THE HOLISTIC THRACIAN HEALING ART OF ZALMOXIS

The Thracians had a unique and effective medical art and philosophical understanding, whose vivid exponent was Zalmoxis-Sitalkus (444-424 BC). A study from modern positions of our heritage, of the holistic Thracian healing art of Zalmoxis, and its use in the training and practice of Bulgarian physicians and society, can be done through a pharmacognostic and therapeutic study of some of the medicinal plants and their products used in the ancient Thracian phytomedicine, together with the methods of psychotherapeutic use of speech and resonance music therapy. The results focus our attention on a mental state of complete calm, of hope and without fear, achieved through psychology (altered states of consciousness), phytotherapy (wine-soaked Peganum harmala L., Trigonella foenum-graecum L., Ledum palustre L., Olibanum), and music therapy (the 7/8 rhythm of the male Thracian Rachenitsa dance). His practice was helpful to reprogram conscious and focus in the present situation. The traditions are still alive and usable and are being built on, for example the use of chokeberry in modern herbal medicine as an analogue to the use of elderberry in ancient times.