A Kiss from a Flower
“A kiss from a flower can be a blessing or a curse, healing or poison, kind or cruel, sometimes gentle, sometimes harsh”
Herbal medicine is not a joke.
It is nuanced, complicated, and multidimensional. Unlike single chemical agents used in pharmaceutical medicine, herbal medicine utilizes thousands of chemical compounds, with multiple target organs and myriad methods of action. This makes herbal medicine difficult (but certainly not impossible - there are already hundreds of thousands of studies) to study scientifically. The medicine varies between each individual plant, as those that grow in harsh environments tend to exhibit more healing properties than those that have lived gentle lifestyles. Synergies between species, within and in between plant families, and with other compounds play a vital role in their effectiveness. While the scientific literature is profoundly lacking in information about plant synergies, our collective history working with plants is a vast wealth of knowledge. We know what works and how plants work together. I'm excited for what we learn molecularly and in large trials, but I am also skeptical of the legitimacy research may provide because the nuance disappears in large scale trials, greatly diminishing the potential of the medicine.
Anywho, the point of today's watermation is to honor the power of plant medicine.
There are plants out there that will open your mind to the secrets of the universe if done respectfully or drive you insane if done in excess. There are plants that will calm your mind and help you focus, and there are those that will induce delerium. There are plants where one bite will kill you, paralyzing your lungs, yet the faintest drop of it will stop an asthma attack or calm the heart. There are plants that taste good and nourish our bodies no.matter how much we eat, and there are plants that help our bodies grow. There are plants that normalize reproductive cycles and plants that clean the blood. There are plants that help the liver regenerate and plants that help damages nerves regenerate. There are plants that help regulate our immune systems and plants that help us fight infections. There are plants for anything and everything, and that such a relationship exists between us and the plant world is profoundly amazing.