School of Botanical Medicine
From the category archives:
Spring arrives, and I assign myself the simple and enjoyable task of strolling through my wild garden. Little starts of motherwort and yellow dock catch my eye. I see a few young leaves of dandelion and plantain. And then there’s catnip, in all its grace and boldness. My count yields 7 different patches bolting from [...]
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Most people don’t associate Fall with plant medicine making time. They relegate that activity to spring and summer. It’s in those seasons that the plant pools its efforts in an upward shift, sending shoots, developing stems, growing leaves, and flowers before going to seed. It is in the warmer seasons that we gather those plant [...]
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Herbs evoke a multitude of responses in the body. In addition to the more obvious, taste is an essential piece of this process. It inspires a chemical reaction which may calm, stimulate, dry or heat. These energetic effects are felt body-wide, and are foundational when it comes to improving our health. All tastes are beneficial, [...]
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Herbs evoke a multitude of responses in the body. In addition to the more obvious, taste is an essential piece of this process. It inspires a chemical reaction which may calm, stimulate, dry or heat. These energetic effects are felt body-wide, and are foundational when it comes to improving our health. I have always had [...]
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A Tale of Kudzu There once was an older woman displeased with who her husband of many years had become. So she went to the village herbalist for aid. She told the herbalist that when she first married this man, he was a wonderful husband. They soon had children, and at first he was a [...]
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With all the talk about Canadian thistle, I did some light digging. It didn’t take long to find this fun old bit about the plant. This is taken from The Physiomedical Dispensatory by William Cook, M.D., 1869 Medical Herbalism. I do hope you all enjoy. I certainly have. Description: Natural Order, Compositae. It would be [...]
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Our heart beats so that we can thrive. And everything we think and feel affects its strength and integrity. Many plants and trees can assist us in our quest to sustain our heart’s vitality. Hawthorn is one. People refer to it as a heart tonic, or strengthener, and it is. But the leaves, flowers and [...]
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The approach of environmental sustainability is one of reusing, reducing and recycling energy. This redirection supports a longer and healthier life of our planet, and makes us more conscious consumers and spenders, both energetically and financially. We can take the same approach of redirecting and rebalancing energy with our health. Ill health is a result [...]
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People will give and receive many roses this month in celebration of Valentines Day. While the rose is a symbol of love, it is so much more. And while we celebrate with flowers that are not native to our country, I would like to take a moment to recognize the wild variety of roses that [...]
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I believe plants have amazing stories to tell by way of their experiences and their journey through time. Weather it is St. Johns Wort, a plant that withstood the test of nearly being lost as a medicine due to an ego battle between herbalists and homeopaths, or yarrow, a plant that has been to war [...]
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