Photo Cover: “The Dryad”, Evelyn de Morgan

Our ancestors lived in a magical world full of gods and spirits and their use of medicinal plants was correspondingly different. In contrast to modern “rational” phytotherapy, they used their intuition. They knew ways of direct contemplative communication with nature, their spirits rested in the plants and they did not look at them analytically from the outside – nature revealed itself to them in mysterious ways.

For them, nature was a mirror of higher powers and accordingly they consecrated the plants to the gods. This assignment changed depending on the effect of the plants. Sometimes it was the goddess of love in the rose, sometimes the god of fertility in the oak.

Plant knowledge was passed down through myths and legends and not through written credentials – it was based on experience and not on theories. The doctrine of signatures was used to feel into the plants, plant rituals were used to be close to the essence of nature. In this sense, healing was already taking place due to the encounter with nature.

Dictionary

Signaturenlehre (Alm. – German)

The doctrine of signatures is an ancient path of knowledge, with which one can draw conclusions about a possible effect of the plants, e.g. from its’ color, shape, taste or smell. It is a meditative way to experience the nature of the plant.

Mythen & Sagen (Alm. – German)

Myths and legends are the traditions of our ancestors in order to pass on healing knowledge from generation to generation. They are not just stories, but they protect treasures of knowledge that need to be recognized.