I am a clinical herbalist and devote my time to The Mugworts free herbal clinic, you can book a free clinical intake. This month I contributed a piece on the wind. You can read it and subscribe here.
The wind this autumn has been particularly spooky, and I remembered that the Chinese Text- the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine – had an entire chapter called “The Pathologies of Wind.” What is the relation of the wind, or the weather to our health?
I also think about the character of windiness, in health we can think of bloating and burping, or feeling scatter brained. In this ancient text, the external wind creates internal wind that affect our organs and health. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine: A New Translation of the Neijing Suwen with Commentary
“In the spring the wind comes from the east. Illness then occurs in the liver channel and rises to the head, causing bleeding from the nose. The text states, “In the spring the wind comes from the east. Illness then occurs in the liver channel and rises to the head, causing bleeding from the nose.” Spring wind creates liver wind. And wind is the engine of change.
There is more to this of course, and personification of wind exists in many cultures, from the Aztecs to the Ancient Greeks.
I am inspired in looking to the old texts by the work of radical anarchist poet Kenneth Rexroth. He wrote a column for a bay area news paper on the great works of (mainly western) thought and literature. I am inspired by looking at the great works of herbalism to understand what we can learn.
In the Classic we read:
“In the past the sages were able to observe the signs and adapt themselves to these natural phenomena so that they were unaffected by exogenous influences, or “evil wind,” and were able to live long lives.”
And this echos for me the wisdom from the Essene Gospel of Peace:
“The law is the living word of living God to living prophets for living men. In everything that is life is the law written. You find it in the grass, in the tree, in the river, in the mountain, in the birds of heaven, in the fishes of the sea”