Alchemy, organic food, aromatherapy, homeopathy, plant spirit shamanism, nature, healing, shamanism, herbs, herbalism, thomas bartram, james lovelock, gaia, flower remedies, flower essences
There is a concept that underlies all work in plant spirit shamanism, and that is that nature herself will tell you what they are used for and her well-stocked medicine cabinet is right in front of us every day.
Shamans recognize the spiritual powers and qualities of plants in many ways: the colors of their flowers, their perfumes, the shape and form of their leaves, where and how they grow, the moods they evoke, and the context. broader geographical and cultural , or mythological landscapes that they occupy.
Although such considerations do not play a role in modern medicine (which does not believe in these spiritual powers at all), it was not long ago that we, too, understood that nature is alive and speaks to us in this way.
The 16th century alchemist and philosopher Aureolus Phillippus Theophrastus Bombast, better known as Paracelsus, introduced this notion in his treatise Doctrine of Signatures, which proposed that the Creator had placed his seal on plants to indicate their medicinal uses. This was not just idle speculation on the part of Paracelsus; nature itself taught him the truth of it.
“Seeking the truth,” he wrote, “I considered within myself that if there were no medical teachers in this world, how should I go about learning the art? No other way than in the great book of nature, written with the finger of God… Nature’s light, and no apothecary’s lamp guided me my way.”
In his ‘book of nature’, Paracelsus noted how the qualities of plants so often reflect their appearance, that skullcap seeds, for example, resemble small skulls and turn out to be effective in curing headaches. . Similarly, the hollow stalk of garlic resembles the trachea and is used for throat and bronchial problems. In the same way, willow grows in damp places and cures rheumatic conditions caused by fluid accumulation in the joints.
In fact, as Thomas Bartram comments in his Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, “The examples are numerous. It is a curiosity that many remedies for the liver have yellow flowers, those of the nerves (blue), those of the spleen (orange), those of the bones (white). Serpentaria (Rauwolfia) resembles a snake and is an old traditional remedy for snake bite. Herbalism confirms the Doctrine of Signatures.”
Paracelsus’s underlying treatise was the premise that nature was itself a living organism that must be considered an expression of “the One Life”, and that man and the universe are the same in their essential nature; an idea echoed (some would say proven) by Dr. James Lovelock, 500 years after Paracelsus, in his Gaia hypothesis of the unity of life. Gaia shows, for example, that the Earth maintains relatively constant conditions in temperature and atmosphere etc., which defy rational observations and predictive measurements of what ‘should’ happen. It is, rather, as if the Earth were a living organism, consciously taking care of itself.
Because of this “One Life”, Paracelsus held that the internal nature of plants can be discovered by their external forms or “signatures”. He applied this principle to both food and medicine, noting that “it is not in the quantity of food but in its quality that the Spirit of Life resides,” a belief familiar to those who choose to eat organic foods and share a common concern. . about Genetically Modified (GM) substitutes that lack ‘life force’, or spirit.
According to Paracelsus, then, the appearance of a plant is the gateway to its spirit or consciousness.
The signature doctrine, per se, is not something known to many indigenous shamans, but they understand the principles behind it quite well: that nature is alive, conscious, and communicating with us. These principles are not considered fantastic at all, but are practical and important enough to save lives.
I discovered how the doctrine of signatures operates in the Amazon, for example, during an experience with the jergón sacha plant recounted by a jungle traveler, who accidentally stumbled across this plant while walking through the jungle with the shaman Javier Arévalo. studying the properties of plants
“Javier asked why he always carried a machete. I jokingly replied ‘it’s against the anacondas!’
“He paused for a moment and then motioned for me to follow him. A few minutes later we came across this tall-stemmed plant. This was jergon sacha, he said. Javier cut a stem and proceeded to whip me around the body, paying the most attention to my legs and the soles of my feet. He then said ‘no more trouble, you are protected from snakes’. I asked him why this plant was used in this way, and he pointed out the pattern on the stem that looks identical to snakes in the forest
“Later, on a hunch, we started researching this plant and discovered some amazing correspondences. Jergon sacha is widely used as an antidote to snake venom in the Amazon. Going back to the concept of ‘signatures’, this plant is a clear demonstration of the external shape indicating the internal qualities.Its use is directly related to its physical appearance, the tall stem closely resembles the venomous viper known as the Jararaca or Bushmaster, which is indigenous to the Amazon.The Bushmaster, unlike most Unlike other snakes, he is aggressive and will defend his territory, he can attack in the blink of an eye from 15 feet and is rightly feared and respected.
“Surprisingly, jergon sacha turns out to be a very effective antidote to the bite when its large tuber is cut off and soaked in cold water and then drunk, or placed on a banana leaf and used as a poultice to wrap the wound.
“Of course, the pragmatic statement here is that it is not possible to store poison vaccines in the rain forest, where there is no refrigeration, so this plant is of exceptional importance in saving lives. This importance is recognized because the plant itself gives it tells the shaman of its use through the markings on its stems”.
Artiduro Aro Cárdenas, a shaman who works with plant perfumes, provides another illustration of the connection between a plant’s form and function.
“If the smell of a flower has the power to attract insects or birds, it can also bring luck to people,” he says.
Artiduro makes fragrances that attract customers to a store, for example (“You just rub the perfume on your face and it attracts people to your business”), as well as perfumes for love, and others to “bloom” – growth and success . “I observe what the plant does and if it is attractive [i.e. has the power to attract]I use it to attract. Plants are the forces of nature,” he says. “All I do is give direction to these forces.”
The current system of homeopathy is also based on the principle of a sentient universe known through its signatures. Hippocrates spoke of a universal law of similia similibus curentur (‘like cures like’), and the modern pioneer of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), demonstrated through his experiments that plants contain a healing ‘essence’ or spiritual quality. that has affinity with human beings and acts on them according to the nature of the disease they suffer from.
No one really knows how homeopathy works, but the fact that it does seems clear. In 1836, for example, when cholera ravaged many Austrian cities and orthodox medicine could not stop its spread, the government desperately turned to homeopathy and built a crude and rapid hospital in which patients could be treated.
The results speak for themselves: while the orthodox hospitals reported deaths in more than 70% of cases, the homeopathic hospital recorded a mortality rate of only 30%.
Shamans have a simple explanation for this: homeopathic physicians appealed and engaged the plant spirit to intervene on behalf of their patients, and the spirits responded to their call.
