Dear Subscribers,

Mercury Retrograde

Here is a tiny astrological tidbit about how this works. First, the code I sent for the discount for mold products was correct but the "d" on my computer keyboard was sticking. I had not realized this until the day following the posting. So, the code is really "flood" but when I typed it into the shopping cart, the "d" was missing. It is corrected now and you must use the "d". I apologize for the inconvenience and thank the kind angel who notified me that she had tried to use the code but it was not accepted. I need the reports to troubleshoot issues. Meanwhile, this is the second time with the stuck keys and it started with the "d" last time also. Obviously, the world does not come to an end because of these types of Mercury Rx problems, but all astrologers are acutely aware that issues such as these arise when Mercury is Rx. Again, my apologies and when you put the code into the box, be sure to write: flood.

Diffuser Blend

This is a story, but let me say first that the blend is a mixture of essential oils, all organic and high quality, and similar to Thieves but priced more ethically. It is intended for external use in a nebulizing aromatherapy diffuser. It can be used in other ways — not internally or directly on the skin — but let's start at the beginning.

As I have suggested, we are fortunate that mold is not easily destroyed because otherwise nothing we throw away or cannot use would decompose. I believe this argument holds up in very traditional societies, such as can be found in jungles, as well as modern cities with high rises. Yes, in the jungle, the waste is mainly organic and it decomposes relatively quickly, but we still do not save our banana peels and egg shells. I have been composting for some decades now and know that we can create lovely soil in this manner, but this is accomplished via a combination of bacterial and fungal processes that definitely have a role to play in the natural world.

The Spectrum

An important concept that I have tried to anchor in minds is the spectrum of degeneration and regeneration. Alas, mold is very far to the left on this spectrum. It belongs to the process of degeneration, and I am sure some people would like to engage in philosophical as well as medical analyses of how degeneration relates to disease and death and regeneration to vitality and life. In my opinion, no fungi are regenerating so the idea that there are medicinal mushrooms is alien to me. However, intellectually, I understand that if one accepts the germ theory, then something that will kill germs could seem medicinal. However, to me there is a symbiosis that is misinterpreted by modern medicine and the correct way — in my opinion — to understand this would be to look at the functions of bacteria and fungi, learn to appreciate their teamwork, and observe health and healing from a more neutral perspective.

Okay, that was a bit off topic, but the point here is really that mold is practically indestructible, probably entirely indestructible. However, it, as well as bacteria, have nearly endless capacities to mutate and adapt. They have to be clever to survive. So, we could, for instance, test for mold, come up positive for stachybotrys or aspergillus or any of hundreds of other possibilities, then, we could spray something, test for stachybotrys and aspergillus in particular and come up negative. It does not mean there is no mold, merely that the mold that it there no longer bears a resemblance to what we were trying to destroy.

When I was involved in deep mold studies and a law suit, I found that only a tiny handful of fungal types were known to be toxic. There were literally thousands, perhaps millions, that had not been studied and were thus presumed to be harmless, i.e., innocent until proven guilty. As I came to learn, the industry has stacked the cards against the plaintiffs so we cannot expect honest research on mold from academia or industry. If there is to be honest work, it will be privately funded and probably ridiculed by the "professionals" who are, of course, selling products and testifying on behalf of contractors and hotel owners and so on and so forth.

I entered life as an optimist but have learned that we actually live in a seriously corrupt world.

Anyway, as fate would have it, I learned what I needed to know to survive. I want to take a moment here, not exactly to tell my story, but to encourage others. I truly was very, very ill. Many others I met at that time are no longer among us and I grieve for them and their families as well as the pets I lost: three parakeets, one sun conure, and one Akita. My guilt is sometimes very painful, and my sense of responsibility is also taken very seriously. The bottom line is that mold can be managed, but it takes knowledge, effort, caution, vigilance, and monitoring. I am so passionate about this that while I am retired from counseling, I nearly always make an exception for moldies.

There are a couple of known personality traits about people who have been exposed to mold. One of the first losses is critical thinking and the judgments and decisions that would otherwise follow accurate use of knowledge. I suspect there is actually a chemical that helps mold to undermine its victims in this way. I cannot prove this — perhaps someone already has proved it — but we know, for instance, that parasites trick us into sabotaging ourselves for their benefit. I am sure that if fungi can cause people and animals to hallucinate, there is no end to what sorts of havoc the chemicals can play with our minds and bodies. In short, sometimes it take a lot of effort to get moldies on the right track because their thinking and comprehension are undermined. This means that rational friends and family members sometimes have to help out a bit with the details.

Inhibition

What "inhibition" means is that the strategy used to deal with mold can deter mold from growing. I am going to use two examples to make this clear. There are a lot of technical terms and my goal is always to minimize the language hurdles so that we can understand without having to master a new vocabulary. I will thus try to keep it simple. For years, we had only four kingdoms of nature, and mold was sometimes considered a plant and sometimes an animal. It cannot move like an animal and it does not have a stomach so most of those engaged in the attempt to classify mold put it with plants even though it does not produce chlorophyll or do other things plants do. Like all living things, mold can populate itself, but it feeds by creating hyphal structures that can be microscopic or enormous. I have been very fortunate in observing these microscopically and while extremely exciting, it is also terrifying in a way.

You can think of the hyphae as straws that are plunged into the food source — which can be that banana peel or the lining of your lungs or anything else that mold perceives as edible. The hyphae are filled with acids and sometimes the acids are crystallized. It is extremely hard to take good photomicrographs because the crystals reflect light and are blindingly bright. There is a lot to consider here, really a lot if you like symbolism and extrapolation based on observations.

Anyway, mold is now classified with the Kingdom of Fungi or Fifth Kingdom. It has several unique characteristics including very complex mastery of chemistry. It can secrete substances to kill its prey as well as to digest. Being biologically active, it also releases gases which can be noxious or almost undetectable. Now, when an effort is made to classify mold as toxic or perhaps harmless, this tends to be based on chemicals, not the fact that mold can devour its victim even if the chemicals are not lethal, just tenderizing. This is the basis of my contention that no mold is safe if it is viable. Since it is extremely difficult to destroy mold, I think we can omit the "if" part of the previous sentence. Mold survives for two main reasons. It has a protective barrier made of chitin, same material as found in oyster shells, and it can mutate.

So, we are talking about inhibition. I was very lucky to observe how this works, again while looking through the microscope. The herb I had given a patient with a 20-year history of "hypochondria" caused the hyphae to break at the junctions. The hyphae have structures that look a bit like bamboo knuckles and this is where they broke. Once they broke, the white blood cells attacked. I just cannot tell you how fascinating this was. The patient was actually a Chernobyl survivor so hypochondria was a very poor diagnosis, but she had gone from one doctor to another for twenty years. Moldies are often labeled as whiners and complainers, but it is because the doctors do not understand their symptoms and are not therefore providing the correct medical care.

https://www.inspq.qc.ca/en/moulds/fact-sheets/stachybotrys-chartarum

Within the last year, I stumbled on a fascinating study of gymnema, an Ayurvedic herb for blood sugar management, that described its capacity to inhibit hyphal growth. This was an amazing finding and hats off to those who reported it. Just for the record, however, it was not an ingredient in the formula I had given the patient so it means there are other herbs with similar actions.

The other strategy for controlling mold infections is to neutralize the mycotoxins. Again, I am sure there are many herbs with this capacity, but the one I have studied the most under the microscope is horopito from New Zealand, sold under the name Kolorex.

Now, let's look at mold from the property angle. When I was in a life-threatening condition, various experts made house calls, and I will give an example of one product so you can see how the thinking works. This was made by Dow Chemical but was supposedly absolutely safe, even for people with multiple chemical sensitivities. I seriously doubted that anything produced by Dow was that innocuous so I asked to see the studies. Anyway, it involved the complete spraying of every surface in the building from the basement and crawl spaces to the attic. It included padded furniture, antiques, walls, carpeting, you name it. What it purportedly had was microscopic barbs or lances that impaled the mold so the mold could not grow. I like clever ideas. My mind likes the challenge of determining what to trust and why. There was a very long warranty with this product, but, of course, if someone were to go that route, it would be appropriate to ask what happens to your Rembrandt or Degas painting after a century has elapsed. I do not own any such paintings but I am sure some shareholders of Dow stock do have such. Would they spray the paintings?

The product was permanent which, of course, means this is a one-way decision. However, if you pitted this product against the poisons, it did in fact seem like a better way to go, but, as expected, the issue of inert was huge and the product failed that litmus test.

Now, we can think of rare book libraries. How have custodians of the nadi manuscripts preserved them for thousands of years in tropical climates. They are written on palm leaves so I am suspecting that the same wizards who could see into the future also knew a lot of alchemy! That is a story for another time.

We also have some interesting anecdotal stories from places like Sri Lanka where newspapers were laced with lemongrass oil so that when people read them in public places, mosquitos would leave them alone. The same product was used in lumberyards to extend the outdoor shelf life of wood that was probably already treated for insects but not mold. Economic losses due to mold can be staggering.

Now, we are finally closer to the story of inhibition. One can do studies in petri dishes to measure the exact zone of inhibition and one can keep the petri dishes for months or years to estimate the length of time that the inhibition will be effective. With all this under your hat, think of spraying an exterior surface of a property in the Bayou. Now, that surface will be sprayed with an inhibitor. The estimated time that the essential oils will be effective is anywhere from six months to two years, sometimes a bit longer, especially if exposure to the elements is not extreme.

Inside the home, it is better to run the diffuser more or less full blast in the crawl space and attic and then inside the living areas, but if this can be done with the windows closed when no one is home, it would be better than using in an occupied space. It safe to inhale the oils in small amounts but not continually. For instance, one can inhale the oils for five minutes at a stretch three times a day, but longer exposures are not recommended. Let's say someone is in bed and the diffuser is on a table beside the bed at a distance of 3-6 feet. Five minutes is going to be a major exposure. At a greater distance, the exposure could perhaps be longer but I have put one or two drops of oil on a piece of cotton gauze and slipped this against the air filter in the return of the HVAC system. Within 10-15 minutes, I have to remove the gauze because the odor is too intense.

This speaks to the quality of the oils but also to the need for some caution. Small animals would, of course, be more sensitive, but pets also need to be out of the space being treated if one goes full blast. Obviously, very intense misting is better than undertreating, but then leave the home for as long as possible. When you return, open the windows because the odor is going to linger for days. You may get used to the aroma and even like it, but it does not mean you should be inhaling the vapors constantly.

I will keep writing on these subjects but in bits and pieces with the hope that this averts overload but adds to your comprehension. Please be careful and stay healthy.

http://moldherbs.com/

Many blessings,

Ingrid
http://www.moldmisery.com

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Fungi, Antibiotics, and the Immune System || Mold Control

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