Chicory
Latin: Cichorium intybus
Family: Asteracae
Family: Asteracae
Chicory is a member of the Asteraceae family, distinguished by its rare blue flower. It was anciently used by the Greeks and Romans. Thessalus of Tralles (c. 50 CE) states that it is an herb of the sun; he reports learning his astrological medicine directly from the demigod Asclepius. The name chicory comes from the Greek kikorion. The German name wegwarten refers to its favored environmental niche and also to the old Teutonic township position known in English as “highway master” or “overseer of the roads.” To this day chicory is found along roadsides. (Matthew Wood, The Earthwise Herbal)
Properties & Actions
Diuretic, Anti-inflammatory, Anticarcinogenic, Antiviral, Antibacterial, Antimutagenic, Antifungal, Anthelmintic, Immune-stimulating, Hepatic, Antioxidative
A plant can act as an illustration of biological principles in the human or animal organism, if we can trace out the functions that they themselves depend upon, seeing their correspondences in the animal sphere. Rudolf Steiner (1975, 131) described such a plant as “an instructor in the realm of nature.” He considered chicory to be a good example. Chicory is “an interesting subject for inquiry. One finds its effects extending fanlike in so many directions.”
Steiner, like other traditional herbalists and physicians, considered the curative faculty of chicory to be due to its bitter constituents. These have an affinity to substances in the human organism that have not yet been broken down by digestive and metabolic processes and that still contain some of their original, external identity. Bitters are used in herbalism and medicine to enhance digestion and metabolism. Chicory helps to complete these processes, and then helps in the absorption of this material, first into the walls of the intestines, then into the blood. This absorptive property Steiner attributes to the potassium in chicory. After it has strengthened digestion, absorption, and metabolism, chicory preserves the blood as it carries nutriment to the body, keeping it from becoming “slack in essential processes.” Chicory then, with the help of silica, brings the nutritive materials to the periphery of the body, where they help build the skin, bones, nerves, and muscles. Thus, chicory strengthens those tissues that digest and assimilate food, the blood that carries the nutriment, and the periphery in which the nutriment is deposited—skin, senses, nerves. It has been used for developmental problems and atrophic limbs (see below).
Chicory was classified by Galen as one of the “four lesser cold seeds,” along with lettuce, purslane, and endive. That means it is cooling and moistening. Avicenna saw chicory as the sovereign remedy for a hot liver. Moses Maimonides recommended it for both cold and hot liver. It is widely regarded by the old herbalists for eye problems, including inflammation. Dr. J. V. Cerney (1976, 120) considered endive juice (domesticated chicory) to be a specific for cataract. The liver is associated with the eye in traditional Chinese medicine. Chicory is often compared to its cousin dandelion, which is also used to facilitate liver and blood cleansing, or neatening up the metabolic economy of the body. Father Sebastian Kneipp noted that chicory removes “mucus from the stomach, flushes out superfluous gall, purifies the liver, spleen and kidneys, and leads morbid materials out through the urine.” It also will restore the stomach that has been upset “by any kind of food,” assist digestion, and settle cramp and inflammation in the stomach.
Steiner, like other traditional herbalists and physicians, considered the curative faculty of chicory to be due to its bitter constituents. These have an affinity to substances in the human organism that have not yet been broken down by digestive and metabolic processes and that still contain some of their original, external identity. Bitters are used in herbalism and medicine to enhance digestion and metabolism. Chicory helps to complete these processes, and then helps in the absorption of this material, first into the walls of the intestines, then into the blood. This absorptive property Steiner attributes to the potassium in chicory. After it has strengthened digestion, absorption, and metabolism, chicory preserves the blood as it carries nutriment to the body, keeping it from becoming “slack in essential processes.” Chicory then, with the help of silica, brings the nutritive materials to the periphery of the body, where they help build the skin, bones, nerves, and muscles. Thus, chicory strengthens those tissues that digest and assimilate food, the blood that carries the nutriment, and the periphery in which the nutriment is deposited—skin, senses, nerves. It has been used for developmental problems and atrophic limbs (see below).
Chicory was classified by Galen as one of the “four lesser cold seeds,” along with lettuce, purslane, and endive. That means it is cooling and moistening. Avicenna saw chicory as the sovereign remedy for a hot liver. Moses Maimonides recommended it for both cold and hot liver. It is widely regarded by the old herbalists for eye problems, including inflammation. Dr. J. V. Cerney (1976, 120) considered endive juice (domesticated chicory) to be a specific for cataract. The liver is associated with the eye in traditional Chinese medicine. Chicory is often compared to its cousin dandelion, which is also used to facilitate liver and blood cleansing, or neatening up the metabolic economy of the body. Father Sebastian Kneipp noted that chicory removes “mucus from the stomach, flushes out superfluous gall, purifies the liver, spleen and kidneys, and leads morbid materials out through the urine.” It also will restore the stomach that has been upset “by any kind of food,” assist digestion, and settle cramp and inflammation in the stomach.
Release long held beliefs. Be receptive to guidance. Open to unlikely partnerships.
Old ideas can be blinders to new wisdom. Let go of worn out thinking to see an issue clearly. Chicory is often classified as a weed. It is however a beneficial medicine plant that draws important insects to the garden. Be receptive to new guidance; Gather information before taking action, then be still and look within. As the long chicory taproot brings nourishment to the surface, a deep dive will quiet self-doubt. What is really true? Acknowledge what you do not want to accept, then be willing to listen. When it is your turn to share, do not hide behind a closed, fearful heart. Open wide like the bold sugary flowers. (The Herbcrafter’s Tarot)
Chicory Flower Essence:
Letting go of the past in waves, crash-washed in the wild rivers, plunged into the dark parts of the lake, from the bottom springs relief, the unknown fears its depth. The solid ground to push off from, to rise up while I still have a breath, to reach the surface and to break through it, the light makes rainbows on the water, and I am at the center of it all.
To grow toward the light even if it’s through a crack in the earth, to be hopeful even in the face of disappointment, to be open, optimistic, innocent and foolish. Chicory remembers the strength of her brother, Dandelion. She knows she is also capable of openhearted adventure but she fears letting go of the past, what if her memories fade like her petals in the sun what if she moves too far forward and can’t find her way back, what if she becomes lost. What if the best is not yet to come but something to be gathered up, collected, and examined, then wrapped up tight, preserved in a sense of stagnancy, the idiocy of living among ghosts, walking along the road where the chicory grows day after day after day.
Chicory bears the signature of holding tight to the past unwilling or unable to let go and her medicine brings the gently yet unyielding flow that moves/guides/pushes you toward the unknown, strengthening your ability to move forward, encouraging, unrelenting.
Letting go of the past in waves, crash-washed in the wild rivers, plunged into the dark parts of the lake, from the bottom springs relief, the unknown fears its depth. The solid ground to push off from, to rise up while I still have a breath, to reach the surface and to break through it, the light makes rainbows on the water, and I am at the center of it all.
To grow toward the light even if it’s through a crack in the earth, to be hopeful even in the face of disappointment, to be open, optimistic, innocent and foolish. Chicory remembers the strength of her brother, Dandelion. She knows she is also capable of openhearted adventure but she fears letting go of the past, what if her memories fade like her petals in the sun what if she moves too far forward and can’t find her way back, what if she becomes lost. What if the best is not yet to come but something to be gathered up, collected, and examined, then wrapped up tight, preserved in a sense of stagnancy, the idiocy of living among ghosts, walking along the road where the chicory grows day after day after day.
Chicory bears the signature of holding tight to the past unwilling or unable to let go and her medicine brings the gently yet unyielding flow that moves/guides/pushes you toward the unknown, strengthening your ability to move forward, encouraging, unrelenting.
Resources & Recommended
