Nettles, Bees, and Nerves
by Scott KloosSometimes I live in a hostile world where bees and wasps want to sting me; where the forces of nature are allied against me, conspiring to do me harm. Other times, however, I am aware that, as an agent of the universe, the bee stings me to help me, delivering a natural acupuncture treatment.
Isn't it odd that one component of bee venom is acetylcholine, a chemical which in the human body acts as a neurotransmitter between nerve cells and between muscles and nerve cells? But of course bees embody communication. Their lives are predicated on communicating through complex dances, pheromonal signals, and chemical transmissions. While they may seem like independent beings, they are in fact completely dependent upon their hive and cannot exist long separated from it. If we continue this line of thought, and ask whether the bee is separate from the flowers they receive their nutriment from and in turn if the flower is separate from the bees who pollinate them, we find ourselves rapidly connecting everything in the universe with every other thing. I hope you see where I am going with this.
Stranger still perhaps is the fact that a plant also contains the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. And like bees who sting, the nettle too is generally feared by people. But in many cultures around the world bees, ants, and stinging nettles have been used as curative agents. Nettles, among its many uses, eases rheumatic pain (an autoimmune response causing a dull aching in joints, muscles and eyes) and is a useful treatment for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Multiple Sclerosis. Nettles usually grow in wet places and so by the doctrine of signatures it may be seen that it may help damp tissue states such as rheumatism or BPH. But more importantly rheumatism is an autoimmune disease. The immune system can be thought of as the mediator between the outer and the inner. In rheumatism the communication seems to get garbled up and the body attacks itself. The other diseases listed above are all diseases related to the transmission of nerve impulses; there seems to be an inability to get the message across effectively from nerve to nerve or from nerve to muscle. The roots of nettles form a tangled mass just beneath the surface reminding one of a network of nerve cells. It helps to facilitate the effective transmission of impulses within and to focus and transmit healing energy from the cosmos into the body.
When I first learned that nettle stings were curative, I went out to my favorite nettle patch to try it. I intentionally and repeatedly stung my right knee that had been injured the previous year. My knee throbbed and it felt as though thousands of tiny needles were penetrating my skin. It stayed like this for a few days and when I focused upon the sensation ( I won't call it pain) it felt as though cosmic energy was entering my knee and reorganizing the damaged tissues. Something from without was communicating to the cells of my knee how to regain their healthy structure.
The body is an extension of the spirit into the physical realm. It acts like an antenna, receiving and transmitting energy to and from the greater field that surrounds us. The Kollawaya of Bolivia and Peru believe that illness is a manifestation of an imbalance with the environment. Take a look around-modern medicine and society as a whole teach us that the universe is a thing to be fought against. The way we act in the world is creating disease. We wage war against bacteria, viruses, and microbes, but this is a war that cannot be won. Some, however, teach that the bacteria are our allies there to clean up the debris left behind from cellular degeneration. The universe is conspiring to help itself heal by affecting change in the causative agent of the imbalance. We are all in this together.
What will you do the next time a bee stings you? Will you view that sting as a potential healing act? If everything is connected, it is safe to assume that the field will manifest in ways that affect change as needed to maintain balance in the field as a whole. If we acknowledge this and resist struggling against it in fear, we will be able to exist more congruently and happier in the world.
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