Herbal Wisdom Series

This class covers the material in Matthew’s upcoming book (2026), “Gift of the Bat People”; viruses, immunity, evolution, covid, and the vaccine. First, why can we confidently proclaim that viruses do exist, when they have never been sequenced out in one genetic piece. (Hint: they don’t exist separately from a host). Next we learn to appreciate that bats have shoved ten immune mechanisms overboard so that they can harbor viruses without harm to either. From bats these microbes “emanate out” into the biosphere, creating viral diseases in plants, animals, and humans. This provides a vast molecular junkyard of useful scraps that help us face evolutionary challenges—every epidemic is a challenge. So bats and viruses push the evolutionary needle.

Next we will discuss the four different “layers” of the immune system, although biomedicine only thinks of two of them. Even single cells have a protection system called “molecular chaperones,” which protect protein mutations in the cell from hot and cold, damp and dry, too much oxygen, not enough, and other environment factors. Second and third are the innate and adaptive immune systems, which confront microbes, toxins, and mutated cells, to protect the organism. We will study some of the major patterns: Th1 (innate dominance), Th2 (adaptive dominance), Th3 (drug addiction) in their excess and deficiency presentations. The fourth layer of the immune system is the thermoregulatory system, which opens and closes the skin and peripheral circulation to combat hot and cold, damp and dry. So this, with the molecular chaperones protects against hot and cold, etc., justifies the traditional medicine of grannie healers and old time physicians (feed a fever, starve a cold, open the skin, warm the center, etc.) A node to the assistant systems, skin, mucosa, liver, lymphatics, colon, lungs, kidneys, heart.

This covers our first day and a half of class. Sunday afternoon we discuss how Covid 19 attacks the body and undermines the immune system and how vaccines attack in a different way, with even more destruction to the immune response. Throughout we will describe the healing herbs associated with molecular chaperones, Th1, 2, and 3, covid, the vax and whatever else we can use to help the skin. Handout.