The Role of Alcohol in Herbalism
The Plant Path: Herbalism, Medical Astrology & Spagyric Alchemy
Sajah Popham
4.8 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As herbalists, we tend to rely pretty heavily on alcohol as one of our main ways for extracting and preserving the medicinal properties of plants. Herbal tinctures are one of the most commonly used forms of herbal medicine.
In modern herbalism, we tend to think of alcohol as great for dissolving herbal constituents and preserving things well. They last indefinitely if the percentage is higher than 30 percent. But what about some of the traditional perspectives of alcohol? Specifically, why do we refer to distilled alcohol as "spirits"?
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ABOUT SAJAH
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Sajah Popham is the author of Evolutionary Herbalism and the founder of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism, where he trains herbalists in a holistic system of plant medicine that encompasses clinical western herbalism, medical astrology, Ayurveda, and spagyric alchemy. His mission is to develop a comprehensive approach that balances the science and spirituality of plant medicine, focusing on using plants to heal and rejuvenate the body, clarify the mind, open the heart, and support the development of the soul. Sajah's approach honors and acknowledges the chemical, energetic, and spiritual properties of plants for a holistic model that uses the whole herb to heal the whole person. He lives on a homestead in the foothills of Mt. Baker Washington with his wife Whitney where he teaches, consults clients, and prepares spagyric herbal medicines.
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ABOUT THE PLANT PATH
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The Plant Path provides unique perspectives for the modern practitioner of herbalism that doesn't just want to "fix what's broken" in the body, but seeks to serve others with deeper levels of healing and transformation with herbal medicines.
A unique synergy of clinical herbalism, alchemy, medical astrology, and herbal traditions from around the world, The Plant Path focuses on giving you a truly "wholistic" perspective on herbal medicine so you never fall into the trap of allopathic herbalism.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the plant path, your window into the world of herbal medicine, with Saja and Whitney Popham, founders of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism. |
| 0:23.6 | Hey there everybody, Sagea Popham here, founder of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism. |
| 0:29.6 | And in this week's episode, we're going to be talking about alcohol. |
| 0:33.6 | We as herbalists tend to rely pretty heavily these days on alcohol as one of our main ways for |
| 0:42.3 | extracting and preserving the medicinal properties of plants, right? |
| 0:47.3 | I think herbal tinctures are probably one of the most commonly used forms of herbal medicine |
| 0:53.3 | by herbalists. And so what, like, what's the |
| 0:58.6 | deal with alcohol, right? What's the best type of alcohol to use? Is there a difference between |
| 1:05.0 | organic or inorganic alcohol? Is there a benefit to using high-proof alcohol, low-proof alcohol? Like, how can we |
| 1:14.5 | figure out what the best type of alcohol to use is? And so that's what the topic of this |
| 1:20.3 | week's post is all about is about alcohol and some of my perspectives on alcohol and what the best form to use is to make the best herbal |
| 1:31.6 | medicine, as well as some perspectives on the alchemical tradition of alcohol. |
| 1:36.8 | You know, we tend to think of it in modern herbalism as, you know, oh, alcohol is just great |
| 1:41.6 | for dissolving herbal constituents and it preserves things |
| 1:45.6 | very well. They last indefinitely if the percentage is higher than 30%. But what about some of |
| 1:52.9 | the traditional perspectives of alcohol? Specifically, why do we refer to distilled alcohol as spirits? |
| 2:00.2 | And that is something that I was unaware of until I came |
| 2:05.0 | across the alchemical and spajuric tradition. So I hope you enjoy this discussion this week |
| 2:11.5 | on alcohol and its role in herbal medicine. All right, question number two from Jana Taylor is asking, |
| 2:20.3 | I see most herbalists using ever clear to make their tinctures. |
| 2:24.3 | I understand that this is because of the high alcohol content, |
| 2:27.3 | but doesn't the energy of the distillation make a difference in our medicine? |
... |
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