The Origins of Herbal Medicine

in about 500 B.C.E. this supernatural view of disease was displaced by a belief in health as a balance of forces within the body, and disease as a disturbance of that balance. This view did not change the role of herbs in medicine, and plant remedies continued to be used therapeutically. They became an important means of treating illness, as they were seen as a way of restoring balance and harmony to the body.

Throughout the world there developed many different healing systems based on this idea of balancing natural forces, and relying on the medicinal use of plants. These include the Indian system of Ayurveda, the ancient Chinese and the Native American systems, as well as the system of folk medicine which developed in Europe. Each country or culture developed its own tradition and pharmacy from locally growing plants. China and India have the oldest written traditions. dating from about 1000 B.C.E.

Whereas the Indian and Chinese systems still survive today, in Europe the idea of balanced forces within the body gradually disappeared. From the 16th century onward, European cultures expanded into the New World, and imperialism made Western medicine the dominant ideal throughout the world, although not necessarily the dominant practice.

Many indigenous systems have been deeply affected by this. Although some countries, such as China, tradition has always been honoured and traditional herbal and modern Western medicine are practiced side by side, in other countries "bush folk medicine was despised, ignored, or even outlawed as politically dangerous. Local healers and wise women many of whom held valuable information were vilified and persecuted.

CHINA
The oldest medical text in China is The Yellow Emperor's Book of Internal Medicine, which is about 3,000 years old and still consulted today. Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the five elements of wood, water, fire, earth, and metal. These elements differ from the European medieval model in that these are not discrete like the four humors but linked energetically, constantly interacting and feeding, hindering, or flowing through one another.
Each element is linked to one or more organs, an emotion, a taste, and a season. Specific herbs of the right taste will strengthen the element, For example, the element of earth is related to the stomach and spleen, the emotion is worry, the season is summer and the taste sweet. A tonic for this element would he the sweet root of liquorice, warming and nourishing.

INDIA
India's Ayurvedic medical system, dating back thousands of years, is a plant-based and holistic form of healing. The Sanskrit word Ayurveda derives from two words meaning "life" and "knowledge." It is not medicine in the Western sense hut a way of life, a way to live in harmony with the balance of ones elements and the breath of life.

Everyone is made up of the three humors, air, fire and water, the dominant one dictating a person's constitution. Before making a diagnosis the practitioner will assess your humor. Treatment includes the prescription of herbs as well as food, fasting, spiritual practices and breathing. Exercises such as yoga may be recommended and sexual activity or abstinence advised to rebalance excesses or deficiencies.

NORTH AMERICA
ln many North American tribes the priest or shaman was also the medicine man. The world was thought to he pervaded by good and evil spirits that only the shaman could influence, and this meant that he alone could cure disease, perhaps by journeying far in dreams or trances. Drums, rattles, dances, herbs, and sacred plants were also used. Sometimes a trance inducing sweat lodge was also part of the ritual. This was like a sauna a special tent was made incredibly hot and used for ceremonial cleansing, both emotional and physical. Fumigation by burning herbs was also practiced. The person would either pass through the fumes or have the smoke blown around their naked body. Medicine animals protected the eight directions of American Indian belief, to give guidance. For example, the eagle came from the east, sharp eyed and wise.

www.abluo-uk.co.uk abluo-uk.co.uk/blog Author - Derek Fitzpatrick This article may be freely distributed and reproduced providing it is not edited and contains the links as above

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