In The Book of Herbal Wisdom Matthew Wood creates a
vast and sweeping history of herbalism, drawing on
Western botanical knowledge, homeopathy, Traditional
Chinese Medicine, and Native American shamanic botony.
Detailing the history and use of more than forty plants,
he shows how each tradition views a plant, as well as
its use in cases drawn from his own herbal and
homeopathic practice. An initial section describes
signatures, similars, and patterns in these traditions,
and elements, temperaments, and constitutions. Wood has
two objectives: to demonstrate how herbal medicines are
agents of healing and wisdom, and to give the reader a
useful catalogue of plants for medicinal uses. His
clinical observations of his patients bear the wry
wisdom of the country doctor; his love of plants is
evident in lush botanical descriptions, which show the
connection between remedies - whether homeopathic,
Chinese, or Native American - and the plants from which
they are derived. The Book of Herbal Wisdom brings to
readers centuries of lore about healing from indigenous
traditions, at a time when people are exploring
empirical enthosciences with a seriousness unparalleled
in history. In no other contemporary botanical
compendium have North American Indian medicine,
homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Western
herbalism been so thoroughly integrated, and so
engagingly described. |
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