So, in my presentation I held up a few charts; I've included them below.

This first one is a basic "six tissue state" energetic chart, based on the excellent work done

on western herbal energetics by Matthew Wood (whose insight I'm deeply indebted to).

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Do note I've tweaked the names a bit from how he states them:

Matt | Me
heat/excitation | hot              
wind/constriction | tense              
damp/stagnation | damp              
damp/relaxation | lax                 
dry/atrophy | dry          
cold/depression | cold               

 

Now, if we were solely thinking about energetics,

we might say these types of herbs are indicated in each state:

But in western herbalism, some of our actions directly correlate to these energetic states;
these terms imply energetics, though often we gloss over their importance.

As you'll see, there isn't always a one to one correlation between a single energetic state

and a single action, instead actions may apply to and overlap with different energetic states...

This chart is based on general energetic associations:

aromatics are usually warming, drying, and both stimulating and relaxing
astringents are usually cooling and toning
bitters are usually cooling and drying
demulcents are cooling and moistening
stimulants are usually warming
relaxants are... well... relaxing.

***Please do note that these are simplified charts, and I can think of lots more nuance

(some might say "complication") to more accurately protray the associations between

these actions and energetic states.  For example, sweet tasting demulcents (as opposed

to the slimy ones we usually think of) are often neutral to warming.  Some stimulants

(like bitters and many antiseptic lymphatics) are cooling in nature.   

Also, we should remember that herbs rarely (if ever?) express just one action,

so (for example) we'd have to consider an herb like calamus an aromatic bitter,

and herb like fenugreek an aromatic demulcent bitter,

and an herb like cinnamon an aromatic demulcent astringent bitter.

Wait, that's confusing? 

Think about it like colors: pure actions are like primary colors,
and the combinations of actions we see in plants is like the endless diversity of color
we see all around us:

Lastly, let's consider my categorization of actions;

do read the chart from the bottom (foundation) upwards...

Dig this info?

You can learn much more by...

  travelling to michigan and signing up for lindera, my four season herbal intensive
  purchasing my 100 page write up on energetics and foundational actions here.

  subscribing to www.herbmentor.com for hours and hours and hours

more nuance in my series on Foundational Herbcraft.