Our search tool – hot or cold, dried or wet?

We all have a dominant temperament: hot and humid, hot and dry, cold and humid, or cold and dry, that’s not new, it goes back to Hippocrates, which means it’s been a long time. Although at the time bad mood was eliminated with bloodletting, temperaments have not aged and they explain many mysteries.

While we are in the age of molecular genetics, my intention is not to look back nostalgically at the past, anyway! Of course, we can say that we have made some progress since Hippocrates in terms of understanding the human body, we have also done some stupid things by leaving so much power to the pharmaceutical industry.

Uh… bloodletting isn’t for me!

Of course, I didn’t see myself on an operating table during the middle ages either. But between this period when we knew everything about the plants that surrounded us from a young age and the current era when most kids don’t know how to recognize them, there’s still a nice collapse of our knowledge.

And temperaments are part of this heritage that should be remembered. Because we have different temperaments, we can’t/no longer use the “one fits them all” approach or the one-size-fits-all approach for everyone.

As noted by Vanopdenbosch (2018, p. 28),

“The theory of temperaments allows us to understand and make sense of a multitude of things that were previously unknown. […] So why is one always cold and the other often hot? Why does he remain threadlike when he nibbles all day and why does his neighbor gain a hundred grams just by looking at a glass of water?”

Here are the main lines of each temperament, I’ll keep it short, there are obviously more characteristics than the ones I list below. For a precise definition, I refer you to Vanopdenbosch (2018), it is very well explained. As a general rule,

• The person who is warm and dry cannot stand still, they need action, they make decisions and lead, reason takes precedence over their emotions and they can have explosive anger, there is no need to take this person by emotions, it is better to get to the point;

• the person of nature cool and humid is introverted, she has little will and persistence, she is a big dreamer and is very sensitive, she likes her peace and does not let herself be pushed around, she gets along with everyone;

• the person who is warm and humid is a great optimist, she is very affective, passionate and outgoing, she enjoys festive activities and meetings with friends, she enjoys the pleasures of the table;

• The person who is cool and dry is often melancholic, she is introverted, she is thoughtful and philosophical (too), she is pragmatic and likes to stick to facts and evidence, she has an eye for detail, she is cerebral and she accumulates a lot of stress.

Of course we all have a few of all these categories, but in principle we have one that dominates. And if one of our temperaments moves away from the center of balance, then “we open the door to illness and malaise” (Vanopdenbosch, 2018, p. 28). The aim of the game is therefore to maintain our balance by correcting the balance of our temperaments, in the event that we stray too far from our zone of well-being… you know the zone where we feel good in our head and body.

Commonly, the “matchmaker of good herbs and good people” (Vanopdenbosch, 2018, p. 7) chooses the right plant in relation to the dominant and unbalanced temperament of the person, and this by playing with opposites. Thus, a hot and humid temperament could regain the balance lost by focusing on cold and dried plants, a hot and dry temperament could refocus its balance by taking cold and humid plants, a cold and dry temperament could rebalance its body by selecting hot and humid plants, and a cold and humid temperament could regain its comfort zone with warm and dry plants.

In conclusion, when a matchmaker chooses a plant for a problem, he considers not only the qualities of the plant but also the temperament of the person to be accompanied. Indeed, and given that we do not all come from the same mold, all plants with a given property would not be adapted to everyone in the same way and, therefore, would not always give the same result. For this reason, the elemental energy of the plant, in addition to its properties, is indicated in our search tool, when it is known and referenced, of course.

See you very soon for the next phyto-info newsletter!

sylvie