Herbs are a natural and primary therapeutic remedy for human ailments. Therefore, human beings have relied upon plants for healing for 1,000’s of years.
Pharmaceuticals are poor substitutes for plants. They may be helpful for short-term or acute conditions, but their long-term actions often deplete the primary life-force of a person because of their inorganic nature.
I believe chemical medicine contributes to a dependancy that is destroying our love of the natural world.
Herbal medicine, therefore, relates to larger spiritual and political issues.
For us to survive as a species, we need to reconnect with the universe and natural healing. We must replace our current medicines that are antibiotic in nature ( with out life ) for with those of life, probiotic ( encouraging life).
My concern as an herbalist is not just technical or medical, but planetary and humanistic.
Heres an immune building recipe for the fall and winter months…….I use it and it has kept me flu and cold free for many winters.
FIRE CIDER
½ cup grated fresh ginger root -Zingiberis officinale
4 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish-Amoracia lapathifolia
5 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and crushed -Allium sativa
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper – Capsicum frutescens or 1 hot Serrano or habinaro pepper, sliced
Mix together the above ingredients, put into a jar with a tight fitting lid, use a piece of clear plastic bag under the lid to keep the lid from corroding.
Put the jar into a bigger plastic bag and seal and bury it in the ground for one lunar cycle,starting on the full moon- about 1 month.
Say a blessing over it and cover it with the soil.
In one months time dig the jar up, strain out the solid parts, re-jar it.
Mix 1 tablespoon with 1 ounce of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons maple syrup and 8 ounces of warm water. Drink though out the winter as a tonic for the immune system.
Nice review. It should be pointed out that there are severla kinds of probiotics. In addition, there are prebiotics also which help beneficial bacteria proliferate and provide health benefits.