Title : Garlic by Student Contributor Marissa Gorey
link : Garlic by Student Contributor Marissa Gorey
Garlic by Student Contributor Marissa Gorey
Allium Sativum – Garlic: Helping Humans Survive Since the Beginning of Time
A Plant Monograph by: Marissa Gorey
Allium Sativum is an acrid, spicy, and aromatic member of the Liliaceae family. Records of its use and uses are unending. Its pungent taste and spear-like shoots are ruled by Mars and the intensity of its medicine is undisputed.
A true panacea, Allium Sativum is not only antiseptic, antispasmodic, antihelminthic, antifungal, antiviral, carminative, diaphoretic, rubifacient, and hypotensive. It’s also an alterative, aphrodisiac, disinfectant, digestive, a mild diuretic, a cholagogue, an emmenagogue, a stimulant, and a tonic.
Much of what is the most beneficial medicinally to us as humans is simultaneously garlic’s natural defense system as a plant. Allium sativum is a perennial whose rhizomes contain a huge number of antioxidant and antimicrobial constituents such as selenium and sulfur just to name a few. If a clove is attacked/nicked a chemical compound named allicin is released. Highly volatile, allicin is a vicious insecticide capable of causing third degree burns with prolonged contact on human skin. These attributes have helped it to ward off would be predators and potential illnesses for so long that it has traveled from its original home near the Himalayas to the plates of nearly every population on earth.
Garlic has been studied extensively by the scientific community and seems to be a widely accepted remedy for high blood pressure, damp conditions (especially asthma, respiratory congestion), and infections of all kinds (fungal, bacterial, viral, it covers the whole spectrum).
Studies have also found it to inhibit tumors, reduce effects of stress related and physical fatigue, relieve impotence, support the body’s natural immune response and alleviate symptoms associated with chemotherapy. Garlic contains ‘an unidentified substance named vitamin X by the Soviets, which both prevents the absorption of radioactive isotopes and helps draw them out of the body’ (Gabriel Cousins Conscious Eating).
Superstition and medicine collide. Garlic truly does keep the vampires away.
Allium sativum is however extremely hot and drying. This is how its medicine works. Pitta constitutions and conditions beware. Onion may be a stronger ally in these cases. Garlic is contraindicated for acid reflux and inflammatory stomach issues. It should be avoided by those with low functioning thyroids because it can interfere with iodine uptake and use during the first trimester of pregnancy is discouraged due to its emmenogogic properties. It is generally regarded as safe to use with toxicity virtually unheard of unless large doses (more than one bulb a day) for extended periods of time.
In the Ayurvedic tradition garlic is regarded as tamasic, which in moderation is grounding but dulling in excess. This combined with its stimulating and aphrodisiac qualities have led to its exclusion in particular lifestyles. i.e. celibacy in pursuit of meditative clarity etc. etc.
Practice moderation. But as Paul Bergner writes, ‘Garlic is a tonic in the true sense of the word – it increases energy, well-being, and general health slowly over weeks, months, and years.’ So how can we use it?
Eaten raw, in water, or as a juice
In a foot bath for fatigue
As an oil for earaches
As a suppository, enema, syrup, tincture, steam, vinegar, cold water infusion
Put garlic water up your nose, clear those sinuses!
First aid use: As a wash on animal bites
Cooked and in your food. There’s still good stuff in there.
Poultices for the chest or feet work great (don’t put directly on skin, can burn-literally)
Chop it up and put in a beer or glass of wine, let it sit overnight, enjoy as a tonic in the morning
Most constituents are best captured in fresh plant preparations, however there are some medicinal constituents that form when the allicin degrades. Milk can be used as the vehicle to soothe some of the hot dryness for those who find it intolerable. An aged variety, known as Kyolic garlic, has been found to be less irritating. The options are exhaustive. Garlic is probably the strongest, most readily available, widely accepted, and affordable fresh medicine we have.
The rhizome is best harvested in the mid-summer to fall when the ground is dry. A toxic look-a-like is the daffodil, but the aromatics of garlic should be unmistakable. Information on Allium Sativum is readily available. Many many books, articles, and case studies have been written on this plant. It’s rumored that the slaves who built the pyramids refused to work after garlic and onions were taken out of their rations. I’d like to think we’d do the same.
Resources used:
Conscious Eating – Gabriel Cousens M.D.
The Healing Power of Garlic – Paul Bergner
The Herbal Lore of Wise Women + Wortcunners – Wolf D. Storl
Herb Contradictions and Drug Interactions – Francis Brinker N.D.
Herbs and Things –Jeanne Rose
Making Plant Medicine – Richo Cech
The New Holistic Herbal – David Hoffman
The Yoga of Herbs – Dr. Vasant Lad
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