What is there to tell about Medicinal Plants
"Healing with the clean, pure, beautiful agents of nature is surely the one method of all which appeals to most of us"
- Dr. Edward Bach, 1936
Medicinal plants have been identified and used throughout human history. Plants have the ability to synthesize a wide variety of chemical compounds that are used to perform important biological functions and to defend against attack from predators such as insects, fungi, and herbivorous mammals. At least 12,000 such compounds have been isolated so far; a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total
Chemical compounds in plants mediate their effect: on the human body through processes identical to those already well understood for the chemical compounds in conventional drugs; thus herbal medicines do not differ greatly from conventional drugs in terms of how they work. This enables herbal medicines to be as effective as conventional medicines but also gives them the same potential to cause harmful side effects.
The use of herbs to treat disease is almost universal among non-industrialized societies and is often more affordable than purchasing expensive modern pharmaceuticals. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of the population of some Asian and African countries presently uses herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. Studies in the United States and Europe have shown that their use is less common in clinical settings, but has become increasingly more in recent years as scientific evidence about the effectiveness of herbal medicine has become more widely available
The use of plants as medicine predates written human history. Many of the herbs and spices used by humans to season food also yield useful medicinal compounds. The use of herbs and spices in cuisine developed in part as a response to the threat of food-borne pathogens. Studies show that in tropical climates where pathogens are the most abundant, recipes are the most highly spiced. Further, the spices with the most potent antimicrobial activity tend to be selected
In all cultures, vegetables are spiced less than meat, presumably because they are more resistant to spoilage. Angiosperms (flowering plants) were the original source of most plant medicines. Many of the common weeds that populate human settlements, such as nettle, dandelion, and chickweed, have medicinal properties.
A large amount of archaeological evidence exists which indicates that humans were using medicinal plants during the Paleolithic, approximately 60,000 years ago. Furthermore, animals such as non-human primates, monarch butterflies, and sheep are also known to ingest medicinal plants to treat illness.
Plant samples gathered from prehistoric burial sites are an example of the evidence supporting the claim that Paleolithic peoples had knowledge of herbal medicine. For instance, a 60 000-year-old Neanderthal burial site, "Shanidar IV", in northern Iraq has yielded large amounts of pollen from 8 plant species, 7 of which are used now as herbal remedies.
Also, medicinal herbs were found in the personal effects of Ötzi the Iceman, whose body was frozen in the Ötztal Alps for more than 5,000 years. These herbs appear to have been used to treat the parasites found in his intestines
Ancient times
The Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1550 BCE) from Ancient Egypt has a prescription for Cannabis sativa (marijuana) applied topically for inflammation.
The essential oil of common thyme (Thymus vulgaris), contains 20-54% thymol.[16] Thymol is a powerful antiseptic and antifungal that is used in a variety of products. Before the advent of modern antibiotics, the oil of thyme was used to medicate bandages. Thymol is also used to treat respiratory infections. A tea made by infusing the herb in water can be used for coughs and bronchitis.
In the written record, the study of herbs dates back over 5,000 years to the Sumerians, who created clay tablets with lists of hundreds of medicinal plants (such as myrrh and opium). In 1500 B.C., the Ancient Egyptians wrote the Ebers Papyrus, which contains information on over 850 plant medicines, including garlic, juniper, cannabis, castor bean, aloe, and mandrake.
In India, Ayurveda medicine has used many herbs such as turmeric possibly as early as 1900 BC. Earliest Sanskrit writings such as the Rig Veda, and Atharva Veda are some of the earliest available documents detailing the medical knowledge that formed the basis of the Ayurveda system.
Many other herbs and minerals used in Ayurveda were later described by ancient Indian herbalists such as Charaka and Sushruta during the 1st millennium BC. The Sushruta Samhita attributed to Sushruta in the 6th century BC describes 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources, and 57 preparations based on animal sources.
The mythological Chinese emperor Shennong is said to have written the first Chinese pharmacopeia, the "Shennong Ben Cao Jing". The "Shennong Ben Cao Jing" lists 365 medicinal plants and their uses - including Ephedra (the shrub that introduced the drug ephedrine to modern medicine), hemp, and chaulmoogra (one of the first effective treatments for leprosy) Succeeding generations augmented on the Shennong Bencao Jing, as in the Yaoxing Lun (Treatise on the Nature of Medicinal Herbs), a 7th- century Tang Dynasty treatise on herbal medicine.
The earliest known Greek herbals were those of Diocles of Carystus, written during the 3rd century B.C., and one by Krateuas from the 1st century B.C. Only a few fragments of these works have survived intact, but from what remains scholars have noted that there is a large amount of overlap with the Egyptian herbals. Greek and Roman medicinal practices, as preserved in the writings of Hippocrates (e.g. De herbis et curis) and - especially - Galen (e.g. Therapeutics), provided the pattern for later Western medicine.
Sometime between 50 and 68 A.D., a Greek physician known as Pedanius Dioscorides wrote Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς (commonly known by its Latin title De Materia Medica), a compendium of more than 600 plants, 35 animal products, and ninety minerals. De Materia Medica remained the authoritative reference of herbalism into the 17th century. Similarly important for herbalists and botanists of later centuries was Theophrastus' Historia Plantarum, written in the 4th century BC, which was the first systematization of the botanical world.
Source Wiki Pedia
Co-creation with Nature
In 1980 I came across the book written by Dorothy Maclean, titled "to hear the angels sing. An Odyssey of co-creation with the devic Kingdom - a Findhorn book. Eileen and Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean all followed a disciplined spiritual practice for many years before they came to live at Findhorn, and they continued their regular meditation times when they came to live at the caravan park.
In May 1963 Dorothy Maclean received an insight from within as she meditated:
. . . The forces of nature are something to be felt into, to be reached out to. One of the jobs for you as my free child is to sense the Nature forces such as the wind, to perceive its essence and purpose for me, and to be positive and harmonize with that essence.
When Dorothy shared this insight with Peter, his idea was to apply to their fledgling garden what Dorothy learned from the forces of nature. Dorothy then received this insight:
Yes, you can cooperate in the garden. Begin by thinking about the nature spirits, the higher overlighting nature spirits, and tune into them. That will be so unusual as to draw their interest here. They will be overjoyed to find some members of the human race eager for their help. Angels, devas, and elemental beings
Dorothy first attuned to the garden pea. As her communication with the forces of nature developed, Dorothy realized that she was in contact not with the spirit of an individual plant, but with the 'overlighting' being of the species, which was the consciousness holding the archetypal design of the species and the blueprint for its highest potential. She was experiencing a formless energy field for which there is no word.
The closest word to convey the joy and purity that these beings emanated was the inaccurate word 'angel' (which in the West is full of the form), and her first thought was to call them that. However, the Sanskrit term 'deva', meaning 'shining one' seemed more accurate and freer of cultural associations. In practice, she uses both words, although neither word is adequate. Peter and Dorothy applied the insights of the meditations to their work in the garden, and through this, the Findhorn garden flourished. These were the first steps in the Findhorn Community's co-creation with nature.
This insight brought me closer to the ways the use of plants in medicine was used, for I already knew the old treatments my grandmother and mother used when we were ill, like using an onion under the bed and giving some sambal to assist when we had a cold. So I started in 1980 with a study a year about Natural Healing, which included the Homeopathic way, Phytotherapy, and plant medicine, and piqued my interest even more.
So when I got ill I went to see a natural healer and received my first medicinal plant extracts to get better. To check if it wasn't just a placebo effect it had on me, the different plants were also given to our children and animals. Now you can say a lot about the insights a toddler can have, yet they cannot suggest themselves be healed as we can do as adults.
For me, the healing ways of plants and herbs throughout my years were always confirmed by the results tested by my homeopathic doctor, who was also able to test my energy levels using a vega tester, by the acupuncture points in my hands.
In the last couple of years, it seems to me that the gift mother nature is presenting to us, is almost lost because of the way society in the Western world evolved. You can see in the eastern countries that ayurvedic medicine is more accustomed and sometimes the only way to deal with illness. In Western society using herbs and plants are almost completely disappeared in the massive industry of Pharmacy.
I believe for every illness there is a cure, given freely by nature instead of all the chemical medication.
And don't get me wrong, I will never say stop using medicine given to you by a specialist, yet see if you can find a way to balance your body as well with the healing essence of certain plants and herbs.
So Findhorn for me was not just a place of cooperation with nature and elementals, it also showed me how connected we are with nature and our bodies are always ready to use the healing energy that they can provide if we know the proper way how to use them.
It was a book that confirmed some knowing deep within my soul, and I am ever so grateful for being part of this great organism, that's called Mother Earth we are her habitants, So we need to nourish and take care of her, for in the presents and gifts she has to offer we are in her debt as well to be conscious and caring towards nature and all of creation. For we are all as One.
And so it will be done
High Self @RheaDopmeijer (c)
Heartfelt Messages 12-5-2015
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