Herbal Remedies: Ancient Medicine in today's World
Herbal Remedies are making a lot of noise just now. Dating back thousands of years, herbal medicine is steeped in myth and mystery. For those of us who have little or no knowledge of biochemistry, the way that herbs are used in healing can only seem like Magic! Plants have however been valued and used both as medicine and food, since the very beginning of human civilisation. For example, a Chinese herb known as ephedra used as a herbal remedy for asthma, and which is the source of the modern drug ephedrine, has been found in Iraqi tombs dating back 60,000 years. It is a testament to the power of the plants healing abilities that they were sent with their dead in quantities sufficient for use in the next world. In the West today, our earliest herbal manuscripts include Egyptian papyri dating from 1500BC, and Chinese herbal traditions derive from Shen Nong, who was a mythical emperor known as 'the divine husbandman' who introduced agriculture and is believed to have lived around 2000BC.
Herbal Remedies: Ancient Medicine for today's world... Many of the ancient herbal remedies are still used in the same manner today. The ancient Assyrians used acacia (Acacia nilotica) leaves to heal wounds and stop bleeding and chaste tree was used for menstrual problems. It is known today that this herb has a very strong and potent effect on female hormones. In the Rameses III era, hemp (Cannabis sativa) was used for eye problems and today is used in the treatment of glaucoma.
Illnesses many years ago were often seen as signs of invading evil. To this very day, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) still talks about the 'six evils' that can be blamed for causing illness: Wind, heat, cold, dryness, dampness, and summer heat.
In fact, herbalism was often associated with witchcraft as the complex rites that took place to maximise their potency, added to the mysterious, magical nature of the treatments for ailments. Possibly because of being associated with pagan religions, ie. before Christianity, lots of herbs today have names linking them to Witchcraft. For example, Foxglove, was known as 'witch's gloves' and shepherd's purse was 'witch's pouches'. Wormwood was recommended for intestinal parasites, just like it is today, but was also prescribed for pains of 'demonic origin'! Some herbs became associated with evil and Vervain was one of these. However, the Druids believed that Vervain had holy powers and was gathered at the right time according to the stars, and also the Romans regarded it as a sacred plant. Vervain is one of the herbal remedies in fact used in the modern day to treat nervous and digestive disorders. Get more info on Liver Dr. to improve functioning of the liver and promote health Plants such as deadly nightshade and henbane are others that have been associated with witches. They are hallucinogenic plants believed to have been used in spells by witches to make a flying ointment which they (the witches, and today, Shamans) would rub into their skin to promote a trance state. Today, herbal remedies are used in combination with modern science. Some of the remedies have had their beneficial effects proven by science, whilst most others are still used today as they were by our ancestors thousands of years ago! Herbs can be used in various forms, such as in tinctures creams, ointments and infused oils.
|
