HERB - zodiac signs/was Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden

[Gaylin Walli]

Lady Agnes deLanvallei wrote:

>For those of you who haven't thought about it:  Period science used
>astrology, Ptolomy's four elements, and Christian theology (doctrine of
>signatures) to organize their thinking about plants (and everything
>else) (speaking for the main tradition of European science).

I've been thinking about this for a while now and I believe you mean
period science in most of Europe, correct? I can think of at least 4
other different ways in which medicine were addressed, all of which
are period and can be documented as so: yin yang (Chinese, balance of
elements), the humours (Indian, also balance), rootwork or magical
shielding (African), and plant magic (Aztec).

--> Yin Yang. Chinese medicine practitioners believe in the concept of yin
and yang, the two fundamental forces of the universe, and all herbs and
all diseases are described in terms of these forces. Chinese practitioners
believe that hot diseases must be cooled, while cold diseases must be
warmed" as was presented many thousands of years ago in a book called
the Nei Jing (loosely translated as the "Yellow Emporer's Book").

--> The Humours. Ayurvedic medicine practitioners (most notably those in
India) believe that herbs can be classified by their taste (i.e. sweet,
bitter, salty, sour, acrid, pungent, or astringent). Practitioners of
this system of medicine believe that herbs should be used to balance
not the yin and yang of a system as in Chinese medicine, but the three
humours of a system: vita (meaning air or wind), pitta (meaning fire or
bile), and kapha (meaning water or phlegm).

--> Rootwork. Native Africans kidnapped into slavery and taken to various
countries (most notably America, but others included) tied their magic,
music, crafts, and folklore to herbal medicine. They believed that each
plant and each plant's parts were inherently magical. An integral part of
an African "root doctor's" practice was her/his belief that the "shield"
of a plant would protect, kill, free, conjure, rescue, and heal all manner
of problems.

--> Plant Magic. Based on (religiously biased) accounts from Spanish church
men, it appears that Aztecs revered plants highly, though not in the same
manner as Native Americans. Where Native Americans believed that all things
had a spirit, Aztecs may have believed that certain plants provided an
alternative reality or existence. The Aztec word for hallucinogenic
mushroom translates roughly to "flesh from the gods" and it is theorized
that certain psychoactive plants were truly believed to be the flesh of the
Aztec gods. The ability of a psychoactive plants to alter perception so
radically was believed to give Aztecs who consumed these special plants the
ability to view the world of the gods.


There's also a fifth way, via Native Americans, but I can't really
support it from any period sources. The Native American culture has
been very verbally oriented and I don't really know of any
period records.

--> Idolatry. Native Americans have a rich history of invoking the spirits
of plants and animals. Prayers and conversations asking for help, simply
confiding in a plant, or possibly entrusting the plant with a task were
and are still common in native American cultures. All things have a spirit
in this belief system. There are some incredible stories told of how plants
helped Native Americans fight the angered spirits of animals.


>If anyone can give me a formula for sorting out the modern from the
>Medieval, that'd be a great help. :-)

Gosh I wish I could. At the risk of chiming in with a "me too", I'd
love to know myself.

>Lately I've been teaching a Royal University course in persona to try
>to understand how a philosophy in which all causation was from God (or
>the devil) would use herbs in healing.  Philosophically, prayer and
>atonement was the answer.  So what did the healing herbs do?

This sounds fascinating. I wish I could attend one. When would you be
teaching again? :)

Jasmine de Cordoba, Midrealm
jasmine at infoengine.com or g.walli at infoengine.com
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