From Goat Food To Chinese Medicine Aphrodisiac
Many treatments found within the modalities of Chinese medicine date back to dubious lore which quite often makes for great story telling but by and large is not always as reliable as a historic source ought to be. Nonetheless, a story stemming from Chinese folklore speaks of a goat herder who noticed that his bucks came into rut more frequently when grazing on a certain patch of land. Similarly, the does seemed to be in heat in keeping with the bucks’ rut more often at that location, and therefore the enterprising goat herder went to investigate. After all, sexually active goat flocks translated directly into wealth, as the one with the most goats was able to make the most money.
From there it was only a short step to identifying a specific kind of herb as being overly present in the area: Yin Yang Huo, translated as horny goat weed or bishop’s hat. Once the herb was found, the goat herder most likely announced his discovery and the herb went from goat food to Chinese medicine aphrodisiac.
Today Westerners are able to enjoy this herb as a nutritional supplement which comes in caplets. It contains extracts which directly act on the reproductive organs of both men and women and cause a drastic increase in blood flow via the administration of a relaxing agent which dilates the blood vessels to the sex organs. Thus, males will experience erections much like they would if there ware taking Viagra. Females, on the other hand, will experience an engorgement of the outer sex organs, which leads to an increase in libido and thus sex drive.
As the herb went from simply being goat food to becoming a much sought after commodity in both Chinese medicine and now also in Western mainstream self medicating, it is noteworthy that wild growing herbs have been so severely harvested that many ecosystems are teetering on the edge of disaster simply because a main ingredient is missing or suddenly eradicated.
Even though the plant can be cultivated and grown commercially for harvesting, much lore has sprung up around the areas where the original goat food was thought to grow and purists refuse to manufacture any medicinal aphrodisiac unless it is derived directly from the original source, whether this will destroy a natural habitat or not. As a matter of fact, an underground market has sprung up that sharply divides the supplements made from the original weed and the ones that have been cultivated.
Of course, there truly is no difference in strength or usefulness since this is singularly determined by the mode of preparation and the cutting with fillers and other supplements. This is of little matter to those who have their hearts set on the real thing, and for their enjoyment and thrill to have something that is attached to lore and also falls into the realm of the taboo of reproduction, there will always be a market for the over-harvested herb. As it is unlikely that this harvesting will stop any time soon, the demise of several ecosystems is a foregone conclusion.
