SHAMANIC TONICS


The notion of a life-affirming business is central to Shamanic Tonics. We view business as a potential bridge towards a more full life for the individual, society and the world as a whole. We aspire towards that developing common good which benefits both (the so-called opposites of) pleasure and health, private comfort and environmental guardianship. This of course utilizes the `cooperator' model of interacting with each other and the world rather than the `dominator' model. The Planet Plant Plan for us incorporates countlesss skills and traditions into developing an economy and society which not only sustains but enhances our natural resources. This uses the most ancient principles and methods along with the most innovative and modern ones. Obvious aspects of this would be the photovoltaic (solar electric) conversion of water to hydrogen gas fuel and free oxygen for the atmosphere to counteract the greenhouse gases caused by the burning of unrenewable fossil fuels. The use of plants (fungi, bacteria, etc.) for biomass fuel, most other fossil-fuel purposes and waste reclamation is a further aspect of this integrated life-style. Shamanic Tonics believes that for tens of thousands of years herbs (plants, fungi and minerals) have been used in 5 special ways by humans:

Spirituality

(via countless worldwide sacraments and holy wines, ointments and incenses)

Recreation

(almost every culture on earth has its daily-favorites list, often outlawed by competing cultures)

Medicine

(aside from petrochemicals and synthetics, plant-formed compounds still are the greatest documented resource of modern pharmacology )

Economics

(food, clothes, shelter, etc., ...)

Protection or war

(repellents, weapons, poisons, traps, etc, ... )


As a society progresses and integrates, more time and energy is spent on the first ones and less on the later ones. In fact, herbs are only one of the 5 special things that were each used in those 5 special ways. All together they form the `25 artistic sciences' (5 x 5 = 25). This is the woven fabric of human history and culture.
The 5 special things are like the physical woof and the 5 special ways are like the metaphysical warp in the weave of this cultural cloth. Through their overlapping interdependence they hold together this (consciously or unconsciously) unfolding fabric of humanity. The 5 special things are potentially lifegiving or deadly. They can make an individual or a society flourish or wither. They are the, "Make `em or break `em", elements in the human situation. Their danger and their profundity are opposite sides of the same coin.

The 5 special things are: Sexuality in all its forms Drugs including all herbs and food (which affect consciousness) Music the power of sound and rhythm Fire giver of light and warmth Water the nurturing universal solvent.

The first of these is the most difficult to master and the last is the easiest. Even now we have only begun to unlock the energy in `water' through working with it as the source of hydrogen gas fuel. Photovoltaic solar energy collection is an example of working with `fire'. We are even further away from facing much less working with the true powers of music, drugs and sex. Our world is equally in danger from our foolishness, as well. This earth is our treasure. Together we can create a lasting celebration worth staying at.
The ways without conscious things may be useless,
but the things without conscious ways are dangerous
.

Thank You


"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship... To restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille (prison) of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no place in a republic... The constitution of this republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom". Benjamin Rush, M.D. Signer of the Declaration of Independence Personal Physician to George Washington

Shamanic Tonics Herbal Hall