The Roots of Celestial Herbalism: Plants as Messengers of the Stars

By Arjun Das

At a time when time was called infinity and the earth was the frame of our steps, Man knew his true passion: as stars and the soil. Absolutely nothing has been more enchanting for all our time than the magic of the seed, an alchemy of photosynthesis, the miracle of germination, a multicolored fruiting, and a freshness contained in the sap. At the same time, instinctively the sage showed gratitude for this moment of true pleasure with the sky and then honored the Sun and the Moon. In the existentialist condition, this love does not exist, imposingly imposed on the superior over the necessary, but on service and devotion. In silence, an entire natural work is a magnetic composition formed by rhymes of the soil with the highest notes found in the stars. This was a poetic definition that the astronomer Johannes Kepler left for our time. A real song from the spheres. The orbital harmony between the celestial bodies came to be perceived in reality with a notion of the seasons, a sacred moment for those who plant and are fed from what they harvest.

In thousands of years of our time, man has learned the management of the land and the art of harvesting. At the same time, by constantly observing natural changes, plants have also learned how to survive in this environment. Both the man and the plant lived in a spontaneous state of complicity, gratitude, and mutual protection. Of all the arts that man has known in this period, one in particular has its historical record along with the very steps of humanity: astrology. Redefine your concept of astrology while contemplating what would have been the notion that man always had of heaven and earth. Rejoice again in the timeless mystical scene: the glow of the stars that rest in the night and then the sunrise. And while this work was done at the top, another work was done within each living being: metabolism.

In the view of traditional Indian medicine, Ayurveda, the basis for longevity lies precisely in the digestive process which in essence is the art of extracting and assimilating the solar/lunar energy that is also carried by the food. Poetically, ancient physicians of all cultures equally perceived a magical act in the physiology of nutrition. A celestial feast that manifests itself in every cell. Thus, preserving the beauty of the term, we are units of Light provided by the stars.

India already seemed to recognize this cosmological and physiological fact when it used the Jyotish term in Sanskrit to refer to astrology as "the science of lights." Studying Mother Nature is not only limited to our planet — and this is the field of study of astrology, a biological, sacred, and millenarian art that originally studies life, its phenomenon, and correspondence in synchronicity with the macrocosm.

This art is the ancestral wisdom of the "Planetary Signature of Plants" promoted by traditions of physicians, philosophers, astrologers/astronomers in the East and West. Personalities such as Paracelsus and Nicholas Culpeper represent a true landmark for Western thought while recognizing the rulership of certain stars and planets over food and herbs. In India, for example, to incorporate the traditional knowledge of astrology has always been seen as a natural line of thought.

Plants were used as symbols and archetypes to explain the basic qualities of constellations and planets, and at the same time medicinal herbs were selected as potentially more appropriate for a disease or another that would be under the rule of a given planet. This concept of rulership is alive and practical, and we use daily in an action of automatic thinking without associating the stages elaborated in this process.

When looking for the always effective Ginger against digestive torpor, for example, we are applying the intense concentration of Solar Energy present in this root to contain "the coldness and the heaviness" produced by the indigestion. At another time, however, we will need the freshness of a Lavender to soften the abrasiveness of a wildfire. This is the recognition of the Sun and the Moon in the plants.

In parallel to Indian astrology and Ayurvedic medicine, each planet would be associated with bodily humors (the so-called vata, pitta, and kapha) and with the forming tissues of our body. This creates a field of incredible application and scope for structuring a therapy that would centrally attend to structural repairs, regenerating tissues and organs while systematically reestablishing a physiological order between humors.

Perhaps, astrology was the first system in the history of man giving rise to compendia of herbal medicine, disposing on the chemical and metaphysical relationship between plants, man, and the sky. Organizing and inspiring the compilation of an effective language that promotes a dialogue between native plants, their essential oils, and the perfect astrological classification is the proposal of Celestial Herbalism that rescues the original tradition between astrology and ayurveda.

Faced with the various forms of presentation and use of herbal medicine, the field of essential oils and aromatherapy gains a practical highlight in the proposal of the planetary scheme. Essential oils were considered vital or "spiritual" elements of plants, as some alchemists expressed, but mainly they are substances that preserve maximum chemical integrity forming a bouquet of active notes in the field of healing. Aromatherapy uses a channel that is easily assimilated into consciousness by dealing with equally delicate and volatile elements. This affinity of the aroma with the mind would explain the notorious application of essential oils to psychological states. The concentration of active principles trigger synapses triggering from mood swings to altered states of consciousness at different levels.

In the present moment of our scientific thinking, to identify within each plant active principles responsible for therapeutic effects again seduces us in the sight of ancient sages — to look at a landscape was not different from contemplating the sky because the natural expanse of vegetation was a continuous act of celestial force. It is also interesting to note that the use of plants associated with planets is not a free or simply romantic proposal but rather a classificatory reading methodology, organizing about the clinical effect of plants starting from a larger reference. The healing of consciousness.
 

Arjun Das is an Ayurvedic practitioner and Panchakarma specialist, and the director and founder of TriGuna Institute in Brazil.

A certified Hatha Yoga instructor and researcher of medical astrology, Arjun studies local herbs and their connection with Vedic astrology for health and meditation.

Arjun, who’s received the blessings and guidance of many healing masters around the world, is conducting pioneering research on public health and traditional medicines in both Brazil and India.

The recipient of the 2009 Vagbhata Award for Excellence in Ayurvedic Teaching, he serves as a guest lecturer at major Indian conferences. He’s been teaching Ayurvedic healing and herbology for more than 20 years, training both laypeople and clinicians around the world.