Thuja’s Many Uses to Support Women’s Health

Thuja’s Many Uses to Support Women’s Health Featuring Chanchal Cabrera

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re introducing you to inspiring leaders, practitioners, and trailblazers whose work is making an impact for women’s health...

Today we’re delving into the power of Thuja (Northern White Cedar) to support women’s health and sharing powerful forest essential oils — with a truly celebrated medical herbalist leading the way...

Chanchal Cabrera, MSc, has been a member of the UK National Institute of Medical Herbalists since 1987.

With a clinical specialty in cancer management, she’s been honored with numerous awards and fellowships, published widely in professional journals, and has lectured internationally on medical herbalism, nutrition and health, and much more.

Chanchal is also the author of the book, Fibromyalgia – A Journey Toward Healing, and is also a certified Master Gardener and certified Horticulture Therapist.

Thuja’s Healing Power

One of Chantal’s go-to healing botanicals is Thuja (also known as the Northern White Cedar or Cupressaceae).

This large and stately conifer from the northeastern Americas is now naturalized in Europe and widely planted around the world.

Thuja’s medicinally active part is the leaf, with its tips harvested in the early summer for maximum content of essential oils.

The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest called this tree the grandmother of the forest, as it was often the oldest and the largest tree and provided for so many of their needs.

Thuja is also believed to be the tree of life the native Indigenous people shared in the winter of 1536 to save the lives of the sailors on Jacques Cartier’s ill-fated voyage.

Clinical Applications

Thuja has a long and established history in homoeopathic medicine, with benefits including…

• Antimicrobial. Boil thuja to make tea for washing wounds, as a gargle for throat infections, and inhale as a steam to treat sinus and lung infections.
• Antifungal. Apply undiluted Thuja oil to fungal skin infections such as athlete’s foot, tinea versicolor, warts, and ringworm. Thuja tincture also treats systemic Candida infections,
• Aspergillus and other fungal lung infections.
• Respiratory. Inhale the essential oil or the steam from Thuja boiling leaf tips to treat any congestive conditions of the upper respiratory tract.
• Vulnerary. Thuja tincture is a powerful treatment for diabetic or varicose ulcers.
• Vitamin C booster. Thuja’s arginine, proline, and other amino acids support connective tissue and reduce the symptoms of vitamin C deficiency.
• Astringent. Apply Thuja to your skin to tighten mucous membrane and reduce bleeding from minor abrasions.
• Female tonic. Small doses of Thuja tincture act as a stimulating tonic to treat suppressed menstruation.
• Male tonic. Thuja is frequently employed for congestive conditions of the prostate gland such as benign prostatic hypertrophy, as well as for mucous in the urine and for retention of urine.
• Kidney/bladder tonic. Thuja can give tone to the bladder walls and promote complete emptying of the bladder.

How to Use Thuja

Take Thuja tincture in a 1: 5 ratio, up to 3 mL, three times daily (1.8 g equivalent dried herb daily).

You should take the Thuja tincture in a one month on, one month off pattern.

Use Thuja topically on unbroken skin.

Try These Forest Essential Oils For a Clear Mind & Healthy Spirit

Cedar Essential Oil. A symbol of strength, wisdom, and abundance, it’s used across Ayurvedic and Tibetan traditions as an incense ingredient to aid in meditation and healing.

Palo Santo Essential Oil. The "sacred wood" tree from which the oil derives has been worshiped by indigenous cultures for its purifying powers. Soak up its constellation of therapeutic properties — including an uplifted mood, renewed vitality, and enhanced spiritual protection.

Silver Fir Essential Oil. The clean, fresh aroma of silver fir exerts a powerful calming influence, encourages restful sleep and mental clarity. Keep it near your favorite diffuser to promote a clear, effective mind.