Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants As Medicines Book

Review - The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicines by Matthew Wood, Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1997.
After reviewing "Herbal Allies" by Robert Rogers, a book that I found very important to my personal journey into medicinal plants, Rogers emailed me, thanking me for the review, but he added that I needed to review Matthew Wood's books. With this introduction I was led to Wood's book, "The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicines." His stories of 41 different medicinal plants are very useful, enlightening and readable. I will select several to review, but most important are the six preliminary chapters that provide ways or systems for categorizing the plants medicines and medical problems, thus giving a clearer system as how the plants can be used.
One of the most important ideas I have gained from reading these books is to more deeply recognize how our Great Mother Earth has created all life to be interdependent upon each other for a healthy and sustainable balance, and when used properly the Earth's flora becomes a very important piece in maintaining this healthy balance. One of my beliefs is that about ten thousand years ago with the beginning of the era of agriculture and the domestication of animals we began to believe in the so called knowledge of good and evil that gave us controlling dominion over the Earth. Because of our greed for wealth this beginning has led to the destruction of the Earth, destroying the Earth that had so healthily maintained the hunter-gatherers of the earlier era. This knowledge threw us out of the Garden of Eden and is where our current medical practices have been amiss by ignoring the beautiful healthy and sustainable balance of all life that our Mother Earth has provided.
This belief is beautifully restated by Matthew Wood. He begins with the idea that plants have stories to tell, stories that "begin in the hidden depths of the earth, in the unknown light of a place called the Underworld. From this source of mystery and power, the healing power and wisdom of the herbs ray out like a light, into our world. They never lose the magic that is innate to the inhabitants of the world of mystery… People try to press herbs into a rational scientific box. This is not only entirely foreign to them, it kills their spirit and does not make ours soar" (P. 4). The excitement I am finding in my own journey is to connect with the plants in the Underworld through shamanic dreamtime journeying using ecstatic trance. As Wood describes, the power of animal spirit guides, the bear, the wolf, and the turtle teach us so much, but the spirit guides of the medicinal herbs are also available to us if we open ourselves to them through observation and dreamtime experiences as found in vision quests. The American Indians, as well as the ancient Greeks, believed in the knowledge that comes from dreamtime.
Wood then proceeds by offering several useful systems for listening to the herbal spirit guides. One prominent way is to recognize the signatures of the plants. The doctrine of signatures "is that a plant resembles the disease, organ or person for which it is remedial"…"Signatures represent configurations of energy or patterns in plants and these correspond to similar patterns in people. We are not looking for superficial resemblances, but for one that operates on the level of essence." (Pgs. 21-22). This essence is found through intuition and imagination, again bringing us into the realm of dreamtime. Dreamtime I find is best accessed through our nighttime dreams and through such waking dream experiences as found in hypnotic and ecstatic trance, experiences that take us into the spirit world where the signatures of plants become clear. One of Wood's examples is of the Juniper, a saxifrage with roots that clove and break apart rock, thus it is suited for breaking kidney stones, especially meaningful to me since I have been recently diagnosed as having a kidney stone. I experienced this signature characteristic of the Juniper as I sat before and communed with one while in ecstatic trance, a Juniper that is growing on a rock shelf of blue stone at our home in the Hudson Valley of New York.
Wood then examines a number of interesting classification schemes. First is the Greek four humors or temperaments: the sanguine of people possessing an excess of red bile or blood causing them to be impulsive and joyful but without restraints, thus with a tendency towards hemorrhage by being careless. Then there is the choleric or bilious temperament for those with an excess of yellow bile or choler who tend to be willful and angry with jaundice, liver or digestive problems. Third is the phlegmatic temperament of those who are full of mucus, moody and sentimental. And finally there are those with a melancholic or black bile temperament who tend towards inactivity and death.
Another scheme is of plants that are categorized as hot or cold and moist or dry with these characteristics graded from one to five in intensity, e.g. the juniper berry is cold and dry in the third degree. Another scheme is the four elements of earth, air, fire and water with possibly a fifth element, the spiritual. The Chinese scheme of Yin and Yang is also considered. How these classification schemes may be used in classifying medicinal plants and medical problems is considered, each adding something to the wisdom of medicinal herbs.

I found the next chapter on Alchemy and Chemistry the most enlightening. During the seventeenth century emerged the beginning of our understanding of what our Earth is composed with the discovery of a number of elements such as phosphorus, gold, iron, sodium and sulfur. Over the next century this list of inorganic elements grew, but understanding the nature of organic substances lagged behind. The organic substances were recognized as different from the inorganic elements and initially were categorized in a broad classification scheme of their effect on the human body: the bitters, tannins, volatile oils, resins, carbohydrates, mucilage, salts and minerals, saponins, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, coumarins, acids, and anthraquinones. For example, the wide varieties of bitters have a bitter taste and stimulate secretion of digestive juices and functioning of the liver. The resins produced by plants and trees are for protection against fungal infections or injuries. The tannins are astringents to bind and tone tissues. This classification of organic compounds has become very useful in describing the beneficial nature of the medicinal plants and herbs, and it is used along with the hot/cold and moist/dry scheme throughout the remainder of the book as Wood describes his list of medicinal herbs. Wood prefers to use small doses of his herbs and uses them individually though he is not against the use of combinations of the herbs.
Of the 41 herbs that Wood describes I will review just three, Burdock, Nettles, and Yarrow, three that grow in great profusion in our area of the country. Burdock and Nettles are especially important to me because they were the first that I grew accustom to using in our garden and yard. We have enjoyed eating the young shoots of nettles each spring but with the frequent stings we received from our stand of nettles we quickly learned to appreciate the burdock because of the way that with a quick rub the burdock leaf takes away the sting. Also of curiosity is that the two plants seem to generally grow near each other.
Stinging Nettles
In each chapter Wood begins with a description of how the plant is used then concludes the chapter with how it is prepared and the dosage to be used. From antiquity the mature Nettle stalks have been used for the strength of the fiber of which it is composed, fiber used for making cloths, rope and netting. The linen made from this fiber has been unearthed from two thousand year old burial sites yet in good condition. When during the world wars Germany was cut off from a source of cotton their uniforms were made from Nettles, and now in such places as gun shows it is sorry to see that the German uniforms are found still in beautiful shape whereas the American uniforms are rarely available.
Nettles like especially rich soil and flourishes near septic systems and outhouses. This trait may be the reason why it is the highest vegetable source for protein and is enriched with nitrates and uric acid. Because of its high ability to remove uric acid it is a very good remedy for kidney problems and gout, and because of its high nutritional value it is used to treat anemia. It is also used to treat inactivity and has been used to whip paralyzed limbs to bring the muscles back into action. Matthew Wood offers many stories of when the plants have been used most effectively. One example is of a man with a serious back injury who was told he would never walk again, but by repeatedly forcing himself to walk through a patch of nettles he managed to regain his ability to walk. The formic acid that produces the sting quickly deteriorates after picking so in order to benefit from this plant it must be used quickly or freeze-dried. It also removes mucus and phlegm so is good for opening the lungs, cleaning the kidneys and treating fevers. It is a hot and dry plant so it is useful in cold and damp situation such as in London. Lastly it almost immediately gives relief to the pain of burns and promotes rapid healing as is suggested by its burning, stinging signature. Nettles can be hung to dry in the shade on a warm dry day, though it must be used more persistently when dried in this way. It can be tinctured in brandy or vodka.
Burdock
Burdock is another plant that cleanses the liver and kidneys as a blood purifier. It is classified as a cooling and moderately drying plant. Its cooling nature makes sense in treating the hot sting of Nettles by neutralizing the formic acid. Its personality may be described by its deep and strong roots. It is slow, steady and strong. Its hardy influence can rejuvenate old deep down chronic conditions. The bitter yet sweet roots with their high oil content when nibbled on raw assists digestion and relieves inflammation such as from a sore throat. The seed can be ground in a coffee mill and used for the same purposes. Its signature large leaves like those of mullein and comfrey have a strong action on the skin and lungs, and the burs seize like Velcro to improve memory. It is also effective in treating problems with the uterus and a swollen prostate. A stored root quickly goes rancid because of its high oil content so it is best stored in brandy or glycerin.
Yarrow
The sticks of the stems of Yarrow have been used in China as divining sticks. Medically its more magical use is to stem arterial bleeding of deep cuts and wounds that cut to the bone. One signature of the plant is it lacy leaf in which the leaf segments cut back to the central vein or back to the bone. Wood suggests that in stemming the flow of blood Yarrow causes the artery to suck up the blood. It also lessens fevers. The Chinese think of heat as causing the blood to become restless, thus the cool nature of Yarrow quiets the blood. It is also used as a bitter tonic for digestion. It grows in rough and gravely soil and the juice of its young leaves is used in healing. A poultice of Yarrow is good to reduce swelling and blood blisters. One of Wood's examples is of a man who was unconscious and hospitalized due to a brain aneurism and was not expected to regain consciousness. A friend spent her time dripping yarrow on his lips, and he woke after a week and soon regained most of his previous functions. This cold and dry plant can make the mind calm and rational, and it induces sleep. It has a strong affinity to blood and bleeding such that it is important for female complaints as a menstrual regulator. It is also used as a medicine for skin cancer. I have several pre-cancer lesions on my forehead so have been using a tincture of yarrow which seems to be healing the lesions. The plant is most powerful when it is grown in sandy, gravely soil. Yarrow grown in rich soil where it may grow to over three feet tall should be avoided.
In my continued pursuit of understanding the medical nature or uses of plants this book is an important resource for the 41 plants Wood reviews. Though his descriptions of the plants are most enjoyable reading, and I have read a number of these descriptions, there is so much information that to benefit most from the book is to return to the description of a particular plant when communing with the spirit of the plant. I have been visiting these plants while in ecstatic trance and find that these trance experiences bring me very close to the plant where they become alive within me. On these ecstatic trance journeys I use three ecstatic trance postures, first a divination posture to ask questions regarding the beneficial nature of the plant, second a healing posture where I hold the plant next to my heart to hear what it has to say to me, and third, a metamorphosis or shape-shifting posture to become the plant to bring it alive within me. Over these three sessions, each at least a day apart, I learn much of the personality of the plant as it becomes part of me. It is during this process that I find reading about the plant, especially Wood's description, most powerful as the plant become alive within me such that it will not be forgotten. Also in this process of learning I find that I cannot visit the spirits of more than three plants per month, otherwise what I leaning is lost in confusion. During this time of learning about a particular plant it is beneficial to use it for how it is meant to be used. This is one reason why I have selected Stinging Nettles, Burdock and Yarrow.