Keeping Space for Healing: How To Organize Your Plant Profiles

Apparently, March has become the month that I write about plant profiles and materia medicas. So, at the risk of writing about increasingly niche topics on an already niche blog, I now want to talk about organizing your plant profiles as you start to write and/or collect them.

I know, I know what it sounds like. We're not heading into thrilling territory, but how you organize information that you need regular access to - whether that is as a community herbalist or a home herbalist - supports your ability to practice with ease as an herbalist. 

When I was a student herbalist, I was simultaneously thrilled by everything there was to learn and pretty overwhelmed by all the information on plants that I was studying. As with so many paths of study out there, I came to understand that the purpose of an herbalist was not to have memorized all the uses for all the herbs (though you'll certainly know many uses for many herbs through time and practice), but to learn what it is you need to know and how to seek it out. So when I have a client show up in clinic with a condition I've never heard of before, I've not already failed as an herbalist. Instead, my training helps me to ask the questions that need to be asked and listen deeply to what needs to be heard so that I can seek out the resources that'll support my client.

One of the most important tools in my kit is my collection of plant profiles and materia medicas. I've already written about plant profiles, why they're useful, and how to create your own, but now that you've got these useful plant profiles in your collection, how do you use them in a practical manner? In addition to the plant profiles I've written, I've got handouts from classes and workshops I've attended, a collection of herbal books both modern and historical, and lots and lots of notes. It took me a while to find a system of organization that worked best for me and if I can help some of you develop your own much sooner into your practice as an herbalist than I did, then this post will be a success!

Well-organized resources helps you to find the information you need efficiently which matters whether you're working one-on-one with clients in a time-constrained environment or as a home herbalist taking care of sick family members (and half the time being sick yourself). Hopefully, one or more of the suggestions below will be of use to you in your own practice or, at minimum, inspire thoughts of how to make your herbal practice feel more easeful and nourishing to you and those you serve.

image via @purejulia

Keeping It Accessible

I do much of my work on a computer where everything is digitally stored and organized, but when I'm working on a new recipe or sitting with a client, I prefer looking at paper than a screen. I like the physicality of being able to flip through books and scribble notes on a paper, plus having a screen free space, particularly within a client consultation setting, is an important part of how I am able to be present to the energy at hand. For me it's important to have non-digital reference material available, but you might prefer to have everything digitized. Figuring out how you want to access your plant profiles and other herbal tools is part of understanding how you're able to remain present and engaged, so if you're annoyed by having to pull books off the shelf every time you want to look up information about a particular plant and would much prefer being able to pull up that same book on your tablet of choice, make the switch! 

So much energy and concentration is needed to show up for others as an herbalist, whether clients or members of your family, which is why it's important to reduce any hassle or hindrance in your practice as much as possible. Make it easy for yourself, friends.

Questions to consider:

• What profiles, books, and other reference material do I want physical copies of?

• What profiles, books, and other reference material do I want digital copies of?

• Where will I keep my physical reference material (and herbal tools) for easy access?

Keeping It Together: Modes of Storage

How you choose to store your plant profiles and other tools of your trade is going to be deeply personal and informed by the space you have and your preferences. I like using physical materia medicas over digital ones so I always have my bookshelf within reach of my writing desk, but for those of you who keep everything digitized, you might not need this arrangement. Having a tablet stand equipped with ease for charging might be your priority instead. It takes time to figure out what works for you, but it is time well spent so that when your services are needed, what you need is organized in a way that makes the most sense for you to access. 

I hope the following suggestions help you to figure out how you organize your plant profiles, perhaps in a way you hadn't considered before.

Recipe Box

When I was making and selling remedies, the best way for me to store my recipes were on index cards in a wooden recipe box that I'd thrifted. They were organized alphabetically with dividing tabs because that made the most sense for me, but they could've easily been organized by body system, primary herb used, astrologically, and so on. While I also had my recipes written up and stored digitally, I didn't like having my computer around when making recipes because I did not want to risk spilling something on it and I worked in a very small space at the time and couldn't fit my laptop and remedy making supplies in the same area even if I wanted to.

You could store shorthand plant profiles in a recipe box, too (i.e. information about an herb that you use frequently such as herbal actions, energetics, indications, and contraindications). What I like about my recipe box full of recipes is that it is easy to add or subtract from, reorganize, and grab what I need (a index card or two) in a form that is not overly precious or takes up too much space. While you could organize your plant profiles alphabetically in a recipe box, there are a number of other ways that might be more useful to you and how you practice including by:

• Body System

• Energetics (traditional western energetics or otherwise)

• Disease or Imbalance (i.e. Prunella vulgaris for indigestion)

• Astrological Correspondence (i.e. the planets or by signs of the zodiac)

• Magickal Use

• Seasonal Herbs (i.e. what's in season in your garden and surrounding area throughout the year - check out my seasonal apothecary guides for inspiration)

• Seasonal Remedies (i.e. herbs organized by common seasonal imbalances such as a section for herbs for spring allergies and another section for cold and flu herbs for autumn and winter)

A recipe box system is great for students who can easily add a note card as they learn, expanding these cards into full profiles as they progress in their studies. It's a great system, too, for harried parents who want to know what plant will help this with the latest bug brought home from kindergarten without too much effort.

In the recipe box (or any of the following suggestions) you might keep a few cards with basic remedy making instructions and standard dosage guidelines (you can access my remedy making quick sheet for free as a member of Magick Mail).

image via @purejulia

Expanding File Folder

As someone who travels to teach, I don't have permanent storage set up within the classroom I visit, so I have to be mindful about how much stuff I carry around as well as being able to set-up a class quickly and in a way that doesn't leave me feeling scattered. One of my solutions is to use an expanding file folder to keep all of my class handouts organized which include any notes I'll be sharing, plant profiles, as well as one page medicine-making guides (i.e. a guide for making and taking tinctures). My file expanding file folder has become my traveling library full of resources that I can share with folks and it's made my ability to teach and share resources that much easier.

Side note: If you teach or work with clients, I highly recommend creating your own one page guides to hand students and clients, and when you keep them organized in something like an expanding file folder you always know what you have on hand or what needs printing.¹

Binder

For some printed resources, I really like having a three ring binder for them. In a binder is where I keep the plant profiles I've written myself or ones that I've received from classes and trainings I've attended. Some folks like using plastic page protectors so pages can be flipped frequently without tearing, but that's up to you. 

My binder is definitely reflective of my role as a community herbalist, but here's what a family herbalist binder might include to help you start to think about your own needs:

• A page for each family member summarizing allergies, medications, and other important information as well as a section to note remedies that work well for them. If you practice medical astrology, you can also include a birth chart here.

• The plant profiles you've written and/or collected.

• Seasonal guides to help you quickly determine a useful herb based on common seasonal conditions.

• Quick guides to ailments common to your household (i.e. steps for treating a fever with herbal recommendations). 

• Remedy making calendar (i.e. make elderberry syrup in August for the start of the school year). 

• A page of contact information for your family doctor, medical services, and so on.

If you're putting together a family herbal care binder ask yourself what would make your life easier when someone in your family is sick again. You can create a similar binder if you're a clinical herbalist and/or herbal teacher, asking yourself what would make your sessions or classes easier. 

Digital Storage

Whether on your own harddrive, cloud storage, or through an app like Goodnotes, having easy digital access to your plant profiles is a good option either exclusive of or in addition to paper storage. I created The Plant Ally Library not only because students and readers were asking for an easier way to access resources I've written but because I wanted an easy way to access all of the plant profiles I'd written over the years in one spot. There are so many digital storage options out there but the ones I prefer can be accessed anywhere on any device which not only  protects them from anything calamitous that might happen to my personal computer, but they need to be searchable (which is one of the biggest advantages of digital storage). 

The recipe box and binder idea can be translated into digital form through notes apps and other online options. If you choose a searchable option you've created a very useful and easy access resource. 

image via @purejulia

Keeping a Bird's Eye View

Regardless of how I store my plant profiles and various tools of the herbalist, I make sure to have a record of what I do have, don't have, and need. For me, this is a spreadsheet kept in an online drive where I keep track of what herbs I have in my home apothecary, what form they are in (i.e. whole plant, tincture, oil), what needs restocking, as well as my own correspondence charts (i.e. herbs in my home apothecary organized by body system and so on). If I could go back in time to my younger herbal student self I would tell them to start making this chart right away. A spreadsheet like this helps you to use what you have because you know you have it, prevent overstocking and potentially wasting herbs, and hopefully prevent the stress of searching through jars when you really need a plant but can't remember if you have it. Is my spreadsheet color coordinated? Yes. Is everyone going to get as excited about a spreadsheet like me? No, of course not, but if you sense that this might be useful for you, give it a try. And you can choose whatever pretty colors you like!²

Overview documents like this are especially essential if you are in any sort of community practice and working with other herbalists. Community work is hard enough without the stress of not knowing if you have the herb you need for clinic days or who has ordered what and when it is supposed to arrive. There is a reason that activist work is also referred to as "organizing" - that color-coded spreadsheet is a (very nerdy) revolutionary tool, use it.

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Creating your own system of organization for your plant profiles is an act of compassion by your present self for your future self by making what may come easier to manage with already prepared tools for your practice. If you're wanting to make your life harder as an herbalist, I've written about that, too. To support your nervous system and brain as you consider and implement your organizational options you might want to add Peppermint (Mentha piperita) and/or Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) to your tea. I find that connecting with your old self and future-dreaming self can be helpful, too. 

Finally, whether or not any of what I've suggested speaks to you, I do hope that you're feeling curious about the ways you can make it easy for yourself so you can do what you love with as little hindrance as possible: working with plants and people to create paths of wellness.  

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤ Thank you, friends. ❤

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Footnotes

1. It took me far too long to figure out this trick for my own classes, but when I did I felt so clever, ha! This is a great exercise for students, too, as part of your studies, and think of other one-page informational resources you can create for your clients. Creating resources like these are a practice in succinctness and accessibility as they should be to the point but also use language that is comprehensible to many types of folks. 

2. If you're curious, I've shared my spreadsheet and correspondence charts in The Plant Ally Library.

How to Write A Plant Profile (and create a materia medica you'll actually use)

There's a bunch of them on this site. You'll find them in all the herb books. They're handed out in classes and gatherings. Plant profiles are an essential way that information is shared in herbal communities and if you're reading this post you're probably interested in creating your own.

Perhaps you're just starting out on your herbal studies and are feeling overwhelmed by all the ways that herbalists record knowledge about herbs. Or perhaps you're an herbal practitioner trying to figure out how to create plant profiles that you'll actually reference in your work with clients. Maybe you're an herbalist who has never written a plant profile and don't know where to start.

If you've studied herbalism in any sort of formal classroom fashion, you've probably had to write at least a few plant profiles to complete your education. A lot of the time you're expected to use a format developed by your teacher or learning program - which is great! Humans are very good at learning through mimicry and following in the footsteps of herbalists before us when it comes to the format of our plant profiles makes a lot of sense. 

For some of us, after our formal herbal studies we don't write another plant profile because we don't really need to. While most herbalists keep notes of some sort, the actual writing of complete plant profiles doesn't happen. Which is just fine! It's not a requirement that every individual herbalist write their own plant profiles and doesn't indicate whether or not you're a competent herbalist. What happens though, is that some of us will get to a point where we realize we have all this knowledge and we want to record it in some way not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of our students, clients, and the generations to come. 

Other herbalists' herbal education did not happen in a classroom setting that required or expected written plant profiles. Herbalists are trained in all sorts of ways including through apprenticeship models and oral traditions where written records are not needed, expected or given high priority. It's essential to keep these forms of learning alive, too, and you might be interested in recording in writing the wisdom you hold. In addition to written forms of plant profiles, I'll talk about how you can record oral traditions and organize them in ways that make sense to you because these forms of herbal knowledge are vital.

Then there are also a lot of self-taught herbalists out there who haven't tried writing a plant profile of their own yet but you don't know where to start. Tenacious self-taught herbalists are one of the main reasons we have such a thriving traditional western herbal community today - these herbal elders kept alive traditions that they had to go out and find in books, through speaking with their elders, and from the plants themselves. So if you're a self-taught herbalist you're in good company and I'm excited that you're interested in learning one of the ways you can contribute to keeping our traditions thriving.

Maybe you fit into one of these categories or somewhere in-between. Maybe you have your own system of creating plant profiles but are a curious sort of creature and like to see how other folks create systems that work for them (I definitely count myself in this group). Maybe you got lost on the internet and found yourself here (hello, this is a nice slow place, enjoy yourself, have a cup of tea). Whatever reason you're here and are called to create your own plant profiles, I hope that you'll find the following tips of use!

deck shown is Dirt Gems Oracle

Figuring Out Your Why

The best place to start, with the making of something you hope will endure and enrich your practice for years to come, is to ask yourself why you want to do something like this in the first place. Here are three questions to get you started:

Why do you want to create plant profiles? 

What will you use them for (i.e. primarily for personal reference, to hand out to clients and/or students, to keep for the next generation)? 

What would it feel like to have a collection of your very own plant profiles created by you?

I recommend answering these questions out loud or writing them down (and then speaking them out loud if you want to be particularly thorough). The speaking out loud or moving in answer (such as through writing) is a way to help wake our brain-hearts up and get us engaged with the activity at hand.

How you answer these questions will also shape the structure of your plant profile. Profiles that you intend only for your own personal use can be as idiosyncratic as you want them to be - no one else needs to be able to decipher them or understand what's in them. They are purely for you to enjoy. Whereas profiles that you're creating with the intention of sharing them with others benefit from having a relatively clear and uniform structure that can be easily explained and act as a teaching tool. 

You don't have to know exactly what you want your plant profiles to look like and how personal versus communal you want them to be - you'll find your stride as you play around and experiment with structures and forms that work for you.

The One Thing Every Plant Profile Should Have

And recognizing that I just spent a bunch of time talking about making a plant profile uniquely your own, there is one part of a plant profile that I do find to be vital for everyone if you're planning on ever letting another person read it: latin binomials. Latin binomials are unique names assigned to different species that are (usually) unchanging and help folks to know that they are talking about the same plant across different languages. When you read a plant profile, mine included, most will list the name of a plant that many are familiar with (i.e. Sage) and then in parentheses and italicized you'll find the latin name (i.e. Salvia officinalis). The name "Sage" is known as a Common or Folk Name - these names change across languages, cultures, and regions. Common and Folk Names are an important part of herbalism as they preserve tradition, communicate ideas about plants often in an easy to comprehend way, and they are a living lexicon that is constantly being added to. Latin binomials help us to communicate across languages and regional differences. What someone calls Sagebrush in one region might be called Desert Mugwort in another and it's the unchanging Latin binomial (in this case Artemisia tridentata) which helps herbalists to identify what plant everyone is referring to.

You don't have to have Latin binomials memorized (though having familiarity with them is useful), but you should have them written down. Now, if you never plan on sharing your plant profiles with anyone else, including Latin binomials might not be a priority for you. That's fine, I just think it's useful and important to include them in plant profiles that someone else might see.

Ok, that's it for the strong suggestions - onwards to more choose your own adventure type ones! 

Styles + Structures

So what do you put in a plant profile? There are a few ways to help you figure this out. One is to start by copying the structure of your favorite herbalist. I've been using the same structure for years in my plant profiles (and you can find a printable template for the structure if you sign-up for my newsletter and access the member's only posts). My structure is a combination of my own needs with the plant profiles structures of my teachers and favorite materia medicas. Since I'm writing my plant profiles to be used as teaching tools, they are on the longer side, use language that is on the more accessible side of the spectrum (as opposed to relying too heavily on medical and scientific language), and include stories, personal anecdotes, and metaphor. I write my plant profiles in this way because I enjoy the structure I've created and this is a style that my international, multilingual student population connects to and expects.

The plant profiles that I most often reference as a practitioner, however, are usually very different from the ones I write. I appreciate brevity, quick guides and lists, and precise summaries, because when I'm sitting with clients I don't have time to read through a long plant profile to find the information that I need. Some of my most referenced materia medicas using this style are listed in the footnotes below. Your own needs as an herbalist might lean towards much more succinct than my teaching-focused plant profiles that you find on my site. That's good to know so you don't feel the pressure to write a full length essay for every plant profile you create.

While you'll find variations between plant profiles by different authors here are the basic components that appear again and again:

• Common and Folk Names

• Latin Binomial

• Parts Used (i.e. use the leaf versus the root of a plant)

• Herbal Constituents: the active phytochemistry the herb)

• Herbal Actions (i.e. a list of what the medicinal actions are of a plant using terms like anti-inflammatory, lymphatic, cholagogue, and so on)

• Main Uses (i.e. the internal and external medicinal uses of the plant)

• Dosage Recommendation

• Contraindications and Drug Interactions 

In addition to the above components, you'll find additional listings in a plant profile depending on tradition, diagnostic techniques, cultural need, and personal preference, including:

• Indications (i.e. a list of physical, emotional, and mental indications that a plant may be of use. For some folks this shows up in the Main Uses section of a plant profile while others list it out separately for quick reference.)

• Habitat (i.e. the places that the plant is found in uncultivated spaces)

• Growing Conditions and Collection

• Flavor or Taste

• Temperature

• Moisture

• Tissue States

• Doshas

• Personality Indicators (i.e. the "Chamomile Personality")

• Doctrine of Signatures

• Magical Uses

• Tarot Correspondences

• Elemental Correspondences

• Astroherbalism Correspondences (including zodiac signs, planets, and lunar correspondences)

• Combine With or Works Well With (i.e. herbs or therapies that the plant being written about works with)

• Recipes

• Emojis (a fun and modern shorthand for the emotional states that an herb best serves)

Here is where you get to pick and choose a structure to fit your needs. As a teacher, the long-form style of plant profile that I write is important for me: it helps me to gather my thoughts and experiences about a plant into some sort of cohesive narrative which I can then use as a tool and resource for my students. When I'm learning about a new plant in books, I appreciate longer profiles full of stories and some of my favorite herbal books don't follow any of the structures I've talked about but rely on personal narratives and mythology to convey a plant's healing qualities. As a practitioner my needs are slightly different which is why my short form plant profiles that live in handwritten form in my notebooks before they become (if they ever do) profiles I share with the public, emphasize actions and indications alongside the energetics of traditional western herbalism that I work with including the elements, tissue states, and astroherbalism. Knowing your needs and interests as an herbalist will guide your structure, so spend some time investigating them.

Once you've chosen your structure there are even more ways to personal how you write out a profile including whether or not your profiles are kept digitally or written down within a book or binder; using shorthand symbols or abbreviations (I do this for astrological information); and whether or not you include images with your profiles. For my studies, I rely on pen and paper, but all of my plant profiles are eventually typed up. I also keep an additional spreadsheet that has herbs categorized for quick reference, but that is something that I rely on primarily for keeping track of information as a teacher. But that is probably beyond the needs of most of you reading this, but if you like color coded spreadsheets, please know you can incorporate that into your herbal practice, too.

You can also create plant profiles that are less word-filled and more art-filled. Color, symbolism, and your choice of art medium (from painting to textile art and beyond) can convey all sorts of meaningful and intuitive information. Conveying information about herbs and healing practices through images with multifaceted meanings is an ancient form of communication and if that is the sort of plant profiles you feel called to create, go for it!

Adding Your Stories

Every herbalist has a unique relationship with the plants and I think that it's a useful and beautiful thing to include some sort of personal narrative or signature in your plant profiles. Even if you're primarily creating your plant profiles by collating information from the writing of others, I think that if you're going to the effort of creating a profile it benefits all who read it to understand your approach, interests in the plants and their medicine, and personal anecdotes.

Who I am and my relationship to our plant kin is interwoven into the structure of my plant profiles. As a traditional western herbalist practicing the full spectrum of what our tradition has to offer, I include standard profile components like herbal actions, constituents, growing conditions, and so on alongside magickal uses, astrological correspondences, and the tradition of writing about the personality signatures of plants that I was taught by my teachers. All of these components inform my practice and so I include all of them in my plant profiles. Talking about plants as living beings and not just allies but elders and teachers is another important aspect of my plant profiles because that is inherent not only to my herbal practice but my spiritual practice.

I also include personal stories and anecdotes from my years of practice as well as the stories shared with me by others. Many of these don't necessarily make it into my public plant profiles, but they are included in my own notes that I'll pass to my own family and those apprentices who study with me.

I am incredibly grateful for the scientific studies on plant medicine that help us to better understand the ways that plants work in our bodies and the environments we live in. I also think that it is so important for individual herbalists to record anecdotes and stories about our plant allies. These are teaching stories that keep plant medicine a practice of the people which will help it survive and thrive for generations to come. If you ever have the opportunity to go to a gathering of herb folk (or just get to spend time with a plant story filled person) and get to sit around listening to and offering stories of plants I hope you can experience what I have time and time again - the power of the story of a plant to heal, inspire, and guide. If it feels right to put a story experienced or gifted to you on paper, I hope you do.

Oral Traditions + Audio Recordings

There is something that is captured via audio or video that can't quite be held by the written word. Audio recordings also help us to record songs and rhythms gifted by the plants that would be difficult to translate to paper. So if you're called to record oral traditions and your plant profiles as audio files, I encourage you to. I dream of an herbal library that is full of all sorts of resources from audio recordings and books, paintings and soundscapes, documentaries and textile arts, and so on that help to convey the long relationship between plant and people. When we spend time making our own records we are helping to create a legacy for others to benefit from (and make it harder for these things to be forgotten or taken away). 

My tips for audio recordings are simple. Label your digital files and organize them. Do this upon recording so you don't have to manage a bunch of unlabeled or improperly labeled audio files later on (because sorting through audio files can be an arduous task - please make it easy for yourself). If having a searchable database is important to you, create a document or excel spreadsheet with the name of the plant and the key actions and other meaningful correspondences written down so you can easily search for them later.

Storing Your Stories

Finally, consider how your plant profiles will be stored. You want to be able to use these profiles with ease in your practice so make them easy to access. I spend much of my working day on the computer, so it makes sense for me to have a digital archive of my plant profiles that I can easily access. My handwritten profiles are stored in notebooks that I keep within easy reach on my bookshelf. Additional information is stored in binders as well as simple paper files. I'm currently working on creating a completely handwritten and illustrated herbal for my own joy as I've always been intrigued and inspired by the handwritten herbals and grimoires of old and hope to contribute to this art as a sign of gratitude. One day, I hope this'll sit next to my altar, opened to  a page showing a beloved plant ally.

Plant profiles are living documents, meant to be amended and added on to as the need arises. I used to feel that I had to get my plant profiles "right" on the first go around and now I enjoy reading through old profiles noticing what has evolved, changed, and stayed the same through my many years of practice. Let there be flexibility, patience, and play in your practice. And most importantly, listen to the plants all along the process. As Cree and Métis herbalist and ethnobotanist Mary Siisip Geniusz says, "Plants have so much to give us, all we have to do is ask." (1)

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If you're looking for some visual inspiration check out my pinterest board for creating your own herbal. Other sources of inspiration include historical herbals and journaling spaces like the bullet journal and art journal communitites. But remember, it's more important to go ahead and make a plant profile then try to be a "perfect" enough writer or artist to accomplish the task. 

Are you feeling inspired to create your own plant profiles? I hope so and I also hope that you  find the same enjoyment with your own growing collection of plant profiles.

May your work become a living book of green wisdom and to be of benefit to yourself and those you serve.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

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Notes

(1) Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have To Do Is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings by Mary Siisip Geniusz is a beautiful example of a plant-led and culture-centered book of stories and plant profiles. I hope you have the chance to read it.

The following are a few, though certainly not all, of my favorite materia medicas that I reach for again and again when I need information quickly (i.e. in a client setting): 

Dispensing with Tradition: A Practitioner's Guide to using Indian and Western Herbs the Ayurvedic Way by Anne McIntyre

The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine by Brigitte Mars

Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine by Thomas Bartram

300 Herbs: Their Indications & Contraindications by Matthew Alfs

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