Considering that all organisms on earth are united by their necessary responsiveness to the cycles generated by sun, earth and moon, I take a biological look at the constants and inconstancies of life. Health is viewed as a dynamic time series rather than a static state and one that is best achieved by acknowledging the diurnal and seasonal variations to which all living things must respond. All beings, from the earthworm to elephant, including bacteria and virus’ share the same nucleotides—DNA & RNA—which may be considered as earth’s first solar panels.
Plants, as the mediators of the sun’s energy for us all, provide not only food but the crucial templates upon which animals depend for their biochemical pathways. Small wonder, therefore, that the health and fertility of many species of mammal depends entirely upon plants that we also use as medicine.
I review the science of circadian, tidal and annual rhythms, then move to a detailed analysis of the internal regulators of our metabolic lives and how these neurohormonal cycles are modulated by seasonal fluctuations. As a clinical plantsman, I give an overview of how the changes required from us by sun, earth and moon can be supported by the timely and judicious administration of whole plant medicines.
