The stillroom
Named for Xochipilli, the flower prince. The cupboard is plants: bitter, salt, sweet, and sour. The blood is the measure of the body. Start with a taste, or how you feel — then open a herb.
First hot, then cold
Fire governs metabolism and the project. It is bile and fat, the head, heart, spine, eyes, liver and gallbladder. Under stress, excess fire can look like deficient water.
Water· saltDrying at first, then fluid follows
Water is relationship. It governs lymph, mucous, breasts, reproductive organs, feet, kidneys, and the shaping of the physique. Water always wins — but it needs a bank.
Earth· sweetInitially warms, then cools. Softens.
Earth is security and status. It governs neck, throat, intestines, belly, skin, bones, knees, and teeth. We are made of the clay — healing often means going back to the taproot and the tree.
Air· sourCooling · astringent
Air is the thought. It governs movement of fluids, gases, and nerve impulse — brain, nerves, lymph, lungs, shoulders, kidneys, lower back, legs, ankles, circulation. Freedom-loving, and easy to live too much in the head.
Tenets after Phyllis D. Light.
01
The main fluids are blood and lymph, mucous, bile, and waste. Blood moves around the body like sap in a tree. In winter it moves inward to protect the vital organs. In spring it moves outward to throw off heat. The state of the blood is the state of the body.
02
The two blood types are Bitter/Salty and Sour/Sweet. Measurements of the blood are high/low, good/bad, fast/slow, thick/thin, weak/strong, hot/cold. A healthy body has good blood. Seek balance — be just right.
03
Hot and cold, wet and dry. Cold is associated with phlegm or mucous; heat with blood. Fire pairs with water, air with earth. The four tastes are bitter/salty and sour/sweet. We cannot separate ourselves from the earth.
04
For every illness there is a specific plant. Bitter herbs have the strongest medicine. We are made of the clay of the earth — we must go back to the clay for healing. Use plants whose roots go to the clay: long taproots, and trees.
05
Chronic disease starts in the gut. Keep the nerves strong; avoid worriation. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
06
Natural illnesses are physical and psychological. Unnatural ones are spiritual, magical, or supernatural. A trouble in one layer can show up in another. A person’s problem can be found in their story. Listen to the story. A healer can talk it out.
07
Every person is born with seven talents. Illness can come from denying a talent, denying the self, or not following the heart. Brought it on yourself is not cruelty here — it is responsibility.
08
If you cheat a client, you lose your healing powers. Herb doctors must use the ability to help the community. Faith healers can lay on hands, talk out fire, stop bleeding, and talk off warts.
Damp, cold, heat, dry — and the ways they marry.
Carried by rain, dew, fog, mist, air, wind, food, infection, parasites. Makes mucous, fluid retention, congestion, constriction, stagnation, canker, relaxed tissues, loss of tone. Settles in sinuses, lungs, gut, gallbladder, bladder, vaginal tissue. Kidneys and the heart can also make a body damp.
Carried by air, wind, water, dew, food, disease, chronic illness, deficiency. Produces mucous, congestion, constriction, lack of flow. Shivering, tiredness, sleepiness. Shallow breathing, a weak irregular pulse, confusion, a slowing heart, vessels that dilate. Relaxed tissues.
Too much sun, fever, inflammation, infection. Summer heat can thicken the blood. Sweating, dehydration, an elevated pulse, cramps. Excess thyroid, autoimmune fire, chronic illness. Excitation — tremors, twitches. Tends toward dryness and atrophy.
Low moisture — a cold dry winter or a hot dry summer, blowing wind. Internal heat, dehydration, lack of fluid or oil. Tiredness. Tense, constricted tissues leading to atrophy. Chronic illness, autoimmune disease, stress.
Penetrating. Lack of heat production or retention.
Suffocating. Lack of air or fluid movement.
Raw. Dehydrating.
Blistering. Dehydrating.
Walk the four tastes or the cupboard.
Traditional kitchen and folk use only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are pregnant, nursing, on medicine, or unwell, ask a clinician before drinking anything as a remedy.