Happy Monday!! When Nicholas Culpeper published The English Physitian in 1652, he presented plants as part of a living cosmos. Within his system, herbs, organs, bodily processes, and illnesses could all be associated with planetary influences! Two important principles in this approach were known as sympathy and antipathy: 🔥 Sympathy: working through correspondence - In sympathetic treatment, a plant governed by the same planet connected with an organ, bodily function, or condition might be used to support or strengthen it. - For example, an herb associated with Mars could sometimes be used sympathetically for something Culpeper also placed under Mars. The reasoning was that the plant and the condition shared a planetary correspondence. 🌹 Antipathy: working through opposition Antipathy followed a different idea: instead of working with the same planetary influence, the herbalist might choose a plant ruled by a planet considered contrary to the one associated with the illness. Culpeper repeatedly treated Mars and Venus as opposing influences. In The English Physitian, he describes Venus herbs as addressing Venus-related conditions “by sympathy” and certain Mars-related conditions “by antipathy.” In another example, he explains that a Venus herb could benefit the head through its antipathy toward Mars while working sympathetically upon parts governed by Venus. The English Physitian (1652), Graeme Tobyn’s analysis of Culpeper’s planetary assignments This wasn’t quite as simple as: Mars causes the condition, so always use Venus. Culpeper’s reasoning could also consider the affected part of the body, the planet associated with the disease, relationships between planets and signs, the qualities of the herb, and the individual circumstances surrounding the illness. His later astrological medical writing even describes conditions involving Venus and Mars as arising through one influence “by Sympathy” and the other “by Antipathy.” Semeiotica Uranica: An Astrological Judgment of Diseases

Common plant names are wonderfully descriptive, but they can also be confusing! One plant may have several common names depending on the region, while completely unrelated plants may share the same common name. That becomes especially important when we are discussing edible or medicinal herbs, because confusing two species can have serious consequences. This is why it's important to learn botanical names. A plant’s scientific species name usually contains two words, a naming system called binomial nomenclature: ⭐️ Genus + specific epithet For example: - Vaccinium scoparium Vaccinium is the genus. It groups the plant with closely related species, including many blueberries, bilberries, cranberries, and huckleberries. - scoparium is the specific epithet. Together, Vaccinium scoparium identifies one particular species commonly known as grouse whortleberry. A few naming rules: - The genus begins with a capital letter - The specific epithet is lowercase - Both words are italicized when typed (Skool platform does't let me do that in these posts) - When handwritten, each word is traditionally underlined - After the full name has been written once, the genus may be abbreviated: V. scoparium You may also see “sp.” after a genus, such as Vaccinium sp. This means the plant belongs to that genus, but its exact species has not been identified or specified. “spp.” refers to multiple species within the genus. Plants are also organized into larger groups based on shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships: Kingdom → Order → Family → Genus → Species For our example: - Kingdom: Plantae - Order: Ericales - Family: Ericaceae, the heath family - Genus: Vaccinium - Species: Vaccinium scoparium Plant family names can offer helpful clues. Most botanical family names end in “aceae.” Once you begin recognizing family patterns, you may notice shared flower structures, leaf arrangements, fruits, or other characteristics among relatives. However, family resemblance alone is never enough to confirm that a wild plant is edible or medicinal. Identification should be made at the species level whenever possible, using multiple characteristics and reliable, current references.