Uncover a short historical past of magic and drugs in historic Greece, then make your personal bathtub scrub utilizing ancient-inspired substances.
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Magic is simply science we do not perceive but.
—Arthur C. Clarke
Historical Greece is effectively often known as a tradition that offered the world with medical advances. Numerous historic Greek physicians equivalent to Hippocrates and Galen are even thought of by some to be the ‘fathers’ of recent drugs.
In fact, their historic research and discoveries have been very totally different from the drugs we all know in the present day. Early palliative therapies and surgical procedures have been nonetheless in growth and never at all times efficient, and have been subsequently usually a final resort the place life was at stake. For that reason, a lot of early drugs was preventative—your finest probability was to protect your well being, keep away from recognized risks, and appease the gods by means of rituals and sacrifices.
A few of these historic preventive strategies exist in the present day, particularly within the type of natural medicines and important oils. In historic Greece, their natural drugs was intently linked to mythology, which is wealthy in floral symbols.
Flora and delusion
As each Odysseus and Persephone found, the flora of the traditional world had the facility to enchant and transfix, to entice and seduce.
Whereas gathering wild flowers, Persephone, goddess of spring, got here throughout a patch of good daffodil flowers. Captivated by their candy scent, she reached out to select some – when the bottom all of the sudden cracked beneath her, revealing Hades, god of the underworld, ready beneath. He carried her underground the place she was held captive and fed pomegranate seeds. When she was lastly launched, she was greeted with pleasure, however it was found that the six pomegranate seeds she had eaten had cursed her to dwell underworld for six months of every 12 months, ceaselessly extra.
After being pushed off target on their approach dwelling from the Trojan Conflict, Odysseus and his males found the Land of the Lotus Eaters; a spot the place the candy fruit of the lotus plant induced a languid forgetfulness in all who ate it. The intoxicating and soporific results of the lotus made Odysseus’ males overlook all the things they as soon as held expensive.
The significance of flora is cited time and again in historic texts, from the Asphodel fields, which in response to Homer have been the meals of the useless, to the sacred olive, which was a present from the goddess Athena, who finally gave Athens its title. . It isn’t stunning then that vegetation performed such an integral function in each magic and drugs. Homer discusses in nice element the injuries that felled males on the battlefield and their therapies utilizing a mixture of first help and natural drugs. On the identical time, Homer additionally attributes a widespread epidemic that unfold by means of the Greek ranks throughout the siege of Troy to an act that had angered the god Apollo.
Hippocrates
It was usually believed in historic Greece that illness and illness, just like the plague of Apollo throughout the Trojan Conflict, arose as a punishment from the gods.
Hippocrates (c. 460-370 BCE), historically often known as the ‘Father of Medication’, was a Greek doctor of the classical interval and is often credited as the primary doctor to differentiate illness from supernatural causes, ie. the gods. Whereas lots of his theories have now been discredited because of a greater understanding of the human physique, he however contributed to creating drugs a scientific career by means of his extra scientific strategy to remark and prognosis.
The earliest technique of stopping and curing illness weren’t surprisingly constructed from vegetation, and a few 400 vegetation and herbs, along with their medicinal makes use of, which Hippocratic physicians, following Hippocrates, used to deal with their sufferers, have been recorded in Hippocratic Corpus.
Curiously, Hippocratic physicians understood what can hurt in giant doses and heal in small. Docs used small quantities of the Hellebore plant to deal with rheumatism and madness – historic Greek warriors (together with Odysseus himself) used it as a poison and coated their arrows in it to make sure the moment loss of life of their enemies. Not solely did vegetation have mythological connotations, however their physiological significance was each realized and exploited.
Important oils derived from vegetation have been additionally in use, however the proof for his or her use is extra restricted because it depends on chemical evaluation to be recognized. Nonetheless, oils might have been utilized in historic Egypt for fragrance and incense, equivalent to frankincense, myrrh, juniper, and cedar. At funeral lekythoi in historic Athens, oils and perfumes have been used as libations (liquid choices) to the deceased. They’ve additionally been utilized in drugs all through historical past, particularly as aromatherapy, however they’re naturally toxic and will be deadly if ingested.
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Make your personal bathtub scrub
Bathtub scrubs could also be a contemporary luxurious, however their fundamental elements draw on millennia-old substances – and so they’re surprisingly simple! Comply with the steps beneath to combine your personal scrub.
Please observe: this recipe makes use of important oils. Though important oils are pure, care have to be taken to make use of them safely. All the time observe the directions and patch take a look at on a small space of pores and skin earlier than first use.
Supplies
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1 x 300g container or jar with lid
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Mortar and pestle or grinder
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Funnel
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200 g sea salt
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90 g further dry substances of your alternative:
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Lavender flowers
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Rose petals
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Chamomile flowers
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Dried mint
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Fennel seeds
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Painted pumice stone
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Goat milk powder
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Not more than 25 drops of important oils of your alternative
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10-20 ml further moist substances of your alternative:
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Honey
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provider oil*
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Rose water
Choosing your substances
Take your time selecting which substances you want to embody. On this scrub, coarse sea salt is the first ingredient that exfoliates and nourishes the pores and skin with minerals.
Further dry substances add selection and supercharge the skincare advantages of your scrub – combine issues up with totally different mixtures! Dried plant substances add refined perfume and texture. Finely floor pumice stone is a mild exfoliator and its minerals – equivalent to silica, potassium and magnesium – promote collagen manufacturing, moisturise and steadiness oils. Goat milk powder comprises lactic acid, a pure alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA). It has exfoliating properties when used at a low pH or if added to a shower it acts as a pure humectant to moisturize and soften.
Moist substances will bind your scrub, making it simpler to use and might have their very own advantages. Honey is of course antimicrobial and a mild exfoliant, good for soothing and softening the pores and skin. Rose water has anti-inflammatory, cleaning and antioxidant properties that soothe and rejuvenate. Provider oils might embody olive, candy almond, grape seed, pomegranate seed, rose hip or sea buckthorn oil, with varied advantages. For a shower scrub, we advocate a lighter oil equivalent to candy almond or if you’re allergic to nuts, the grape vines. Each have soothing and moisturizing properties and are secure for every day use.
Important oils has varied therapeutic advantages and can add the strongest scent to your combine. We advocate selecting one, or a mixture, primarily based in your desired advantages and scent preferences.
Deliver all of it collectively!
As soon as you’ve got chosen your substances, it is easy to combine your scrub. Merely mix all of the dry substances within the mortar and pestle. When portray, you need to go away one thing tough to exfoliate the pores and skin, whereas additionally working with plant substances to extract their aromatic oils and blend these into salt, pumice, and/or powdered milk.
Use the funnel to pour the dry combination into the glass. Add your important oils and moist substances and blend till completely mixed. The completed scrub ought to have a texture of coarse moist sand that simply adheres to the pores and skin. In case your combination is simply too moist, add extra salt or pumice; if too dry, add a small quantity of your moist substances.
To make use of, merely take a small handful whereas bathing, gently scrub it into your pores and skin, then rinse. It’s also possible to use this recipe as a calming bathtub by leaving out the moist substances and sprinkling a small handful of dry combination into your bathtub water.