tinkertailor
Senior Member.
In the past, I was incredibly interested in crystal healing. Most of my modest pocket money in high school was spent on various polished stones and crystal formations from a small local crystal shop. I was living in an incredibly stressful home situation and found comfort in the idea that stones had vibrations that resonated with the human body. I meditated while looking in to my favorite rose quartz and slept with a carnelian in my hand (for courage, I was told) and a labradorite under my pillow (for lucid dreams and astral projection, I was told). I liked the thought that something so beautiful and ancient, formed in the earth, could somehow resonate with my humble human body. I read all the books on the subject and did, indeed, feel better when I was near my crystals. I discovered chakras and sacred geometry, all these incredible extrasensory ideas. I told myself that they were working, and they really seemed to. Holding a certain crystal would make me feel connected to it, or grounded, or soothed. The idea made so much sense to me and I was really drawn to it.
Today I'm a second-year community college student who is headed to state college for a degree in a health-based career. I'm cautiously friendly with science and math, having struggled through (but aced! ) statistics last spring and biology last semester. Last year, I decided to take on an internship for a semester because I needed an extra unit and some job experience. I had been making my own body products--lotion and the like--for years and was interested in the properties of various herbal remedies. I decided on a local herb shop, applied, and got accepted. I was surrounded by herbs for four hours a week, and I was taught some of their properties*.
I can't lie, it was incredible. I have no complaints about the way I was taught and I really enjoyed the experience from start to finish. I was fully aware of the kind of environment I was going in to, so before beginning I made sure I was fully vaccinated. Some of the herbalists (most, even) didn't believe in vaccines. I knew this and didn't bring it up very much at all.
There are some kind of interesting (from an outside perspective) aspects of the herbal world that I'd like to mention:
First, and most shocking to me, most of the herbalists I worked with were adamantly against any sort of homeopathy. Homeopathy and herbalism are completely different. Herbalism believes in treating symptoms of diseases with herbs to alleviate or eliminate them, while homeopathy believes that incredibly (ridiculously) small doses of a medicine that causes the same illness and/or disease can heal. Very different concepts, most of the herbalists I know believe so too.
Secondly, there were a shocking amount of people coming in to the shop who were in the Western medical field. Doctors, nurses, physicians assistants, all of these educated, scientifically-minded individuals came in for an ounce of this or that. There were a few surprise customers in there--around Valentine's day an ancient woman came in and ordered a level pound of an aphrodisiac* herb known as Horny Goat Weed--but the most surprising customers were always the medical or scientific professionals.
Thirdly, most people who came in the shop were there in conjunction with Western medical treatment. Someone with consistent back pain might be told by their doctor that Arnica could help them, and we would hand them a salve with a smile on our face. Someone who was tired of paying for tub after tub after tub of Icy Hot for their troublesome knee came to us and got a much more economical bottle of essential oil which gave the same feeling but could be stretched out much farther. Mothers came in with children and a note from their pediatrician recommending chamomile tea, which we gave them. I can only think of one or two occasions where people came in with complete disdain for all things Western medicine. Generally, once these customers left we in the shop were a bit perplexed by them.
At some point midway through the semester I stopped believing in crystal healing. I just started thinking about it logically (for once) and realized that the 'properties' of the stones were based on color or common name and nothing more. Rose quartz, with its soft pink hues, was for love. Moonstone was touted for PMS, bloodstone for anemia. Carnelian, with colors ranging from pinkish flesh to yellow to deep red, was for courage. Due to its name, though, it also was touted for carnal desires too--something I'm sure the elderly woman with the Horny Goat Weed could tell you. It's interesting to me that one really bunky belief--crystal healing--was replaced by a marginally less bunky belief--that some herbs have constituents in them that have an effect on the body. What I told myself was that I could sleep next to an amethyst (which is purple, the color of lavender and generally associated with calm) to help my anxiety or I could have some chamomile tea and a bath in epsom salts and physically feel relaxed. In some ways, I think my herbal exploits were a nice step into more scientific thinking.
I ended up turning in to a volunteer after the semester was over, and through the summer I continued to love the environment in the shop. I had heard a few whispers by customers about chemtrails, but I didn't think too much of it. When fall semester started and I was swamped with studying and exams, I needed more time so I left on good terms.
I'm still friends with many of the herbalists. In agreement with my doctor, I take herbs to treat mild somatic symptoms like nausea or slight insomnia. I can still list the properties* of the common weeds I see on the side of the road and I still like to read about botany and the healing properties* of some herbs. I'm sure there's a good chance that I'm sometimes taking placebos. As long as I'm not doing harm to myself, I'm pretty okay with that and so is my physician.
Early last semester, I started feeling a bit uneasy with the more hardcore herbal community. I live in an area where medical marijuana growing is a huge business, with an influx of 'trimmigrants' as we call them arriving each fall for the harvest season. Alternative health is big here, growing is big here, and somewhere around October I began to see small groups gather on the overpasses with "LOOK UP WAKE UP" signs. I believe it was something to do with fear that the spraying was affecting the community's crop and also making us sick, blocking the sun, the usual. Then it grew, and there were pamphlets in coffee shops. One local woman kept replenishing my college's job opportunities bulletin board with flyers about aluminum detox home remedies and general 'they're spraying' information. Somehow quite a few of these pamphlets ended up on the campus's outdoor grounds. I was picking up some, had some free time before my next class and looked geoengineeringwatch up on my phone. As I mentioned in the welcome thread, I couldn't really look away. It was like a car crash or something, terrible and yet eye-catching. Some other CT site I was looking at talked about government shills which led me to Metabunk and I was a lurker for months.
I think my experience can teach the debunking community something about helping people who believe in bunk. Perhaps if convincing them cold turkey that their beliefs aren't logical, the evidence doesn't support it, etc doesn't work we could see progress in a step into somewhat less radical CT believing. In other words, if I have an uncle who's gone a bit off the deep end and won't stop talking about Obama's plan to poison us all with chemtrails during Thanksgiving dinner, I could consider it forward progress when he recants and says Obama's just doing it to seed clouds during Christmas dinner. Maybe the key to helping more radical believers isn't to push them out of the conspiracy nest all in one go but to take it nice and slow and try to teach them to use their wings**.
*alleged, perhaps not scientifically proven but accepted in the general herbal community. Not saying I believe it either.
**excuse the odd analogy...
Today I'm a second-year community college student who is headed to state college for a degree in a health-based career. I'm cautiously friendly with science and math, having struggled through (but aced! ) statistics last spring and biology last semester. Last year, I decided to take on an internship for a semester because I needed an extra unit and some job experience. I had been making my own body products--lotion and the like--for years and was interested in the properties of various herbal remedies. I decided on a local herb shop, applied, and got accepted. I was surrounded by herbs for four hours a week, and I was taught some of their properties*.
I can't lie, it was incredible. I have no complaints about the way I was taught and I really enjoyed the experience from start to finish. I was fully aware of the kind of environment I was going in to, so before beginning I made sure I was fully vaccinated. Some of the herbalists (most, even) didn't believe in vaccines. I knew this and didn't bring it up very much at all.
There are some kind of interesting (from an outside perspective) aspects of the herbal world that I'd like to mention:
First, and most shocking to me, most of the herbalists I worked with were adamantly against any sort of homeopathy. Homeopathy and herbalism are completely different. Herbalism believes in treating symptoms of diseases with herbs to alleviate or eliminate them, while homeopathy believes that incredibly (ridiculously) small doses of a medicine that causes the same illness and/or disease can heal. Very different concepts, most of the herbalists I know believe so too.
Secondly, there were a shocking amount of people coming in to the shop who were in the Western medical field. Doctors, nurses, physicians assistants, all of these educated, scientifically-minded individuals came in for an ounce of this or that. There were a few surprise customers in there--around Valentine's day an ancient woman came in and ordered a level pound of an aphrodisiac* herb known as Horny Goat Weed--but the most surprising customers were always the medical or scientific professionals.
Thirdly, most people who came in the shop were there in conjunction with Western medical treatment. Someone with consistent back pain might be told by their doctor that Arnica could help them, and we would hand them a salve with a smile on our face. Someone who was tired of paying for tub after tub after tub of Icy Hot for their troublesome knee came to us and got a much more economical bottle of essential oil which gave the same feeling but could be stretched out much farther. Mothers came in with children and a note from their pediatrician recommending chamomile tea, which we gave them. I can only think of one or two occasions where people came in with complete disdain for all things Western medicine. Generally, once these customers left we in the shop were a bit perplexed by them.
At some point midway through the semester I stopped believing in crystal healing. I just started thinking about it logically (for once) and realized that the 'properties' of the stones were based on color or common name and nothing more. Rose quartz, with its soft pink hues, was for love. Moonstone was touted for PMS, bloodstone for anemia. Carnelian, with colors ranging from pinkish flesh to yellow to deep red, was for courage. Due to its name, though, it also was touted for carnal desires too--something I'm sure the elderly woman with the Horny Goat Weed could tell you. It's interesting to me that one really bunky belief--crystal healing--was replaced by a marginally less bunky belief--that some herbs have constituents in them that have an effect on the body. What I told myself was that I could sleep next to an amethyst (which is purple, the color of lavender and generally associated with calm) to help my anxiety or I could have some chamomile tea and a bath in epsom salts and physically feel relaxed. In some ways, I think my herbal exploits were a nice step into more scientific thinking.
I ended up turning in to a volunteer after the semester was over, and through the summer I continued to love the environment in the shop. I had heard a few whispers by customers about chemtrails, but I didn't think too much of it. When fall semester started and I was swamped with studying and exams, I needed more time so I left on good terms.
I'm still friends with many of the herbalists. In agreement with my doctor, I take herbs to treat mild somatic symptoms like nausea or slight insomnia. I can still list the properties* of the common weeds I see on the side of the road and I still like to read about botany and the healing properties* of some herbs. I'm sure there's a good chance that I'm sometimes taking placebos. As long as I'm not doing harm to myself, I'm pretty okay with that and so is my physician.
Early last semester, I started feeling a bit uneasy with the more hardcore herbal community. I live in an area where medical marijuana growing is a huge business, with an influx of 'trimmigrants' as we call them arriving each fall for the harvest season. Alternative health is big here, growing is big here, and somewhere around October I began to see small groups gather on the overpasses with "LOOK UP WAKE UP" signs. I believe it was something to do with fear that the spraying was affecting the community's crop and also making us sick, blocking the sun, the usual. Then it grew, and there were pamphlets in coffee shops. One local woman kept replenishing my college's job opportunities bulletin board with flyers about aluminum detox home remedies and general 'they're spraying' information. Somehow quite a few of these pamphlets ended up on the campus's outdoor grounds. I was picking up some, had some free time before my next class and looked geoengineeringwatch up on my phone. As I mentioned in the welcome thread, I couldn't really look away. It was like a car crash or something, terrible and yet eye-catching. Some other CT site I was looking at talked about government shills which led me to Metabunk and I was a lurker for months.
I think my experience can teach the debunking community something about helping people who believe in bunk. Perhaps if convincing them cold turkey that their beliefs aren't logical, the evidence doesn't support it, etc doesn't work we could see progress in a step into somewhat less radical CT believing. In other words, if I have an uncle who's gone a bit off the deep end and won't stop talking about Obama's plan to poison us all with chemtrails during Thanksgiving dinner, I could consider it forward progress when he recants and says Obama's just doing it to seed clouds during Christmas dinner. Maybe the key to helping more radical believers isn't to push them out of the conspiracy nest all in one go but to take it nice and slow and try to teach them to use their wings**.
*alleged, perhaps not scientifically proven but accepted in the general herbal community. Not saying I believe it either.
**excuse the odd analogy...