Paracelsus is "The Father of Toxicology" and was a physician, astrologist, alchemist, and esoteric occult scientist.

He was the first person to bring chemistry + science to medicine. He also traveled all over Europe healing people, using medicine, alchemy and faith healing. Also studied many esoteric philosphies and gnostic Christianity.

He was often called upon by royalty. Yet he was known for frequently helping the poor.

There is a great book called "Paracelsus: Essential Readings"

One of my favorite ideas of his:

That no plant works the same in every person. The same plant will not always work the same way it did before, even in the same person.

He talks about how healing is based on what the illness is, what other energies in the body are blocked, and what herbs are IDEAL given the CURRENT astrological alignments combined with an analysis of the individuals personal astrology based on their birth, location of birth, and time of birth.

Truly customized alchemical healthcare....

Fascinating...

That kind of where I was heading with this... In my OP I mentioned this was kind of a preliminary brain-storm...

It is a great idea, and I like your extensions on it about the known compounds, extractions, links to research. etc...

Having a casual open dialogue like we are is perfect.

However I too thought it would be really cool to have a community-created concise easy to read official document or something that we could all reference + share with people.

We all know so much, it would be cool to shine our light a little bit outside of just our extensive entheogen knowledge!

Not related to herbs, but I feel it relates to preventing sickness and health in general...
Id be curious about your view...

do you feel there is an added value in applying herbs, once someone has progressed further in the balancing of his own energy body (via Qi Gong for example)? (Im just assuming your familiar with these practices as well, considering your TCM knowledge )

Im asking because, while Ive spent quite some time on reading up about herbs for all kinds of performance improvement, health or other issues(mostly adaptogens as interest), I feel that since I have become more in touch with my body, the flow of energy in it, and start to listen to it, I feel less and less need or desire to put any kind of external substance into my body(besides food, but that also lessens ). Not only the lesser need, but it appears to me that listening to your body (mostly about sleep and food) and staying relaxed (emotionally, mentally and physically) just beats about what any herb can do for the overall well being. But I also use some knowledge I got from ayurveda about food combninations, and general eating rythms. Like you said they work with body intelligence, basically there just a singpost to what you feel anyway, if you listen closely enough. Maybe this is also just a benefit of being young, and herbs come into play more when you get older? Or maybe I just havent experienced the magic of a truly skilled herbal alchemist Or maybe its just my body telling me, he doesnt want to deal with my amateurish herb mixing skills any more I dont know. Im open.

On a side note... if youd ever feel inclined to make a post about guidelines or a how to on dieting a plant, Id be be very curious to read rhat

I grow this, it takes 4 years but its worth it [I grow it on a cycle so I can harvest every 2 years].
Powerful stuff. Immune enhancement, metabolic restorative, liver tonic, etc.
You didnt mention its most amazing property though: It doesnt taste bad

Traditionally its not used in the peak of illnesses or in the early stage of boils, presumably because of its strong stimulation of the innate immune system (which could lead to too much swelling, etc.).
In chinese terms: "Forbidden in Yin deficiency with heat, in external full heat, Qi stasis with intestinal (Spleen) damp, the initial stage of boils, and in nursing mothers."

It could actually keep the swelling from doing its thing, which is part of the healing process that one wants to encourage (versus modern, Western medicine with it's symptom suppression modus operandi) Due to Huang Qi's tonic nature, it is used daily over long periods of time to shore up the Lung System (which includes the Large Intestine and the Skin) and the Spleen System (which includes the Pancreas and Stomach). Keep in mind that all these organs and organ systems have much more an expansive and deeper meaning in TCM than in the West.

It typically takes a full 90 days of dosing with Huang Qi to receive its optimal benefit. If an infection happens to occur during those 90 days, you just discontinue its use, clear the infection and resume dosage of Huang Qi.

Traditionally this root of the milk vetch is cooked into soup, although alternatively it can be brought to a boil and then simmered by itself for a couple hours to extract the full benefits from it.
For even better results, throw in a small amount of both Atractylodes macrocephala rhizome (Bai Zhu) and Saposhnikovia divaricata root (Fang Feng)with it and you've got a 2000+ year old formula for strengthening the body's resistance to the affects of external pathogens.







That's all you too-skinny trippers out there that have red swellings of any kind happening (can be acne, can be herpes, can be urticaria, can be called just about anything that MWM can make up a name for). This is due to the heat generated from friction in the body from not enough Yin (look at Yin as the candle wax, Yang as the wick, and Qi as the flame; this is a decent analogy).






...think full-on flu with fever, bloodshot eyes, swollen red throat, etc.



Energy not flowing properly around the body and becoming stuck (most common in the Liver due to anger issues) which in turn, if not dealt with, messes with the body's digestive abilities and will lead to bacterial, fungal, viral build up inside the body (e.g., Candida albicans overgrowth).




More than likely because one of Huang Qi's actions is to "stabilize the exterior", which, among other things means keeping the skin pores closed to prevent external pathogens and influences like wind, cold and dampness to enter through the Lung/Skin/Large Intestine System. This in turn will inhibit the boils from fully manifesting, thus suppressing whatever crap that's underneath the skin trying to get out from getting out, i.e. not healing and/or tonifying the pathogen (which you don't really want to do...who wants a pathogen to get stronger?)

*Another way to look at the condition known as "Yin deficiency" is:

Imagine just how plump and juicy your young organs (liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, etc.) are at say, 5, 10, 15 or even 20 years old.

Now, as you (i.e., your consensus reality body/mind) grow older and life takes it toll on you (especially in developed, Western countries where we tend to live very stressful-on-our-body/mind lives, even if one tends to be a fairly happy person, the go-go-go energetics of our culture take their toll) those organs begin to desiccate, like good beef jerky does, and with the loss of form comes the loss of function. Form (Yin) and function (Yang) are interdependent, i.e. when one begins to decline the other is sure to follow sooner or later, even though the one not in decline first can, for a period of time (which can be years or decades depending upon individual constitutions & conditions) overcompensate for the other and create other imbalances that we generally call "health problems".

TCM and Ayurvda both provide preventatives for this, the most universal & common, situation.
These are typically herbal combinations that have a balanced affect on the various organ systems and keep life-in-general from "plundering the Yin". These formulas are meant to be taken daily over long periods of time to keep the body/mind balanced and aging gracefully.

I often describe them to my clients as "think about this formula the way most Americans think about a multi-vitamin supplement; even though this belief about the multi-vitamin supplement is rather false and is simply a product of marketing, it's a similar principle, i.e. something that you take on a regular basis to help fend off the ravages of an aging body/mind".

This is yet another facet of TCM that I really respect; that it posits that we begin to grow disease in our body/minds as soon as we're born and it's simply a matter of time before that catches up with us. The old TCM saying states it eloquently:

"Taking medicines (herbs/healing foods) only when you are sick (only when you present symptoms) is like waiting to dig a well until after you've become thirsty."

In other words, the idea of preventing illness is ingrained into the foundation of TCM, as opposed to our culture's typical mindset of "I'm not sick! Therefore I don't need medicine!"
Well, you do...Just not pharmaceutical medicines, which, simply due to their nature, tend to create more problems than they actually solve.

Stuff to ponder...

Please refer to my last post before this one.

Dreamer -




I've been a big fan tonys research for almost a decade now

Time flies!

Pei Pa Koa

A Traditional Chinese Medicine cure-all panacea ultra remedy for Cold and Flu, recently popularized by the actor from Stranger Things....

https://www.wsj.com/arti...d-of-coughing-1519316304

From Wiki:

"Pei pa koa is made up of a blend of herbal ingredients including the fritillary bulb (Bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae, 川貝母), loquat leaf (Eriobotrya japonica, 枇鈀葉), ladybell root (Adenophora stricta, 南沙參), Indian bread (Wolfiporia extensa), 茯苓), pomelo peel (Citrus maxima, 化橘紅), chinese bellflower root (Platycodon grandiflorum, 桔梗), pinellia rhizome (Pinellia ternata, 半夏), Schisandra seed (Schisandra chinensis, 五味子), Trichosanthes seed (Trichosanthes cucumerina, 瓜蔞子), coltsfoot flower (Tussilago farfara, 款冬花), thinleaf milkwort root (Polygala tenuifolia, 遠志), bitter apricot kernel (Prunus armeniaca, 苦杏仁), fresh ginger (Zingiber officinale, 生薑), licorice root (Glycyrrhiza uralensis, 甘草), and menthol in a syrup and honey base."

Exotic Rose Fruit Species

R. canina is common and R. roxburghi

For treating Cold & Flu

This stuff is da bomb!!!!

It typically comes in the form of a thick jelly meant to be either taken by the spoonful as a cough syrup or diluted a bit in warm water as a tea. It is really yummy tasting and works like a charm for coughs of all kinds.

Also it is often marketed as "Loquat & Fritillary Jelly (or Syrup)" for English speaking folk.

I have a question.
This is probably more relevant to preventing rather than treating sickness, perhaps particularly preventing sickness in the face of heavy physical labor or stress..
What are the practical differences in application of bitter versus non-bitter jiaogulan?
Gynostemma pentaphyllum comes in a bitter type and a non-bitter type that actually tastes nice, IMO.
From what I can gather the bitter chemotype has a large diversity of constituents similar to the active constituents of ginseng, this is whats in most clinical papers and what is traditionally used for increasing capacity for, and decreasing stress from work as well as general life extension.
The non-bitter chemotype is a fairly new one, its constituents are the active constituents from ginseng (though likely in different proportions) and... I can find no clear and established medicinal use? People seem to just drink it in hopes that its the same as the bitter, despite having basically no overlap in phytochemical constituents?

So whats going on there?

I'm growing the bitter kind this year to see if I can train myself to like it

Best advice I can give you on that one is, if your body type is large (you have excess available to you) go with the bitter one. The bitter flavor is draining and reducing (and usually always cooling, albeit drying) in nature.

Whereas the sweet flavor is giving, replenishing and is best suited for those who's body types are more skinny/deficient.

Just my two cents from a very basic TCM perspective.

While not completely novel , I often find the best thing for me when I'm sick is to go to a Doctor . That doctor may run tests and determine I need an antibiotic or even an antiviral .

Now, what I find most relevant prior to getting sick is to simply engage in healthy activities like aerobics, weight lifting, and eating lots and lots of twinkies and ho ho's. A healthy diet combined with exercise and plenty of good food low in sugar that has preferably not had its fat extracted from it and then simply replaced with sugar... that last one pisses me off. Why take out the fat and replace it with sugar, but where you find the fat has been removed you find sugar has replaced it. Which is why I always ask... where is my fat?

First off, a hefty THANK YOU to CosmicLion for starting this thread!


As I have been reflecting upon this thread for the last week or so, I came to feel that I could not let the chance to propound upon one of my all-time favorite herbal medicines (that I have been recommending in my herbal practice to thousands of beloved clients over the last couple decades) go by.

With that said, I often times highly recommend people to make use of propolis. Yes, honey bee glue, made from the resins of trees and not to be confused with bee pollen, royal jelly nor raw honey.

Chemically, propolis is very close to 100% flavonoids (aka bioflavonoids) in its makeup.

It is very gentle and benign on the human body (slightly warming-neutral energetic; slightly sweet-slightly spicy flavor). It exhibits wide-spectrum anti-viral, anti-bacterial & anti-fungal actions without killing beneficial, probiotic bacteria.

Being made up of mostly flavonoids, it works with Vitamin C in the body to create new collagen and elastin, in short, keeping your connective tissue supple and elastic.

Flavonoids have many other health benefits too numerous to list here and many of them are isolated and sold at high-dollar amounts on the health supplement market. Think quercetin, anthocyanidins, anthocyanins, resveratrol, citrus bioflavonoids, etc.

Propolis is relatively inexpensive being that it is naturally occurring in every honey bee hive on the planet, man-made or not. A simple water extract is all is takes to get it into commonly-used forms (additional extraction methods with alcohol or other food-grade solvents are needed to get it into liquid suspension for use in tincture and spray forms).

For long-term health benefits, I usually recommend a simple water extract of propolis in a capsule form.

For a strong cold/flu/contagious disease prevention method, I usually recommend it in a spray form that is used throughout the day, sprayed toward the back of the throat where it creates a resin-bandaid that keeps viruses, bacteria and fungus from gaining a foothold in your body. I have found that this is a tried-and-true way of keeping people whose occupations require them to be around sick people each workday from getting sick. Teachers, doctors, nurses, etc. have all benefited from applying propolis in this manner.

Thank you all for your time and energy.

Peace

Doc could you elaborate more on the difference between propolis and other constituents of bee nests/ honey?

I have started becoming interested in honey etc. for the health benefits and of course for the amazing taste of good honey over the past few weeks (my old friend who passed away recently used to love "raw" honey and I haven't had it in years since I saw him).

When I go to buy honey there are many kinds and I'm not sure they are always being truthful ( of course) when it comes to labeling etc. I was under the impression that "raw" honey was always creamy looking and solid unless heated up decently but when looking in the stores some "raw" honey looks like regular stuff while other "raw" honey looks like what I thought it should look like. Also sometimes the liquid "raw" stuff is more expensive... So I'm kinda lost on that.

I have been taking a bee pollen tincture that I was able to acquire for free that is taken from hives in my local area. It has water and organic alcohol in it and tastes very strong of bees? or something very familiar and honey like. Not bad or good but strong and different. I have been using it for almost a week so I am not sure I notice any effect yet.

Anyways, how do I differentiate good quality propolis from other stuff? And how much should I be paying for it if i do? What kind of a dose ? And there is nothing wrong with other bee/honey products right?

Anyways very interesting thread, thanks for all the advice from everyone.

Sold, Totally just got some. Surprised I had never heard of it. Thanks for that one

For what you mentioned about plants working differently on an individual basis, and I would say the same for food, I would recommend looking into Dosha, what they are, what yours are and how to work with them. If you can get down with it.

My recommendation for when you're sick is some sort of drink similar to Golden milk, something that works for me (If you're a coffee drinker) Is what I call the flu shot. It's a mild mix of coffee and for me non-dairy creamer. Add a shot of espresso (or not) then Honey or Grade B maple syrup, a liberal amount of cayenne pepper, a liberal amount of black pepper, some freshly grated or powdered ginger, Turmeric powder I load up on this, and a dash of cinnamon.

You'll basically sweat the sickness out I swear, then take that last shot of all the spices at the bottom of the cup... WOW

Secondly, and not particularly for "in the moment of being sick" but to keep general good health and nutrition. Micro-greens. I plan to make a separate post about the growth, cultivation and health benefits of micro-greens. It's a lot and people tend to not know a dang thing about them here in my part of the world. Lemme tell you though, worth checking into.

Raw honey is a healer and antiseptic all unto itself. One hell of a great food-medicine.

Propolis is the resins that the bees collect from the trees, especially the resin-full new-growth tips of the leaves/brackets/needles. It is the most "protective" substance to come out of the bee hive.

Bee pollen is the pollen that he bees collect from flowers. It is the most "energizing" of all the hive products.

Royal Jelly is the substance that the hive feeds a regular bee in order to turn her into the queen. It is an extremely hormonal substance. Think about it, the queen, feasting on a diet solely of Royal Jelly, grows to something like 17 times the size of her fellow, normal bees, lives something like 15 times longer and gives birth to the entire hive! Talk about a power substance! Royal Jelly is the most hormonally active substance to come out of the hive. Some people describe good Royal Jelly as giving them energy, which is fair enough, but to me it gives more of a powerful feeling.

The way I often put it to clients of mine is:

Good quality pollen, in large enough amounts, will give you the energy and the will to clean the whole house, go outside and clean the windows, then your whole car, run a couple miles and still feel like cooking a full dinner.

Whereas Royal Jelly will make you feel as if you COULD do all that, but you choose not to because you'd rather watch someone else do it. In other words, it makes you feel like "The Queen" rather than a "worker bee".

Stevia for lyme disease?

https://akademiai.com/do.../10.1556/1886.2015.00031