Plants as Medicine

 Sometimes I just need to get away from all the bustle. I feel a call to go to a wilder place, and I hop in the car and drive to a beautiful large park not far away. It's full of huge trees, stretches of prairie, many trails, a lake, hills and valleys. And it's easy to find a place to be alone with the wildness. I usually find somewhere quiet and comfortable, and sit down in the pine needles or on a bench along a path. My whole body relaxes, my breath comes more slowly, and I keep smiling as I recognize familiar trees, flowers, herbs, birds and insects. It feels like home in a different way than my house feels like home. It's a wider belonging, a web of life covering the whole planet. And no matter who we are, we are all part of it.

Today as I was walking, I ran across a number of plants that I know are strong healers. And it got me thinking about what we do these days when we are sick, or when we feel the need for some healing. Probably most of us do what I was taught to do as a child: we go to the doctor. And the doctor usually checks us over and then prescribes some kind of medicine. Usually it is pills that you take with water. I had a hard time taking pills as a child. I had to drink a whole glass of water with each one! Good thing I was pretty healthy and mostly got along without pills.

Early humans went to the doctor too, usually to a woman healer who was an expert about healing plants. This medical knowledge was passed down from generation to generation, and the location of these healing plants was treasured knowledge. People back then lived in small communities and had a close relationship with nature. These cultures believed that all things had a spirit: plants, rocks, insects, everything. And indigenous peoples revered healing plants. This made sense, for they could be the difference between life and death. Even today, the majority of the world's population relies on traditional medicine to keep themselves healthy.  

Fast forward a few centuries, and in our part of the world we have mostly lost touch with the kind of medicine that grows outside our doors. It was a slow evolution. By the 20th century, in order to make medicine easier to get, scientists took successful plant remedies and made chemical duplicates of them. You could make these into pills, put these pills in bottles and sell them in quantity. No need to grow the plants themselves anymore, or harvest and transform them into medicine. It was efficient and it made money for entrepreneurs. But of course there was a down side. 

It was worst during the witch hunts when woman healers were targeted and often killed. As the primary healers, women had long held central roles in medicine. But patriarchy could not allow women to have such power. Even later in our modern medical industrial complex, white male doctors have been the rule. Thankfully, that is changing. And there is an increasing demand for healing herbs. Why? Perhaps because there is less trust in drugs now, wanting to avoid their toxicity and side effects.  Trust is an interesting phenomenon. In the beginning, when artificial medicine started to replace real plant medicine, there was an automatic distrust of these strange new pills. But we have gotten used to them now, and most of us have a comfortable relationship with drugs. Also, the medical profession has told us not to take healing plants. Doctors-in-training seem to have been taught somewhere along the way that herbs were dangerous, and not knowing any better, they tell this to their patients. Take these pills instead! One reason is because modern science demands clinical evidence. Despite thousands of years of effective use, a healing herb is discounted if it doesn't have the required scientific proof. Common sense might tell a different story, and these days there is more and more interest in reviving some of the time-honored plant healers because they are milder and more friendly to our bodies.

Myself, I tend to trust seeds, berries, roots, barks, leaves and flowers more than sterile chemicals. But I do take my blood pressure pills each morning. A healthy balance seems the best road. I've done a lot of studying of medicinal herbs, and used to have a business growing and selling them. Just like I wouldn't go out to the forest to harvest mushrooms unless I was much more educated on mushrooms than I am now, I wouldn't recommend going out to the forest and harvesting medicinal herbs unless you have a good herbal teacher. In my experience, most herbal remedies are not at all dangerous, much less so than pills. But as we all know, there is the occasional poisonous plant out there, which makes a good murder mystery (the poisonous mushroom as the murder weapon). I prefer to grow healing herbs in my garden. Then I absolutely know what they are, and how they can help us.

By the way, I'm offering a two-part Healing Plant Workshop here at Prairie Hill. The first one is on Saturday, September 24th at 2:00. This one will focus on learning about various popular and effective healing herbs that are growing in my garden here. We'll either be in the common house, or if good weather, out under the pergola that the Prairie Hill women have built. There is no cost. And if you're interested, you're welcome to join us. It will be an informal gathering with chances to share your own experiences. During this first workshop, you can decide if any of the herbs described might meet a personal need. Then on the next Saturday, October 1 at 2:00, we'll go out to my garden and harvest the herbs you've chosen.  No charge for this either. Just bring yourself and your curiosity. For the second workshop, we'll use shovels and clippers. And you'll want to decide whether to make a tincture (need strong alcohol), a dried herb for tea, or a healing salve (you'll need olive oil and beeswax). It would be good to let me know if you'd like to come to either or both, just so I can know how many to expect. Thanks!