreen, Camphor, Peppermint, Ylang Ylang, Helichrysum, Blue Tansy, Blue Chamomile, and Osmanthus -which work together to soothe and cool. The second oil is Copaiba, which is similar to CBD in that it works on the endocannabinoid system, but it binds to the CB2 receptors more directly, making it a great complement to the CBD. If this sounds confusing, but you’d like to learn more, check out this excellent video about CBD vs Copaiba. Lastly, I added Lavender, which makes everything smell lovely and is also a potent anti-inflammatory and calming essential oil.
I made this balm with the new moon, when the feeling of creating new and potent medicine was alive. The recipe is quite simple:
New Moon Balm
1 C. CBD infused oil
1 oz Beeswax
1 oz Shea Butter
40-60 drops essential oils (I used Deep Blue, Copaiba and Lavender)
Step 1. Melt the beeswax in a double boiler- or your version of one.
Step 2. Add the infused oil and shea butter- the beeswax will start to harden a bit, but keep stirring until it is all liquid.
Step 3. Remove the hot liquid from the heat and add your essential oils (you never want to add essential oils while you are still heating the oil)
Step 4. Pour into clean jars or tins and let cool.
Enjoy your own natural pain remedy!
