Yes, Man and Plants…..
It is such an old story. It goes back hundreds of thousands of years. It is actually a love story of man with Nature and its subtle energies. And it is a story of the collective heart of us humans and its relation with the Universal Spirit.
Plants remind us that all health lies between heaven and earth. They are the major “energy transfer beings” on our planet due to their intrinsic harmony with the light of the cosmos. They teach us that all energies of the Universe are available to us humans. And we can go further in saying: Man and plants are created for one another. They are woven into the great cycles of becoming and evolution. They are partners for life with man in an ancient alliance and it is a story of amazing patterns of connectedness.
Plant medicine is as old as man on this planet
Plant medicine is hundreds of times older than the allopathic (allos = „the other“) pathway of modern medicine. Ancient healing methods have always considered plants as spiritual entities with specific healing qualities for the use of human beings. These qualities reflect universal principles of life “seen” by the seers of old through direct cognition or contact with the devic energies of the plants. These ancient healing methods are not “scientific” and objectifiable according to the Western definition, but true in the sense of infinite precious experiences through time. They are mainly derived from metaphysical and intuitive knowledge which forms the basis of the “eternal philosophy” of mankind. Last not least they are the fundament of all true therapies – modern or ancient.
This is why plant medicine is highly efficient because it is based on the holistic intelligence of the plant Devas or Prana, the subtle intelligent energy system of the universe. There is this portal between the subtle and the gross, between the spiritual/ psychological and the physical wherein the plants have their seat. To say it in other terms: The world of plants is still grounded in the basic unity of life which we have to find back in order to get healed in freedom. Plants are our helpers on this path, created by Divine intelligence in order to assist us to rise in strenght, recreate health – if it is lost – and make our lives comfortable and put it in tune with the heartbeat of Nature. Thus plants help us to find the way to our own Atman or inner Light. And in this sense, plants are sacrificing themselves to the higher purpose of the Cosmos.
Plant medicine covers a field from where all therapies start and from where the most powerful energies can enter for the healing of our Mother Earth by healing the body and spirit of the human beings.
A new quantum leap of healing
Aromatherapy is one of the modern answers of Mother Nature to assist humanity for a new quantum leap of healing and evolution on Earth. We have now access to more than 10,000 research sudies on essential oils available in the National Library of Medicine. And nearly 30 percent of therapeutic prescriptions in the US are linked to plant medicine.
And here some effects of essential oils – they
- kill bacteria, virus, fungi
- improve infections and inflammations
- improve the immune system
- transport oxygen and nutrients to organs and cells
- eliminiate carbon dioxide and other toxic materials
- have a positive effect on our emotional state making us feel relaxed, joyful, happy
- give better sleep
“For every human illness somewhere in the world there exists a plant which is the cure”.
Rudolf Steiner
When we smell or apply an essential oil we enliven in our physiology some of the self-expanding, self-transcending flow of the more subtle, more powerful energies from the medicinal plant and its oil on to us. We get into direct contact with the hidden alchemy of Nature which has its link with the light radiation of the cosmos.
Made of light
We as human beings are ourselves made of light – light crystallized into matter and shaped into a body. Quantum physics tells us that there is actually no matter, there is only energy and vibration. Essential oils help us to rediscover our body of light. They make us reconnect with our inner, our spiritual essence where all true healing begins. At the depth of ourselves, right within our nervous system and its wonders, resonates the light of the Universe.
“All matter comes from a primary substance, the luminiferous ether”
Nicola Tesler
Yes, and we humans – to say it again – are rooted in the light of the Universe – or to say it in modern terms: We are rooted in cosmic energy, PRANA or Q’i, the intelligent life force of the Universe.
The sanskrit word for „medicinal plants“ = OSHADHI whose root-meaning is „carrier of light“. Plants communicate this light to all living beings. The Hindi word for „Medicine“ today is „AUSHADHI“. Plants are the healers through Light in the Universe. Light – medicine of the future!
Again: Let us not forget: Plants and their essential oils restore balance on all levels of the human system: They increase our energy, change our moods, protect us against negativity, heal our wounds and cure the most vicious diseases often not accessible by modern medicine. And they have been used in a global ethnobotanical natural medicine handed down through ages by our world‘s ancestors, shamans, yogis, healers, seers.
To say it in other words: The connection between the plant Kingdom and mankind is mysterious and obvious at the same time. Plants and human beings are, in a cosmic sense, partners of a spiritual alliance. Or, looking at it from another interesting angle, as Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy once stated:
“Man is a plant turned upside down”.
Rudolf Steiner
And this very ancient understanding of the “physiological” correspondances between the body of man and the body of plants can lead us to a number of beautiful conclusions in order to understand better some of the intrinsic effects of essential oils (or plants in general) on the human system.
Because – we have said this many times – it shows an extraordinary link between
- the root of the plant and the central nervous system
- the leaves and stems of the plant and the rythmic system (circulation and respiration)
- the flowers, seeds and fruits of the plant and the metabolic and reproductive system
Man is a plant turned upside down
No wonder, for example, that in our hectic and stressful environment the root-oils are playing a very important role for targeting our mind, emotions, feelings etc. appeasing nervous tensions and all kinds disharmonies resulting from living in a chaotic world.
“The tip of the radicle of a plant (…) acts like the brain of one of the lower animals (…) If we need to find an integrative processing part of the plant, we need to look at the roots.”
Charles Darwin, “The Power of Movement of Plants”
So, we may want to say: Taking care of our roots is taking care of our consciousness – taking care of our brain functioning, our psychology, our “sub-conscious streaming”. Plants and essential oils help us to connect the high and the low, the Ethereal and the Terrestrial in us, the „as above, so below“ as the Alchemists said: Grounding and opening up to our innermost nature which is rooted in living the polarity of „Heaven and Earth“… Which would equal „Heaven On Earth“.
The Ethereal (above) and Terrestrial (below) are marvellously expressed in these essential oils stemming – as we saw – particularly from the roots, but also from the trunks, bark, and wood of medicinal plants. Their bio-chemistry is largely linked to the heavier compounds such as sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenols. Here we are on the level of the SOLID, the nearly “mineralized” energies of the plant. On this level the plant stores “time”, evolves in the direction “beyond decay” – remains “geo-tropic” and gravitational. The vegetative energies are dominant – the formative energies (leaves, flowers = shorter living) are not on this level. Here, the plant becomes a healer of what Ayurveda calls “Vata imbalance” – imbalance of the lighter elements of air and space.
A marvelous example of this connection between a “root-plant” and the human brain is Jatamansi (Spikenard) – an essential oil which has helped countless people to stabilize their nervous system, harmonize emotions, even directly impact serious malfunctions of the brain, i.e. on the level of the synapses in case of seizures and epilepsy.
”The Art of Healing comes from Nature (…) Therefore the Physician must start from Nature, with an open mind”.
Paracelsus
What is actually the meaning of “essential oils” ?
The term “essential oil” is derived from the original concept of “quintessential oil.” Behind this we can find the idea of the Greek philosopher Aristoteles that everything physical is composed of four elements, namely, fire, air, earth, and water. The fifth element, or „quintessence“ (latin „quintus = the 5th) , was considered non-physical, that is „spirit“ or life force. It was the element „hiding“ behind matter and had therefore to be approached through spirit in man.
This equals in a sense the understanding about „Akasha“ in India‘s spiritual science and in Ayurvedic medicine, where the 5th element, or space, is well defined (and not surpressed as in our Western school teaching). The 5th element is that element which carries first the „life force“ or „Prana“ into matter and transforms it – together with the other elements – into „Soma“ or „Ojas“ (Ayurveda) in the body. This „quintessence“, can also be considered to be nearest to what Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) calls „Q‘i“.
Distillation and evaporation in the alchemistic concepts were understood as the process of separating this subtle 5th element or „spirit“ from the body of the plant and use it as medicine. This element has at the same time the highest energy charge of all the 5 elements. What a different concept from our modern way of the allopathic „white pills medicine“!
Of course, essential oils – as we know – are also material structures, and they contain often hundreds of retraceable bio-chemical compounds in synergistic blends, time-tested by Nature over millions of years. But inside these material structures we can find an amazing array of subtle energies which we absorb when we expose ourselves to them. And this high presence of the akashic or quint-essential element in essential oils expresses itself beautifully in their subtle fragrances and high volatility which makes all these amazing molecules easily pass the famous “blood-brain barrier” and access our central “switchboards” of consciousness.
So then, in the “forgotten land” of natural healing, Aromatherapy is a way to invite the subtle realms such as quantum field energies and what is “behind” to participate in the healing destiny of us humans, physiologically – psychologically – spiritually. And essential oils mean first of all “Olfacto-Therapy”.
Smelling the fragrant medicine: quite a breakthrough compared to the “bitter pills” of modern allopathic medicine, right?
And what a wonderful task for humanity to reconnect – also by help of the new “fragrant integrative Aroma-medicine” – with the ancient plant wisdom of our ancestors remembering “as it was before”.
In 1987 I had the incredible luck to be participant of the 1st. international Ayurveda congress in India, organized by the famous Indian spiritual teacher Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. We were far more than 1 000 in the huge hall absorbing from the most prestigious representatives of Ayurveda the wonderful knowledge of India’s thousands of years old natural medicine
There, one morning, came in a middle aged man, impressive how he looked, presented to as a grand expert of Ayurveda and plant knowledge from South India. His name was Balraj Maharishi, and we heard his magical stories about the plants, how he had learned through his Master to connect with them, and how they had revealed the essence of their healing power to him. Let me conclude with this here at the end of his presentation:
“The plant Devas invited me recently to a congress. They told me that they are very aware of the human problems. They have decided to do more for humanity.”
Balraj Maharishi
