“Physician, heal thyself.”
A cornerstone of Wild Flourish is all about returning to source and our original harmony with Nature. Deeply interwoven in this aspiration is our relationship with food and what could be considered “health sovereignty”. Health care (from supplements to insurance to gym memberships) has grown to a half a trillion dollar industry today, but much expense and worry can be spared as we begin to take charge of our own self-healing. Of course, hospitals are great for accidents and emergencies, but the rejuvenation and maintenance of our body temples can be achieved by learning to utilize the medicinal properties of the bounty in Nature’s pharmacy.
The best part is you don’t have to have a PhD to do this! Common sense is the greatest science, and we all earned our Masters during the nine months in our mother’s womb. The genius of Nature has created what has come to be called “The Doctrine of Signatures”, a profound ancient wisdom in which the nutritional benefit of a fruit or vegetable is reflected in that food’s resemblance to a certain organ or part of the body.
There is a plethora of additional information on this subject available online and you can also use your own intuition to discern the properties of each food, but here are a few examples of the inner nature of these plants:
BRAIN = Walnuts
EYES = Carrots
EARS = Mushrooms
HEART = Tomato
LUNGS = Grapes
BREASTS = Citrus Fruits
STOMACH = Ginger
KIDNEYS = Kidney Beans
PANCREAS = Sweet Potatoes
OVARIES = Olives
WOMB = Avocados & Pears
PHALLUS = Cucumbers, Zucchini, Bananas
TESTICLES = Peanuts, Figs
BONES = Celery
CELLS = Onions
Perhaps this seems like mere coincidence or maybe a light bulb went off in your head and this really resonates with you. It seems odd in our present society, but The Doctrine of Signatures was inherent wisdom for our ancestors. It was made popular in modern times by a Swiss physician, alchemist and philosopher named Paracelsus (1493-1541) who scholars consider to be the father of modern chemistry. He applied this principle to food as well as medicine, remarking that “it is not in the quantity of food but in its quality that resides the Spirit of Life”.