The Doctrine of Signatures Anhang
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[Matthew Wood]
The Signatures likewise are taken notice of, they being as it were the Books
out of which the Ancients first learned the Vertues of Herbes; Nature or rather
the God of nature, having stamped on divers of them legible Characters to
discover their uses.
William Coles, Adam in Eden (1657)
The doctrine of signatures is used around the world in pre-modern
cultures where thought-by-association is accepted as a valid means of obtaining
knowledge of the world. The idea is that a plant that looks like the
disease, organ, or person it will heal. For instance, celandine (Chelidonium
majus) has yellow/orange sap. Horsetail (Equisetum arvensis) looks like
horse hair, so it is good for the hair. It also grows on wet sands, so it
is a remedy for the kidneys. Thus, the shape, color and habitat all can
be used to determine the uses of a plant.
In addition to the appearance, the taste, smell, touch or texture can
also provide signatures. Thus, the putrid smell and bad taste of figwort
(Scrophularia spp.) indicate that it is a remedy for putrefaction. Since it has
gland-like or hemorrhoids-like flowers, it is also called figwort or pilewort
and marked as a lymphatic remedy and a hemorrhoid remedy.
Even sound can provide a signature. Black cohosh (Cimicifuga
racemosa) and wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) have been pointed out to me as
Snake Medicines by American Indians because the seeds in the seedpod produce a
rattling sound. Samuel Thomson, the popularizer of herbal medicine in
early nineteenth century North America, used rattlesnake oil to cure a case of
‘the rattles’ or croup.
Most often it is the appearance, shape, color, or habitat that implies
the relationship. Usually Snake medicines look snake-like. The long
flower raceme of black cohosh looks like a spine or snake. Baptisia, on
the other hand, personifies necrosis: the leaves and pods, when injured, turn
black like necrotic, poisoned tissue. Here is an example of Snake Medicine used
by Amazonian Indians, as recorded by Jeremy Narby (1998, 29):
On two separate occasions, Carlos and Abelardo showed me a plant that
cured the potentially mortal bite of the jergon (fer-de-lance) snake. I
looked at the plant closely, thinking that it might come in useful at some
point. They both pointed out the pair of white hooks resembling snake
fangs, so that I would remember it. I asked Carlos how the virtues of the
jergon plant had been discovered. We know this thanks to these hooks, because
that is the sign that nature gives.”
The doctrine of signatures has been rejected by conventional science as
an example of thinking that is ‘magical’ and therefore naive and
superstitious. Yet, reasoning by analogy can lead to fruitful results.
Signatures provide the backbone of an intuitive approach to knowledge. This
mode of thinking stretches all the way back to Plato, who taught thinking from the
eidos (idea, primal form, essence, archetype). It was advocated by Aristotle,
for whom ‘formal logic’ signified thought from the form, idea, eidos or eidea.
Magical Similarity or Rational Analogy?
The doctrine of signatures is based on thought-by-association, hence by
similarity and analogy. Paracelsus and Frances Bacon both advocated this kind
of thought, but had opposite views about it.
Paracelsus accepted as legitimate only associations that were purely
‘magical,’ that is, where the similarity had no rational explanation or causal
relationship. Thus, for instance, treatment by cow liver to human liver
was not true to the doctrine of signatures or the law of similars. Rather, it
was the correspondent of liver in the creation, in the yellow, bile-like sap of
celandine, which treated the liver in the human being. Paracelsus based
his entire system upon this type of similarity or signature and called it magia
naturale, or natural magic. Bacon, on the other hand, rejected the
‘magical’ or superstitious methods of the “natural magicians,” emphasizing
associations that were easily demonstrated to have a rational relationship
based on cause-and-effect.
Bacon introduced reductionist science, in which the whole is reduced to
the parts. This is now the basis of modern scientific study.
However, he also taught that it was necessary to think holistically, to put the
pieces back together. The way to do this, he taught, was to think by
analogy, for causal, rational similarities could trace out relationships in
nature. For instance, he said, there must be a developmental relationship
between the womb and the scrotum, due to similar shape. Actually, this
method is unconsciously used in science. Darwin, for instance, reasoned
from the morphological similarities in birds on the Galapagos to arrive at the
Theory of Evolution.
Goethe tried to establish a science based on analogical thought.
He was the first to observe that the flower structures were modified leaves or
the cranium modified vertebra. R.S. has attempted to perpetuate Goethe’s
approach.
Within the traditional use of similarity and signature we find
tendencies in both directions. Sometimes the signature can be accounted
for only by a leap of the imagination. Calendula, with its bright orange flower,
looks like ‘herbal sunshine.’ It does not have structures that resemble glands
but I was taught by herbalist Chris Hafner that it was the remedy for ‘places
where the sun doesn’t shine.’ That places its regional affinities in the
‘collection’ areas of the body, under the chin, arms, breasts and groin. These
are the areas where the lymphatic network is strongly woven and calendula will
cleanse in these areas. It is also a remedy for vaginitis — where the sun
doesn’t shine.
Many kidney remedies have a signature that is quite rational. They
live in areas where there is a balance between water and solid. They are
sensitive to this elemental edge in the natural world and act on the kidneys,
which serve to balance water and solid in the organism. Such is the case
of horsetail, living in wet sands, gravel root (Eupatorium maculatum), living
on the very edge of land and water, smartweed (Polygonum hydropiper), living
where the water kills all the plants in the spring but leaves an empty
depression in the corn field in summer and hydrangea (Hydrangea spp.), growing
on the eroded creeksides, roots keeping the soil from washing away.
Signatures, Intuition and Spirituality
The first book published on signatures in English is William
Coles’ Adam in Eden (1657). The title refers to the commonly held
belief in the ancient and Renaissance era, that when Adam was in Eden naming
the creatures that he was in fact recognizing their archetypal properties and
giving them the appropriate names reflecting their true nature.
Furthermore, Adam himself is taken to be the comprehensive archetype who
embraces within himself all of these creatures. Thus, the human archetype
contains within it the archetype of all the animals and plants.
Throughout this the archetype, i.e. Adam, can name all the creatures.
This doctrine is quite ancient and was maintained by the Rabbis, who called the
androgynous human archetype, before the appearance of Eve (organic life), Adam
Kadmon.
I’ve read the original account in Hebrew and it is hard to construe the
story any other way, though if a person has never heard of the idea of
archetypes or correspondences, or that around the world names are associated
with identifying the essence, one would miss the point of the story. Genesis is
written in archetypes that are frequently pointed out by wordplays.
For myself, I experience the recognition of an archetype in a signature
or the true nature of a plant or creature as a beautiful experience, which
harkens my spirit back to paradise before the fall, before the human archetype
decided that he was a god. Yet, we are more complex beings than were Adam
and Eve in Eden before the fall — the Hebrew terms here mean “Humanity” and
“Life.”¯ There is more for us to learn because we have become differentiated
into sexes and taken on bodies of flesh and substituted our idea of good and
evil for intuition of the archetype. Thus, we have to overcome egotism,
self-generated morality and choose the right path, both to actualize our
purpose in the universe (our personal archetype) and to remove from self-will
and egotism to Divine government.
The archetypal realm lies above morality and through it we can glimpse
paradise. It provides one kind of spiritual wisdom — this is why the
medieval church did not condemn ‘natural magic’ but accepted it. However,
this wisdom does not answer all the questions of human nature. There is
also a kind of wisdom that can only come from living in the human body, ‘in
this valley of happiness and sorrow mixt’ (Blake), unknown to the purely
archetypal realm.
The law of similarity and the doctrine of signatures are built into the
fabric of the universe. Jacob Boehme associated similars and signatures
with the Son aspect of the trinity, which accepts all beings, brings all
together and returns them to a harmonious existence. On the mundane level
it will not disappoint us herbalists. Not only does it cure, but it works
from principles that are spiritually constructive. In my own work I
strive not only to see the signature in the plant, but the constitution of the
person and the pattern of the disease.
When I began the practice of herbalism I wanted to practice in a way
that uplifted me every time I participated in a healing event, not just the
client. Otherwise it would be a lopsided relationship, even a
prostitution of sorts, as I would be paid in money only. Spiritual
upliftment is possible when I use my intuition to see the pattern, the
archetype, the spiritual level, in the client, the disease and the herbs. Also,
I am not prostituting the plants, using and conceiving of them for purely
material pursues.
William Coles (1657) had the same feeling I have, for he writes in his
foreword to Adam in Eden:
To make thee truly sensible of that happinesse which Mankind lost by the
Fall of Adam, is to render thee an exact Botanick, by the knowledge of so
incomparable a Science as the Art of Simpling, to re-instate thee in another
Eden, or, A Garden of Paradise: For if We rightly consider the Addresses of this
Divine Contemplation of Herbs and Plants, with what alluring Steps and Paces
the Study of them directs Us to an admiration of the Supream Wisdome, we cannot
even from these inferiour things arrive somewhat near unto a heavenly
Contentment; a contentment indeed next to that Blessednesse of Fruition, which
is lonely in the other World; for all our Pleasures here having but the fading
Aids of Sense are beholding, or rather subjected to our human Frailties, so
that they must in respect of our Expectations in some kind or other ever fall
short.
‘Simpling’ is the use of a single plant. The doctrine of
signatures makes the use of an herb so clear, sometimes, that we can use it
confidently by itself, not in a formula. Signatures, similars and
simpling were recognized by Galen, the organizer of Greek medicine, as the
basis of the ’empiric’ or experience-based school of medicine. He did not
approve of it, because it was associated with peasants and people close to the
land rather than trained, educated, upper class practitioners. Eventually
these principles became the basis of homeopathy, which also added the doctrine
of the dimunition of the dose.
The excesses of the English Civil War and the reformation of science as
a part of the greater Reformation, led to the demise of intuitive and
archetypal science, based on the criticism that it was the product of
‘enthusiasm,’ i.e., a religious notion and therefore somewhat dangerous.
Alchemy, astrology and the doctrine of signatures were increasingly forgotten in
Britain and America.
In the early 19th century, the principles of empirical
medicine were revived by H., the founder of homeopathy, but he made them into a
rigid system, rather than an empirical practice originating close to the
earth. In the nineteenth century J. G. Rademacher in Germany and John M.
Scudder in the United States, built systems of medicine using herbs based on
empiricism and specificity which contribute to our knowledge of simpling, but
which did not use signatures and similars.
In the early 19th century the German poet J.W. Goethe
attempted to resuscitate science based on a more intuitive and imaginative
approach. He utilized the doctrine of signatures, as the following
quotation from his analysis of arnica will show. Later his work was
picked up by R.S. and comes down to us as Goethean and Anthroposophical
science.
Goethe and Steiner
Goethe proposed that science be based upon the use of the imagination
and intuition. He used analogies very much as Frances Bacon had intended:
to understand the underlying linkages and principles of Nature. Thus, for
instance, he discovered the principles of developmental morphology. He
realized that each vertebra was a variation on the same structural theme and
that the skull in itself was a modified vertebra. He also saw that the
basic structural or morphological unit of the plant was the ‘leaf/stem,’ and
that through modification the leat/stem became the petals, sepals and flower
parts.
Goethe may have applied the doctrine of signatures as it was
traditionally used to understand the medicinal properties of plants, but I have
discovered only one surviving eyewitness account of him doing so. This is
translated by Wilhelm Pelikan (1997, 257), who will be mentioned further on.
On February 24, 1823, the German writer Eckermann, who helped Goethe
prepare the final edition of his works, wrote in his dairy:
‘It has been a worry day, for by midday Goethe showed none of the
improvement we had seen yesterday. Feeling a sudden weakness he said to
his daughter-in-law: “I can sense that the moment has come when the struggle
between life and death begins within me.”
By evening the patient had fully regained his mental faculties and was
indeed in high spirits and able to joke. “You are too cautious with your
remedies,” he said to Rehbein, “I am tougher than you think. With a
patient like myself you will have to be somewhat Napoleonic.”
Then he took a cupful of a decoction of Arnica. This had given a
positive turn during the crisis when administered by Huschke the day
before. Goethe proceeded to give a charming description of the plant,
lauding its energetic powers to the skies.’
Arnica is a somewhat toxic plant. In old time Western medicine it was
principally used externally, on bruises and contusions. In homeopathy it
was used for this, internally and externally; also for fevers where the blood
was disordered and there was bleeding and bruising. It is considered a
‘counter-irritant’ in the old medicine, meaning that it irritates the skin and
brings blood to the area. In this way it keeps circulation going in a
bruised area, which repairs much quicker. Arnica is really an
extraordinary remedy in a bruise, strain, or sprain, as many can attest from
personal experience — myself included. Here it was probably being used in
an elderly patient to stir up the circulation.
Referring to the above passage, someone once asked the author what
Goethe’s description might have sounded like and he then wrote the following,
putting it the way Goethe might have put it.
“Note well,” exclaimed the patient, “that this magnificent plant
is at home in the open heights, on primitive rock; that it stands by the steps
leading to the thrones of the gods. It is rooted in the moist freshness
of alpine meadows and utterly belongs to spring and early summer, to the pure
atmosphere and the forces of morning. Golden green is the basal rosette
of leaves, the first circle of life, foretokening a second one, the calyx; and
swiftly the plant starts to prepare for the third, the corona of the
flower. The delicate shaft rises straight upwards, no thought now of the
leaf spirals, of foliage unfolding; just a single pair of small leaves may be
carried aloft; soon the flower bud at the top bursts from confinement and
orange-yellow whirls of fire appear in the light of the St. John’s Tide
sun. Ah, the fragrance of it! What is it that lived already in the
leaf and has now reached perfection in the flower? The elements of
grandeur that reign in those regions find in the plant a form of life that is
in accord with them, formed wholly out of them, receiving them in the way that
is possible for plants and giving expression to them at a higher level, in
color and scent. That fragrance, how do I put it into words?
Healing power I shall call it. May there soon come a man of inspiration,”¯
Goethe continued thoughtfully, “who will express in more well-defined words the
sensual and moral action, who will perform for the world ot scents and aromas
what I have attempted to do for color and interpret for us whatever it is that
brings plant nature to reveal itself thus in the airy element.
“Energy is squeezed into the arnica plant in every possible way.
Merely to think of it pours rivers of fire around my heart. Yet power
here is paired with delicacy of form. Nothing brittle or hard resists the
in-forming power of heaven; the plant chosen by the sun god is young and
vital. Behold the flower, how it melts into light, into the blaze of the
sun. The mountain breeze comes to be the sower into whose hands the flower
puts its feathery seeds. And the wind broadcasts the seed over the
springy turf. Thus sparks of light follow Persephone into the earth’s
womb in autumn. But the sun’s warmth penetrates, warming the dark moist
soil; the root of our herb sense the incoming life, begins to sprout and grow
and whereas in the first half of the year the plant unfolded in the
sphere of the sun, it follows paths in the second that the sun takes within
earthly spheres.
“Thus I assign arnica to Helios among the gods. And among
men? To the follower of Asclepias who wanders among the lonely
heights. Here we have a plant of rapid healing, of firm decision.
If you suffer violence and injury, from fist, cudgel or blade, wondrous healing
is nigh in this herb. The vital energies are flowing, the pulse grows
stronger, the heart takes courage; if the blood has lost its way in a bruise or
an effusion, arnica will remind it of its proper courses. Muscles and
sinews grow firm; the body form, having suffered insult and injury, is restored
and so is the nervous system where it is so difficult to achieve healing.
The organic revolt at injury sustained — we call it pain — lessens and
passes. Truly Napoleonic is the style in which illness is met, grandiose
the way in which a decision is forced. When life and death began their
struggle within me, I sense the hosts of life, this flower on their standard,
forced the issue and the stagnating forces of the enemy, the deathly oppressive
powers, met their Waterloo. Rejuvenated in my recovery I praise this herb
most highly, yet in truth it is nature who praises herself, she who is truly
inexhaustible, who creates this flower with its healing powers and in doing so
once more proclaims herself to be eternally procreative.”
The poet fell silent; his majestic eye, having regained its old,
sun-like power, roamed thoughtfully, in contemplation, as though over distant
fields where it beheld what cannot be expressed in words.’
Ah, to be a poet. One sees here a profound and deep contemplation on the
powers and attributes of a plant. Goethe does not just pigeonhole the
plant under an astrological symbol, as do so many
of the astrological and alchemical physicians. He thinks of the plant
more poetically in terms of its relationship to the sun, heights and the
elements fire and air.
Goethe’s method was inspiring to R.S., the founder of the
Anthroposophical Society. He adopted the same approach: the analysis of
the plant or organism through its stages of development, its affinities to the
old gods or planetary emblems, which were used, age after age, not to express
belief in the gods necessarily, but as symbols or archetypes of different
powers. Steiner had been instructed by an old herbalist he met on the
train in Austria; from whom he learned the properties of plant and the
traditions of folk-medicine.
Steiner’s most important publication, in his own eyes, was The
Philosophy of Freedom (1896), which was also his first major publication.
In it he argued that the four major psychological faculties
of the human organism known at this time in German philosophy,
perception (or physical observation), feeling, thinking and intuition, had
important different uses. The former three cut the world into pieces, so
that it could be digested and understood by a person, but the latter served to
unit all perception by providing an overview of the whole situation — an
holistic perspective, so to speak. The intuition perceived the whole or
innate self in another person, it reflected the same in oneself and it’s use
promoted the integration of the self and the sense of a higher spiritual
purpose in the self. It was particularly effective at times when a person
was choosing between two different paths. One would appeal more to the
mind (don’t take the risk, the money’s good, the marriage is ok), the other to
the intuition (there’s something here I have to do, a path to follow).
One is reminded of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, a representation of an intuitive
and a rational thinker.
Through the use of the intuition the sense of a spiritual self with
higher motives than those of the material world would develop and the more one
became a ‘free spirit’ grounded in this higher perspective, the more one would
be self-governing and inwardly free, hence: The Philosophy of Freedom.
Steiner argued that the true self was not bad or greedy or self-possessed, but
innately virtuous because of it’s spiritual grounding. Hence, Steiner
taught a doctrine of spiritual growth through the use of the intuition.
The centennial edition of this book was thus reissued under the title Intuitive
Thinking as a Spiritual Path (1996).
Thus, both the old philosophers and the new saw great importance in the
use of signatures, archetypes and intuition in human endevour, not only because
of the facts learned, but the way of learning them, which encouraged an aspect
of spiritual life.
Signatures in Renaissance Herbalism
Very few books have been written based on the doctrine of signatures.
Paracelsus’ works are based on signatures but he was more interested in those
relating to minerals than plants, so we do not gain a lot of practical
knowledge from his works, just the philosophy of signatures. The first
practical books appear in Latin in the 17th century, including
Giambattista della Porta’s Phytonomincon and a work by Oswald Crollius.
The first book in English on signatures is Adam in Eden, by William Coles,
published in London, “at the Angel in Cornhil,” in 1657.
Coles explains the method by which he intends to “acquaint all sorts of
people with the very Pith and Marrow of Herbarism,” namely:
I have made an Anatomical application throughout the Series of the whole
work, by appropriating to every part of the Body (from the Crown of the Head,
with which I begin; and proceed till I come to the Soul of the Foot) such Herbs
and Plants, whose grand uses and virtues do most specifically and by Signature,
thereunto belong; not only for strengthening the Same, but also for curing the
evil affects whereunto they are subjected.
One time I read in “Adam and Eden” that sage was good for skin
conditions that looked like wrinkled like sage leaf. “Oh, ridiculous,”¯ I
thought to myself. Six months later I had a case just like that and
couldn’t think of anything except sage. Presto, it worked perfectly and
has always worked on what is called ‘lichenification’ in dermatology - the skin
looks like a sage leaf. This is particularly common in woman and
sometimes men, in the decline of life, from the fifties onwards, when the vital
juices are drying out. That is where sage is most remedial.
Signatures in Modern Herbalism
One of the few late 20th century authors who utilized the
doctrine of signatures was Ben Charles Harris, a pharmacist in Wooster,
Massachusetts, who passed away several decades ago. In The Compleat
Herbal (1972) he gives a signature for each use of each plant. Some of
them are magical and some are rational. Although he was a scientist - a
pharmacist - Harris was a New England woodsman who knew what the plants looked
like, where they grew and the general validity of the doctrine of signatures.
Again and again we do find countless examples of medicinal herbs on
which are “stamped” an indication of their healing properties. The inquisitive
novice herbalist need only apply his powers of observation to evaluate clues to
the herbs’ therapeutic powers, the remedial qualities, or the diseases for
which these qualities are indicated. If at times the examples of
correspondences throughout this work appear far-fetched, let me offer as
warrants of the doctrine’s usefulness some fifty-five years of living with and
experiencing the healing herbs, as well as close to four decades of
professional pharmacy and teaching of herbalism (Harris, 1972, 36).
Harris (1972, 37) also stresses that the doctrine of signatures is a
good memory device.
Instead of tedious memorization of the various uses of a plant, the
doctrine of signatures offers in many (though not all) cases a reliable system
of connecting the herb with its remedial use through symbolic association.
In traditional herbalism (before the advent of writing) herbal knowledge
was often passed on by the use of signatures, to help the student understand
the logic of the plant and remember its use.
Guide to Using Signatures
In using the doctrine of signatures we should choose our place on the
continuum between ‘natural magic’ and ‘analogical science,’ between
Paracelsus and Bacon. Having placed oneself in this way, one can use the
following guidelines as one chooses. Harris (1972, 41) writes:
The signatures or hints given by certain characteristics of plants can
be easily broken down into categories. Groups of plants sharing the same
signature would probably be indicated for similar ailments or application to
the same general area of the body. A variety of aspects of an individual
plant can give us clues to its use: we should examine its habitat, its color,
its shape, its texture, its ordorh and its internal properties.
Even the sound an herb makes is used as a signature in American Indian
medicine.
Habitat, Environmental Niche
Changes in the environment of a plant will change its chemistry and thus
its medicinal properties. For example, plants that are stressed by shade
will extend their roots and stretch their leaves. A plant hormone called
auxin accumulates in the outer cells of the plant, due to changing levels
of protein tansport proteinssd.sllls. These changes alter the chemistry
of the plant and modify the medicinal properties. Over the ages a new
plant species with a nes environment and constituents will be created.
Harris (1972, 42) recommends that the first signature one look for is
the habitat of an herb:
Plants that grow in turgid brooks, wet lowlands and swamps are
associated with diseases of wetness: rheumatic disorders, feverish colds and
coughs. These plants include the willow, water pepper, mints, verbena,
sweet flag, elder, boneset, jack-in-the-pulpit and skunk cabbage.
Mucky soil signifies mucous excretions. When mucous excretions are
excessive, an inflammation occurs along the membranes of the repiratory and
genito-urinary passages which often develops into a diseased condition.
The eucalyptus and sunflower are often cultivated in swampy areas to rid the
places of foul, miasmatic conditions and are similarly employed to cleanse out
the “swampy”¯ areas of the body.
Herbs and shrubs found growing on the banks of clear ponds and
fast-moving brooks are mostly indicated as diuretics, such as horsetail,
bedstraw, assorted aromatic mints, smartweed, black alder, water agrimony and
hydrangea. These plants can help to cleanse the urinary system of its
waste and stone-forming deposits.
Herbs inhabiting gravelly places may also be found growing over large
rock formations or completely covering sandy, barren areas. Such plants
can help cleanse and remove from the mucous linings and from their associated
areas -the alimentary and bronchial systems- the harmful stone-forming and
catarrhal accumulations. An inflammation may be reduced and disease be
prevented by the use of the following: bearberry, horsetail, peppergrass,
parsley, parsley piert, shepherd’s purse, juniper, may flower, gromwell and the
two “stone-breakers,”¯ sassafras and saxifrage.
The word ‘saxifrage’ originally meant a plant whose roots dug into rock
and pried it apart - a perfect signature for a stone-breaking or kidney gravel
remedy. Another perfect signature is when a plant grows at the boundary
of water and soil. This is found in gravel root - I have seen it grow at
the edge of Lake Superior, the roots keeping the waves from beating apart the
soil. It is also found in hydrangea, which grows on the sides of stream
beds in Appalachia - holding the soil against erosion. Water pepper or smartweed
has the same signature. It grows in the field where the puddle forms in
the spring. The corn or crop dies and by late summer the ‘hole’ in the
field is filled with smartweed.
Color
“The color of the plant’s flower, fruit, or decoction from root or stem
may also be a signature,” writes Harris. While I agreed with the pharmacist in
principle, my correspondences in color are a little different and I will give
mine, not necessarily his.
The color may be seen in any part of the plant, not just the flower,
fruit, or decoction, but it is less often seen in the leaves and stems.
Remember, the purpose of the leaf/stem unit of the plant is simple growth, the
flower and fruit parts represent profound adaptive changes to the environment.
In Western herbalism the color yellow is associated with the bile, hence
with the liver and gallbladder. A large number of the yellow plants are
also bitter, which fits in with their use, because the bitter flavor acts
strongly on the liver and gallbladder, as well as the digestive tract in
general. In the old days these organs were particularly affected by
malarial fevers, which are accompanied by chills, so that the autonomic nervous
system was highly deranged. The yellow and bitter plants reestablished
the right tension and balance in the autonomic and straightened out the
discharges of bile and the timing of the digestive tract. In traditional
Chinese medicine the color yellow is associated with the stomach and spleen,
i.e., with digestion, assimilation and nourishment. This is closely
related to the Western idea, which revolves around the liver and
gallbladder. Plants demonstrating these properties include dandelion,
gentian, tansy, butternut bark, yellow dock root, rhubarb root, chelidonium,
fringe tree, goldenseal, barberry root, Oregon grape root and mandrake.
Some of them are also purgatives, due to the presence of the yellow
anthroquinones.
As the color changes to yellow-orange there is still a strong
relationship to the same area of the body but there is usually more
warming. Calendula is an excellent example of an orange flower that warms
the digestive tract and lymphatics — the stomach and spleen of TCM. It is
also cleansing to the liver and useful in hepatitis.
The color red, as in rose petals, raspberry fruit, stems and leaves,
strawberries, red clover and the sour red berries of barberry, is usually
associated with cooling and reducing fever — yellow with fever and
chills. As the color tends more towards the blue or purple side it
becomes more of a blood purifier or detoxifier, acting on fever and
inflammation arising out of impurities in the blood and fluids that need to be
burned up. Various shades of purple show up in the stems of burdock,
dandelion and plantain. Strongly purple or indigo plants, such as wild
indigo, true indigo (woad) and echinacea, are remedies for deep inflammatory
processes where there are tendencies to putrefaction, necrosis and tissue death
— black being the ultimate color signature for tissue death. It it seen
in the way the leaves die back suddenly to black in wild indigo, from the marks
of black on leaves, like in lady’s thumb (Polygonum persicaria), in the black
roots of black cohosh.
Burgundy red is the color associated with the blood-builders: rehmannia
root, beet root, sumach berry and yellow dock root — the latter is more a rusty
red. As we move into brown-reds we have the color of tannins, as Harris
points out, seen in the decoctions of sumach and oak. There is no more
beautiful red decoction than sumach berry: it is cooling as well as astringent
and blood-building. The reds, burgundy reds and brown reds perfectly
explain the plant.
Rounding the corner of the color spectrum into blue, we find that this
color is the antispasmodic. Dimsah, the great color therapist who was
persecuted by the FDA through the forties and fifties, used blue light to relax
spasm. We see this in blue vervain, lobelia, skullcap, blue cohosh (which
together formed an antispasmodic remedy put together by Dr. Christopher), wood
betony and lavender. Wild iris, which is blue, slightly purple and
yellow, is generally considered a blood-purifier. However, it is an
emetic, like blue vervain and lobelia, so it does end up relaxing the muscles
after clenching them up.
We look for green in leaves that are intensely green, like spinach,
nettle, horsetail and comfrey. These plants are high in minerals and
bitters that cleanse the blood and liver. Plants that are blue-green are
generally beautiful and relaxing, like blue cohosh and white pine.
White is a color associated with bone-healing, as in the white roots of
true Solomon’s seal, comfrey, black cohosh and boneset. Sometimes there
is a black covering over the white roots, but these are all bone-healers in one
way or another.
The colors were often keys to the association of the plants with the
planets. Thus, yellow, orange and red were associated with the warm
planets — Jupiter, Mars and the Sun. Brown-red astringence and black
belong to the dry, cold, malefic Saturn, white (the color of sugar and carbohydrates)
to the nutritive Moon and relaxing blue, blue-green and green for Venus.
Shape
The old teaching at the core of the doctrine of signatures was that the
resemblance of a plant part to a human organ indicated medicinal
relationship. This is the basis of ‘natural magic’ and seems like
nonsense to the modern scientist, but Nature is ruthless and every shape is
associated like white-on-rice to a function. To some extent, shape is
function. Therefore, the similarity between shapes in different kingdoms
of Nature may have significance.
The patterns of growth taken by vines associates them with conditions of
the nervous and blood systems, which of course take a similar form within the
body. We can find the word “vine”¯ in “vein,”¯ another mnemonic device.
These herbs have been much employed as alteratives (blood purifiers) and as
nervines or antispasmodics (Harris, 1972, 44).
Woody perennial vines such as sarsaparilla (Smilax), yellow parilla
(Menispermum), bittersweet vine (Celastrus) and Virginia creeper (Ampelopsis)
were all very important blood purifiers in the 19th century,
although some of them are less commonly used today. Today most of our
important alteratives (burdock, dandelion, nettle, yellow dock root and red
clover) are distinguished by the fact that they are common agricultural
weeds. Such survivors of chemical agriculture are, indeed, entitled to be
thought of as blood purifiers.
Viney annual growth seem to have more to do with the nervous
system. This includes hops, cinquefoil and many of the mints. An
extra indication for nerve-relaxing properties is the presence of a square or
sharp-sided stem. This is found in the mint family and blue vervain.
Long, tubular structures are, however, also signatures for the urinary
tract. Dorothy Hall (1988) points out the relationship between the long
cleavers stalk and the male urethra. The same may be said for corn silk,
the long, slender rhizome of couchgrass and the long, trailing stems of the procumbent
uva-ursi.
Trees grow in spirals, but conifers grow generally do this clockwise,
while hardwoods grow generally in the opposite direction. Elm grows both
ways, which is why it is knarly. Some trees switch during their life
time. Another difference is that conifers, in order to turn upright will
push on the side needing extension, while hardwoods pull to get upright.
The ancients, who had a very limited knowledge of anatomy, considered
deeply lobular leaves to be a signature for the liver. Thus, celandine and
American mayapple act powerfully on liver and gallbladder. The former has
orange-yellow sap and the latter has a sallow, yellow appearance, signatures
for the bile. Indeed, the small mayapple fruit hanging down under the
leaves of the American mandrake or mayapple look like a gallbladder under a
liver. Another lobular liver remedy is hepatica, although it is not now
used in herbal medicine. Spleen remedies, for the ancients, were marked
by a repetitive pattern in the notching along the leaves, like we see in
spleenwort or sweetfern (Comptonia) and several of the true ferns.
Generally, yellowness and bitterness are the best signatures for the
liver, while yellowness and sweetness are indicators for the spleen.
Kidney remedies sometimes look like kidneys. Bean pod is an
excellent food-tonic for the kidneys. Opposite leaves, the look like the
two kidneys opposite each other, are also a signature, as seen in ground ivy.
Small round, gland-like structures are an excellent indicator for the
lymphatics. Scrophularia, a very powerful lymphatic alterative, has
little round gland-like flowers that are purple and smell bad (a signature for
putridity). Red root has nodules on the roots which quickly dry up and
disappear after the plant is pulled from the ground. Red clover, a
legume, also has nodules and lymphatic uses.
Heart remedies are indicated by rhythmic, repetitive structures, like
the beautiful billowing flowers of digitalis that look like a heartbeat caught
at its height, or the alternating flowers of motherwort, or the evenly
distributed hanging bells of lily-of-the-valley.
Large leaves are a signature for the skin and the lungs, because the
vegetative process of breathing, called transpiration, needs a large surface
area and this is analogous to the large surface area of the skin needed for
perspiration (similar to transpiration) or of the lungs, for breathing.
Thus, mullein, coltsfoot, burdock, comfrey and horseradish are used for the
skin and/or lungs. Lungwort has a peculiar signature for the lungs: it
looks like someone has expectorated gobs of mucus on it. The rhizome of
pleurisy root looks exceptionally like the terminal buds of the alveoli, the
terminal buds of the bronchial tubes. Lobelia seeds have air inside them
-giving them an uncanny feel- indicating a relationship to trapped air
(asthma). Onion and garlic have hollow tubes, like the bronchial tubes,
while calamus looks like a trachea and is a great remedy for tracheitis.
A number of plants look like the open mouth and throat, like the flower
of self heal. This was considered a signature for sore throats, for which
this plant is used. An American Indian healer pointed out another
signature with this, however. “The flower of self heal looks like a mouth
and lips, reminding us of one of our most powerful Indian doctors, the sucking
doctor,” who pulls things out of people through the skin, by sucking. And
self heal is one of the great drawing agents in herbalism.
Bone remedies are usually white and sometimes look like bones.
Comfrey roots are coated black, but underneath they have a calcium-white like
color. Another name for comfrey is knitbone. However, I prefer
boneset, which has a bone-white flower. True Solomon’s seal has roots
that look like vertebra, knuckles, joints, sockets and bones of all kinds,
while the leaves attach on the stalks like muscles attaching to bones — this is
an excellent remedy for tendons, ligaments, joints and probably for bones as
well. It works well on bone spurs. Older elecampane roots look like
rotted-out bones and indeed, this remedy has been useful in infection of the
jawbones from bad teeth.
A few herbs manage to look like the cranial bones. Peony buds look
like a cranium, complete with sutures. The root is an excellent remedy
for some head injuries — also try calamus root and its cousin black
cohosh. The dried seedpods of snapdragon look like little skulls or
craniums. The flower essence is used for TMJ (in snappish people) and I
have used it also for cranial adjustments.
There are, of course, a few remedies that look like the hair on the
head. Horsetail contains silica in organic solution in its joints and is
an excellent remedy for connective tissue, joints, skin, nails and hair.
Burdock heads reflect the use of the plant in hair loss from unhealthy scalp
problems. Agrimony looks like it has hair-standing-on-end: here the
signature is for tension, though it is an important remedy in alopecia.
Other plants have small hairs resembling the hair on the skin, or the
hairs on the mucosa of lung and intestine.
Skin remedies are known in several ways.
The signature of the following herbs is their thin, thread-like stems
and root, suggesting the sewing up of skin lesions: bedstraw, cleavers,
septfoil, cinquefoil and gold thread. (Spider webs are also considered
useful for this purpose). Lenticels (openings in the outer layer of cork
and tissues of stems) also represent skin lesions. White birth, elder,
cherry and sumac are indicated [as well as tag alder] (Harris, 1972, 45).
Texture
Harris also writes about the texture of the plant.
Adhesiveness. A ground herb that clings to itself will cling to
and remove the hardening mucus or irritating catarrh of the inner
systems. Outstanding examples are sage, coltsfoot, hoarhound, everlasting
and mallow (Harris, 1972, 44).
I remember, when I first read this I thought it was utterly ridiculous,
but after nearly a decade working in an herb store I came to recognize, from
pure experience, that there were plants with leaves that stuck together, when
the vast majority did not. I would put coltsfoot at the head of the queue
- and it is a good remedy for tenacious mucus.
Plants whose leaves are soft in texture are to be used to ease the pain
of a diseased or painful area. Mallow, malva species, hoarhound, hollyhock
and mullein are examples. No herb mixture intended for internal use is
ever complete or satisfactory without one such emollient ingredient. The
downy leaves of mullein, hoarhound, hollyhock and woundwort were once used as a
lint substitute for dressing wounds.
Another signature for adhering to mucus and bringing it up is the
presence of resin in a plant. I remember Michael Tierra, many years ago,
saying that resins went down into the lungs, clung to the mucus and helped
bring it up. Here we think of balm of gilead, white pine and eucalyptus.
Another thing about hirsute (hairy, furry, hoary - like a hoarfrost)
plants is that they are more resistant to cold. The first plant of the
spring, pasqueflower (Anemone wolfgangiana), is covered with fur. One can
kick the snow off a mullein plant in the winter and find it still juicy in its
downy leaf. (This is not the case if there is a lack of snow on the
ground). These plants are not warming, but ‘insulating,’ i.e., they build
up the strength of the perimeter against cold invasion.
Hairy or furry plants often are beneficial for the intestines and lungs,
where the mucosa are covered with a downy velvet. In fact, a resonate, velvety
voice, indicating inflammation in the surface of the lungs, is a good indicator
for mullein.
Those herbs with sharp thorns or prickles signify their application in
cases of pain. The herbs are not anodynes or pain relievers, but they are
a most suitable means to strike at the causes of the pain. Hawthorn
performs a dual function, acting as a diuretic and as a tonic for the
heart. Stramonium [datura], an antispasmodic and relaxant in bronchial
spasms of asthma, is better known as an anodyne and narcotic, with properties
similar to those of hyoscyamus and belladonna. Prickly lettuce is a pain
reliever and sedative in coughs. Motherwort is especially indicated as an
antispasmodic and nervine in female disorders and amenorrhea. Thistle is
a stimulating tonic to the inner organs, helping greatly to relieve the pain
and afflication of diseased liver and spleen. Raspberry, strawberry
and blackberry, by virtue of their acid constituents (malic and citric),
act upon the tartar formations that lead to kidney and gallstones, thus
relieving pain and discomfort.
A very fine pain-reliever not mentioned here is prickly ash (Xanthoxylum
americanum). This is not emphasized enough in traditional herbal
literature. In my experience, this is the remedy for the most extreme,
unbearable pain, the pain of torture, where people writhe in agony from lack of
relief. It has barbs on it that are sharp and nasty, making blackberry
bramble look like Disneyland. It is impossible to pick without pricking
oneself.
The epidermal hairs (trichomes) of plants such as nettles, sumac,
mullein, currant, primula, hops and sundew suggest the use of these hairy herbs
in various painful internal disorders, especially for conditions known as “a
stitch in the side” or “pins-and-needles.” Of the latter two herbs, hops is
credited with calmative and anodyne properties whereas sundew, whose most
sensitive hairs catch
all insects which alight on them, has served well to stop the hurtful
irritation and suffering caused by whooping cough or chronic bronchitis.
Scent
Smell is another signature. I remember walking down a trail,
coming into the sphere of smell of a grove of balm of gilead trees (Populus
candicans). One could smell them fifty feet before they appeared along
the path. The lungs immediately felt soothed - this is an excellent
remedy for hot infections in the lungs with rasping coughs and irritated
tissue.
The ancients believed that strong-smelling plants would drive away evil
spirits and so employed these aromatics as fumigants: cinnamon, clove, arbor
vitae, frankincense, [and myrrh].
The herbals of the ancient Egyptians are dominated by these
scented-herbs, almost to the exclusion of any other plants.
Many pleasant smelling herbs such as thyme, rosemary and juniper are
still employed as disinfectants and deodorizers and are the herbs included in
the incensier method of disinfecting rooms employed even today in French
hospitals. Aromatics such as marjoram, mint, rosemary and anise were
employed in Elizabethean days to counteract mouth odors, halitosis and body
odors. The active principles of most aromatic herbs are highly antiseptic
or germicidal and contain valuable antibiotic principles. Included in
this category are the aforementioned herbs plus tansy, pennyroyal, sage, savory,
fennel and other food-seasoning herbs.
David Winston has pointed out that the vermifuges, as a group, are
fragrant bitters - wormwood, wormseed, sweet Annie, chamomilla, black walnut,
elecampane, etc.
The putrid smell, as we have in scrophularia, indicates affinity for
low, putrid states.
Let us end with one of my favorite signatures - the sound of the wind
blowing (‘wuthering’) through the tops of the white pine trees. At the
end of canoe trip it is lovely to lie and rest under the white pine and listen
to this sound. It seems to rejuvenate and refreshen. Perhaps it
even opens up the inner ear and imagination. Certainly, it is easy to sit
and daydream there under the white pines.
Spirit Signatures
When a plant resembles an animal body or part, or is especially used by
an animal for food or medicine, then it is pointed out to us as a specially
powerful and important medicine. This is called a ‘spirit
signatures,’ because there is extra medicine power or spirit in the
signature and in the plant.
This concept was taught to me by a very wise American Indian herbalist,
Karyn Sanders, who now lives in northern California. The second I heard
the word ‘spirit signature’ I knew that a whole way of looking at plants which
I had not been able to grasp, but which I had sensed intuitively for years, had
been revealed to me. I always had known that the most powerful way to
arrange and understand herbs was by their association with animals. I
don’t know how I knew this, but it is true - at least it is true in American
Indian herbalism and we see some vestiges of it in European and Chinese
herbalism as well.
When a person dreams of an animal they gain special insight, which is
called ‘medicine.’ They now have a special skill that helps the community in
some way, sometimes through healing. Thus, when a plant looks like an
animal or is strongly associated with an animal -especially if the latter uses
it as a medicine- then the plant has extra powers. These are the very
powerful plants of our Turtle Island continent - N. America. White
pharmacologists and ethnobotanists look for what they consider to be power,
based on their knowledge of organic chemistry. However, drugs, poisons
and hallucinogens are not necessarily as powerful as simple plants marked with ‘spirit
signatures,’ because these have true spiritual power - medicine. This is
a virtue to which white academia is blind.
Here are some of the most common ‘spirit signatures:’
Bear - Brown, furry roots, high in oils, spicy and warming, that the
bears like to eat in the spring: angelica, osha root, bear root (Lomatium),
balsam root (Balsamorrhiza sagitatta), spikenard (Aralia racemosa) and
sunflower (Helianthus annus). Some times it is the seedpod that is brown
and furry: American licorice (Glycerrhiza). Burdock (Arctium lappa) is an
Old World native which is a bear medicine - root brown, oily and warm, seedpod
brown and furry. These remedies act on the adrenal cortex, to fatten up,
or strengthen the parasympathetic, to relax and dream.
The second kind of Bear medicines are found in midsummer, when Bear
needs to cool off and reduce blood sugar levels. They are the berries:
raspberry, blackberry, huckleberry, blueberry, strawberry, bearberry,
elderberry.
Badger - Considered the littlest of the Bear family, but very tough and
dangerous. Badger is the only animal that will attack a Grizzly
Bear. Medicines that make the digestate go downwards in the GI tract and
that look like badgers or people: yellow dock root, rhubarb, goldenseal,
American ginseng. Strengthens the autonomic nervous system to create a
‘powerful stomach.’
Turtle - Plants that grow at the edge of water and solid personify the
lesson of Grandfather Turtle, who raised up the first Earth in the beginning of
time. Gravel root (Eupatorium spp.)
Elk - Antler-like structures indicate Elk medicines. These usually
act on the kidneys and balance male hormones. Staghorn sumach (Rhus
typhina), Florida dogwood (Cornus florida), sweet leaf (Monarda fistulosa) and
blue vervain (Verbena hastata).
Deer - A subdivision of the above. Both elk and deer medicines are
‘love medicine.’ Deer medicines are sweet-scented so that Deer like to sleep in
them so that they don’t smell like Deer. Cleavers (Galium aparine),
Hay-scented fern and sweet leaf (Monarda fistulosa).
Rabbit - Called “Deer’s little brother,”¯ Rabbit is also lean and quick,
but more nervous and needs nourishment. A trickster medicine.
Starvation medicine. Wild yam, nettle, bittersweet vine (Celastrus),
ground pine (Lycopodium).
Panther - Medicines that induce parasympathetic relaxation (eat, sleep,
dream, relax), so that one relaxes like a big cat. Valerian, catnip,
hops, crampbark.
Wolf - Medicines that have a right angle in them, showing that total
change is possible, like from Wolf to Dog. Wolf medicine acts on the
gallbladder, tendons, ligaments and joints and intermittent chills and
fever. True Solomon’s seal, Werewolf root (Apocynum androsaemifolium),
agrimony, boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), St. John’s wort (Hypericum
perforatum) and gentian (Gentiana spp.). Sometimes the remedy has five
fingers like cinquefoil.
Underwater Panther - This medicine animal is either a myth like
Behemoth, Leviathan, or Sea Monster, or a terrible powerful but usually
invisible spirit. Watersnake or Underwater Panther medicine supports the
water in the body. These are sumptuous, fat, watery roots that grow the
big river valleys of the central part of Turtle Island. True Solomon’s
seal, False Solomon’s seal (Smilicina; prefers to be called ‘dragon root’),
Jack in the Pulpit, white water lily, yellow water lily.
Cloud - Medicines with a cloud-like structure; they help the particles
to slip through the holes and especially assist the endocrine system.
Tobacco, rabbit tobacco, lead plant, pasqueflower, vitex.
Spider - Long, leggy medicines that stimulate the sympathetic nervous
system like wood betony and lavender.
Snake - These medicines usually look like Snake and antidote poisons:
plantain (snakeweed), Canada snake root, Kansas snake root, Aristolochia, black
snake root, viper’s bugloss, bistort, rattlesnake master, rattlesnake plantain,
etc.
Raven, Crow, Buzzard - This is not the traditional interpretation of
Raven medicine in American Indian medicine, but follows the southern
Afro-American tradition. Antidotes to poisons that are marked with a
black spot or turn black quickly after death: wild indigo, lady’s thumb
(Polygonum persicaria), black cohosh, black medic.
There are others.
The Four Elements
R.S. systematized Goethe’s poetic vision. He defined the organic
processes of growth, healing and disease in relationship to the four elements
and the three alchemical substances more clearly than did Goethe. He drew
upon the traditional literature of alchemy and philosophy which had long been
used to define energetic relationships. Steiner particularly used the
four elements and the three alchemical substances to explain patterns of growth
and the resulting signatures.
Steiner adopted Goethe’s vision of the urpflanze or primordial plant
(leaf/stem) but drew and association between it and the four elements. As
Goethe observed, the leaf/stem is the primal unit of the plant. It keeps
on replicating unit after unit, unstoppable, until the plant begins to feel the
need to reproduce. Then the leaf/stem units start to grow smaller, pull
together and eventually metamorphose into flower parts. First is the
corona, or wreath around the flower, then the petals and then the sexual
parts. As Steiner pointed out, the creation of the flower represents a
force operating against the leaf/stem replication, slowing it and morphing it
into something new and different. In turn, the flower is superceded by
the seed or fruit, which carries the genetic foundation for another plant to
grow. Meanwhile, there is a downwards reflection of the leaf/stem unit in the
root. This provides four basic plant parts that Steiner associated with
the four elements. Steiner associated the ‘leaf/stem’ with water, but a
later anthroposophist, Maria Thun, has shown that the stem is truly associated
with the air element (and thus with the nervous system); the leaf remains with
water. This agrees with Harris, above, who associates viney growth with the
nervous system. The place of the flower, with its relationship to sexual
reproduction, should also be associated with air. Thus:
Fire
Fruit or Seed
Air
Stem and Flower
Water Leaf
Earth Root
The relationship between these different plant parts is further
explained by Steiner’s correspondence of the four elements with the four
kingdoms:
Human Fire
Animal Air
Plant
Water
Mineral Earth
Steiner also showed that here are processes within the body which are
mineral, plant-like, animal-like, or fully human.
The Earth element represents the completely dense level of consolidation
and physical structure without movement and therefore without life.
Earthly processes are slow and grounded. They provide the primal bedrock
on which life is to be built. Thus, the Indian people called the Stone nation
the ‘grandfathers’ and ‘grandmothers.’ The root is the Earth element part of
the plant because it goes downwards, into the ground and it interacts with the
mineral realm. Thus, plants that have large roots, heavy, thick barks and
powerful structure are Earth plants, like the oak tree. The oak sends
down a huge root system which is usually about twice the circumference of the
above-ground canopy of the plant. Above the earth it produces powerful,
thick, strong wood covered with a heavy, strong bark. Barks are usually
associated with tannins, the puckering agents that provide our astringents in
herbalism. Hence, oak is a powerful astringent. It is puckering,
contracting, strengthening and consolidating like the Earth element.
The Water element provided the primordial swamp or urschliem out of
which life arose in the beginning of time, when the spirit blew like a wind
over the waters. Thus, simple cellular life, plant life and organisms
which do not have a nervous system are associated with the Water element.
Their functions are simple, with a basic emphasis on sustenance and
reproduction. The leaf is the organ of feeding for the plant and it is
reproduced again and again to create the bigger plant. Consequently, plants
with large leaves that grow without discipline in abundance, like comfrey, are
Water plants. Yet, comfrey also has powerful, large roots and has Earthy
qualities as well. What it does not have is Airy or Fiery qualities — the
flowers are little, hard to pollinate and seldom bear viable seed.
Comfrey grows largely by asexual reproduction: a root cut off and stuck in the
ground will grow a new plant. Another Water plant would be plantain,
which indeed appears to be nothing but a leaf/stem through much of the summer.
Earth and Water are heavy elements with a downward or stationary
tendency, while Air and Fire are light, with a stationary to outward
movement. Thus, they represent energies which are quite contrary to Earth
and Water.
The Air element represents a force that opposes and brings to an end the
constant replication and reproduction of the leaves of the plant. Thus,
Steiner associated it with the nervous system in animals, the next development
beyond the plant level. The nervous system allows for movement, which is
associated with animals, not plants. The root of the word animal means
that which moves. It also allows for intellectual movement, for animals
do think. According to the Greek and Arabic philosophers, animals think
but they cannot reflect on what they are thinking. That property belongs
only to humanity.
A plant family in which the Air element is evident and which has a
powerful influence on the nervous system is the Lamiaceae (mint). They
contain numerous nervines (melissa, skullcap, lycopus, rosemary, lavender, wild
bergamot, peppermint, spearmint, etc.) They also have beautiful, billowy,
well-developed flowers. Thus, they represent Air through their
flowers. Another family that represents the Air element in a slightly
different way is the carrot or Apiaceae. They also produce some billowy flowers,
but not many. Their Airiness is apparent in the ‘stemishness.’ Numerous
long stems form to give these plants an Airy, windblown look. And indeed,
many of them contain volatile oils which relax the nervous system, especially
of the digestive tract.
Steiner went on to observe that in certain plants the non-plant like
animal qualities inherent in the Air element not only stopped the development
of the leaf/stem unit of the plant, the Watery vegetative part, but actually
invaded that area of the plant. This resulted in the production of
powerful drugs and poisons that act on the nervous system, particularly the
alkaloids.
The Fire element is associated with upward movement towards the heavens
and therefore with the spiritual aspirations within people for the heavenly
realms. Thus, the Fire element is associated specifically with people, as
opposed to animals, plants, or minerals. In the plant world it appears in
the seed and fruit. The rose family, with its innumerable fruits such as
strawberry, raspberry, apple, peach, pear, rosehip, etc., is a perfect
representative of the Fire element. Interestingly, it provides some of
the best cooling remedies in the herbal material medica; plants that cool and
control fire. The rose is a symbol of higher love - with specially human
thoughts. But we would also have to include under the Fire element the
hot, warming plants like cayenne, sassafras and turmeric. Fire stimulates
the nerves and awakens consciousness.
One analogy Steiner did not make, which I would like to introduce, is
that between the elements and the four psychological functions of Dr. Carl G.
Jung. These would be:
Fire Intuition
Air Thinking
Water Feeling
Earth Physical Sensation
Earth corresponds to the physical body and thus to physical
sensation. Some people perceive the world through physical experience
largely, learning form observation and experience. Water corresponds to
the emotional realm, to connections with others, to feeling connected and a
part of something greater than oneself. Some people analyze the world
through their feeling primarily. Air is associated with cutting (as in
the growth patterns mentioned above) and limiting, in fact, cutting off from
the greater world without, so that the individual can have his or her
boundaries. Thus, it is associated with the faculty that is cutting,
separating and reductionistic, thinking. Fire corresponds to the
searching, reaching out faculty of the mind, which search for new terrain and
meanings. This faculty jumps ahead, intuitively grasping new concepts and
situations — the intuition.
The four elements also correspond to the four qualities. Plato taught
the following correspondences:
Fire
Hot
Air
Dry
Water Damp
Earth Cold
These correspondences were perpetuated by Antiochus, who wrote the first
comprehensive guide to astrology in Greek. It is possible that he was
identical to Antiochus of Ascalon, an important Middle Platonist who reviewed
the intuitive approach of Plato. (This identification was made by Roman
authors, later by Francis Cumont and recently strengthened by Robert Schmidt,
of Project Hindsight, Cumberland, MD).
This is the way the elements are still interpreted in astrology.
However, medicine followed Aristotle, who had a different interpretation.
He associated the qualities with the elements as follows:
Fire (hot and dry), Air (hot and damp), Water (cold and damp), Earth
(cold and dry). 900 years latter, Proclus, the second to the last Archon
of the Academy founded by Plato (the first Archon), showed that Aristotle had
misunderstood Plato’s discussion of elements and qualities and that in fact
Aristotle’s logic was wrong. So the Platonists and the Aristotelians had
different interpretations - I adhere to the former group.
Using Steiner’s model of the four elements we can learn to see and
detect underlying relationships between plants and the body and psyche of
humanity. Thus, for instance, the mint and parsley family are airy and
billowy, but the former is more warming (rosemary, thyme, marjoram, wild
bergamot), while the latter is more moist and earthy (lovage, carrot,
parsley). There are of course exceptions within families, but these often
prove the rules because the plant so longer looks like the fiery or earthy
prototype of the entire clan, but strikes out on a path of its own.
Steiner also introduces a threefold system of correspondence. His
presentation is rather wordy. I would simplify matters by explaining that
he is talking about what we would today call the three embryological tissues
and the constitutions related to each. These are dealt with elsewhere in
our studies.
For more information about Steiner’s approach, developed in great detail
by a remarkable author, see Wilhelm Pelikan, Healing Plants, Insights Through
Spiritual Science (1997).
William Coles’ Table of Appropriations
The word ‘appropriation’ was used by Galen to represent a plant that was
specially appropriated by an organ. This is William Coles’ “Table of
Appropriations, shewing what Part every Plant is chiefly medicinable throughout
the whole Body of Man; beginning with the Head.” Note that it does not
repeat herbs in different categories, rather it seeks to put them where Coles
thought their ultimate nature set them.
Brain. Wood Betony, Sage, Rosemary, Lavender, Primrose, Cowslip
and Bear’s Ears, Lily of the Valley, Mistletoe
Head. Walnut, Peony, Poppy, Squilla, Larch Tree its Agarick (mushroom)
Hair. Quince, Mosses, Maidenhair Fern
Eyes. Fennel, Vervain, Rose, Celandine, Rue, Eyebright, Clary Sage
(“Clear Eye Sage”), Hawkweed
Ears. Wild Ginger, Ground Ivy, Ivy, Poplar Tree, Nightshade, Sow Fennel,
Sow Thistle
Nose. Wake-Robin (Arum), Fleur-de-luce (Iris), Horsetail, Shepherd’s
Purse, Willow, Bistort, Tormentil, Cinquefoil, Sowbread
Mouth. Medlar, Mulberry, Mint, Purslane, Goldenrod
Dry Mouth. Fleawort
Teeth. Pine, Pomegranate, Mastix, Masterwort, Coral, Coralwort,
Restharrow, Henbane, Wild Tansy
Scurvy. Scurvy Grass, Small Houseleek, Aloe or Sea Houseleek, Fumitory,
Cress
Throat. Throatwort, Date Palm, Wintergreen, Horsetongue, Figwort,
Archangel, Foxglove, Orpine, Pellitory of the Wall, Wheat, Barley, Garlic,
Liquorice, Fig Tree, Hyssop, Ragwort, Plantain, Columbine, Cudweed, Jew’s Ears
(Elder mushroom)
Lungs. Hoarhound, Lungwort, Tobacco, Sundew, Hedge Mustard, Coltsfoot,
Woodbine, Mullein, Cowslips of Jerusalem, Sanicle, Polypody Fern, Whortleberry
(Huckleberry), Sweet Cicely
Lungs (Shortness of breath, coughs, hoarseness, expectoration).
Elecampane, Almond, Vine, Reeds and Sugar Cane, Jujube, Scabiosa, Colewort
(Kale), Nettles, Turnips
Breasts (Toning after Lactation). Lady’s Mantle, Sanders
Breeding Milk. Anise, Nigella, Mallow, Dill, Ramps, Periwinkle, Lettuce
Breasts (Swollen). Giant Fennel, Gourd, Basil, Bean, Lentil, Madonna
Lily
Nipples (Sore). Dock Cress
Heart, Qualms, Faintness. Angelica, Saffron, Borage, Violet, Strawberry,
Wood Sorrel, Lemon Balm, Marigold (Calendula), Swallowort, Goats Rue, Viper’s
Grass, Pome Citron, Gentian, Scordium, Salad Burnet, Avens, Cloves, Carnation,
Aloe Wood, Cinnaomn, Viper’s Bugloss
Stomach (Cooling and strengthening). Apple, Pear, Peach, Apricot,
Plum, Cherry, Gooseberry, Barberry, Currants
Stomach (Purging). Wormwood, Mirabolane, Groundsell, Radish, Black
Alder (Alnus), Oily Nut Bean, Senna, Daffodills, White Hellebore, Purging
Coffia
Gas. Caraway, Cumin, Camels Hay, Ginger, Galangal, Cardamom, Pepper,
Nutmeg, Coriander, Orange
Stiches and Pains in the Sides. Blessed Thistle, Milk Thistle,
Chamomile, Red Clover, Melilot, Oat, Valerian, Stitchwort, Flaxseed
Liver. Rhubarb, Turmeric, Agrimony, Liverwort, Succory, Alecost,
Yellow Dock, Sheep Sorrel, Beet, Smallage (Celery), Cleavers, Chickweed
Spleen. Dodder, Black Hellebore, Tamarind, Spleenwort Fern,
Hartstongue Fern, Fern, Capers, Tamarisk, Germander, Calamint, Mountain Mint,
Lupine
Kidneys and Bladder. Asparagus, Parsley, Marshmallow, Goat’s
Thorn, Spikenard, Sweet Smelling Flag (Acorus), Cyperus, Hops, Knot Grass,
Parsley Piert, Saxifrage, Dropwort, Gromwell, Onion, Winter Cherry, Dogs Grass
(Couch Grass), Butcher’s Broom, Chervil, Brooklime, Hawthorn, Lemon, Cypress,
Kidneywort, Kidney Bean, Oak, Buckshorn Plantain, Sampire, Fraxinella, All Heal
Dropsy (Diuretics and Hydrogogues). Elder, Soldanella, Briony,
Jalap, Broom, Ash, Sassafras, Castor Oil, Glasswort, Spurge Laurel, Toad Flax,
Oregano
Colic. Bay, Holly, Juniper, Olive, Colocynth, Bindweed
Worms. Centaury, Lovage, Tansey, Lavender, Carrots and Parsnips,
Spignell, Bishopsweed, English Wormseed, Leeks, Horseradish
Diarrhea and Dysentery. Sumach, Myrtle, Rock Rose, Black Horn, Bramble,
Teasel, Rice, Fluxweed, Pilewort, Water Betony
Lust (to Provoke). Artichoke, Sea Holly, Potato, Skirry, Peas, Rocket,
Mustard, Cotton, Fisteck Nut, Chestnut, Chocolate, Cypripedium, Draganse
Lust (to abate). Hemp, Water Lily, Hemlock, Camphire, Tutsin
Menses (to Provoce). Mugwort, Pennyroyal, Southernwood, Savory, Thyme,
Alexanders, Anemone
Menses and the Whites (to Stop). Mouse Ear, Yarrow, Meadowsweet, Adder’s
Tongue, Lunaria, Trefoil, Moneywort, Darnell, Flowergentle and Blite, Dragon
Tree, Beech, Hazel Nut Tree
Uterus. Motherwort, Feverfew, Catnip, Burdock, Butterbur, Orach,
Asafoetida, Cow Parsnip
Expediting Childbirth. Birthwort, Mercury, Madder, Dittany, Dittander or
Pepperwort, Holm Oak
Expelling the Placenta. Ground Pine, Savine, Birth Tree
Hernia. Rupturewort, Thoroughwax, Solomon’s Seal, Balsam Apple
(Momordica), Dovesfoot or Cranesbill, Elm
Syphilis. Guaicum, Quinine. Sarsaparilla
Groin (Swellings). Starwort, Herb Paris
Wounds and Ulcers. St. John’s Wort, Clown’s Woundwort,
Arsmart, Bugle, Self Heal, Goldenrod, Loosestrife, Daisy, Speedwell
For Drawing out Splinters. Pimpernell
For Felons. Woody Nightshade
For Tired Feet. Lady’s Bedstraw
[Dr. Michaela Dane]
Die Signaturenlehre in der Paracelsusmedizin
Homöopathen stehen oft vor einem Problem, wenn es um die Wahl des Mittels geht. Wo Schulmediziner im Laufe eines Tages oft mit 20 Mitteln auskommen, muss der Homöopath wenigstens 200 präsent haben, und bis zu 2.000 nachschlagen können.
Paracelsus hingegen hat uns lange vor Hahnemann ein paar Werkzeuge an die Hand gegeben, die einen schnellen und exakten Zugriff auf die richtigen Mittel ermöglichen. Es ist vor allem die Signaturenlehre, die uns nicht nur erklärt, wie unser Sonnensystem aufgebaut ist, sondern auch, wie wir uns aus der Natur signaturgerecht bedienen können.
„Ihr wisset durch die Kunst der Signatur, dass jedes Ding nach dem, aus dem es ist und, zu dem es gehört, gezeichnet wird, damit es immer gleich gefunden werde, wie es die Kunst der Signatur anzeigt, die der Arzt kennen soll, um dies zu verstehen.“
Paracelsus
Was genau hat Paracelsus damit sagen wollen?
Um das zu verstehen, müssen wir bedenken, dass Paracelsus Alchemist war. Für ihn galten die sieben hermetischen Prinzipien. Eines von ihnen besagt, dass es einen Zusammenhang zwischen Mikrokosmos und Makrokosmos gibt, sodass sich bestimmte Muster immer wiederholen.
Heute kennen wir diese Annahme unter dem Namen „Chaostheorie“.
Die Alchemisten glaubten, dass die großen Himmelskörper (Sonne, Mond, Merkur, Venus, Mars, Jupiter und Saturn) durch ihre Bewegung (und damit verbundenen Schwingungen) alle Materie innerhalb des Sonnensystems universal prägen. Hierbei beziehen sie sich nicht allein auf die Form, sondern auch auf die psychischen Eigenschaften jedes einzelnen Körpers. Für Alchemisten gilt:
Alle Materie ist Geist und somit belebt. Es wird kein Unterschied zwischen Mineralien, Pflanzen oder Tieren gemacht.
Schon Pythagoras beschrieb die Prägung der Materie auf der Erde durch die Himmelskörper mithilfe der Musikwissenschaft. Die Griechen gingen davon aus, dass die Eigenbewegungen der Himmelskörper eine ganz charakteristische Sphärenmusik erzeugen. Jeder Himmelskörper kann hierbei einem Intervall unseres Tonsystems zugeordnet werden.
Die Oktave der Sonne prägt hierbei oktogonale Körper wie Gold oder Diamant, während Mars mit seiner Quarte zum Beispiel kubische Metalle und Mineralien prägt, wie Eisen, Pyrit oder Granat.
In der Pflanzenwelt entstehen unter dem Einfluss der Sonne strahlenförmige, gelbe Blüten wie Arnica oder Cactus grandiflora, während Marspflanzen zumeist rote Blüten, Blätter oder Früchte produzieren, begleitet von scharfen Dornen wie bei Berberis oder Rosen.
In der Tierwelt gehören zur Sonne radiärsymmetrische Formen mit acht oder mehr Armen wie Heliozoen oder Sepia, während zum Mars die Vierbeinigkeit gehört.
So entspricht jedem Himmelskörper eine Zahl, die sich aus dem Intervall ergibt, das die Bewegung des Körpers aussendet. Diese Zahl zieht sich dann wie ein roter Faden prägend durch die lebende Materie.
So finden wir für den schnellen Mond und dessen akustischer Sekunde die Zahl zwei. Für den nächst schnellen Himmelskörper Merkur mit seiner Terz die Zahl drei, für Venus mit seiner Quinte die Zahl fünf, für Jupiter die Sexte, also die Zahl sechs, und Saturn mit der unharmonischen Septime ist kodiert mit der Zahl sieben.
Bei der Bildung von Mineralien können wir alle Kristallstrukturen im Grunde auf die fünf platonischen Körper zurückführen, die den ersten fünf Himmelkörpern entsprechen.
Unter dem Einfluss von Jupiter und Saturn passiert etwas anderes. Der Jupiter verzwillingt die Kristalle, sodass sie komplexer und noch schöner werden, während der Saturn die Achsen und Winkel so verschiebt, dass die schiefen orthorhombischen Strukturen entstehen, wie sie so typisch für das Saturnmineral Schwefel sind. Mineralien sind also tatsächlich „erstarrte Musik“.
Warum nun kann es wichtig sein, die Materie seinen Himmelskörpern zuordnen zu können?
Die Antwort ist sofort einleuchtend, wenn man bedenkt, dass -getreu dem Prinzip der Wiederholung der Strukturen- der Mensch selbst ein kleines Sonnensystem in sich trägt.
Hierbei gehören zur Sonne das Organ Herz, zum Mond die Geschlechtsorgane und das Gemüt, zum Merkur die Atemwegsorgane, zum Mars das Verdauungssystem, zur Venus Nieren und Blase, zum Jupiter die Leber und der Stoffwechsel und zum Saturn das Stützsystem in Form von Knochen, Haaren und Zähnen.
Das uralte Prinzip „Gleiches mit Gleichem zu heilen“ war schon lange vor Hahnemann bekannt. Paracelsus hat es täglich zur Anwendung gebracht.
So behandelte er ein Marsleiden mit Marskristallen, Marspflanzen und Marstierextrakten, während er für Venusleiden auch entsprechende Venusmineralien, Venuspflanzen oder Venustierextrakte
zu einem Elixier zusammenstellte.
Die Fülle der Mittel lässt sich somit in sieben Gruppen unterteilen, deren Anwendbarkeit schon durch die Signatur erkennbar ist.
Auf diese Weise wussten die Alchemisten, wofür etwas verwendet werden kann, ohne erst Tierversuche oder lange Doppelblindstudien starten zu müssen.
Wir können uns jetzt vorstellen, dass das rosa blühende Katzenpfötchen für Nierenleiden hilfreich sein muss, während das gelbe Schöllkraut das Jupiterorgan Leber heilt, dass die Mondpflanze Scharfgabe auch für Mondleiden wie Menstruationsbeschwerden oder Fruchtbarkeitsprobleme zuständig ist.
Aber nicht nur Kristalle oder Pflanzen und Tiere tragen eine Signatur. Es sind auch die Menschen selbst, die eine Signatur ausprägen. Der Himmelskörper, der ihnen die Signatur zum Zeitpunkt der Geburt verleiht, wird „Geburtsherrscher“ genannt.
Sieben Archetypen entstehen hierbei, die von Geburt an andere Kraftfarben brauchen, verschiedene Essgewohnheiten haben und unterschiedliche Tiere gern haben, auch wenn Eltern und Umgebung gleich sind.
Bei der Therapie tun wir gut daran, diese Geburtsherrscher zu beachten, damit keine Aversionen auftreten, sondern das Mittel in Harmonie mit dem Patienten steht.
Ein hyperaktives Venuskind würde man demnach mit einem Schmetterlingsmittel behandeln, während das hyperaktive Marskind wahrscheinlich auf ein Spinnenmittel wie Tarantula ansprechen würde. Das Saturnkind ist selten hyperaktiv, würde aber wenn überhaupt höchstens mit einem Schlangenmittel harmonisieren, während es sich bei „Tarantula“ vor Ekel schütteln würde.
Hierzu kommt die Beachtung der Sinne.
Zur Sonne gehört das Auge - der optische Sinn. Also spricht ein Sonnengeborener gut auf Farbtherapie an und bessert sein Wohlbefinden beim Malen oder Zeichnen. Der Mondgeborene hingegen
hat ein gutes Gehör und gedeiht besser mit Musiktherapie.
Geburtsherrscher Mars, im Löwen. Ein starker Planet in kraftvollem Sternzeichen. Dieser Mensch klagt über Neigung zu Bluthochdruck (besonders nach Wutanfällen) und chronische Gastritis.
Zur Therapie wählen wir Lycopodium, Ferrum sulfuricum in Hochpotenz, Berberis in niedriger Potenz und Rosenessig zum Würzen der täglichen Speisen.
Der Bärlapp ist hier ein archaisches Mittel, das zum ursprünglichen Sonnenhaus Löwe passt. Es regelt traditionell alle Beschwerden des Mars-regierten Verdauungstraktes.
Hochpotenzen, die nur einmal in der Woche eingenommen werden, sollten an dem Tag des Geburtsherrschers genommen werden. Im konkreten Fall ist dies der Dienstag. Es wird empfohlen, die Kraftfarbe Rot (als Hemd oder Krawatte) zu vermeiden, um keine überschießenden Energien zu erzeugen.
Ferrum sulfuricum wirkt als Antennenmetall für Marsenergien und harmoniert den Charakter. In dieser Eigenschaft ist es auch in der Lage, den Blutdruck zu senken.
Berberis hilft gegen stechende Bauchschmerzen, z.B. durch Gallenverstopfungen. Rosenessig neutralisiert scharfe Gewürze und hilft auf diese Weise, komplexere Speisen zu verdauen.
Fast alle genannten Mittel sind bekannt, doch ihre Anwendung erhält durch Paracelsusmedizin eine konkretere Richtung und ganz eigene Nuancen, die ebenso einfach wie wirksam sein können.
[Izel Botha]
Endemic diseases were traditionally treated by utilising indigenous
substances, particularly plants available to the inhabitants of the area.
Doctrine of signatures: Nature provides a cure for the diseases common
to the area in the plants endemic to that area.
Sherr: a useful remedy should be a local one, within reach of the
patient, as nature will always provide an accessible cure.
Jung‘s theories of the collective consciousness: We are the product of
the experiences of our ancestors.
African philosophy - Motho ke motho ka Batho - a person is a person
through other persons.
Ethnobotany
The term "ethnobotany" was first used
by the botanist John W. Harshberger in 1895.
Scientific study of the relationships that
exist between people and plants.
Trackable throughout the history of medicine.
Eastern traditional medicine:
Ayurvedic medicine,
Chinese medicine.
Western traditional medicine (Herbalism).
African traditional medicine: wealth of
documented and undocumented knowledge.
Homoeopathy and Ethnobotany
Why?
Many links between the Traditional use of the
plant and its Homoeopathic indication.
At DUT there exist a strong interest in
homoeopathic investigation of traditional medicinal/endemic plants.
African Provings
Substance
Investigator
(s)
Year
Acridotheres
tristis
Indian mynah
bird
Hoosen
2010
Bitis arietans
arietans
Puffadder
Wright, Pillay
1999/2002
Bitis
gabonica
Gaboon adder
Thomson
2004
Chamaeleo
dilepis dilepis
Flapnecked
chameleon Moore,
Pistorius
2007
Dendroaspis
augusticeps
Green
mamba
Hansjee
2010
Erythrina
lysistemon
Common coral
tree
De Beer, Gryn, Olivier,
Thiel
2007
Gymnura
natalensis
Natal
stingray
Naidoo,
Pather
2008
Haemachatus
haemachatus
Rinkhals
Cahill, De la
Rouviere
2008
Ivory Elephant
Tusk
Forbes,
Speckmeier
2008
Naja Mosambica
Mozambique
spitting cobra Smal,
Taylor
2004
Peucedanum
galbanum
Wild celery
Wagner,
Wayland
2007
Protea
cynaroides
King
Protea
Ezel Botha
2010
Pycnoporus
sanguineus
Tropical
cinnabar bracket
Morris
2002
Sutherlandia
frutescens
Cancer
bush
Kell, Low, Webster,
van der Hulst 2002/4
Strychnos
henningsii
Bitter
berry
Ross, Maharaj, Naidoo, M, Naidoo, N,
Lockhat
2010/11
Curcuma Longa Tumeric Pillay 2011
Vorwort/Suchen
Zeichen/Abkürzungen
Impressum