Sage

“「聖人は未病を治す」 (seijin wa mibyō o chisu) Gloss: "The sage deals with what is not yet illness." Like Sun Tzu's general who wins before battle, "his victories bring no fame". Care before illness is "an unseen great fortune".”

“Salvia (sage, Salvia officinalis): the abuelas' gargle. A strong infusion, cooled to warm, gargled and spat out, not a pot of tea to drink all day.”

“Salvia (Salvia officinalis, sage). The gargle. Gargle and spit, not a daily pot.”

“Sage (žalfija) tea with honey stirred in afterwards, drunk or gargled, recorded for tonsillitis. Thujone: two weeks at most, never in pregnancy or breastfeeding, not under 12.”

“Sage for hot flushes, an old use. Sage tea to "dry up" the milk: the old way, and the baby gets the thujone.”

“Dan shen 丹参, red sage root (Salvia miltiorrhiza). Bitter, slightly cold. Heart, liver. Moves blood and breaks stasis, eases pain, cools the blood, clears the heart and calms the spirit. Caution: never with blood thinners. A man on a daily danshen decoction for two weeks bled into his chest.”

“Shang Han Lun 伤寒论, the Treatise on Cold Damage. Written by Zhang Zhongjing 张仲景 at the end of the Eastern Han, around 200 CE. In his preface he tells how his clan of more than two hundred people lost two thirds within ten years, most to cold damage, and that this made him write. The work was later divided into the Shang Han Lun (fevers moving inward through six stages) and the Jin Gui Yao Lue 金匮要略 (Essentials of the Golden Cabinet). China calls him the sage of medicine, 医圣. Many formulas still in use come from him, and Kampo keeps the Shang Han Lun as its basic handbook.”

“Chyavana and the jar. The old sage Chyavana, worn and bent, was made young again by a preparation of the Ashwini Kumaras, the twin physicians of the gods. That is the legend behind chyawanprash, the dark sweet jam of amla and many herbs whose earliest recipe stands in the Charaka Samhita. The legend comes from the epics and the Puranas in many versions, and a local tradition places Chyavana's hermitage on a hill in Haryana. It belongs in the story drawer. The jar itself is sugar, so with diabetes the sugar-free kind and the GP, and with medicines the pharmacist.”

“Gargles. A beetroot gargle, a sage and calendula gargle for a sore throat, remembered from many Russian childhoods.”

“The Sage/Wise One - Seeks truth, understanding, wisdom. Can become detached, over-analytical, paralyzed by thinking. "You've been thinking about this so long that thinking has become the problem. At some point, you have to stop analyzing and start living."”