herbal principles

In the first post I introduced the idea of sensory energetics as a way to learn more about an herb’s medicinal effects in the body, using taste as an example. The second post went into more detail about the specific flavors we can taste in Calendula officinalis and what those flavors tell us about the energetic effects in the body. I was going to then have this post be an in-depth plant profile of Calendula (I’ll get to that post eventually…). But I’ve found myself wanting to elaborate more on the idea of sensory-based herbal energetics, since maybe it is a novel idea to many of you.

For those of us brought up with a chemical understanding of the world where we think of certain chemical constituents causing certain effects in the body, this idea of sensory-based herbalism could seem esoteric or even far-fetched. But I’d like to argue that it’s simply another way of describing things.

We could think of the flavors as being caused by chemical constituents: polysaccharides contributing a sweet flavor, certain alkaloids or tannins causing a bitter flavor and so on. Then we could analyze these constituents and their medicinal effects in the body. Many polysaccharides have been shown to enhance nutritive functions in the body. Some help the body strengthen the immune system or replenish exhausted adrenals. This building-up and supplementing action is what we’d traditionally expect from a sweet flavor. Many alkaloids are strongly stimulating and help speed up eliminative processes in the body. Again, similar to what we’d expect from a bitter flavor. This chemical approach is certainly a legitimate way of learning about a plant and it has strongly influenced Western clinical herbalism. Having studied chemistry, pharmacology, and physiology in college, I find all of this fascinating and (to a certain extent) useful. BUT this system definitely has its limitations.

Individual plant constituents often have vastly different effects when isolated and studied than they do when they are used in a whole plant form. There are so many different constituents in a single herb and these interact with each other to buffer and moderate and even enhance the effects of any single medicinal component. It quickly becomes overwhelming to try and isolate all these compounds and then study the practically infinite ways in which they can interact with other compounds. Not to mention, plant compounds are constantly changing throughout the growth and life cycle of the herb. A purely chemical view of plant medicine is inherently limited by the vastly complicated scope of these compounds and their potential interactions in the body.

Also, this way of approaching herbalism tends to put herbal knowledge into the realm of ‘experts’. Most of us don’t have access to labs or the ability to conduct research studies. Many of us have never studied chemistry or medical science. Sure, some of us feel comfortable using elderberry syrup to treat flues since there is plenty of scientific research to support such a use, but we feel lost when faced with a complicated health issue or a plant that hasn’t been adopted into mainstream use. We start to feel like we have to have a degree or x number of years of schooling before we can even begin to understand herbal medicine. Now I’m certainly not discounting education or training. It’s amazing to be able to learn from someone who has years of experience (this is true in any field of knowledge). What I don’t like is the belief that these things are absolutely necessary before we can start learning about herbalism in a deep and meaningful way. Before we can use it effectively ourselves, for our bodies and our family’s bodies.

So instead, we can use sensory-based herbal energetics. Before the advent of chemistry and a chemical world view, this is how we learned about medicine: through our senses. Just as we can describe medicinal actions through chemical components, we can describe medicinal actions through taste, smell, appearance, and close attention to changing effects in our bodies. And the beauty of this system is that it is accessible to everyone. If you like to memorize chemical components and read research studies (like I do), great! It can be a fascinating and useful adjunct. If not, you can still learn about herbs in a deep, meaningful, experiential way simply by learning to pay attention to patterns and sensory information. After all, herbalism has always been a peoples’ medicine, accessible to anyone with a desire to learn.

So last time I introduced the concept of sensory-based herbal energetics as a way to learn more about a plant and it’s effects in the body. I talked briefly about taste and how taste is one way to gather some of this information. In this post I’m going to talk more about the specific tastes, or flavors, of Calendula officinalis and how these tastes affect our bodies.

I draw on influences from Traditional Chinese Medicine and the works of herbalists such as Kiva Rose and Matthew Wood. But it should be noted that my explanations are described through the lens of what makes sense to me from my own personal experience. In other words, just because I say something, it doesn’t mean that TCM theory or any certain herbalist states the exact same thing. There will always be slight discrepancies between individuals and their perceptions of tastes in plants. Even within TCM herbal materia medica there are differences.

Does this mean we can’t ever know for sure how to use a plant?

Not at all. It just means we are all individuals with unique senses and unique ways of interpreting the world around us. We all bring something slightly different to the table. We’re discussing the same thing, we just perceive and express it through our own voice. That’s why I encourage you to taste Calendula yourself (preferably before reading this). That way you learn to identify the flavors and their actions as they make sense to you, rather than relying on textbook definitions (or my opinions).

Ok, enough qualifying. Let’s get started.

The Flavors:

Starting with just the petals, what do you taste?

They’re predominately sweet, aren’t they? Bland and slightly salty at first. Then a growing bitter taste. What kind of bitter taste is it? (This becomes clearer as you taste the green portions of the plant)

Now taste the green parts of the plant. It has a much stronger bitter, resinous favor. Doesn’t it? What might be classified under the acrid category in Chinese medicine. That sticky texture in your mouth is caused by the high resin content that we’re tasting.

What effects do you notice in your mouth? Does your mouth feel drier or moister? Can you tell whether the plant is warming or cooling? Don’t worry if you can’t. It gets easier with practice.

What they tell us:

Now let’s talk about these tastes individually:

Sweet

The sweetness of the petals indicates nourishing, supplementing qualities. So we might begin to suspect that Calendula will affect the digestion and assimilation of nutrients in the body. Also, that it will aid in the generation of tissues in the body.

Not sure why sweet flavors indicate this? It’s easier to explain using the extremes of each of these flavors. We all know that an excess of sweet foods tends to add extra weight in our bodies. This is due to the supplementing nature of sweet foods. And if we consume sweet foods without enough other types of foods to balance out this building nature, we end up with stagnation, a slowing metabolism, and eventually damp conditions. The same thing is true with sweet, nourishing herbs. Without enough stimulating, circulating energy from other flavors (either in the herb itself, or from additional herbs), we can build up the body but cause stagnation in the process.

Bland

Bland tastes often have a diuretic effect in the body. They drain fluids. A lot of classic diuretic herbs have a predominately bland flavor (like chickweed, cucumber, and plantain). So we begin to think about Calendula affecting the fluid levels in the body, possibly draining excess fluids.

Salty

Salty tastes often tell us that a plant has an affinity towards softening and dissolving masses in the body. One obvious example is seaweed. Its salty, moistening nature makes it renowned for reducing fatty lymphoma tumors as well as cysts. Ever heard how people who consume seaweed on a regular basis have a reduced risk of cancer? Particularly cancers associated with lymph tissue, like breast cancer? This is due, in part, to the salty energetic nature of the plant.

So with Calendula, we begin to think about an affinity towards the lymphatics (which often manifest lumps or swollen nodes), cysts, boils and other masses. Also swollen tissue around the sites of injuries.

Bitter

The bitterness so evident in the green portions of the plant indicates a draining, drying action. Bitter flavors also tend to move energy in the body, often downwards. This makes them useful for treating stagnation and accumulated toxins as well as sluggish digestive and eliminative functions. From a Western herbal perspective, bitter flavors also bring to mind an affinity towards the liver. Bitters are often used to increase bile flow and drain congestion in the liver.

Coffee would be an extreme example of many of these bitter qualities. Although the caffeine is largely responsible for the perceived increase in energy, many of the other noticeable effects from coffee are due to its very bitter nature.

Acrid/Resinous

We also have a resinous flavor (what would be classified under acrid in TCM). Acrid flavors are stimulating and disbursing. They move energy from the internal to the external. And with their dispersing action they break up stagnation of fluids. They are often used to induce sweating, thin and remove mucus, or expel pathogens and other heat-toxins from the body.

There are many types of acrid flavors. An extreme example would be horseradish. A strongly acrid plant, horseradish powerfully thins and expels mucus and causes sweating. Just eating a tiny bit of it as a condiment can give you a runny nose and watery eyes.

The acrid flavor in Calendula is what I think of as resinous. If you’ve ever chewed pitch from a pine tree, you are familiar with this kind of flavor. Resinous flavors are warming and stimulating as well as dispersing. They break up stagnation, warm up cold, sluggish, damp conditions, and expel mucus. They are also strongly anti-fungal. Pretty much the same as acrid but with an added warming quality and known anti-fungal activity (not all acrid flavors are warming or necessarily anti-fungal).

So keeping all this in mind, we begin to think about an increase in capillary function as blood is moved outwards and an increase in the removal of cell wastes. This indicates an affinity for wound healing. And again, stimulation of the lymph system is brought to mind. These together would point towards an ability to draw toxins out from deep within the body. We also have the added information of anti-fungal activity and the likelihood that Calendula is a warming plant.

Bringing it all together

So that’s a lot of information! Can you see how having a familiarity with the energetic natures of certain flavors can be so helpful? With them we’ve begun to narrow down a symptom picture: cold, damp, stagnant conditions in need of warming stimulation.

Of course, if we’ve never used Calendula, it’s all just theory at this point. We have to begin to use the herb and notice its effects before we can say for certain. But we have a much more specific picture in mind now. Instead of trying to use Calendula for any random health issue and slowly narrowing down what works over many years, we can begin using it for a set of specific imbalances within the body. Then we note how it confirms or differs from our energetic picture and adjust our understanding until we have developed a very specific herbal profile.

And that’s the subject of the next herbal post: a medicinal profile of Calendula officinalis. I’ll post that next week.

herbal principles

revisiting sensory-based herbal energetics

tasting calendula