SLIMBRIDGE DOWSING GROUP REPORTS
Herbal Medicine and the Heart Field - Nathan Hughes
There was a record turnout of members and guests at Slimbridge Dowsing Group for a talk on Herbal Medicine and
the Heart Field.
Our speaker was surprised to discover a record turnout of 26 members for his talk titled Herbal Medicine and the Heart Field on the 11th March. We had had a fascinating talk on herbs and healing in February, but Nathan Hughes, an apothecary based at Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth, approaches the subject from a different direction.
“It’s not simply about using herbs to treat dis-ease,” he explained, and the hyphen is deliberate. “It’s about restoring the wholeness of a person.”
Herbs in this context means anything growing - trees, plants and weeds - that is used for medicinal purposes. Early man, ancient tribes and even animals seem to have an affinity with them, instinctively drawn to the herbs and foods that can heal. A sort of inner dowsing, if you like, an ability we all have but have been talked out of over the centuries.
Nathan doesn’t prescribe herbs for specific illnesses in the way your GP prescribes medication or drugs. “Once the right herbs have been identified,” he says, “it’s more a question that we need to get out of the way, to allow healing to happen.”
Most physical illnesses start with emotional trauma, which affects us mentally and spiritually, and later manifests in the body. It is therefore more important to identify - and treat - the cause rather than the effect. This is why so many people are critical of western medicine which tends to treat symptoms and ignore the origin or cause of the problem.
Nathan can even home in on what part of the herb we need - leaves, bark, flower, petals, stamens, roots? And in what form to use it too - as a tea, a tincture, an oil, in a cream, as a salad, or even cooked?
He is convinced that herbs will be our salvation as so-called superbugs become more and more resistant to antibiotics. Man-made medication attacks the system with one hit, whereas herbs attack from seven or eight different directions at once. And more gently too, so that side effects are rare or less unpleasant. Herbs are an antidote, not an antibiotic, and best of all, they can be found free of charge in your garden or in woodlands near you.