First I would like to say hi again to everyone who has committed to using the tonics for a year. I am unable to hold an online meeting at this time, due to an upgrade that we are creating for our communications system. At this time, we are undergoing a transition into using cell phone technology to replace our satellite internet connection. I expect this transition to be complete sometime in May, so watch for an Herbal Tonic Class online after that.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to share with a man who was visiting our home, helping us to figure out the location of a cell phone antenna that we will be installing. He has expressed an interest in herbal healing in the past, and his family has numerous health issues that regular medicine has not been able to assist.
A very good question that he asked me is, (and people often want to know this), "Is there any difference in using a drug (such as aspirin), and using the willow bark that aspirin is derived from?".
There are two answers to this question. The first, is that it is nearly impossible to compare any whole plant substance that is created by Nature, with a pharmaceutical derivative. It is like comparing a Porsche to a bicycle.
Plants' medicinal properties are found in the essential oils produced in special glands of the plants' cellular structure. These glands are microscopic, although in some cases the oils are stored in a gland or capsule that is visible to the eye, such as in the case of this Bolivian coriander leaf, above.
When scientists analyze essential oils, they typically find between 200 and thousands of phytochemical constituents. Though scientists usually decide that one or two of these constituents is the "active Ingredient", and the others are just unnecessary by-products. This way of thinking is completely backwards to those who work consciously with plant medicines.
In our way of thinking, every tiny trace mineral and constituent is important, and contributes to the wholeness of the herb's healing properties. We seek to refine the herbs at very low temperatures, and in such a way as to preserve the integrity and innate wisdom of Nature's creation.
As we work with these consciously created gifts, we develop a greater sensitivity to the spirit or consciousness behind them, and great insights come as to the wholistic picture of our health, our lives, and the causal patterns which effect us. Our view becomes more and more whole, and we evolve to create deeper connections between the causes in our lives and the results we are experiencing.
Pharmaceutical derivatives from plant medicines are based in a whole different way of thinking. One, they are made of one or a few substances, refined from the plant medicine (or produced artificially in a laboratory), the substances that have been identified as the "active ingredients". All of the balancing and complimentary phytochemicals are removed.
This creates a challenge for our bodies in that it removes the balancing factors that keep our bodies stable through the healing process. Once refined to the point of containing only one ingredient, there is only one action available in that medicine.
Now it becomes very necessary to use careful dosages, and watch for side effects, because the balancing factors are not available. One chemical in large doses can be studied, and percentages can be applied to the effects it has on a regular basis. In this case we have a way to measure what it will do for a large percentage of the population. It may succeed in suppressing a symptom, but what will result from this later on?
A whole plant medicine, containing over 200 constituents which change and vary with every season that it is produced-- based on weather conditions and other natural factors-- is impossible to study. There is no way that science can take into account all of the factors and come up with a common effect.
In fact, this is why herbalists vary so much on how to use herbs as medicine, and which plants treat which conditions. Many herbs contain the same main ingredients, but their unique combinations and trace constituents will work better for one person than for another. It is a highly intuitive practice.
Blessings for your own path of learning directly from the plant world,
Kathryn
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