Alchemical Herbs

[Taomeow]

47 minutes ago, Maddie said:

 

Rhino horn is/was a really good Yang/Jing tonic. (not talking about the ethics, just the traditional use) 

 

Most alchemical and magical herbs can also be used medicinally, but differently.  

 

For herbs proper, i.e plants, there is an alchemical formula based on a certain vine combined with a couple other native Chinese herbs which is the taoist counterpart of ayahuasca.  Master Wang Liping told me about it when we were discussing my ayahuasca adventures.  His teachers used that concoction on him on a few occasions (don't remember how many, but not many, maybe two or three times.)  It was part of the general alchemical education, not the main focus.  He was of the opinion that risks outweigh benefits in those "shortcuts."  We were talking via an interpreter, and Master either didn't name the plants or the names didn't get translated.     

[Maddie]

3 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

Minerals that are used medicinally are also in that category in TCM.  Just the way everything of natural origins they use medicinally is classified.  From the therapeutic point of view it makes no difference -- there's many formulas that contain herbs, animals, insects, and minerals, but the prescribing professional is known as a herbalist (or, as they say here, an herbalist, swallowing the h.)  

 

Even flying squirrel poop 💩 🐿️ lol

Earth worm 🪱

Scorpion 🦂

Seahorses

Tiger penis

Antler 🫎

Fossil 

 

Edited April 2 by Maddie

[Salvijus]

On 2024-03-12 at 7:28 PM, Maddie said:

 

"Liu Wei Di Huang Wan" is a good yin, blood, and essence formula. So is "He Shou Wu"

Is it true that He Shou Wu can affect the liver in a wrong way? 

[Dedicated]

8 hours ago, Nungali said:

Animal parts are 'herbs'   ?  

We can allow for some nuances lost in translation? 🤔

[MIchael80]

On 12.3.2024 at 6:11 PM, roamthevoid said:

I've heard from a certain teacher that there are alchemical herbs that can replenish the Jing and therefore assist one's cultivation.

 

I'd be interested to know what they are or where I can find more info.

Hi! 

 

From what i was taught is that there are no alchemical herbs BUT alchemical prepared herbs.

Through alchemical preparation their qualities are enhanced dramatically (and sometimes changed).

Mercury for ex. is highly toxic but when one was taught the alchemical secret it becomes lifespan lengthenging, rejuvinating and healing.

 

Simple form of herbs alchemy that is common today is spagyric. They have replenishing formulas but do not use chinese terms. 

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[Dedicated]

1 hour ago, MIchael80 said:

Hi! 

 

From what i was taught is that there are no alchemical herbs BUT alchemical prepared herbs.

Through alchemical preparation their qualities are enhanced dramatically (and sometimes changed).

Mercury for ex. is highly toxic but when one was taught the alchemical secret it becomes lifespan lengthenging, rejuvinating and healing.

 

Simple form of herbs alchemy that is common today is spagyric. They have replenishing formulas but do not use chinese terms. 

 

Hope that helps a bit.

"Azoth was believed to be the essential agent of transformation in alchemy. It is the name given by ancient alchemists to mercury, which they believed to be the animating spirit hidden in all matter that makes transmutation possible" I looked up Wikipedia 

[Maddie]

8 hours ago, Salvijus said:

Is it true that He Shou Wu can affect the liver in a wrong way? 

 

I never heard that. And I have a degree in TCM and I've been taking it for years.

[MIchael80]

9 hours ago, Dedicated said:

"Azoth was believed to be the essential agent of transformation in alchemy. It is the name given by ancient alchemists to mercury, which they believed to be the animating spirit hidden in all matter that makes transmutation possible" I looked up Wikipedia 

The universal agent is not mercury. 

Mercury is the basic component of the socalled philosophers stone. Though practically you can make stone from minerals,  herbs etc.

In srictures mercury is called the supreme substances for making it....but one should really know how or it is deadly. 

[Nungali]

23 hours ago, Maddie said:

 

They sure are. 

 

I know they are sometimes ingredients  for 'medicine' .

 

Animal parts in Chinese are herbs ????

 

( Its not that goat / sheep 'thing' again is it ? )

[Nungali]

22 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

Minerals that are used medicinally are also in that category in TCM.  Just the way everything of natural origins they use medicinally is classified.  From the therapeutic point of view it makes no difference -- there's many formulas that contain herbs, animals, insects, and minerals, but the prescribing professional is known as a herbalist (or, as they say here, an herbalist, swallowing the h.)  

 

So the Chinese  consider them 'herbalists'    or is that just the tag  English translators  use ?

 

Meaning :

In English ,   a carpenter works with wood , but also metal brackets and screws , etc . we dont call screws wood as well because they are metal .  Is doing the opposite of this (calling  screws wood, or animal parts herbs  ) what the Chinese do , is it a 'nuance ' of their language , or is it a Chinese term that does describe all this accurately but the English just slapped the term 'herbalist' on them as it seemed the best fit ?

 

 

 

[blue eyed snake]

witchery is the common name i think

 

“Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

[Taomeow]

56 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

So the Chinese  consider them 'herbalists'    or is that just the tag  English translators  use ?

 

Meaning :

In English ,   a carpenter works with wood , but also metal brackets and screws , etc . we dont call screws wood as well because they are metal .  Is doing the opposite of this (calling  screws wood, or animal parts herbs  ) what the Chinese do , is it a 'nuance ' of their language , or is it a Chinese term that does describe all this accurately but the English just slapped the term 'herbalist' on them as it seemed the best fit ?

 

 

The literal translation of the components of the Chinese "herbalim" is "grass medicine study," herbalist -- "grass medicine master."  

 

The wuxing (5 "elements") theory which is an important part of the foundation of classical Chinese medicine views plants and animals as belonging to the same wuxing phase of qi -- Wood.  From the evolutionary perspective (to name one), this is absolutely accurate.  E.g., genetically we are only half different from bananas (50% of our genes are identical to those of the latter), and our hemoglobin only differs from chlorophyll in that the former uses iron where the latter uses magnesium.  Far as wuxing phases of planet Earth are concerned, the whole totality of biological life is classified as belonging to the Wood phase.   

 

As Terence McKenna put it, "Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around."  

 

 

[Cobie]

8 hours ago, Nungali said:

… 'herbalists' … is that just the tag  English translators  use ?

Yes, it’s 藥 yao4 - medicine 

 

 

[Small Fur]

On the Topic of Alchemical Herbs

 

 

 

The immortal herbs have been recorded and consecrated by Immortals, but they remain elusive largely because people lack rightful understanding of the teachings.  Furthermore, they would apply to only a rare few.

 

And, those that know it, are not likely to speak of it in great detail. There are many reasons for this but it doesn't come down to economy, it has to do with sanctity. Sanctity is safety and this is something that the Immortals esteem.

 

 

I will say this.

For the most part the herbs are not obscure and they have been classified and clarified, so it is not necessarily difficult to study nor to obtain.  But the true know-how isn't through the possession of knowledge- it is a present awareness rooted in wisdom. Wisdom is the value of simplicity dynamically applied to complexities realized from the Heart (心 xīn). So in this case, the application is simple in that they relate back to foundational teachings, but also complex in that the application must be consistent, magnified and very very nuanced. Most importantly, one must know themselves in extraordinary ways, not just know herbology or the body.

 

Furthermore, while herbs are indeed material at one level and contribute to the medicine, the true medicine is always in the elixir of Consciousness. Therefore, completion of Golden Seed, immortal transmission, and thus the development of profound awareness both of the Buddhas/Immortals and self as One, are necessary foundations to both proper instruction and application.  The Heavenly Mother and the Great Supreme Elder have been tremendous teachers of the immortal way and continue to transmit their wisdom as compassion to the earth.  Without this foundation of wisdom and insight, knowledge of these matters are at worst sickening if not dire, and at best healing if not clarifying for one's spiritual nature.

 

For those who are at such a stage of capacity in discovering this post, let me say this. Your body is only as material as your consciousness permits.  Therefore, the herbs only work in immaterial ways when you realize your immaterial nature: this is how immortality works. The alchemy is in the shen and in the applied living of Shen Dao first and foremost. At heart, herbs are the affirmation of the formless within the form and not the other way around, as many a mundane person would believe. 

 

One of the great keys is purification through refined Consciousness: just as you did with mind and spirit through the process documented in the Golden Flower, now you must set up the same foundations in form. If the yin within is too dense, the ingestion will remain yin and work largely only as yin qi (and the herbs that specifically promote yang qi will be compromised); hence the immortal teachings are rooted in an integrious core of internal yang shen. And you will notice that ordinary people who ingest high level herbs, do so with greed and desire, becoming only more dense in yin over time in both form and spirit. 

 

In observing balance, do not fixate on the state, but become aware of how to understand the flux point. In my own experience for instance, one of these is in observing the flicker of shen qi both on my skin and its processes of transformation within my body. Long ago, this initially began as the ability to  notice the mechanisms of health and painlessness while in the discomforts of illness- this is how healing can happen simply through awarness and meditation. Now, when I go to apply herbs, I am measuring resonance of yuan qi not necesarily just medical or medicinal dosage of a substance. I offer this little bit of insight to help guide the understanding that youth as health, aging and dying isn't a static state and the belief and experience of it as so only comes from a static mind. A static mind is a static spirit and this leads to blunt observation. The level of observation requisite for immortal herbs cannot be blunt and self-ignorant.

 

So for most students, my suggestion is that the very best you can do to begin with, is to learn and learn deeply about herbology the many levels of the body. This also so means you will need to study deeply about health. Then be practical and sincere- go deep, apply it fully and live a full life. A full life is not one where you spill and expend, but one where you conserve and build- otherwise, how can you be full when you live in loss? Then through meditation and the development of self awareness, you will have the laid an important foundation to work with the herbs in more refined ways, if not someday mystical and magical ways.  'Mystical and magical' doesn't mean harboring romantic delusion about the natural world, it means realizing the creation of forms from intimate awareness of the formless. Otherwise, plants, minerals and more will only remain as food and medicine. Elixirs only become Elixirs when we understand form from the wisdom of the formless.

 

For those who feel it is an injustice for it not be more widely proclaimed, who feel it is dubious or are angry and feel they are justified to know lots of specifics; it reinforces the importance of maintaining sanctity. For when these expressions of unconsciousness are mixed with sanctity, it is in essence the seed and act of corruption. For this knowledge to remain precious, it must be conveyed as well as received with care. I also want to remind people that the Immortals all wish they could reveal more to benefit all, but as the Buddha said, no one can give another person Consciousness, not even the Buddha themself. This doesn't mean that teachers should not teach, but it does mean that teachers need not teach about concepts so much as be a conduit for transmission of the Tao. And this means that students need to not get lost in the map that is instruction but remain honest in developing the natural truth in goodness of nature (zhēn xìng) within themselves. 

 

So, I urge everyone to set up the foundation I have mentioned above- there is a wealth- canons of medical knowledge. Don't mistake the outter most of modern establishment for the inner most of the profound teachings: all of the Taoist system is held by the greatest of souls as wisdom that any and all may return to Source. If you set up the foundation and live it well and come back to read some of the key points above or in any immortal writing, it will be the light along the path that only Awareness can radiate.

 

Like any liberation, the answer is not found in the forms even when there is form, but found when we realize the formlessness as the creative Source to all form.

[Sanity Check]

On 4/1/2024 at 12:14 PM, Nungali said:

Animal parts are 'herbs'   ?  

 

 

Tiger penis is the viagra of alchemical herbs.

 

Or so I've heard.

 

(Poor endangered tigers.)