The Doctrine of Signatures (DoS) and Healing Plants 🌱

The DoS is a very ancient concept, it can be traced as far back as the 1st century C.E. It was during this period that the Greek physician associated with the Materia medica (or the key fundamental tool of all herbalists in which notes are kept to help further study and connect with plants) Pedanius Dioscorides held the belief that plants were marked with “signatures” of God.

These “signatures” were the imagery that the plant held that was used to determine which aspect of the body they would benefit – for example, the fact that plants that have red berries or pigments tended to be used to help with blood-related ailments. 

While the doctrine of signatures has no bearing in modern science and medicine, its roots are illustrative of the interconnected roles of theology, cosmology, and natural science.


Hahnemann said “Nature has provided (by Divine Providence) the means for mankind to cure all its ills and it is for man to seek out these means”

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