Understanding Herbal Energetics

Knowing the human body and how to heal disease or illness through herbalism is a wonderful tool to have. However, there is so much more to uncover through herbal energetics. Let's dive right in here!

With everything in our world, all living things have an energetic trait. What do I mean by this? Well, we all a certain frequency to us! Vibrations are the contraction and expansions of energy within a frequency. Stay with me, it will come together soon! There are frequencies that can work in harmony to balance to balance and support each other.

When we think of energetics, we can relate it to characteristics. This is similar to the energies of the seasons or the four elements (earth, air, fire, water). When we think of seasons and the changes that come with them, we know what to expect with these seasons and elements.

It is believed (and proven) in many different sciences and health systems around the world, that these characteristics and elements are present (in different combinations and variations) in all of us and plants! This means that different seasons, plants, illnesses with affect us in a different and unique way.

The Science on Herbal Energetics

One thing that distinguishes traditional medicine and conventional medicine is the concept of energetics. While conventional medicine is described as a materialistic or tangible interpretation of health, traditional medicine encompasses a form of life energy or vital force. Energetics are systems used to describe this intangible connection between numerous internal and external factors, making health holistic.

All plants vibrate at different frequencies (speeds) and have different electromagnetic energies (or energetics). Herbal energetics is a system where certain herbs correspond to certain universal forces such as the Four Elements.

Disease and illness are seen as an imbalance of these four elements, therefore herbal remedies that correspond to a certain element can then be recommended as a treatment to guide the body back to a state of equilibrium and balance.

Different schools of medicine have their own forms of energetics. Traditional Chinese medicine believes in five elements: water, fire, metal, earth, and wood. Each of these elements then correlates to certain specific bodily organs. Each element in the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine also has relationships with one another and can also balance each other.

Other systems with similar systems of energetics include Ayurveda and its own five elements: air, water, earth, fire, and ether. Medicinal plants have characteristics such as the elements (energetics), tastes, and actions. for example, drying herbs go with the element of air.

Used in herbalism, herbal energetics is the use of specific herbs that correspond to a certain force or element to treat someone with an energetics imbalance.

Healing is about bringing the body back into balance. While our bodies have their own innate healing abilities and can heal themselves, sometimes they need the support of herbs.

Herbal Energetics can be Cold, Damp/ Moist, Hot or Dry. However, these make more sense when combined with an herb's actions. An herbal action is a description of its properties and the work it can do. Specifically in relation to healing and treating the body.

A herbal action can be something like sedative — which is a relaxing herb, astringent — which is drying and cleansing in action, most often on the tissues of the body, or antispasmodic — as it sounds, relaxes cramps and spasms within the body.

This topic is complex but really fun to learn! I was just scrapping the surface here. To put this in the simplest form: When you combine a herbs energetics and actions it means we herbalists are better equipped to match the right herb to the right body physiology. For example, using a cooling sedative for a hot or dry type person balances out and relieves, whereas a heating sedative would aggravate and make that person’s issues worse.

I hope you were able to learn something today or I made you a little more curious about the herbalism world and how we can use it as a tool for healing and harmonizing the human body.

xo

Kelly