Properties: Sweet, warm

Meridans Entered:
Primary: Liver

1. Invigorates Blood, dispels Stasis and soothes the sinews
   Wind-Damp Bi Syndrome
   Traumatic injury, knocks and falls
   Menstrual disorders, obstructed menses, vaginal discharge
   Postpartum joint pain
   Coughing with blood
2. Nourishes Qi and blood, engenders flesh
   Dizziness
   Insomnia
   Anaemia

Suggested Daily Dosage: 10-18g in decoction.

Notes:

Analysis of the ancient script forms of 參 Shen suggest it is simplified from 曑 (晶 -> 厽) making an ideogrammic compound of 晶 ("stars") + 光 ("light; brightness") + 彡 ("light rays") meaning the Three Stars astrological mansion (referring to the three stars of Orion's belt in western astronomy at the centre of this constellation). 彡 also acts as a phonetic component. 光 may also be interpreted as 卩 ("kneeling person"), representing someone looking at the shining stars above him or be the original character for 簪 a hairpin and thus someone with a ceremonial hat of stars. These interpretations suggest a great reverence for these herbs crossing into the cosmological and religious in a culture where many gods were celestial.

參 also has alchemical overtones, appearing in the title of the legendary 參同契 Cantong Qi translated as The Seal of the Unity of the Three, composed by Wei Boyang in the mid-second century CE, where it refers to the unity of cosmology, daoism and internal alchemy.