Properties: Bitter, slightly cold

Meridans Entered:
Primary: Heart and Liver
Divergent Channels: Small Intestine, Heart, San Jiao, Pericardium
Extraordinary Vessels: Ren, Yin Wei

1. Invigorates the Blood and regulates menstruation, removes Blood stasis and relieves pain
   Irregular menstruation , amenorrhea , dysmenorrhea
   Abdominal masses, chest and abdominal pain
   Hot Bi Syndrome
2. Cools the Blood and soothes irritability
   Ying Stage Heat with restlessness, irritability, palpitations and insomnia
   Heart and Kidney Yin Deficiency
3. Reduces swellings
   Sores and swellings, early-stage breast abscesses
4. Nourishes the Blood and calms the Spirit
   Palpitations and insomnia due to Ying and Xue Stage Heat or Heart Blood Deficiency
5. Calms the Spirit agitated by Gu Parasites
   Agitation caused by Gu Syndrome / chronic inflammatory disease (Fruehauf, 2015)
   The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing places it in the middle class of herbs and says it treats "Evil Qi in the Heart and abdomen with continual gurgling of the intestines like water running, cold and heat, and gatherings and accumulations. It breaks up concretions and eliminates conglomerations, relieves vexatious fullness, and boosts the qi."

Suggested Daily Dosage: 5-15g in decoction.

Cautions: Use with caution for pregnant women. Contraindicated to Li Lu.

Interactions:

• Warfarin: May increase how long warfarin is in the body, and increase the chances of bruising and bleeding.
• Anticoagulants: May have additive action increasing the chances of bruising and bleeding.
• Digoxin: May have additive effect increasing the effects of digoxin and increasing the risk of side effects.
• Should be stopped before surgery due to anticoagulant effect and possible induction effect on CYP3A and CYP1A2 enzymes (University of Texas at El Paso, accessed 2021)).

• Tanshinone
  Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, antineoplastic, anticoagulant immunosuppressant agent.
• Tanshinone-IIA
  Antineoplastic agent via Anthracycline Topoisomerase inhibition, similar to doxirubicin, also posessing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, anticoagulant and immunosuppressive properties.
• Tanshinone-IIb
  Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, antineoplastic, anticoagulant immunosuppressant agent.
• Salvianolic acid A
  Polyphenol antioxidant that is under investigation for potential cardioprotective by suppressing apoptosis, reducing lipid peroxidation in damaged cardiac tissue and decreasing the leakage of lactic acid dehydrogenase. It also reduces the adherence of leukocytes to endothelial cells, inhibits matrix metalloproteinases and inflammation.
• Salvianolic acid B
  Benzofuran which acts as an anti-inflammatory agent, an antioxidant, a hypoglycemic agent, an osteogenesis regulator, an apoptosis inducer, an antifibrotic, a hepatoprotective agent, a neuroprotective agent, a cardioprotective agent, an autophagy inhibitor, an antidepressant, an antineoplastic agent.
• Rosmarinic acid
  Polyphenol caffeic acid ester that naturally occurs in many culinary herbs with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and geroprotectiv properties.

Notes:

Analysis of the ancient script forms of 參 Shen suggest it is simplified from 曑 (晶 -> 厽) making an ideogrammic compound of 晶 ("stars") + 光 ("light; brightness") + 彡 ("light rays") meaning the Three Stars astrological mansion (referring to the three stars of Orion's belt in western astronomy at the centre of this constellation). 彡 also acts as a phonetic component. Its main meaning is "joining, merging, being a part of" suggesting the three stars making up a single constellation.

光 may also be interpreted as 卩 ("kneeling person"), representing someone looking at the shining stars above him or be the original character for 簪 a hairpin and thus someone with a ceremonial hat of stars.

參 also appears in the title of the famous alchemical text 參同契 Cantong Qi translated as The Seal of the Unity of the Three, or Joining as One with Unity, with 參 playing on the double meaning as "three" and "joined as one" where it refers to the unity of the cosmology of the Yi Jing, Daoism and internal alchemy (Pregradio, 2011, Seal of the Unity of the Three, p. 3).

These all suggest a great reverence for these herbs, which crosses into the cosmological, religious and self-cultivation realms, while also suggesting a completeness of these herbs in themselves. Herbs with 參 in their name may be used individually, without needing a formula to complement them.

In addition 丹 is used to refer to cinnabar. This is due to the colour of the root that should be a dark, vibrant red. However, it is also one of the most important ingredients in alchemy and became synonymous with alchemical practices in general, used in terms such as Waidan External Alchemy, Neidan Internal Alchemy and Dantian Alchemical Field (major energy centres in the body). This makes the name of this herb to also mean "Alchemical Unity." This, and its effect on the Heart, the seat of the Shen, may make it especially relevant to internal and spiritual transformation processes. Arguably, it could even be a suitable substitute for cinnabar which appears in many classical formulas but is a toxic mercury-sulphur compound that caused the death of many Waidan practitioners and should be avoided.

Despite this, there is relatively little indication for spiritual or internal transformation in the formulas that use this herb. Despite its initial appearance in Shen Nong's Materia Medica during the Qin and Han Dynasty, there is no mention of this herb in the Shang Han Lun and it appears in relatively few formulas until the 16^th century after it was fully described in Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica in 1596. However, it has become known as being the equivalent of the entire formula of Si Wu Tang for its simultaneous Liver and Heart Blood nourishing, moving and cooling properties (Li et al., 2021), and is a favourite of modern phytopharmacy research, especially for cardiovascular disorders but also diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's and a number of disorders with a circulatory component.