The World’s Greatest Aphrodisiac

So, you’re love life doesn’t seem to be going quite as well as you thought it should be right now? That special some one just isn’t responding to you with the same ardor that you had expected and now you’re wondering what can make that spark of desire turn into an inferno of lust? This is an age old question that mankind has attempted to answer in many, many different ways.

Aphrodisiacs are believed to increase sexual desire. They vary quite widely from culture to culture and the various eras of human history.There are several different things that could be classed as aphrodisiacs or of possessing attributes of an aphrodisiac. There are substances that are consumed, applied, and ritually manipulated. Generally, ritual manipulation of substances can be considered a separate form of aphrodisiac, generally described in the occult community as ‘love magic.’

The most common list of aphrodisiacs that are encountered in a basic search are those that are ingested. These are different foods, beverages, and semi-medicinal preparations. One could also that various prescriptions for erectile dysfunction could be described as ingestible aphrodisiacs as well, because they operate in the same fashion that the other ingestible aphrodisiacs that have some form of success do. These aphrodisiacs work because they increase blood flow to the genitalia, which is among the physical symptoms of sexual arousal.

Ingestible aphrodisiacs are chosen for a number of different reasons. Generally, the choice of herb A over herb B for being declared an aphrodisiac in traditional herbal medicine is less a matter of it’s function upon the body and more likely a result of it’s physical resembelance (real or imagined) to the body part it is supposed to act upon. This is called the doctrine of signatures and it plays an enormous role in herbalism, even modern herbalism. Folklore and myths also can be a factor in the choice of a given substance as an ingestible aphrodisiac.

These two practices, however, are not generally safe and can lead to poisoning or death. Ancient herbalism and it’s associated practices are important for reference and to understand the development of modern herbal medicine, but should be regarded with great caution. In some parts of the ancient world, Mercury was considered an appropriate thing to ingest, for example. This is a substance that is widely known to have lethal effect upon the body when taken in any substantial dosage, and the smallest of dosages cumulatively create the effects of the higher dosages over a period of time. Similar dangers can come into play with other ancient aphrodisiacs.