5 Things You Need to Know About Castor Oil Packing to Detox Your Liver in 2023 - (2024)

1. The History of the Castor Oil Pack

The therapeutic usage of castor oil packingwas first discovered by Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) and is now regarded bynaturopaths around the world as a very effective tool for liver detox.

2. The Method of Action that the Castor Oil Pack Uses to Liver Detox

The essential fatty acids, in particular thericinoleic acid that castor oil contains, encourages movement of chemicalenergy within the body, resulting in a detoxifying effect.

Castor oil also contains all thecolours of the spectrum and colour & light are crucial to energy productionand movement within the body.

3. Reported Benefits of the Castor Oil Pack for liver detox include

It has been reported that castor oil packing has many benefits to health. The health benefits include:

• More effective elimination of waste
• Reduction of nausea
• Pain relief
• Improved digestion
• Reduced inflammation
• Increased relaxation
• Immune enhancing benefits

4. Who Shouldn’t Use A Castor Oil Pack for Liver Detox

Castor oil packs shouldn’t be used inpregnancy as you do not want to create a cleanse when someone is pregnant. Theycan be used in a pre-conception programme with the aim of cleansing beforeconception takes place.

You should also make sure that you are moving your bowels well when doing castor oil packs to ensure that whatever you are shifting is actually exiting the body. For that very reason it is advised to do them together with enemas (read my blog on coffee enemas for liver detox here).

They can also be used on other parts of the body but you must ensure you pack your liver at the same time and, as mentioned above, that you are using enemas to see that waste out of the body.

5. How to Do A Castor Oil Pack for Liver Detox

• Take your castor oil packing material (cotton – I use the large one from Nutrigold and cut it in half) and fold in two.
• Drizzle the castor oil over the cloth – it needs to be wet (but not dripping) – you can aid this process by rubbing the cloth together on itself to spread the castor oil around more thoroughly.
• Place the castor oil pack over the liver (located on the right side, underneath the right side of the rib cage.
• Either use a castor oil pack holder to prevent leakage or place a big old sheet or towel over it and pin in place. Wear some old clothes over the top as it is very greasy and will probably stain your clothes / bed sheets and is very difficult to get out of fabric.
• Place a hot water bottle or heated wheat bag over the top of that area to warm the oil – this assists its uptake by the liver via the skin.
• Because it can create a lot of elimination it is wise to start by packing for just 15 minutes 3 consecutive days in a week.
• The next week you can increase this to 30 minutes if you are reacting ok, 45 minutes the week after, and so on in 15 minute intervals until you are up to 1 ½ hours for 3 consecutive days a week.
• Because they are very calming they should ideally be used in the evenings, but this is not essential – whatever fits your lifestyle.
• Ideally a castor oil pack would be followed by a water enema the next morning if possible to ensure that whatever is being released is being fully exited from the body.
• The pack can be stored in a plastic sealed bag or a container in the fridge and reused for 30-40 times (i.e. around 2-3 months) before the cloth needs to be discarded and a new pack made – if you keep it longer the oil may start to go rancid.

If you are interested in reading around the benefits of castor oil packing take a look at William A McGarey’s book, “The Oil that Heals”.