At Christmastime, I made gift baskets for my family. I filled them with homemade salves, cough syrup, soap, chai tea, etc. One of the salves I included was an achy muscle salve. It works very nicely, and has a cooling effect afterwards. Again, I am blown away by what God has put in nature, if we just figure out how to use it!
First thing you need to do is make some arnica oil. Arnica is a flower that is known as ‘the healing herb’. It is great for using on sore muscles, bruises, arthritic joints, sprains, etc.
So no wonder, it is the main ingredient in my salve!
Take 1 cup of arnica flowers and place them in a mason jar. Take a good olive oil and cover the flowers and allow to steep for about 2 weeks or longer.
Once your arnica oil is ready, strain the oil from your flowers and you are ready to make the salve!
1 cup arnica oil (see above for directions)
2 oz beeswax
10 drops of wintergreen essential oil
6 drops of cloves essential oil
5 drops of eucalyptus essential oil.
The process is the same as for my other salves and ointments.
You melt the beeswax or other hard oils in a mason jar inside of a pot of water first. You need to get them to a liquid state, but don’t boil. Again, you are working with herbs and natural oils, so these do not need to get TOO hot or you kill off some of the good.
Once the wax is melted, add your arnica oil.
Feel the mixture, if it is HOT, give it time to cool slightly.
Only mix in your essential oils when the jar is comfortable to the touch.
Add in your essential oils and stir well.
You may want to stir several times as the cooling process happens. You want to make sure everything stays incorporated throughout and no settling happens.
This will harden into a firm salve, but will melt and absorb into the skin when applied.
Happy Healing!
