18 Apr Sage may be the most important Plant on the Planet

This is the first of several articles which may improve your health and lengthen your life. The idea has gestated for a few years and was supposed to start with a different topic, but COVID-19 changed everything.

The Plannedemic paralyzed me. My studies of Rudolf Steiner had me anticipating something big, and likely a pandemic, because 2020 was 102 years after 1918 and the so-called Spanish Flu, and there are many interesting combinations of historical events, separated by 102 years. But I was dumbstruck by the violent rhetoric regarding vaccination.

My adult life had thus far included a strong commitment, and I enjoyed success, to be a strong, vibrant and mostly ill-ness free person. And, as I slowly adapted to the horrible mess world leadership had carefully created, my thoughts and research turned to anti-viral substances. At the top of the first list I located on the internet was sage.

Sage was introduced to me by my dental surgeon, in 1965, when I had four teeth removed because my mouth was diagnosed as being too small for that many adult teeth. This surgery was often the first step in orthodontic adjustments to the mouth. For two week, I rinsed my mouth with a pharmaceutical mouth-rinse after every meal. Eight to ten years later a German friend served me tea that tasted like that mouth-rinse. I inquired the type of tea and learned that it was sage.

From 1989 until 1993, I enjoyed an activity that required incredible amounts of dramatic speaking. Such overuse of the larynx can easily result in inflammation. Sage tea is a fantastic throat soother.

And, for about ten years now, I chew a sage leaf or two after I enjoy a smoke; and the raw sensation in my throat seems to go away.

Because I am neither a doctor or a pharmacist, I can only state that when I drink sage tea, or chew a dried leaf, my throat feels better, and this might be psycho-sematic ,as is the case with many placebos.

Some people do suggest, that these chemicals: Camphor, carnosic acid, carnosol, phenolic acids, might have medicinal properties.

These chemicals are listed as active chemical ingredients in sage.

 Also, a random study published in 2015 came to this conclusion regarding sage mouthwash: The Sage mouthwash effectively reduced the number of Streptococcus mutans in dental plaque.

Although the use of sage is highly recommended and normally safe, there are

Safety Considerations: Should not be used by people taking anticonvulsant drugs or diabetes medication.

There is historic evidence of medicinal use of sage in several cultures. According to Peggy Trowbridge Filippone,”  Sage has a very long and rich history due to both its medicinal and culinary uses. At one time, the French produced bountiful crops of sage which they used as a tea. The Chinese became enamored with French sage tea, trading four pounds of Chinese tea for every one pound of sage tea. In 812 AD, sage was one of the plants deemed so important that Charlemagne ordered it planted on German Imperial farms, no doubt due to the lucrative trade business as well as for its medicinal popularity.

In ancient Rome, sage was considered to have substantial healing properties, particularly helpful in the digestion of the ubiquitous fatty meats of the time, and was deemed a part of the official Roman pharmacopeia. The herb was used to heal ulcers, to help stop the bleeding of wounds, and to soothe a sore throat. Many people in China used sage to treat colds, joint pain, typhoid fever, and kidney and liver issues.”

Salvia officinalis apparently first grew abundantly in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, where it was often an important ingredient in foods and widely used medicinally. Today, it grows easily anywhere except where it is too damp, or, of course, too cold.

So let’s look closely at that ten year time period, that I was chewing a few sage leaves daily. I worked mostly as a Substitute Teacher, which landed me in a different school and neighbourhood nearly every day, sometimes different schools in the morning and afternoon. Imagine the variety of germs that attacked my immune system.  Now, other factors played their roles in my vitality. Lemon, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, ginger, parsley, yogurt and probiotic capsule, Kombucha, and a few other herbs, to be addressed in another article, all contributed to my health. But, when I researched anti-viral herbs and found sage at the top of the list, it was no surprise. Through treatment of a minor throat irritation, I gave myself one of the strongest shields possible against disease. I wonder if sage was a factor in survival of various plagues.

Did I ever get sick in those years? Yes, a few times. but each illness was preceded by huge work-related stress, and one was definitely the result of exposure to cold, damp conditions. Recovery was quick and easy with hot beverages, including Ginger-Honey-Lemon, and lots of rest; sometime one day was enough, sometimes two, but never a trip to a doctor or any pharmaceuticals.