healing

The Almighty Healing Garlic of the Ancients

“The almighty healing garlic” may sound pretentious, yet I assure you the Ancients would agree 100% with such a statement and for many good reasons as you shall see. One of the oldest cultivated plants on Earth, garlic has been regarded for thousands of years and much appreciated for its medicinal properties as noticed through empirical use. The objective of this review is to examine briefly the medical uses of garlic throughout the ages and cultures, as well as the role that it was considered to play in the prevention and treatment of diseases. First will have a look at the ancient medical and literary texts that talked about the healing properties of the garlic.

The garlic’s journey

Garlic has been in use for such a long time that one cannot pinpoint with certainty its place of origin. Various sources consider that garlic originated in western China from around the Tien Shan Mountains to Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan; from there it spread first to the Old World and then to the New World. According to different sources quoted by The Cambridge World History of Food, the cultivation of garlic in Western Europe is usually thought to have been stimulated by the Crusaders’ contacts with East in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. However, much earlier, Charlemagne (724-814) listed garlic in his Capitulare de Villis and mentioned it as of Italian origin.

The Spaniards are responsible for introducing the garlic to the Americas. In Mexico, Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) apparently grew it, and by 1604, it was said in Peru that “the Indians esteem garlic above all the roots of Europe”. By 1775, the Choctaw Indians of North America were cultivating garlic.

By the nineteenth century, American writers mentioned garlic as among their garden esculents. It is also known that garlic grew wild in southwest Siberia and spread through southern Europe down to Sicily.

The Alliaceae family

Along with onions, leeks and shallots, garlic is a species in the plant family named Alliaceae. Garlic is low in calories and very rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and Manganese. It also contains trace amounts of various other nutrients such as Selenium, Fiber and decent amounts of calcium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin B1. Garlic also contains antioxidants that protect against cell damage and ageing.

There are more than 100 varieties of garlic grown worldwide, but they are generally split into two major types. There are two major types of garlic (Allium sativum), hard-necks (Ophioscorodon) and soft-necks (Sativum), each one has its own varieties and sub-varieties.

Soft-neck garlic is most commonly seen garlic in grocery store. Its names derives from the multiple layers of creamy white or bright papery parchment covering the bulb and continuing up the neck. Hard-necked varieties are often much easier to peel than their soft-necked cousins.  

  • Soft-necked garlic — artichoke garlic (e.g. Applegate, California Early, California Late, Chamiskuri, Galiano, Italian Purple, Red Torch etc.) and silverskin garlic (e.g. Chet’s Italian Red, Inchelium, Kettle River Giant, Polish White, Creole etc.)
  • Hard-necked garlic — porcelain garlic, rocambole garlic, and purple stripe garlic.
  • Elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum) — another member of the Allium clan, elephant garlic, may look like a good buy because it is so large, but its flavour is very bland and tastes more like a leek; in fact, its flavour is slight and its healing properties are inferior to those of other garlic varieties.

The healing garlic – Romania’s strongest natural antibiotic

Just as in many other parts of the world, garlic has been used for centuries not just a great condiment for traditional dishes, but also as an effective medicinal plant which can treat a series of health problems. In Romania, it is said that garlic is our strongest natural antibiotic and there are many natural remedies made using garlic used for fighting back coughs, cold or bronchitis.

When used in different mixes or tinctures (with water, alcohol, ginger, vinegar, oil, etc), garlic can help with hypertension, liver or rheumatic pains, cleaning blood vessels, or regenerates hair growing. A potion especially prepared of garlic and vinegar is a great natural disinfectant for scratches, small wounds or cuts.

The ancient stories of all-mighty healing garlic

As already said, garlic has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal properties and not surprisingly, it all started with Ancient Egypt. Vodex Ebers (1500 BC), an Egyptian medical text, mentions 22 different treatments which included garlic prescribed for  abnormal growths, parasites, circulatory ailments, insect infestation and general malaise; garlic macerated in oil for was used by Egyptian Copt Christians for skin diseases and for the new mothers after childbirth to stimulate milk production. Assyrians also used garlic as an antibiotic and to pack in rotten teeth cavities.

The Ancient Greeks

It was the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC) who said “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Although he was not referring to garlic, I thought this would be a great quote to use as the Ancient Greece texts have a generous number of references regarding the use of herbs and condiments used to treat various health problems, and garlic makes no exception. Known as the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates recommended garlic for pulmonary ailments, to aid in the release of the placenta, to treat sores, as a cleansing or purgative agent, and for abdominal growths, especially uterine.

Theophrastus (371-287 BC), a brilliant Greek connoisseur of alchemy, biology, physics, ethics and metaphysic,  reported that garlic was used by workers harvesting roots of the poisonous plant hellebore to prevent the ill effects of the toxic plant.  

Almighty garlic ailments

In his Historica Naturalis, the Greek physician Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), also recommended garlic for 23 different ailments which treated toothache, hemorrhoids, consumption, animal bites (including shrew and scorpion), bruises, ear aches, tapeworms, epilepsy, insomnia, sore throat, poor circulation, lack of desire and neutralizing the effects of the poisonous plants aconite and henbane.  

Pedanius Dioscorides (40-90 AD), the Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, author of De Materia Medica and chief physician of Roman emperor Nero’s army, recommended garlic to thin mucus and relieve coughing, to expel worms, for protection against viper and dog bites, to stimulate menstrual flow and to heal ulcers and leprosy.

Jews – the garlic eaters

Jewish regard themselves as “garlic eaters” or “garlic munchers”. In his book called “Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and The Science”, Eric Block  says that

“garlic was so indelibly associated with Jews that the Nazis issued buttons of garlic plants to demonstrate the wearer’s ardent anti-Semitism and that ‘the mere mention of garlic by a Nazi orator caused crowd to howl with fury and hatred.”

Levi Cooper from The Jerusalem Post, also reports that eating garlic was so part of Jewish identity that the Mishna rules that if someone pronounces a vow prohibiting benefit “from those who eat garlic,” the one who pronounced the vow may not derive benefit from a Jew. The Mishnah (Mishna), the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions, also known as the “Oral Torah”

The first Biblical reference to the garlic is when the Israelites were wandering in the desert and complained to Moses:

“We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge; the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.” (Numbers 11:5).

The Talmud, as well as other Jewish sages, mention several qualities of garlic: it satisfies hunger, it warms the body, it illuminates one’s face, it kills parasites in the intestines;  garlic also affects a person’s mental health as it gladdens the heart and therefore eliminates jealousy.

As you read in my previous article, The Magical Garlic, Prophet Mohammed did not favour garlic consumption, yet he does recommend it to be applied externally on the sting of the scorpion or the bite of the viper.

China

The use of garlic in China dates back thousands of years and it was prescribed for removing poisons from the body, preventing plague, supporting respiration, helping digestion, treating diarrhea, fatigue, headache and insomnia, and controlling worm infestations.

It may have been used as a treatment for depression and to improve male potency. Chinese also used garlic as a food preservative, believing that it can eliminate the noxious effects of putrid meat and fish and to treat unwholesome water.

India – garlic, “a poor man’s gold”

In India, garlic is known as “a poor man’s gold” due to its healing qualities. 3000 years before Christ, Charak, the father of ayurvedic medicine, stated that garlic strengthens the heart and maintains blood fluidity. Garlic is extensively used in the three leading medical or healing traditions, the Tibbi, Unani and Ayurvedic. Just like in other parts of the world, applied externally garlic helped heal cuts, bruises and infections. Garlic was also appreciate for both its anti-aging (“Rasayana”) and aphrodisiac qualities.

There are also other medical Indian texts that talk about the use of garlic in treating various health problems:

  • Charaka-Samhita (written around 400-200 BC) recommends garlic for the treatment of heart disease and arthritis;
  • The Bower manuscript (300-550 AD) mentions that garlic is used to treat weakness, fatigue, infections, infestations, worms, and digestive problems;
  • Dymock, in Pharmacographia Indica (1890), reports that garlic was used to treat many ailments such as coughs, mucus, gonorrhoea, colic, fevers, swellings, rheumatism, worm infestation, hysteria, flatulence, sciatica, and heart disease;

Strength & courage

We could easily say that garlic was one of the earliest “performance enhancing” substances. A portion of garlic was daily given to pyramid workers as it was believed to improve their strength and stamina. Roman sailors and soldiers also loved the garlic for giving them strength and courage. Just like the Egyptians, Greek athletes and workers used garlic to increase strength. The story goes as far as saying that the Olympian athletes chowed down on the fragrant herb before they competed.

This would be all for now about the healing properties of the garlic. Soon I’ll be back with the second part of this article. I’m sure it will raise men’s interest. It’s called The Almighty Aphrosidiac Garlic.


READ MORE: Garlic Stories

This series of articles is dedicated to the almighty garlic. That was not my initial intention, but that’s how it turned out. The things I found out while doing my research were far too fascinating, so I thought they worth sharing. So, you have several articles based on well-researched and selected information about garlic, vampires, myths and its medical use.  

Bibliography:

1. Aggarwal, Bharat B. Mirodenii vindecatoare. Brasov: Adevar Divin, 2016. Print

2. Ahn, Karen. The ultimate garlic cheat sheet: which type goes best with what, 2014. 

3. Block, Eric. Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and The Science. Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015. Kindle.

4. Christopher, John. R. Garlic: Man’s best friend in a toxic world.

5. Ciausanu, Gh. F. Superstitiile poporului roman. In asemanare cu ale altor popoare vechi si noi. Bucuresti: Saeculum Vizual, 2014. Print.

6. Fischer, Eugen. Dictionarul plantelor medicinale. Bucuresti: Gemma Press, 1999. Print.

7. Garlic-Central.com. Garlic as an aphrodisiac. 

8. Garlicmatters.com. Garlic plant structure. 

9. Greyduckgarlic.com. History of Garlic.

10. The Guardian. The best garlic varieties: a guide, 2013.  

11. Johns, Jason. Growing Garlic – A Complete Guide To Growing, Harvesting and Using Garlic. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017. Kindle.

12. Kiple, Kenneth F. The Cambridge World History of Food, Volume 2 (Part 2), 2000. Kindle.

13. Leech, Joe. 11 proven health benefits of garlic, 2017. 

14. Nordqvist, Christian. Garlic: Proven health benefits, 2017.  

15. Popescu, Lidia Maria. Ciuperci, plante si rezine biblice. Utilizari terapeutice. Bucuresti: Tehnoplast, 2007. Print.

16. Porritt, Gwen. Garlic. 2007.

17. Rinzler, Carol Ann. The Wordsworth Book of Herbs and Spices. New York: Curmeberland House, 1990. Print

18. Smith, Dylan. Exposing the biggest myths in Ayurveda: onion & garlic are prohibited. 2016. 

About All Love Energy with Patrick Zeigler

I’ve attended my first All Love class meditation with Patrick Scott Zeigler more than three years ago… at the right moment for me, some would say, although I knew about him and his Seichim/ Sekhem teachings for many years. Useless to say that it was the first of many  amazing experiences and I wanted to share it with my closest friends, yet when I tried to tell them about it, finding the right words to describe it was almost impossible. Later I found out I was not the only one having troubles explaining what you can experience when attending an All Love class.

Few words about Patrick Zeigler & Sekhem / Siechim…

Patrick Zeigler
Patrick Zeigler, founder of All Love / Sekhem / Seichim system

Patrick Zeigler, the father of non-traditional Reiki and founder of Seichim/ Sechem/ Sekhem (SKM), has been working with holistic therapies for over 30 years experience and lives his live traveling the world and teaching All Love.

Zeigler took the first steps of his self-discovery path around the age of 10 when he read the first on extrasensory experiences. Readings and personal experiences with hypnosis, meditations, various techniques and therapies, personal work with different masters followed … little did he know then that all these experiences will prepare him for something much greater: the night in the Great Pyramid of Egypt he had a consciousness raising experience or initiation. The path took him took him to a wise Egyptian Sufi named Sheikh Mawlana Mohamed Osman Abdu al Burhani. He taught Patrick specific ways to deepen the experience. It was a combination of these two experiences that connected Patrick to an energy called Seichim, also spelt Sekhem. Later on Patrick developed what at some point was known as Sechim/ Sekhem system.

That being said, you can imagine how happy I am to share with you some key insights about what experiencing the All Love energy can mean to you as I got to understand it from Patrick Scott Zeigler himself. I do hope that what you’ll read next will give you a better understanding of how this rather spiritual therapy can help you heal the blockages you might experience in your life.

Healing yourself with All Love energy

All Love / SKHM energy
All Love / SKHM / Seichim energy

All Love works with what some of you may already know as Sekhem/ Seichim. This energy is not the same with Reiki energy. The way All Love energy works and it is felt is very different. This difference is noted by all Reiki practitioners who participate in an All Love workshop. The vibration felt in the beginning by most of the participants in the beginning is generally “fine”, but it can become very strong; simply, you may simply have to sit down, that’s how strong it may come. Some even prefer to lay down and let the body do whatever it feels like. Patrick uses the terms “shakers” for those who feel this energy so, so strong.

At the same time, yet not mandatory, some participants may experience strong emotions and see all sorts of images; their role is to assist in the healing process of the blockages, whether you are or not aware of their existence. Unlike other techniques, All Love/ Sekhem works in particular on the Heart Chakra (Anahata) and the connection with the Higher Self and then let’s the energy flow throughout the body, activating and opening other energetic centers.

Attending an All Love/ Sekhem class does not require you to have prior experience of working with other energy techniques or types of therapies. Unlike Reiki, symbols are not necessary to be able to connect and open your heart. The energy has its own kind of miraculous intelligence and knows exactly what it needs to do. If I were to use a metaphor, then I would say it is like when you are falling in love. Do you need a manual?! No! All Love energy works just the same. That’s it!

All-Love is the way of healing with the heart. As Patrick Zeigler says,

“Our Spiritual Heart is at the core of our being and where the soul connects to our Emotional and Physical bodies. All-Love is the experience of the One Heart that connects us to the ‘All’ of creation. It is through the Divine Quickening of All-Love that we come to Love all the aspects of who we are and come into a state of re-union, not just with ourselves, but also with all of creation.”

How All Love energy works …

From a theoretical point of view you, here are some of the things that can happen:

  • The alignment between the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies;
  • The alignment between the superior bodies with the physical body;
  • The anchoring of the energy of love and opening of the heart chakra;
  • The recognition and embracing of our shadow;
  • The redetermination of negative past events;
  • Spontaneous initiations;
  • The anchoring of the soul energy in our physical bodies;
  • The student’s empowerment and the awakening to self-mastery.

Attending an All Love class is a great opportunity to understand through a series of guided meditations that “life is a truly master teacher” and its inescapable teachings are just ways to help us on our self-discovery and evolution path.

Many times we feel our past repeats itself through recurrent emotions, thoughts and attitudes, even when we no longer wish to behave, think nor feel the way we sometimes do. Understanding how our past affects our daily life, influencing our thoughts, emotions and actions is the key of unlocking the better and much happier version of ourselves. It also allows us to clearly see how everything that happens around us simply reflects just like a mirror what is going on inside ourselves. When we do understand this mechanism, we are able to rebuild our reality from the only thing we actually are able change in this life: yourself.

An All Love workshop consists of o series of practical exercises and meditations that aim to bring you into alignment with your true nature while letting go of your expectations. It helps you realize that you need to start living in the present moment and allow your inherent wisdom to flow naturally. That makes you feel more confident in yourself and more capable of facing the unknown. It also awakes your intuition and a consciousness more aligned to your own truth. Once we understand this and you start working with yourself, you can see and sense a lots of new good things happening:

  • A higher understanding blossoms;
  • New interior paths open and this reflect as new opportunities in life;
  • An increasing sensibility and a subsequent spontaneous rising of answers to recurrent questions in our lives;
  • A more harmonious and peaceful way of living with more joy, lightness and confidence.

All these positive changes will be easily perceived by those around you and it will mysteriously touch their hearts causing both a positive impact on your environment and everyone around.

Top 10 Most Fascinating Facts about Dolphins

Do you remember dolphin Flipper, Alpha & Beta, Hope and Winter, Snowflake, Orca Willy or Jones, the retired Navy dolphin-hacker from Johnny Mnemonic? If you do, it means two things: you’ve met some of the most loved dolphins of the planet that made it to the big screen; also, you already know how lovable they are, just like their relatives swimming in the deep waters of the oceans.

Dolphins – the sacred fish

Dolphins

The Ancient Greeks called dolphins “hieros ichthys” which means sacred fish. They went so far as considering the killing of a dolphin a sacrilegious act and therefore punishable by death.

The name of the dolphin is also linked to the Greeks, as it originally came δελφίς (delphís), “dolphin”, which was related to the Greek δελφύς (delphus), “womb”. The animal’s name can therefore be interpreted as meaning “a fish with a womb“. The name was transmitted via the Latin “delphinus”, which in Medieval Latin became “dolfinus” and in Old French “daulphin”, which reintroduced the ‘ph’ into the word.

In modern languages we now have it as “dolphin” in English, “dupin” in Croatian, “delfino” in Italian, “delfín” in Czech and Spanish, “delfin” in Romanian, “delfiini” in Finish, “dolfijn” in Dutch, or “dolffiniaid” in Welsh.

Dolphin’s quick facts list 

  • Order: Cetacea
  • Scientific name: Delphinadae (oceanic species) and Platanistoidea (river species)
  • Type: Mammal
  • Diet: Carnivore;  
  • Lifespan: 12-20 years
  • Size: 1.2-9.1m long
  • Weight: 40 kg to over 6 tonnes
  • Range: Global, typically found in shallow seawater of the continental shelves

Top 10 Most Fascinating Facts About Dolphins

Dolphins are extraordinarily intelligent, friendly, funny, playful and full of surprises. And with such treats, who can remain immune to their charm? It’s no wonder that Albert Einstein praised them by saying that “There’s no question dolphins are smarter than humans as they play more.”

Here are the top 10 most fascinating things about dolphins that we’ve dug out for you.

1. Nearly 40 species of dolphins

Well-known for their playful character, most dolphins swim in the in shallow areas of tropical and temperate oceans, yet there are some who enjoy living in the rivers. There are over 40 species of dolphins, the most common being the Bottlenose dolphin.

2. Dolphin’s amazing brain

Dolphins are not just lovely creatures, but they are also extremely intelligent. By comparing the ratio size of brain to body, scientists came to the conclusion that dolphins rank second, right after the humans! A dolphin’s brain is 4-5 times larger than those of other animals of similar size.

3. They sleep resting one side of the brain at a time

Dolphins

To prevent drowning while sleeping only half of the dolphin’s brain goes to sleep! The other half remains awake so they can continue to breathe! It is said that dolphins are as smart as apes, and that the evolution of their larger brains is surprisingly similar to humans.

4. Dolphins have 2 stomachs

One is used for storage of food and the other is used for digestion. By the way, dolphins never chew their food, they swallow it as a whole. Their teeth are used only to catch their prey; fish, squid and crustacean are their favourite. Also, a 260-pound dolphin eats about 33 pounds of fish a day.

5. The best sonar in the world

Dolphin sonar is the best in nature and superior to bats’ and man-made sonar. Just like bats, they use echolocation to navigate and hunt, bouncing high-pitched sounds off of objects, and listening for the echoes. Their teeth work as a kind of antenna to pick up the sounds bounced back by their prey during echolocation.

6. Babies protected by midwives

DolphinsDepending on the species, dolphin’s gestation takes 9 to 17 months and mothers breastfeed calves for two or three years. Dolphins have been observed nestling and cuddling with their young. It is in the nature of the dolphins to stick with their mothers between three and eight years before they leave their pod.

7. Dolphins attend the sick relatives

It is said that elephants caring for a crippled herd member is a sign of empathy. Well, we could say the same about the dolphins who are often seen tending to the sick, the ill, old and the injured in their group, which is known as “pod”. If needed, they can help others breathe by bringing them to the surface.

8. Dolphins know how to use tools

It would be an overstatement to call dolphins carpenter, but for sure they know how to use tools! They use broken off sea sponges to protect their noses while they forage! But, make no mistake, dolphins are not the only creatures using tools. Recent studies talk about chimps who use rocks to crack nuts, while others fish for termites with blades of grass. Gorillas gauge the depth of water with the equivalent of a dipstick.

9. Great at healing themselves

DolphinsDolphins have an extremely sensitive skin, so they can easily get injured at the slightest touch of a hard surface. Despite the sensitivity, they have a great healing capacity even from deep wounds like the shark bites. The experts do not have a clear explanation for this phenomenon, especially since they claim that similar mammals suffering from similar wounds would die from a hemorrhage instead.

10. Orca, the killer whale is a dolphin

Though called killer whales, orcas are not whales! Orcas, are the largest of the dolphins and one of the world’s most powerful predators. With a lifespan in the wild ranging from 50 to 80 years, Orcas can reach up to 32 feet and 6 tons. They feast on marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and even whales. This is where they also got the nickname of “killer whales”. Orcas (Orcinus orca) are also known for grabbing seals right off the ice. They also eat fish, squid, and seabirds.

April 14, 2018 – Happy Dolphin Day!

Dolphins have a whole day dedicated to their existence for a good reason, as some species of dolphin are endangered, and the biggest threat to their future is man. Let’s raise awareness for the protection of these beautiful creatures.