The next time you use Parsley in one of your vegetable or meat dishes remember that it has important medicinal actions also. When nature gave us parsley she gave an amazing and extremely versatile plant to aid the body in regaining its health.  Parsley is chiefly used for renal congestion, inflammation of the kidneys and bladder, gravel, stones, and urine retention.  The root and leaves are excellent for the liver and spleen when jaundice and venereal diseases are present.  It is also one of the best reliefs for edema, helping when other remedies have failed.  Parsley root contains ingredients that help produce a pain relieving benefit to relax stiff joints.  Many have used parsley root tea to make stiff and unmanageable fingers work again.  The root contains calcium, B-complex vitamins, and iron all of which nourish the parathyroid glands which are concerned with the regulation of calcium in the body.  Pour a quart of boiling water over a cup of firmly packed fresh parsley and allow to steep for 15 minutes.  Strain and then refrigerate.

Although parsley is a very reliable and old diuretic remedy it is very much ignored today.  Parsley will work on the gall bladder and will remove gallstones if used properly by taking a pint of the tea daily.  Parsley is a specific for the adrenal glands, is powerfully therapeutic for the optic nerves, the brain nerves and the whole sympathetic nervous system.  Parsley juice is an excellent tonic for the blood vessels, particularly the capillaries and arterioles.  But remember that raw parsley juice is a most potent juice and should never be taken alone in quantities of more than one or two ounces at a time unless it is mixed into a sufficient quantity of carrot or other juices.  Parsley is remarkable for its ability to expel watery poisons, excess mucoid matter, flatulence, reducing swollen and enlarged glands.

The usual remedy for kidney, bladder, and edema is to make at least two quarts of a strong parsley tea and drink copiously.  If the urine is suppressed drink one half to one teacupful, hot, every hour.

We have had several students testify in herbology classes as to the value of parsley, among which is the following: "I talked to a man who went into the hospital for infection.  He was there six weeks and it was costing $45.00 a day for the drugs they gave him.  Then someone told his wife to take him some parsley.  The doctor said, 'Well, it won't hurt him, but it won't help him.'  He was released from the hospital after he had taken it for one day; it had started to drain the infection he had."

Dr. Christopher tells of a personal acquaintance who came here from England in her twenties.  She was very sickly; at the time had no children, so her husband told her to go to the doctor.  She did, and when she returned home she was very discouraged and very unhappy, because he told her, "You have a kidney infection which is a very progressive type and there is nothing we can do to heal it; you will have possible six months to live."

So she was at home meditating when she heard a knock at the front door.  There stood a bearded man in a grey suit; he said: "Sister Hanger, may I have a glass of water?"  to which she replied "Certainly," although she didn't know him.  She gave him the glass of water, and he said: "Sit down, I want to talk to you a minute, Sister Hanger," and she wondered then how he knew her name.  He continued: "I would like to help you if you would like me to.  You have just come from the doctor's and he told you that you have a bad kidney condition.  Well, you are from England.  You have brought your herbs with you, and you have a little herb garden out in the back in which you have a nice stand of parsley.  Now, if you will take a handful of parsley each day and put it into a pint of water, cover and steep it, and drink it in regular doses during the day, it will heal this condition.  The doctor told you that you have only six months to live, but I will tell you what you will see; you will see another depression" - and he went on and told her all the things she would see.  When he had finished the short interview, something momentarily distracted her attention and in that instant he disappeared.  She lived to be eighty-six years old and had raised a number of wonderful children.

One of our students had been called by her brother-in-law that her favorite sister was near death.  He said if she wanted to see her while she was still alive to come quickly to Chicago, Illinois.  Her sister had been suffering for months from dropsy and was now helpless and blacking out from the pain.  She was only expected to live a day or two longer.

Our student flew to Chicago on Saturday and was shocked at the sight of her sister.  She was so swollen that she was hardly recognizable, and did not even realize her visitor was there.  Our friend told her brother-in-law that she had recently heard a lecture about an herbal aid for dropsy and asked if she might use it. He said.  "My wife is supposed to be dead shortly.  Please do anything you can."

She got in a cab, went to the health stores in downtown Chicago, and bought all the parsley root she could find, along with some glycerine.  She returned and quickly made and administered parsley tea.

Our student applied the fomentations and had her sick sister drink one half cup of tea each hour.  She had to return home because of her job, but left instructions to continue the parsley procedure.

She later received a phone call from her brother-in-law in Chicago who said.  "I have someone who would like to say hello to you."  It was her sister.  The swelling of months was all gone; she was out of bed for the first time in months - happy to be alive and full of vitality and hope.

Parsley is such a precious herb and so easy to grow in most any little corner of your garden or a flower pot - why ever be without it?