Asteraceae - remedies of the sunflower family

Recensie

Reviewd by: Vatsala Sperlingon hpathy.com

Plant portraits, Asteraceae, remedies of the sunflower family, a book by Jo Evans, is pleasing to the eyes, appealing to the intellect, and speaking to the heart, just as its subject, sunflower, and its relatives happen to be. Jo Evans has captured the core of the sunflower family (Asteraceae) and shared with us in her beautifully produced full color book.

The Sunflower family is known for remedies that restore a sense of wholeness and integrity to lives fragmented by trauma. And trauma is all around us, in some form or the other. Internalizing the message and content of this book will help us reach for these gentle remedies when indicated for a person who is besieged by trauma.

Part one of this book is comprised of color pictures of 35 flowers belonging to Asteraceae, and a portrait snapshot in very few words. We can read about common names, botanical name, chief indications (in a green box on top left corner), an elaboration of indications, themes, herbal tidbits, traditional uses, and some factoids like height, flowering season etc. The color photos are stunningly pretty.

I love Rumi’s wit and wisdom, “The wound is the place where light enters you” – this alone appears to be a sufficient introduction, when used in the context of Asteraceae and their role in wound / trauma healing, as presented in part two.

Now, we can choose to remember each remedy as an isolated and independent entity, or study them as a part of a group. The latter is advantageous as we can understand the themes of a group and find its reflection in members of the group.

To facilitate such a sweeping understanding, Jo Evans has presented the members of sunflower family in eight groups. For example, take the third group: “Bitter foods, Carduus marianus, and botanical relatives”. In this group we study two subfamilies of Asteraceae family, (1) Carduoideae, the thistles (Arctium lappa, Carduus marianus, Carduus benedictus, and Centaurea tagana), and (2) Cichorioideae, the lettuces, (Taraxacum officinale, Cichorium intybus, Centaurea tagana, Centaurea cyanus, and Lactuca virosa).

The author emphasizes that it is beneficial to study these plant remedies as a connected group of remedies, the thistles, and lettuces, all having an emphasis on nourishment, digestion, assimilation, and excretion. They have a common affinity for pancreas, liver, and gall bladder, and they have a detoxifying action.

They are food as well as medicine. A case of Lactuca virosa from Willi Neuhold brings to life the themes of brutality, toughness, being beaten, isolation from repeated physical and emotional wounding and injury. The themes of being isolated, shunned, despised and laughed at indicate the Leprosy miasm, hopelessness of Syphilitic miasm, and in the themes of oppression and suffocation, we see a hint of tubercular miasm.

On taking the remedy per these themes, the patient experiences healing from his prostate and kidney pains, and a year later, the remedy also helps him get over his hay fever. A case from Dr. Dinesh Chauhan highlights improvement in a four-year-old boy with recurrent colds, coryza, abdominal pains, and tooth decay, with the use of Taraxacum.

The foodies amongst us will be quite delighted to read a recipe and see a mouth-watering picture of a salad made with Asteraceae ingredients! The nutritive value of this humble and yet beautiful salad is mind-blowing.

Further along, in an easy-to-understand style Jo Evans walks us through a garden filled with sunflower, Stevia, Inula, Arnica, Eupatorium, Calendula, and Bellis perennis. A piece from Franz Swoboda showcases a woman in her late sixties and suffering from intraocular pressure who benefitted beautifully from Erigeron canadensis.

Jo very wisely concludes that our understanding of remedies and their sources is continuously evolving past the pages of a finished book. Deviating from the ancestral practice of venerating the plants (or for that matter, any natural resources), we have gotten into a mindset of expecting to be served by these natural resources.

This is a reckless and self-absorbed, self-important behavior unique to humans, as no animal ever takes its environment for granted. With the conviction and empathy of a naturalist, the author reminds us that we are all one, and in that spirit, we can strive to become more aware, and conscious, as we co-exist with flowers of family Asteraceae that have mastered the art of co-existence as a capitula.

Thank you, Jo, for writing such a lovely book, and Emryss Publishers, you outdid yourself in producing a visually stunning book with a great content and message. I am wondering if Jo will continue to bring out similar books for other families of flowering plants. Well done!