Chaga and the Gift of Death
The chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus), also called the "Gift of the Gods" by some, has been an integral part of herbal medicines in several cultures across thousands of years. Chaga grows on the trunks of dying birch trees, and is generally classified as a "parasite" - an organism that kills its host in order to flourish. It's a polypore mushroom (meaning it has a large fruiting body with pores on the underside) of the family Hymenochaetaceae - all of which cause various rots and disease in the tree hosts they grow on.
Hymen comes from the Greek, meaning "membrane," and most notably has been used to describe the mucous membrane covering the vaginal canal. The second root, chaite, is also Greek, and means "long hair." Divine feminine energy has often been associated with death, creatures who give life (figuratively, energetically, or procreatively) are often those who have the power to also take it away. So it is with chaga - killing a tree so it can live, passing life onto those who harvest and ingest it. It is important to note that divine feminine energy has nothing to do with human constructs of gender or the physical expressions of one's body. It is simply one of the energies that exists within us. I'll be writing up a fully post on the Divine Feminine/Divine Masculine dualism in the near future!
Chaga has been used across Russia, China, Korea, Northern Europe, Northern America, Canada, and Alaska - basically anywhere there's cold weather and trees that love cold weather - like birch. I first came across chaga four years ago in Minnesota - I was at a Reclaiming Witchcamp and met a witch who wildcrafted their own chaga and made it into tinctures. They had a printout, and a little sign that said they gave chaga away for free to anyone who was currently living with cancer.
The cancer-fighting properties of chaga have made it fairly well-known in holistic and alternative healing circles, and it's also been advertised as a panacea, cure-all by some companies. Chaga is a very powerful tonic, though my personal belief as an herbalist is that no plant should never be sold as a one-stop-shop for any and every ailment that someone may have. There are so many things to consider when choosing a plant ally for your disease - including its energetics, yours, your medical history, your birth chart, where you're from, etc.
How fitting, then, that a mushroom that kills its host can give the gift of life back to those who take it. All of life is cycles of death, transformation, and rebirth - one thing dying so that another thing can live. I recently saw a person question the relationship between chaga and the tree that it kills - they were struggling to understand how these two creatures could exist symbiotically while one was killing the other.
The thing about chaga, and all things in nature, is that it understands that death is a gift. Death is a gift. When a tree dies in a forest, its body becomes food for the soil, other fungi and mosses, and it becomes a habitat for all sorts of forest creatures. It clears up space for sunlight to get through to the forest floor, and becomes an opportunity for new life to grow. Not only that, but there is no such thing as a singular tree in a forest. Trees exist in a community - they are connected by vast networks of root systems, they communicate with one another through semaphores sent out into the air. A dead tree is a gift to the forest because it feeds more life growing into it. We mustn't mourn one seemingly dead tree because it is, in fact, only one tentacle of the vast and varied organism that is the forest.
Eventually, all bodies come to die. Our time in this physical incarnation is impossibly short, but the beauty lies in knowing that our bodies are not separate from any other part of nature or the natural world. We are all connected - and when our bodies die they simply become other things. When we view life and ourselves as all interconnected and interdependent, we no longer have to question why some things appear as "parasites," or why some things die so that others can live. We are all constantly in a cycle of regeneration, and we can better understand the gift of death when we eliminate fear around the idea that it is somehow a finite end. Nothing ever really ends, or goes away. We all simply become other things. The medicine of chaga is not just in its antioxidants or its polysaccharides, but in its ability to help us confront that other things die so that we can live, and that one day it will also be our time to die.
That's part of the reason I resist the urge to label any medicine as a "cure-all" or try to sell people the false hope that a plant will cure them of whatever ails them. We can take care of our bodies, but eventually we must also reckon with the fact that it's our turn to make space in the forest, our time to become loam and feed the soil so that new generations can grow off the gifts we've left behind.
Materia Medica:
- Planetary Influence: Jupiter (longevity + expansion +adaptation)
- Energetic Quality: Sweet, cooling, balancing
- Pharmacological Constituents: Antioxidants, Immune-modulating polysaccharides, phytosterols, betulin, beta-D glucans, SODs (Super Oxide Dismutase)
- Actions: Adaptogen, anti-cancer, anti-tumor, blood tonic and cleanser, improves immune function, anti-fungal, anti-mutagenic, anti-hyperprofilerative
- Indications: Cancer, tumors, unchecked cellular growth, chronic digestive disorders, auto-immune disorders, neuropathy, blood pressure and cholesterol issues
- Contraindications: Some studies suggest that chaga shouldn't be used for those with kidney stones or kidney disorders. It should also be used with caution by those with diabetes, as it affects blood sugar levels. Do not take with any anti-coagulant drugs.
Preparation:
Chaga has properties that prefer both hot and cold extractions. The best way to prepare your chaga is a 2-step decoction (tea) process, first soaking the chaga in cool water overnight and then bringing it to a boil for 1-2 hours. 1 teaspoon for 1 cup of water is a generally good ratio, and any plant material used should be given back to the Earth when you're done.
Harvest:
Chaga must be harvested from a living tree - do not harvest from a dead or fallen tree. Never take the first chaga that you find, the smallest or the largest. Chaga is currently being overharvested so it's important to only harvest or purchase what you need and no more. As climates warm the areas in which chaga can grow is being reduced, so harvest only what you need.