Alternative medicine (theories)

The origins, theories of, and influence of Alternative Medicine

The esoteric wisdom of ancient healers and of plant lore has been central to medicine since ancient times, not only spawning approaches such as herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, biofeedback, and homeopathy, but also influencing mainstream approaches to illness.These approaches draw upon general theories, such as the 'theory of similars' or the related 'theory of signatures'.

For instance, the onion was favoured by the Egyptians not only as a food, and used as a medicine, but also respected for reflecting their view of the universe's multi-layered structure. Egyptians identifed medicinal properties in plants such as myrrh, aloe, peppermint, garlic and castor oil

The medical use of plants by the ancient Greeks reflected their idea that each of the twelve primary gods had characteristic plants. ON the other hand, herbs lacking such elevated 'connections', such as parsley, thyme, fennel and clery were allowed correspondingly more everyday roles in health.

Healing plants are also featured extensively in ancient Arabian lore, in the Bible, and in the druidic tradition of the ancient Celts. Herbal tradtionswere centnral to life in the Mayan, Aztec and Incan civilizations, and north American Indian herbal rituals.

The transition from mystical and supernatural understandings of illness to 'scientific' ones is still highly controversial.