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