Cinnamon
The Sweet Fire Stick
Cinnamon cheeks, Lord,
cornbread smile.
SONGS feed your ribs
when you’re hungry, chile.
Washboard certainties,
soldierly grace, text and style
in her brimming face.
Your hand on your heart,
her voice in your ear: pilgrim,
rest easy.
Sit here.
Cinnamon evokes the warmth and comfort of sweet treats. This fragrant fellow can grow in difficult and rocky environments up to 50 feet tall. He has a timelessness, with his grey outer bark covering his youthful reddish inner bark (from which we gain this amazing spice). Count on him at any age to help connect us with our inner child. When harvested, his bark strips are slightly thicker than parchment and curl when drying in the sun. His brother, Cassia can be distinguished by the thickness of his harvested bark, while Cinnamon remains more delicate. The robust green leaves become flame-colored over time, and the most pungent bark is cut from the young shoots when this happens. Oddly, the wood of the Cinnamon tree, when stripped of its bark has no fragrance at all.
The Magic of Cinnamon
Correspondences
Element: Fire
Gender: Masculine
Sabbat: Yule
Planet: Sun, Mars
Chakra: Root, Solar Plexus
Spellwork
Protect
Prosper
Peace
Luck
Love
Proverb
French: Kindle not a fire that you cannot put out.
The Medicine of Cinnamon
Ayurvedic
Ayurvedic Name: Tvak
Vata: Balance
Kapha: Pacify
Pitta: Increase
Taste: Sweet, Pungent, Bitter
Herbology
Antioxidant
Analgesic
Circulatory Stimulant
Diaphoretic
Expectorant
Carminative
Digestive
Emmenagogue
Safety: Do not use if pregnant or nursing
Avoid with liver problems or ulcers
Toxic in large doses
TCM
TCM Name: Ròu Guì (bark)
Botanical Name: Cinnamomum verum, C. zeylancium, C. cassia
Common Name: Cinnamon
Energy: Hot
Flavor: Pungent, Sweet
Organs: Kidney, Spleen, Heart, Liver
Movement: Warms the interior, expels cold
TCM Name: Guì Zhī (twigs)
Botanical Name: Cinnamomum verum, C. zeylancium, C. cassia
Common Name: Cinnamon
Energy: Warm
Flavor: Spicy, Sweet
Organs: Heart, Lungs, Bladder
Movement: Warm/Acrid herbs that release the Exterior
Science of Cinnamon
Botany
Botanical Name: Cinnamomum verum
Family: Lauraceae (Laurel Family)
Type of Plant: Small Evergreen Tree
Habitat: Rich, sandy loam, sun
Zone: 9-11
Bloom Time: Summer
Height: 20 feet
Spread: 2 feet
Propagation: Cutting
Harvest: Scrape away the outer bark, look for the yellowish-orange layer beneath
Part Used: Bark, Twigs
Constituents: Tannins, phenolic compounds, catechins, terpenes, coumarin
Native Region: Southeast Asia
Sustainability: Unknown
Leaf
Structure: Simple
Arrangement: Subalternate
Shape: Ovate, Oblong
Length: 3-7 inches
Margins: Entire
Surface: Leathery when mature
Flower
Inflorescence: Panicles
Sexuality: Perfect
Stamen: 9 in 3 whorls
Petal: 6
Color: Pale yellow
Size: 3 mm
Sacred Story
In ancient times, so it is said, there lived a beautiful bird vibrantly colored in red, yellow and purple. The Phoenix was so splendid that only a single bird could live in our world. After 500 years, the Phoenix became oppressed by the burden of age. It traveled to a secret land and collected pieces of cinnamon bark for a nest on top of the tallest tree. Once the cinnamon nest was built, the bird lined it with soft and fragrant leaves. The Phoenix rested in its nest and sang a song to the sun. With one grand flap of his wings, the Phoenix produced a spark that set his nest aflame. Consumed in the blaze of fire, soon the nest held nothing more than a pile of silver ash where the Phoenix had been. From under that ash, there rose up a very young bird. It was small and sort of crumpled. Slowly it lifted its neck and stretched out its wings. Wriggling about, it patiently grew until it reached the size of a full-grown Phoenix. In this way, the Phoenix returns to life refreshed and renewed.
