Eat an Avo, Have a Baby? The doctrine of signatures
The doctrine of signatures has been written about and discussed for centuries. but is less well known than one would think after all this time. Although it is not strictly speaking a herb subject, it does involve many herbs and is very interesting.
The Doctrine Of Signatures (Note Capital Letters) refers to the long held belief from the days of Dioscurides and Galen that a plant, or part of a plant, resembling a component of the human body has the power to heal that body part. There is much evidence of this and it is an incredibly interesting story; the older I get, the more I see legends I scoffed at previously take on substance.
Please pursue your own researches if you are interested, but I would like to give you a few glimpses of the reasoning behind this “Doctrine Of Signatures.” (Drum roll!) When shapes and even colours reminded herb collectors of human body parts they would attempt to use them to heal these parts; thus we have liverwort, bloodroot, toothwort, lungwort and wormwood. neither should we forget hedge woundwort – its dark red flowers have antiseptic qualities
Celery and rhubarb stems resemble bones in appearance: they consist of about 25% sodium, the same as bones and they replenish sodium lost from your bones to your body.
No-one needs to be told where the name kidney beans comes from, but did you know that they are supposed to both heal and assist kidney functioning in humans.
Slice a carrot in half and the radiating rings look like a human eye.
And didn’t your mother tell you to eat carrots to see better – even in the dark.
Tomato: four chambers, red colour. Tomatoes are saturated with lycopine – good for the blood and the heart. You’re getting the picture
?
The brain looks like nothing as much as a walnut. It even has the wrinkles. Open a walnut and we find a mini brain. cerebrum, cerebellum and two hemispheres.A walnut looks like a little brain. Walnuts develop neuro transmitters for the brain.
Grapes resemble blood cells – modern research holds that grapes are blood food.
Avocados assist functions of the female womb and cervix. No prizes for suggesting what they resemble. Four avo’s a month are said to both buffer cervical cancer and balance out the hormones.
Sweet Potatoes: help balance GI in diabetics. Which is the job of the pancreas it resembles.
There are many more examples.
Modern science however, brands these tales as superstitions; others say there are many valid claims concerning the ability of the doctrine of signatures to have presaged the medicinal properties of many species.
You decide
About the Author
Pete Steel has grown herbs for 25 years in several different climates and soils. He reviews
herb growing books and writes about
herb garden plants and herb usage.
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