Herbs And Your Spiritual Well-Being

When our physical body is weakened or sick, we take remedies to heal it. We reach for a tincture, supplement or medication that we trust will help us. But, in the same way we care for our physical body, we also need to take care of our energy body and aura.

Yes, the light body or auric field also needs loving care, in the same way our body does. As a certified herbalist I find this is often overlooked in the field of health and medicine.

Many people only think of herbs as something you use in cooking to season food. Years ago, when I discovered that herbs were also a great way to treat the body for illness, I wasn’t expecting to find out all the other benefits herbs can offer us.

During my herbal studies coursework, I discovered that herbs not only help us heal physically, but can also work to bring our spiritual body back into alignment. The herbs work with us on many levels to promote harmony and wellness.

For example, when we drink Lavender tea for stress or anxiety. Try it yourself. Breathe in Lavender essential oil and notice how your thoughts instantly calm and the muscles in your body relax.

But Lavender not only promotes a sense of peace and calm, it also affects our spirit and changes our energy vibration. In addition to the effect it has on our nervous system, Lavender works with us on a spiritual level, to purify our soul and to clear out negative energy clogging our higher chakras.

A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual past ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Lavender flowers are purple in color and therefore correlate energetically with the crown and third eye chakras, as well as the soul chakra, or ‘soul star.’ This eighth chakra, located above the head, is the seat of selflessness, compassion and divine love. Although it is not located within the physical body, it is spiritually important and just as much in need of balancing and cleansing as the other chakras. Herbs like Angelica, Hyssop, and Sage, are also great herbs for cleansing your aura and restoring your natural Light.

Herbs are just like people, so when we match the right symptom or issue with the right herbs, it makes for a perfect relationship. When we use a herb that corresponds with a particular element that someone is lacking, or in need of, a healing balance occurs.

If you think of the Moon and it’s watery, moisturizing, cooling qualities, there are herbs that correspond with this, such as Licorice root, Marshmallow root, and Lemon Balm. For someone who is experiencing excess heat in the body or skin rashes, the ideal recommendation would be the use of such watery, cooling herbs. However, someone who has damp, stagnation, and is cold much of the time, would need warming herbs, that will help with circulation to cleanse the blood and get things moving, such as Cayenne, Cinnamon, and Ginger root.

To take this a step further, into the spiritual realm, if we look at the astrological qualities of the herbs and combine that with our own astrological traits, we have even more to add to the mix! A Gemini female, for instance, who is cold much of the time and needs some warming herbs, may also want to consider her aura or energy field. Might she be experiencing coldness in the body, because there aren’t enough warm colors in her auric field? When we look at someone more holistically like this, including their astrological sign, it draws in the spiritual components to their healing and the herbs can help restore her natural Light.

Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge. Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favour compared with the products of nature, the living cell of the plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life ~ T. A. Edison

The outline of the aura extends out about arm’s length away from your physical body. Within that, the aura has layers, including the mental field, and emotional field. We typically see the results of our spiritual, mental, and emotional states, reflecting in our body and often, through our skin and mannerisms. When we are tending to our health and well-being, we need to start first with our auric field. We need to take into consideration the emotions we’ve recently had and the thoughts around them.

Next time you or someone you love is feeling under the weather, notice what thoughts, feelings, or events preceded this. Prevention is the best medicine. Then choose a herb, or maybe one will choose you, as they tend to come into our thoughts or lives on their own accord. Spend at least a month getting to know this herb and explore ways to work with it. It may be working with you for more reasons than you know.