Essiac and the Brave New World. 2007. Fast Forward to 2021. Montana, Essiac and Blue Moon Herbs.
Greetings from Montana's beautiful Flathead Valley! Blue Moon Herbs is a small independent Montana business run by women with the help of a few good men. There are more or less four of us. We are all employees and approach our work as a team. Since 2008 we have been making Essiac tea the way its developer Rene Caisse did, based on the research of Mali Klein and Sheila Snow, who worked directly with Nurse Caisse to get her story out and keep the knowledge of Essiac going. We have put on seminars, workshops, talks, Essiac tea parties and more over the years to continue that work and have been producing, selling and giving away Essiac tea for over 14 years now!
Where We're coming from. My family has been in Montana for seven generations, arriving as refugees from 'east of here' like all the white people in the U.S. once did. The original peoples of this area (Flathead Indian Reservation) have been here since the ice age, and no doubt even earlier. The first modern record of Essiac came from the indigenous world of 1890s Canada, North Ontario.
We are honored to be helping keep Essiac available for our local community and outward from there to that place where we can still keep our equilibrium and be of service.
A lot of people could benefit from a cup of tea to temper the intensity of these times and help navigate the changes we will make to see our way forward. Essiac at bedtime to bring our peaceful wits back together... even if not everyone is getting along on that bigger stage, is important.. The Scope of our Mission Given the Current Affairs of the World We want to do all we can to keep the right information and a good product available and serve as many people as we can with what we have. We have always shipped our products internationally but the cost and reliability of shipping overseas has been a money and time drain that is making it more difficult to flesh out the work we are trying to do right here at home.
When the pandemic lockdown began 19 months ago, we bought supplies in advance, anticipating that prices would be rising. It was a good move, as we still have a good store of tea-making, packaging and office supplies on hand. Not only that, the availability of some of these items has been impacted by supply chain issues. Planning ahead has worked well for us as we are not out of stock on anything! Herbs have substantially risen in price and it is a new ballgame with supply and demand in that world, which we are tackling by growing our own Sheep sorrel. We continue to look for a good contract grower in the Northwest US and/or an experienced commercial organic herb grower that is looking for work and might like to help us in our garden.
For the Record and from Debbie's heart We are cheering for the little people that look out for each other, guided by an inborn kindness of the heart. I stand behind our fairly elected President Biden, the Constitution, doing the right thing, cooperating and collaborating to find and learn from the truth as if nothing was more important. I am for being kind and respectful towards all and really listening. So here we are coming out for all that is good, including Essiac. I hope we can all agree that the best way to stay indivisible and keep liberty and justice for all of us is to work together with an eye to what's best for our kids and all those who will come after them so they can enjoy the safest happiest healthiest future there can be, one cup of tea at a time...
Friends and families are struggling with lots no matter what your politics are. It is so hard sometimes but I believe we should never give up on trying to work together for the common good, in a respectful honest way that will help us all.
Where to get good Essiac information The best source of information about Essiac is not so much from universities, medical doctors or even herbalists and definitely not unfamiliar sources on the internet. It is an old recipe that has been kept alive thanks to the dedication of a succession of people who have all done their part. Its a story with many chapters that spans way over 100 years although the written record doesn't begin till then. In the 20th century Essiac came out of the wilderness and began its journey in the modern world. Sheila Snow and Mary McPherson were there helping and supporting Rene Caisse and Essiac for much of it.
Mali Klein and Sheila Snow - a 15-year collaboration Mali Klein helped Sheila write about the story of Essiac and Rene Caisse, and is the one who brought to light the previously well-guarded silence about Sheep sorrel roots being Caisse's 'secret ingredient'.
Based on her own research findings and personal journey with Essiac, and all she learned from Sheila and Mary and the archives, Mali strongly advocates for research on Essiac and has shared the knowledge base she and Sheila amassed worldwide in print and electronically at the Essiac Council.org. Sheila Snow and Mali Klein combined have authored 7+ books on Essiac, which represents the vast majority of the entire body of literature in print on the subject. The most recent is the Essiac Essentials Handbook. Besides on our website, is also available on Amazon and other platforms as an ebook. We sell the softcover version. It addresses the questions former industry studies on Essiac have left unanswered, and represents a very compelling argument for more and better research on Essiac based on the latest research findings on the individual herbs.
The Essiac Council The Essiac Council.org website was created to showcase the Sheila Snow Fraser Essiac Archive Collection, a body of historical information about Essiac that Mali Klein and Sheila Snow amassed over 25+ years of research and recently finished the work of converting to an electronic format for anyone to freely access online. It also provides ongoing real-time data. It has a very good searchable database to look up specific questions. The website is not beholden to any corporations or outside influences. The Essiac Council website has a list of suppliers worldwide that are making very high quality Essiac.
Overseas shipping of orders suspended as of November 1, 2021 A number of factors have played into our recent decision to suspend international shipping except to Canada, until the pandemic and the problems that we currently have with the global supply chain function are resolved better. 1. Deliveries increasingly encounter issues and are neither delivered nor returned with no explanation. Sometimes a substantial amount of money is lost because of the lack of accountability, which negatively impacts both us and the customer! 2. More and more customers are confused by misinformation gotten from the internet, canceling orders that have already been shipped and can't be resold if returned. 3. New VAT charges hugely increasing the cost of shipping to Britain from the US 4. Last but not least, it just doesn't make sense to send small packages long distances when now finally there are good sources for Essiac overseas. Our friends in Ireland, for example: Rene Caisse Tea Ireland!
If you are already an established customer, and can't find a US address to receive your order, we will still try to work with you, just contact us. The change will be effective November 1, 2021.
Trust your sources We recommend that you get your information from the most reliable sources you can find. We are sorry but we can only provide the herbs, the books about them, Essiac Tea-making kits and Essiac Seed kits, but we are legally barred from giving advice or claims that are medical. When a business sells Essiac, it cannot talk about its properties, but the reverse is also true. Sites like the Essiac Council are free to provide information about the relationship between Essiac and wellness because they aren't selling a product.
Why good Essiac is not easy to find As you will see on the Essiac Council site list of suppliers, there are only a handful worldwide that even include Sheep sorrel roots in the tea. Most use only the leaves because there is currently no commercial source for Sheep sorrel root. There are contract growing arrangements which require significant financing. With growing climate change issues, the western US has felt it this year with drought and wildfires.
On top of that, historically the established organic herb farms have been hesitant to grow Sheep sorrel without a contract because Essiac is not well-known enough to speculate and just plant Sheep sorrel, which they can't even harvest until the second year. As a result, they are hesitant to invest in it. They need the money from good cash crops more than the mission to keep the world in Essiac, which is truly a labor of love. We are growing our own Sorrel for the roots and will have to rely on it solely to stay in business within one year. This is a little tricky since we are trying to be a company that makes the tea and now also be organic farmers. However, we love our garden and are beyond excited to bring in our first major harvest next spring!
The Good News In 2019 three of us from Blue Moon Herbs joined Mali Klein at the First International Health Congress on Integrative Oncology in Geneva, Switzerland. Mali Klein presented the section on Indigenous Medicine and Essiac and gave the world a gift from the past that may play a very vital role in leading a large number of people out of the woods of today's health crises with a simple option that is a good companion to whatever else may be available. How? We can all grow these herbs ourselves in our own backyards or balconies and make our own Essiac. It is all spelled out in the Snow/Klein books how to manage with what is available. Essiac is getting some traction in Europe and around the world. There is much more to come. We carry the seed.
This is our biggest size by far. Rene Caisse used to make this same amount on almost a daily basis and Mary McPherson helped her box and mail it to out-of-town patients. Rene also had a set-up at her home much like a Speakeasy where people could come and get a bottle of Essiac anonymously from a box at the door opening!
The Essiac Master Batch is especially perfect for buying clubs or groups of friends, family, small-scale businesses or any group with an interest in natural health. It is a win-win. We can offer a wholesale-style discount because we save on shipping and packaging costs by selling bulk, not to mention it is better business environmentally speaking. And most of all it is in keeping with our main mission: helping make Essiac more affordable and available, though not at Walgreens scale! We believe in keeping the power in the Little People's hands 🙂 ...and keeping it simple!
One Essiac Master Batch amounts to 2 lbs. 13 oz. (45 oz. or 1,276g by weight). This amounts to over 2000 2-oz. servings of the liquid decoction, which would be enough for quite an occasion! One adult will consume 260 2-oz.servings per year, including breaks, on average (approx. 10 fl. oz./week). The Master batch will therefore make enough tea for up to 8 people for a year, or over 30 people for three months! The herbs come packaged separately. This is so you can see exactly what you are getting. The portions are too small to do that with our smaller sizes.
Once the herbs are mixed (detailed instructions included) you can store them in a gallon jar for up to a year in a cool, dark, dry place. You can make up anything from one quart to several gallons at a time....this is the very best price per ounce we offer. We include the recipe that Rene Caisse's helper Mary McPherson gave for Essiac in an affidavit filed with the Town of Bracebridge Ontario, Canada.
Show me the root! Sheep sorrel, that is.
Now that Sheep sorrel root's central importance to the Essiac formula is widely recognized, many Essiac makers are beginning to include it in their products, but supply remains a huge issue. In 2021 we will begin harvesting Sheep sorrel root from the 2020 planting in our gardens in Hot Springs, MT! The world needs more Sheep sorrel growers. Contact us if interested in learning more, or go to the Essiac Growers Guild on Facebook for growing tips. Get your seeds here~!
We take honesty in advertising very seriously. "Show me the root?" - OK!
Open source advertising, maybe you could call it! A picture is worth a thousand words. We've decided to give our customers an option to see just what they're getting when they buy Blue Moon Herbs Essiac. To accomplish this, the herbs in the Master Batch all come packaged separately.
A multiple choice answer 🙂 The Blue Moon Herbs Deluxe Essiac Tea Sampler Pack
We have been putting together buying options for small and medium budgets at Blue Moon. In the past week we have added two products that widen your choices when looking to try working with the variations on the basic Essiac formula. Now there are three combination pack buying choices, with up to 10% savings!
The Essiac Tea Combo Program - a six month program - $123 - 120g herbs - Includes the Essiac Essentials Handbook and Program Guidelines.
The Deluxe Essiac Tea Sampler Pack - $55 - 50g of herbs, approx. 3 months' supply + 10g Essiac Topical Solution herbs (can be used either internally or externally) Also includes a 1 oz. measuring spoon and ceramic Blue Moon teacup!
All of our herb mixes (with the exception of Essiac Topical Solution) contain Rene Caisse's classic 4-herb Essiac formula consisting of Burdock, Sheep sorrel (25% roots), Slippery elm and Turkey rhubarb. Essiac Gold also includes Goldenseal and Essiac with Red Clover also includes Red clover. Essiac Extra's Sheep sorrel is 50% roots.
Want Sheep sorrel root?
The Essiac Topical Solution herbs contain 63% Sheep sorrel roots, with Sheep sorrel leaves and Slippery elm inner bark comprising the rest of the mix. There are a lot of different ways to work with this tea mix. It can be taken as you would take regular Essiac, but it is designed to also be used topically. The many possible uses are described with the included instructions. One use that is not mentioned is that it could be used to increase the root content of Essiac made from scratch. This is something to consider, as Sheep sorrel root remains commercially unavailable sold alone.
A little history
The 4-herb Essiac was Rene Caisse's core formula from the late 1920s onward. However, odds are definitely in favor of her occasionally using some of the other herbs from the original 8-herb formula - Watercress, Red clover, Periwinkle and Goldthread - when they were available and/or she wanted the additional herb for a specific patient. She also substituted other herbs in when supplies were low. For example, she probably occasionally substituted Red clover or Watercress for Sheep sorrel. Essiac Gold and Essiac with Red Clover are two of the adjunct formulae that Mali Klein determined were the most accurate representations of what Rene Caisse was doing, based on testimony from the 1939 Canadian Cancer Commission hearings and many other clues in the Essiac Archives collected and analyzed over time.
The Sheila Snow Fraser Essiac Archives Collection is now available online for the whole world to enjoy, study and learn from! I can't begin to say how amazing this new website is! It is completely searchable and worthy of being the database for formal Essiac research for our future and that of everyone on the earth! There is nothing like it anywhere else on the internet for solid Essiac information. We were honored to be one of only a few to receive our own copy of the original archive collection digitally. We very much look forward to analyzing and blogging about the information and evidence, when we are not growing Sheep sorrel or getting in hot water!! Do visit EssiacCouncil.org.
Enjoy your Essiac and the return of sunnier days. May we all be very well!
Maybe it's the only thing that really can. Stop, Listen, Be. Take time for a re-set. Sipping hot liquids appears to be a good idea. That was not medical advice.
Blue Moon Herbs is a small independent Montana business that has been proudly making high quality Essiac tea herbs for the general public since 2007. We also have a commitment to community connections and win-win solutions that benefit everyone, especially those most in need.Our mission is to be a shining example of how much more a company can be beyond just providing goods and/or services.
Blue Moon Herbs is one of the top sources worldwide for high-quality and affordable Essiac herbs, Sheep sorrel roots included. The vast majority of Essiac mixes have no Sheep sorrel roots in them at all - only leaves. The Sheep sorrel in our Essiac blend is 25% roots. Generally the ratio of sorrel roots to aerial parts in Essiac is unstated, because it is such a tiny amount. Arupa Swiss, in Germany, is a good source for European customers, with 30% roots. They follow the proper techniques and formulae as taught by Mali Klein. Because of what's going on in the world right now, it makes sense to order your Essiac herbs from as close a source as possible to reduce the cost of shipping expenses and the wear and tear on systems caused by shipping small items over vast distances. We are pleased to suggest Arupa as an option for folks across the world from the US. Thanks!
We operate from the core principles of permaculture: caring for the earth, caring for the people, and sharing the bounty. We use sustainable and intensive organic methods both in the field and in our office, where we work as a team on all operations.
We sell the herbs, tea-making supplies, books and more online and in stores in Montana’s Flathead Valley and the region. We also make the Essiac herbs available to those in need at reduced or no charge in our area through the Glad To Be Here Project, which we designed to bring people together around inexpensive, simple ways of staying well, including taking Essiac! We encourage others to do this too. In that spirit, we offer the Essiac Master Batch, which includes 2 lbs. 13.5 oz. of Essiac herbs, enough for a fine Essiac caregiving effort, or several families pooling their resources for the lowest per ounce price for the herbs.
We grow and wild-harvest part of our own Sheep sorrel roots and are proud members of the Made in Montana program. In addition we contract with a commercial organic grower specifically for Sheep sorrel roots. This is because although the Sheep sorrel “herb” is commercially available, the roots are not. Once in a Blue Moon” – Essiac with the Sheep sorrel portion 25% roots…that’s us!
Our purpose rests on honoring the legacy of the Native American Medicine Man who first brought the knowledge of the tea out of the Northern Ontario bush in the 1890s, sharing it freely with an English woman. We also honor the legacy of Canadian nurse Rene Caisse, who refined the formula in the 1920s and brought it to the general public. We follow all that is known about Nurse Caisse’s working methods and materials and always keep an eye to what will be best for future generations.
Rene Caisse’s dream 50 years ago was for Essiac to be known and available to everyone everywhere. Mali Klein has devoted the last 25+ years of her life to this vocation, researching growing methods and treatment protocols with the various Essiac formulae. Alone and collectively with Sheila Snow, she has produced six books on Essiac. Ms. Klein recently completed the curation of the Sheila Snow Fraser Essiac Archive Collection, which is the world’s largest collection of Essiac history, including news clippings, private correspondence, business records, patient histories and more.
Shortly after January 1, 2020 the Essiac Archive custodians provided 45 individuals and organizations across the world with electronic copies of the entire Essiac archive collection. One of them, Debbie Jakovac (me), is the owner of Blue Moon Herbs. Watch the website to see Essiac history being shared for the first time as the entire collection comes out over the coming weeks and months.
Mali and Debbie have collaborated since 2010 to keep Essiac going on into the future beyond our lifetimes. The amount of heart and soul that Mali has given for Essiac is our inspiration to continue this work.
We support exploring what herbal medicine can mean in the 21st century for keeping and/or regaining optimum health. We believe the best way Blue Moon Herbs can do this is by providing the resources so people can freely make their own informed choices. A Cup of Tea can always help....
“As far as her mom was concerned, tea fixed everything. Have a cold? Have some tea. Broken bones? There's a tea for that too. Somewhere in her mother's pantry, Laurel suspected, was a box of tea that said, 'In case of Armageddon, steep three to five minutes'.” Aprilynne Pike, Illusions
In 2018 we started a project encompassing our Flathead Valley and surrounding communities called the Glad To Be Here Project. There are many reasons for being glad to be in the heart of Western Montana, with the grandeur of Glacier National Park and the Mission Mountains and Flathead Lake right out your window. Glad to be here is a state of mind though, and the positive effects from Essiac can make it apply to wherever we find ourselves. There is beauty inside us no matter where we go. Read More →
Wishing all of our friends, colleagues and customers a very happy, healthy 2019! Above, from left to right are the team at Blue Moon Herbs with Mali Klein, who visited recently - Emily Angelo, Danielle Yoder, Anais Starr, Debbie Jakovac, Mali Klein, and Hannah Rostocki. Not pictured are Angie Vance, Danielle's and Emily's daughters and sons, who are Junior Blue Mooners 🙂 nor the many more who remain anonymous but have helped us help you better through their friendship love and support.
Update as of February 9, 2019:The light is now noticeably coming back here on the 47th parallel, both in length and intensity. January was a bit of a winter no-show as we watched points east of Montana getting the business. But ever since February came, it has been blizzarding and making up for lost time. I'm just about done dreaming of hills blossoming in green and gold and planting Sheep sorrel and a candy store's worth of vegetable and herb seeds, many from Strictly Medicinal Seeds and, snow or not I shall plant seeds next week! Inside. Ho hum! Outside and planting and prepping the irrigation system, adding lots of wood chips, etc., all too soon by May or maybe even April it'll be time to trade in the parka for gardening duds! Its been a few years of getting underway with infrastructure in our garden in Hot Springs Montana. Just recently we tested our Sheep sorrel seed and it is ready and viable, 50% germination rate, and those tiny seeds guarantee a good outcome.
This original blog was posted on January 12, literally just a few days before...you guessed it...winter officially really started nailing us... 🙂 Boy do I sound naive!
How Bout the Weather this Winter!
"Another six short weeks and what so far is the warmest winter I can remember in my whole life of living in Montana won't have enough blast left to make a cold snap. Hopefully there will be moisture of some sort coming, though. Our area is naturally on the dry side and we need snow in the mountains in the winter to produce a spring runoff for the valleys.... I could even rake the yard but I am holding out for snow in hopes it doesn't come to that!...It is so seductive to think maybe we'll get away without a real winter. But it being Montana and all...it always seems to come...and actually I really do like it like that. It feels 'normal.' All I know is it is Way Too Soon to call winter a no-show..." Winter has shown! It is still showing!
The Glad To Be Here Project
2018 was dedicated to strengthening our community connections. Danielle, Emily, myself, Hannah and Angie began volunteering at the local soup kitchen. Soup kitchens are great places to give Essiac away as there sure are ample folks in need who appreciate it. Essiac is a new idea to many, often welcome and encouraging.
In this vein, we have started a project encompassing our Flathead Valley and surrounding communities called the Glad To Be Here Project. There are many reasons for being glad to be in the heart of Western Montana, with the grandeur of Glacier National Park and the Mission Mountains and Flathead Lake right out your window. We believe a little bit of the healing energy of this place is in every packet of herbs we put out.
Glad to be here is a state of mind though, and the positive effects from Essiac can make it apply to wherever we find ourselves. There is beauty inside us no matter where we are.
However...there are people here, just like everywhere else, that live with poverty and despair because of health and other problems. We are giving Essiac herbs and/or made-up decoction ready to consume to anyone in our area who would like to try it for a few months or if in need, longer, at no charge. We will be keeping close track of the folks who want to take part in our follow-up research but for those not wishing to share their personal information, no questions asked. Essiac doesn't care about all that.
The heart of our mission is to simply put people and Essiac together. That is truly what we are about more than anything - that and encouraging others to do what we are doing, in their own communities. Say Yes to being an Essiac tea-maker and/or Sheep sorrel grower (for the root). There's a big change coming and it's returning herbal medicine to its well-earned place at the table. "Essiac is a worthy vocation." - Gregory Klein
The Glad to Be Here Project is putting Buddhist philosophy (lovingkindness, gratitude, service) into action and it is also an experiment to see how high quality local Essiac can make a difference in lives!
The big projects and huge organizations have a role to play but we all do. What it ultimately boils down to really is about making a difference in a direct way, with benefit for giver and receiver alike from one-on-one connections, one person at a time, one day at a time. Saying "Yes" and keeping promises.
It was Rene Caisse's dream that Essiac become freely available for everyone everywhere. We CAN change the world. We were told that one person was not going to be able to, but the rest of the story is that people coming together to heal what is broken opens the doors of miraculous positive change where anything is possible. May the Force be with you!
We have a new partner for sourcing Essiac done properly in Europe! We have been working closely with a team based across Germany and Switzerland, Arupa AG, to produce a fresh organic crop Sheep sorrel. It's been two years in the making and I have now received word that the sorrel roots and tops have been successfully harvested and will be available to us in the next couple of months. Germany has long held a reputation for producing some of the finest herbal medicine in the world and we are very pleased to announce we will be offering an international sampler: Essiac with German Sheep sorrel and Essiac with US Sheep sorrel - both top quality and certified organic!
Our new partnership with Arupa AG means that we will also be able to offer our overseas friends and customers a more local source for good quality Essiac herbs. This will help bring down the high shipping rates considerably as well as reduce the delivery times. For more information click here. All teas are now in stock and can be ordered online from the link.
Thank you everyone for a great 2018! May our world be blessed with peace and prosperity for everyone everywhere in 2019.
Debbie Jakovac
Owner, Blue Moon Herbs
"This is the Way of Peace: overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love." - Peace Pilgrim
This video was shot in Polson MT in June 2018 when Mali Klein came to visit us at Blue Moon Herbs. Mali has been involved with Essiac since November 1993. Her full final analysis of the subject is in the pages of the Essiac Essentials Handbook. Mali shares her insights into the big picture of Essiac's journey from when it came into the greater world from the wilderness in the early 1890s and how it progressed over time to its present place in herbal medicine. Enjoy!
Greetings all lovers of Essiac with Sheep sorrel roots included! It has been far too long since we came up for air and gave a progress report on our growing operations. (Click here for Part 1). So, here goes:
Basically we have been digging Sheep sorrel roots since spring 2016 and only stopping when the ground freezes. It has been a long haul, but finally we have secured a couple good sources for organic Sheep sorrel root that we do not personally have to dig up ourselves!! We have gotten a great handful of local growers going too! I am very glad because it has been extremely hard to keep up with demand and keep our root content at 25%. Now we're in good shape for the forseeable future!
Spring 2016 - commercial source of Sheep sorrel root dries up
Pacific Botanicals, our supplier, sold out and did not continue growing sorrel for a whole herb harvest and we began relying 100% on growing and harvesting all of our own. We got the Essiac Growers Guild going on Facebook, to encourage folks to grow their own Sheep sorrel and to find possible growers for Blue Moon Herbs. In the spring of 2016 we also lost the lease on our "North 40" Sheep sorrel beds just outside of town and had to move the plants we didn't harvest to other gardens around the area, mostly in Hot Springs, MT.
A fine crop of Sheep sorrel was also planted across the ocean by kindred souls and we will soon have beautiful organic German Sheep sorrel roots for our "Hands Across the Water" Essiac mix :). We have also secured certified organic Sheep sorrel root from this side of the ocean! Hallelleujah!!!!
We found an organic lavendar farm on the Olympic Peninsula. They had lots of volunteer Sheep sorrel and they began harvesting it for us in the summer of 2016. The stuff really grows out there where there is more moisture than here in Montana, and it was discovered that wood chips are the best mulch and produce fat beautiful roots that come out easy and clean!
We leased 1/2 acre of organic garden in Hot Springs MT in May 2017 that already had Sheep sorrel growing in it. The driest summer since 1929 ensued. The grasshoppers turned the most lush early spring Sorrel beds into a wasteland. We planted more starts last fall and hope they come in good and that all those roots that were safely underground and away from the grasshoppers, are still there alive and well! Spring 2018 is predicted to be cool and rainy there so I've got my fingers crossed for a good year!
The most beautiful pristine mountain meadow was found in June 2017. It was full of sorrel! The owners gave us permission to dig and we drove over 100 miles one way to dig weekly all summer and fall. Our first time there we were greeted by two Sandhill Cranes which was pretty darn cool! The wild Sorrel there is very hardy and prolific though on the small side like wild Sorrel is and it takes a long time to harvest. However, more than making up for that was a hot springs just up the road for us to recuperate at. The forest fires kept us from getting up there for over three weeks. What a joy to have made the acquaintance of this place!
These are some of the highlights of the past two growing seasons. And now here it is almost March and time to start more Sheep sorrel! Happy growing, folks!
December 3, 2015: Summer is now just a memory and winter seems to have moved in overnight. Its taken six months since we approached Bracebridge, in Part 1, to finally pull into town.... fitting metaphor for how time seems to have been flying by this year.
Rene Caisse on the doorstep of her Essiac Cancer Clinic, c. 1930s.
The Lee Building, 2012
It was wonderful to come back to Bracebridge. This was my second trip. I retraced the steps of the prior visit, going to pay my respects at Rene Caisse's grave, and visiting the site of the Rene M. Caisse Cancer Clinic, now called the Lee Building. I visited with the secretary in what is now law offices, but there was no trace of the former clinic ever having been right in that exact same spot.
For the first time I was able to visit the Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre Exhibit. I took over 1000 photos of what Bracebridge still has in its Essiac archives, both in the Town's vaults and the Bracebridge Public Library's Archives. Over the coming months they will begin to populate our very own 'virtual' Rene Caisse Room!
I loved going for a healthy bite to eat at the "Deli Lama" at Muskoka Natural Foods, and met many friends old and new. I learned that Rene's statue had been very purposely located right where patients seeking Nurse Caisse's "Essiac" treatments had been instructed to "cross the bridge and then turn left" - her clinic was just a block away. They called it the Bridge of Hope.
My 2012 visit happened in the fall, the maple leaves were beautiful! This time the scenery was late Spring at its finest, and 100% delightful. I stayed at the Inn at the Falls, just a block away from the former Clinic, on Dominion Street. The nice woman at the front desk, Judith, put me in touch with local historian Ken Veitch, who was the most gracious, helpful host and guide to all things Rene Caisse and Essiac that I could have ever dreamed of!
And then, after just a few short days of exploring and researching, it was already my last night in town. As I sat under a full moon on a little bench outside the old clinic, I wondered how it must have felt for patients to find the door locked when the Clinic closed for the last time in 1941. I thought, wouldn't it be great if that door could be once more unlocked...a small garden with the herbs growing by the bench...and the Rene Caisse Memorial Room restored to its former glory... in the most fitting home I could ever imagine (just turn left at the statue) 🙂
There are still many people in Bracebridge who remember Rene Caisse, love her and are very loyal to her memory. But many younger people don't remember, and one wonders, what will happen in just a few more decades when there will be no one left that lived during Rene Caisse's actual lifetime (1888-1978)? Rene and Essiac will not be forgotten in Bracebridge. But will the few boxes of papers and memorabilia (mostly out of sight) be enough to ensure her legacy goes on in a lasting or meaningful way?
Sheila Snow, Mary McPherson and Kay Beers at the opening of the Rene Caisse Memorial Room
The Rene Caisse Memorial Room was opened in 1995 and from what I can tell, it remained open for a little over a decade. I believe the Woodchester Villa, where the exhibit was housed, suffered weather-related damage a few years ago, and it was announced that the Rene Caisse exhibits had been moved to the Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre. I was thrilled to see the exhibits on display this trip, but I couldn't help but note that the display was a lot smaller. Mali Klein had shot video of it in the late 1990s, and it occupied several rooms then. Now, three shelves in a display case. In a recent local write-up on the renovations it appears that it has not yet been decided what to do next at Woodchester Villa... but Rene Caisse and Essiac do not seem to be part of their plans.
Ken Veitch and Bracebridge Town Clerk, 2015
Ken Veitch was the Bracebridge Town Clerk for more than 30 years. He knew Mary McPherson well and was there when she signed her affidavit making the Essiac formula public. Ken's Grandmother benefitted from Essiac treatments with Nurse Caisse. Ken was very generous with his time and arranged for my access to the City's Essiac Archives. He also introduced me to several other local residents with links to the history, and made my visit to Bracebridge a learning journey extroidinaire. Ken is a first-class researcher and indexer and has written several local history books.
How does one preserve a legacy? Books, statues, museum exhibits....the best legacy is a living one I believe. I think it would do Rene's heart good to see so many people using and benefitting from Essiac today. It would sure be great to see something more lasting and well-curated going on with what is left of the history in Bracebridge, though.
My time in Bracebridge seemed so short..and then it was time to head for "the Bush" - Northern Ontario. Vision Quest time. Back to the source, where the original Native American formula emerged into the modern world in the late 1800s. The adventure continues....
The 'old' Essiac Trilogy! These books are a must-read for any serious student of Essiac literature.
Back in 2010 this website was called EssiacUS.com, and we were selling the last copies of the three books that came out of the Sheila Snow and Mali Klein collaboration: Essiac Essentials (Sheila Snow/Mali Klein, 1999, 135 p.); Essiac the Secrets of Rene Caisse's Herbal Pharmacy (Sheila Snow/Mali Klein, 2001, 180 p.); and The Essiac Book (Mali Klein, 2006, 128 p.). We dubbed it the Essiac Trilogy. The first two books were already out of print, but easy to acquire used, and there were still some new copies of The Essiac Book available...but soon to also go out of print. Searching for a way to keep providing the Snow/Klein books to the public, I was able to contact Mali Klein...
A year later, The Complete Essiac Essentials was born out of a collaboration between myself (Debbie Jakovac) and Mali to combine the best of the earlier books all into one capstone volume. And then in 2014, Black Root Medicine, the Original Native American Essiac Formula came out as Mali Klein's focus of research turned to the original 8-herb formula.
