Astragalus Root Spleen

Taoist medicine views our bodies as a microsystem of the natural world. It uses a complex series of “correspondences” such as color, element, and odor to name a few, as diagnostic tools and metaphors to describe the body’s processes. This series of paintings represents the “five zang or yin organs” known as the solid organs and the common herbs used in treating each respective organ.

In this series I explore how the Taoist thought process would have helped inform the selection of each herb for conditions of a given organ. For example the color associated with the spleen is yellow like the color of the astragulus flower. The organs are consider the root while the acupuncture pathways are the stems and the sense organs (eyes, ears, nose…) are the flowers. It is the astragulus root used to treat the spleen – here the spleen is depicted as part of the root system.