When I first heard about Gemmotherapy, I thought, yeah, that’s the therapeutic use of gem stones. I could not have been more wrong.
Gemmotherapy, sometimes called Phytoembryotherapy, is a branch of Botanical medicine that is the traditional medicinal use of plant buds and young shoots.
The prefix gemmo- refers to the germinating tissue of a plant, those cells which are less differentiated and can become just about any cell needed in the growth of the plant.
Breaking it down, phyto- simply means plant, and embryo- refers again to the embryonic or less differentiated cells which have the potential to create the specialized cells in the rest of the plant.
Traditional medicine just means that people have been helped physically and mentally by these therapies for a long, long time, and there is a tradition handed down that tells us how to use them.
Gemmotherapy is a therapeutic method that uses plant bud extracts or other vegetable tissue, freshly harvested from the growing plant. –Max Tetau, MD
Gemmotherapy
Botanical medicine harnesses both plant biochemical constituents which have a physical effect in the body, and energetic actions which have an affinity for more subtle levels of body functioning.
Both are affected by plant age at harvest, methods of harvest, plant components utilized, storage, the extraction method, and the concentration of the active ingredients in the final product.
Gemmotherapy uses the buds and young shoots of the plant because they contain undifferentiated fast dividing cells which contain the plant’s genetic blueprint and material.
These embryonic tissues are rich in growth factors, plant hormones, enzymes, minerals, and phyto-nutrients.
Once a plant bud or young shoot matures to the point of developing chlorophyll, the green energy-producing pigment in plants, it loses a lot of these constituents.
These embryonic tissues are harvested in the spring because their energetic components are at their highest levels because they are in the most active phase of the growth cycle.
History
Records of plant buds as medicines date as far back as the ancient Egyptians.
In the 1950’s, Dr. Pol Henry, a Belgian homeopathic doctor, conducted research on the therapeutic properties of plant buds. In 1970 he published his findings and attributed the effectiveness to their vital energy and the power of plant buds to re-build tissues.
The French homeopathic doctor, Dr. Max Tetau further developed the clinical application of these plant bud remedies in a very significant way. Dr. Tetau wrote “Gemmotherapy: A Clinical Guide,” and was the president of the Medical Society of Biotherapy.
My mentor, Dr. Gueniot, was in the midst of all this as he trained from 1975 at the Medical Society of Biotherapy and he used these Gemmotherapy remedies extensively. He formulated many of the 3 bud combinations of the Phytoembtyotherapies. Other French and Belgian doctors and researchers contributed to our understanding today as well.
Gemmotherapy integrates with all other therapeutic methods based on dynamic energy, such as single remedy homeopathy, acupuncture, and Bowen bodywork.
The dosages of the Gemmotherapy remedies harmonize with the subtle energetic mechanisms of the other treatments. Gemmotherapy opens the avenues for better utilization of all other medication, even prescription drugs, because of its cellular effect.
The Secret of this Plant Medicine
Gemmotherapy is a super-active type of plant medicine. The powerful effect comes from the growth hormones of the fresh germinating parts of plants, the Auxins, Gibberellins, Cytokinins, and Abscissin.
Buds are formed in the fall, and they collect information all winter without growing, and then open up in the spring.
The bud has all the information to produce all the different parts of the plan such as the leaf, flower, fruit, stem, bark, so it also has those properties.
With the formation of the bud, the plant opens a new stage of life and is regenerated. The plant bud remedies then carry this regeneration energy into our own tissues and organs.
Gemmotherapy remedies build up the function of organs.
Since different plants have affinity for particular organs or tissues of the body, the type of Gemmotherapy plant selected will support that organ or tissue it has affinity for in regeneration through the plant hormones.
Beyond that, they have the power of cleansing cells by draining away toxic metabolic waste products such as mucus, broken down metabolites, dead cells from the defense system, auto-immune complexes and antibodies that are choking cells to a near death stranglehold.
The use of the buds, young leaf and rootlets makes it possible to obtain a more active medication, with no need whatsoever to prescribe large doses.
The distinguishing feature of this branch of this branch of herbal medicine is that it starts with fresh embryonic plant tissues. Traditional plant medicine extracts and powders are prepared from adult plant leaves, stems, roots, seeds, and flowers, sometimes dried.
Gemmotherapy medicine preparation
Young parts of plants are harvested and placed in mixture of glycerine and alcohol to soak for 21 days.
Glycerine allows for better extraction of the embryonic ingredients. Then they are prepared in accordance with the official method for homeopathic preparations in the French pharmacopeia, the most exacting standards in the world.
The bud extract results in a1:10 solution. This provides a consistent effect and maximal results.
Phyto-gen medicines
The phyto-gens are gemmotherapy medicines developed by Dr. Gueniot. He ensured that they are made in a similar process, but they are more concentrated. Therefore, the medicinal dose is 10 drops or so, instead of teaspoonsful.
Dr. Gueniot also combined plant buds and shoots in combinations of three, because plants tend to grow together in nature, and synergize. They are powerful ways to tonify organ systems.
Phytoembryotherapy preparation
The fresh buds and young shoots are collected from monitored growing regions, either wildcrafted or grown biodynamically.
The specially trained harvesters pick the buds and young shoots in the spring at the height of their energetic levels and the most active growth cycle. They are immediately refrigerated and transported to the extraction rooms, where they are soaked in equal parts of water, alcohol, and glycerin.
The water extracts water-soluble components as well as the energetic benefits of the bud.
Alcohol pulls out other constituents, and the glycerine is responsible for extracting the essential oils of the plant as well as fat-soluble constituents.
After 20 days, they are filtered by gravity and extracted by very gentle pressure, preserving the structure of the constituents as well as the energetic properties.
“To achieve an ideal equilibrium, physical and mental, the indicator of perfect health, man, a reflection of the Universe, must live in harmony with the forces of nature he is immersed in and, above all, in this plant ocean, the forest is a special place where we commune with the very essence of life.”
– Dr. Bergeret
This leads us to the 3-bud combinations that act like the forest mentioned above. They are formulated to support various systems of the body, such as the joints, the liver, the lungs, the skin.
The 3 buds are extracted together, so their synergy creates an effect that is greater than the sum of the individual components.
Just a number of drops are taken twice daily for the therapeutic effect.
