The Story of MedicineTraditions
When I was in my teens, I became interested in Herbal Medicine. I read Hoffman’s “The Herbalist” and began to collect and use some common herbs. A couple of years later, I came across a copy of Culpeper’s Herbal.
It wasn’t just the Herbal knowledge that attracted me in Culpeper's, it was the scattered information of medical theory that drew me. Talk of the Elements, the Humors, Energetics of the Body and Medicines, Spirit, and importantly, the idea that Heat of the Lungs could be treated by a Herb appropriated to the Lungs which was cold in nature. This made perfect sense to me, and I knew I wanted to learn more. For a couple of years I read all I could on Western Traditional (“Galenic”) Medicine.
At 20, I decided I wanted to study Traditional Medicine. In Australia at the time, the only way to do that was to study Chinese Medicine. So I began studying under Professor Wong Lun at the Academy of TCM in Melbourne.
In our first few lectures we were told that we would be exposed to lots of knew and foreign ideas and theories but that eventually it would all make sense. They began to teach us of the Elements, the Energetics of the Body and Medicines, Spirit, and importantly, the idea that Liver Heat could be treated by a Herb appropriated to the Liver which was cold in nature.
I was immediately aware that the fundamentals of these two distant traditions was remarkably similar.
The other thing that intruiged me about Culpepers Herbal was that there was a number of traditional formulas in the back. Formulas that had been in use for centuries. These often contained mineral or animal medicines, things like Pearl and Amber, Musk and Tabasheer, as well as a host of foreign and exotic herbs which I was not familiar with after having studied modern herbal texts.
This frustrated me because it seemed that these elegant and ancient formulas were no longer practical for modern use and couldn't be used today.
As we began to study Chinese Herbs and Formulas. I was amazed that many of the exotic herbs that were unfamiliar in western formulas were medicines still used in TCM. Medicines like Dragon’s Blood, Costus, Tabasheer and Aloeswood, as well as various animal and mineral medicines like Pearl, Amber, Earthworm and Deer Horn.
This proved to me that 1. These formulas were still relevant today. 2. These medicines were still available today on the Chinese market.
I realized that the formulas of the Western Tradition were actually still practical and could be recreated, sometimes with mild modification or substitution.
Also around this time, due to some trips to India, I became exposed to Tibetan Medicine. I was fascinated, collected samples of Tibetan herbs and formulas, and began to search for references for Tibetan Herbs and Formulas. In later years, I dove deep into Unani, Ayurveda and Rasashatra (the science of Indian Alchemical medicines).
I began to assimilate this information into monographs, compiling information from the various traditions about each medicine, as well as collecting formulas from the different traditions.
I started to realise that many of the herbs used throughout the different systems were common. Despite the fact that each tradition had their own unique herbs, and each system regularly used many 100’s of herbs, there was a core Materia Medica shared far and wide between the systems from ancient times. And in the majority of cases, the use of these medicines was remarkably consistent.
After a decade or more of compiling this information together, along with a number of trips to India, China, South-East Asia, Europe and elsewhere to study the different traditions, I decided I wanted to compile this knowledge into a book. But I quickly realized the information I had would fill a large number of books.
It became obvious that the best way was to have a website to contain all this data. That could be added to, corrected, edited and expanded. The ultimate resource for the study of Traditional Herbal Medicine.
Now, it is coming up to 10 years since the creation of MedicineTraditions. We now have a extensive range of traditional materia medica from the Greek/European, Unani, Indian, Tibetan and Chinese traditions, including Animal and Mineral medicines. We also have 1000’s of the most common herbal combinations and formulas from these same traditions.
I have always focused on compiling information from the most respected authors and texts from each tradition to assure the knowledge is relevant and reliable.
In many instances you can find the same function for a herb being used through multiple traditions. By comparing traditional formulas, you will also often see similar combinations and tactics being used in the differnt systems.
You have access to 1000's of traditional combinations and formulas. So you can learn to combine herbs you already know in new combinations, or choose to incorporate formulas from other traditions into youir clinical practice.
By having the ability to compare the use in different traditions, you can gain a greater understanding of the way to combine medicines and compose a formula.
And in fact, after years of studying the various traditions we find Many of the greatest Doctors in history became that way through studying traditions other than their own. MedicineTraditions continues the tradition of blending and compiling traditional medicine information to elevate the practice of Traditional Medicine.
Be part of the move back to Traditional Medicine
Thank you for being part of the MedicineTraditions journey thus far, we hope you will continue to support us as we grow bigger and better in the coming years, If you haven't subscribed, please consider supporting us to continue this amazing project.
Adam Tate, July, 2025
Practitioner of Traditional Medicine
Founder and Creator of MedicineTraditions
It wasn’t just the Herbal knowledge that attracted me in Culpeper's, it was the scattered information of medical theory that drew me. Talk of the Elements, the Humors, Energetics of the Body and Medicines, Spirit, and importantly, the idea that Heat of the Lungs could be treated by a Herb appropriated to the Lungs which was cold in nature. This made perfect sense to me, and I knew I wanted to learn more. For a couple of years I read all I could on Western Traditional (“Galenic”) Medicine.
At 20, I decided I wanted to study Traditional Medicine. In Australia at the time, the only way to do that was to study Chinese Medicine. So I began studying under Professor Wong Lun at the Academy of TCM in Melbourne.
In our first few lectures we were told that we would be exposed to lots of knew and foreign ideas and theories but that eventually it would all make sense. They began to teach us of the Elements, the Energetics of the Body and Medicines, Spirit, and importantly, the idea that Liver Heat could be treated by a Herb appropriated to the Liver which was cold in nature.
I was immediately aware that the fundamentals of these two distant traditions was remarkably similar.
The other thing that intruiged me about Culpepers Herbal was that there was a number of traditional formulas in the back. Formulas that had been in use for centuries. These often contained mineral or animal medicines, things like Pearl and Amber, Musk and Tabasheer, as well as a host of foreign and exotic herbs which I was not familiar with after having studied modern herbal texts.
This frustrated me because it seemed that these elegant and ancient formulas were no longer practical for modern use and couldn't be used today.
As we began to study Chinese Herbs and Formulas. I was amazed that many of the exotic herbs that were unfamiliar in western formulas were medicines still used in TCM. Medicines like Dragon’s Blood, Costus, Tabasheer and Aloeswood, as well as various animal and mineral medicines like Pearl, Amber, Earthworm and Deer Horn.
This proved to me that 1. These formulas were still relevant today. 2. These medicines were still available today on the Chinese market.
I realized that the formulas of the Western Tradition were actually still practical and could be recreated, sometimes with mild modification or substitution.
Also around this time, due to some trips to India, I became exposed to Tibetan Medicine. I was fascinated, collected samples of Tibetan herbs and formulas, and began to search for references for Tibetan Herbs and Formulas. In later years, I dove deep into Unani, Ayurveda and Rasashatra (the science of Indian Alchemical medicines).
I began to assimilate this information into monographs, compiling information from the various traditions about each medicine, as well as collecting formulas from the different traditions.
I started to realise that many of the herbs used throughout the different systems were common. Despite the fact that each tradition had their own unique herbs, and each system regularly used many 100’s of herbs, there was a core Materia Medica shared far and wide between the systems from ancient times. And in the majority of cases, the use of these medicines was remarkably consistent.
After a decade or more of compiling this information together, along with a number of trips to India, China, South-East Asia, Europe and elsewhere to study the different traditions, I decided I wanted to compile this knowledge into a book. But I quickly realized the information I had would fill a large number of books.
It became obvious that the best way was to have a website to contain all this data. That could be added to, corrected, edited and expanded. The ultimate resource for the study of Traditional Herbal Medicine.
Now, it is coming up to 10 years since the creation of MedicineTraditions. We now have a extensive range of traditional materia medica from the Greek/European, Unani, Indian, Tibetan and Chinese traditions, including Animal and Mineral medicines. We also have 1000’s of the most common herbal combinations and formulas from these same traditions.
I have always focused on compiling information from the most respected authors and texts from each tradition to assure the knowledge is relevant and reliable.
In many instances you can find the same function for a herb being used through multiple traditions. By comparing traditional formulas, you will also often see similar combinations and tactics being used in the differnt systems.
You have access to 1000's of traditional combinations and formulas. So you can learn to combine herbs you already know in new combinations, or choose to incorporate formulas from other traditions into youir clinical practice.
By having the ability to compare the use in different traditions, you can gain a greater understanding of the way to combine medicines and compose a formula.
And in fact, after years of studying the various traditions we find Many of the greatest Doctors in history became that way through studying traditions other than their own. MedicineTraditions continues the tradition of blending and compiling traditional medicine information to elevate the practice of Traditional Medicine.
Be part of the move back to Traditional Medicine
Thank you for being part of the MedicineTraditions journey thus far, we hope you will continue to support us as we grow bigger and better in the coming years, If you haven't subscribed, please consider supporting us to continue this amazing project.
Adam Tate, July, 2025
Practitioner of Traditional Medicine
Founder and Creator of MedicineTraditions