Cistanche and Bull’s Penis Soup，From *Proven Tea, Decoction, and Soup Recipes for Common Ailments*,Gently tonifies kidney yang. Suitable for low libido caused by kidney yang deficiency.
because it runs warm overall, this decoction is best avoided in yin-deficient, fire-prone constitutions; as a warming-tonic formula, it is not for those with excess heat, damp-heat, or unresolved exterior patterns
Commentary
The sovereign is cistanche, with warm nature and sweet, salty flavor, having Kidney, Large Intestine tropism; it tonifies kidney yang, benefits essence and moistens the intestines, anchoring the central strategy of the formula. The ministerial layer, ox penis (warm in nature and sweet, salty in flavor, with Kidney tropism, tonifies kidney yang and supplements essence and marrow), and ginger (warm in nature and pungent in flavor, with Lung, Spleen, Stomach tropism, disperses cold, relieves cough and harmonizes the stomach), lends support that reinforces the sovereign’s main effect. Completing the formula, scallions, harmonizing the stomach and supporting dietary nourishment, and cooking wine, acting as the envoy to harmonize the various ingredients, so that potency is moderated and stomach qi protected. Together the herbs converge on this action, in accord with the yang deficiency pattern.