Let's Begin At the Beginning: 10 Seeds to Start Your Herbal Studies

1. Sit with trees.

Just be still and listen to them - what can be learned in those moments of tree conversing is limitless.

As a child I could often be found up in a tree or a fort at tree level.  That is how I came to know the Pepper Tree Schinus molle that grew over the fence of our yard from our neighbor's backyard.  I would sit in my fort with my plastic play buckets full of water and carefully remove the outer pink skin of the Pepper Tree's berries, crushing the papery skin between my fingers and mixing it into my water buckets, discarding the hard inside berry back over the fence.  I would let it brew overnight, sometimes days, and convince the other kids in the neighborhood that they were magickal brews.  I loved how the water would change colors with the berry-skin infusion and I truly believed that magick was at work.  I still know that magick was at work then and years later I learned that I was unknowingly mimicking the medicinal preparation of the Pepper Tree by earlier peoples, such as the Incas.

2. Grow something.

It can be a herb, a succulant, zuchinnis, flowers, moss, or something else but it is important to grow!  Buy seeds, find seedlings in the farmer's market or maybe take a cutting with permission from a neighbor's yard.  Begin to speak the unique root-clicking, multifloral, seed-spreading  languages of plants.  Find out the best growing conditions for your plant friend, water it when needed, and talk to it all the time.  For those who say they have no green thumb I would say that it is more about having a green heart.  To grow a plant we must grow ourselves and that requires building relationships, all which go through cycles of sprouting, fruitfulness, death, and decomposition.

pepper tree schinus molle

3. Talk to plant folk, herbalists, and the guy down the street who knows how to prepare nopalitos.

You are surrounded by folks who know about plant medicine - really, you are!  Whether your Aunt who uses Tumeric on her skin to maintain her glowing complexion or your high school science teacher who keeps a beautiful potted garden, there are real live humyn creatures who could tell you a thing or two about plant medicine.

4. Read good books.  

There are lots of wonderful herb books to inspire you on your journey.  My growing list of books for beginners can be found over at LibraryThing, but I'll recommend a few here, too. Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health is a great place to start - colorful, easy to follow, and diverse in its coverage, Gladstar's book is a valuable assest to any aspiring (and practicing) herbologist.  I am also a fan of James Wong's book Grow Your Own Drugswhich is not only beautiful to look through but full of simple, effective herbal recipes (I also recommend watching Wong's show of the same name).  Check out our LibraryThing "Books for Beginners" list for more inspiration!

5. Start with one herb.

We are surrounded by growing plants on an ocean planet.  Beginning to study plant medicines can seem overwhelming with the quantity of material to learn.  Find one plant and work with that one plant for a year - write about it, taste it, smell it, grow it, make medicines with it.  You can work with other plants, certainly, but commit to working with this one green ally for a full turning of the seasonal wheel.  It is incredible the complexities and nuances of use and potential found in one plant - very much like each of us.  I'll write more about building relationships with a green ally over the course of a year in future posts.

yum, thai basil!

6. Invite your green allies in to your home.

Drink tea, cook with spices, and clean your counters with essential oil concoctions.  Plants are everywhere!  Invite them to participate in your life, be conscious of the ways they are already in your life, and experience the green world pulling back its layers a bit more, inviting you back into their homes.

7. Make your own drugs.

There are so many ways to prepare herbal medicines.  Oils!  Teas!  Syrups!  Salves!  Tinctures!  Powders!  Essences!  And more!  Learn how to make medicines, make mistakes (brews gone wrong, cayenne in the eyes, exploding fermentations), and make even better medicines.  Herbal medicine-making is a nuanced art - we make remedies for individuals, not miracles for the masses (though I'll not pass on a global miraculous healing were it to come our way).  Medicine-making is another way of building relationships with the plant world, one that changes the material of the maker as much as the plant.

8. Laugh a lot.

Need I say more?

9. Trust yourself.

You will not know everything that ever was and was-not.  You will still be able to be a good herbologist, a healer, and green ally.  One day you might even teach others.  Trust yourself to know thyself.  To know that you are capable of learning more every day, of owning up to your shortcomings, and celebrating your powerful gifts.  Trust yourself to receive what is given and give in return.

10. Expect the mysterious and indulge in it.

We live in a enchanted world - one that continues to grow stranger and more unusual by the minute.  And we are truly strange creatures in it bumbling and dancing on our green, ocean rock of celestial matter hurtling swinging round space.  What an adventure!  You have the opportunity to engage in inter-species communication as a herbologists, to recognize plants as clever, funny, and deeply wise.  The green path is full of mystery and every time we reach the edge of what-we-know to find there is much more to learn, take time to indulge in the fragrance of complexity ever-guided by the certainty of our own desires to live enchantedly.

I hope you've enjoyed our little guide to starting your herbal studies. For more herbal wisdom, exclusive coupons to our Apothecary, and plant medicine goodness, subscribe to our infrequent, but inspired newsletter.

Herbs are Magick

I used to always say, "Herbs work on the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels of existence." Later I came to understand that they also work on the magical level.  What this means is that they do not just change our person but that they can transform the environment around us.  They can actually cause events to occur.  Ultimately, what makes an event magical is that it is unexpected.  So, in other words, the herbs seem to get  a step ahead of us and create an event which we did not foresee but which corrects or enriches our lives.

Matthew Wood, The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants As Medicine

How To Make Herbal Oils - Warm Infusion Folk Method

The infusion of herbs in an oil-based menstruum is a wonderful way of using herbs medicinally and can be a base for further medicine-making adventures including salves, lotions, and creams.  We'll be using a warm infusion folk method of creating a herbal oil which more or less means that exact measurements are not used and we're not looking for an exact herb-to-oil ratio (it is all very hang-loose in the Apothecary today!).  We'll also be gently warming our oil as part of the infusion process, so it is important to set aside time that you'll be able to be home and checking in on your herbal oil potion throughout the day.

Let's start with the foundation of our Herbal Oil - the Oil Menstruum.

One of the most common oils used the home apothecary is olive oil.  Find a nice cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil that is lighter on the scent scale and you're off to a very good start.  You can also use oils like Almond, Sesame, Castor, Coconut, and Jojoba (though Jojoba is actually a liquid wax which is why is has such a long shelf life).  I am using Coconut oil for our tutorial because I wanted to use Coconut's sweet scent in my final oil.

Next, choose which herb or herbs you want to infuse.  For our tutorial I infused Coconut oil with fresh Sage (Salvia officinalis) and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) from our neighborhood greenery.  Check out our Plant Profiles (as well as your gardens and kitchen cupboards) for more inspiration on what herbs to use.  I used fresh herbs which require more vigilance to help prevent rancidity from the water content that is extracted when using herbs fresh, but dried herbs are just as useful and you have less risk of spoilage!

Finely powder dried herbs and let fresh herbs wilt (to reduce moisture content) and then chop them up.  Mix your herbs with your chosen oil, so that there is about 1/4 oil resting above the herb material.  If you are using coconut oil, you'll have to gently warm the oil so that it becomes liquid and then you'll mix in your plant materials.  When using dried herbs you'll have to check an hour or two into the infusion to see if you need to add more oil as dried herbs will expand and absorb the oil.

Next we'll be creating a lovely warm bath for your oils to gently relax in, loosening up their medicinal properties into the oil.  One of the easiest methods is to place your jar into a warm pot of water, cover that with some thick towels or a tea cosy and let it sit.  You'll have to change the water a few times or pop it back on the stove to warm it up, but mostly you want to keep your oil warm, but not hot - you should be able to comfortably touch the oil with your bare fingers.  You can also put your herbal oil mixture into a double boiler and keep it on the stove at a very low heat, checking often to make sure you don't get the mixture too hot.

After a day of brewing (about 8 - 10 hours), you'll be ready to strain your oil for the first time.  Use cheesecloth, a nutmilk bag or a jelly strainer bag to strain your oil, removing most of the plant material.  Let your oil settle for a few days, allowing the sediment to float to the bottom, and then strain it again, being especially careful to filter out all excess particles if you have used fresh plant material.  If you used fresh plant material you may have to repeat this process in a few more days.

Finally, bottle your lovely oil in a preferably dark container, such as an amber bottle, and store in a cool dark place.  Herbal oils are sensitive to light and heat, so to preserve their shelf life store them properly, clever ones.  At this point if I am not using my herbal oil as a base for a salve or cream, I might add in essential oils and a drop or two of Vitamin E oil as a natural preservative.  My Sage and Eucalyptus oil has became a lovely body oil for achey backs and joints (recipe below).

In addition to all of these steps I feel that it is very useful to sing to your oil while it is brewing or perhaps talk about all of the wonderful qualities it has.  Being mindful and properly appreciative of the gifts of our green allies is what brings that extra edge of enchantment to your remedies!

SAGE + EUCALYPTUS HERBAL OIL for Aches + Pains These are rough measurements meant to guide, not constrain, my clever folks!

• 3 parts Sage (Salvia officinalis)
• 1 part Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus)
• Coconut Oil

Per 8 ounces of oil add in the following essential oils:

• 3 drops Sage (Salvia officinalis)
• 1 drop Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus)
• 2 drops of Lavender (Lavandula officinalis)

You can also add in a few drops of Vitamin E oil (or the contents of 1 Vitamin E capsule) to your oil for further preservative powers!

Craving Miracles: On Healing + Expectation

"May I, can I, or have I too often?
Craving miracles...
May I, can I, or have I too often now?
Craving miracles, Craving miracles..."
Thunderbolt by Bjork

In the overculture of the United States there is a big business of constructing, marketing, and administering magic pills that will cure us of our ills (if only to plague us with a long list of not-so-nice side effects).  I think that the quest for that magic pill promoted by profit-driven pharmaceutical framework takes advantage of a deeper craving held by many humyn creatures for the miraculous, the uncanny, the infusion of mundanity with mysticism.  As a herbologist and someone who works as a facilitator between humyn and plant cultures, I feel that part of my work is to facilitate the re-enchantment of the lives of those folks who have fallen out of rhythm with their own mystery.  When someone comes to me seeking a cure, miraculous or not, I begin the process of sharing with folks what I can offer by ways of the mysterious and not-so-mysterious, and hopefully we find the common ground needed for us to work together.

In my practice, I recognize that part of our healing work is an inward-gazing journey investigating lineages of bloodlines, trauma, assimilation, isolation, the hurried flight of an endangered soul, and the ways we compartmentalize our experiences to survive.  Another part of inhabiting our wellness turns the gaze outwards to the cultures we were raised in, the bioregions we were grown in, the ones we live in currently, how we relate to others, and the ways the world may seem duller than those burstingbright moments when we might have believed in it all, however fleeting or far-between those pieces may be flung on our path.  Each of us is an ongoing expression of existence, a sort of embodied oral tradition, with our stories communicated through the lines of our bodies, their shapes, colors, textures, temperatures, and temperaments.  Everyone's journey holds stories of the miraculous and it is those kinds of miracles that I try to guide the cravings for cures into the desire to make the journey of wellness, however uncertain and clouded.

On the path of the miraculous, my approach to healing is rooted in the idea of engagement, which includes the values of accountability (to self and others), sustainability (of environment, culture, practice, and relationships), and mindful cultivation of the revolution of evolution (we grow as individuals, evolve as a community).  In a framework of engagement the practice of blame (which I find to be a common infestation of the pharmaceutical miracle market) is an unnecessary and rather harmful tool that has a tendency for folks to adopt mindsets of believing that “the illness is my fault” or their bodies/minds/emotions are somehow “broken” and they need something outside of themselves to “fix” the problem.[1]  While there is always time for discussion of how previous choices or environments may have led to certain aspects of illness, I try to guide folk’s healing narratives beyond the role of victim while still keeping space for stories of victimization and especially of survival.  Through engagement of personal stories, a shift of perspectives takes place, allowing for a new narrative to emerge: the knowing of how I seek my wellbeing is my responsibility along with a  growing sense of empowerment to be nurtured, sparked, and re-inspired throughout the journey of wellness.

The green growing ones are ever present through our work. Engagement opens the heart to building relationships with the allies of your healing journey. We begin to engage with the miraculous that resides within, without, and between all things, including our green allies who can help to relieve the symptoms of dis-ease and also guide us to the core imbalance. What is more miraculous than our own powers of healing and the healing powers of plants working together towards a common goal of wholeness?

The philosophies of practice I hold and continue to evaluate and expand upon are informed by my own spiritual work which is guided by a whole lot of magickal thinking – another post for another time. For now I will finish my exploration of the miraculous by sharing with you the tender spot in my wee heart for the mystics among us who attempt to articulate the ecstatic, knowing that it will always be imperfect, and hoping that nonetheless it will induce a sense of bliss. Saint Hildegard von Bingen was prolific in her visions and a woman of many skills, including being a wonderful herbalist.  While her mysticism is steeped in a Christian worldview, albeit a rather rogue and feminist Christian perspective, I find her words to be the sort of miracles I seek in my own life.

A human being is a vessel that God has built for himself and filled with his inspiration so his works may be perfected in it. Hildegard von Bingen, letter to Elisabeth of Schönau, c. 1152

What I love about the quote above, especially after I apply a panentheist twist of that we are both God/dess and God/dess is independent of us, is that we are our own journeys of perfection.  We have what we need to be whole and to revel in that wholeness in our continuous cultivation of health and wellbeing.While not as eloquent as Hildegard’s original words, my own take on her verse would be:

A humyn being is a vessel that our Love/God/dess has built for ourselves and filled with our inspiration so that our works are perfected in it.

That is the miracle.

[1] I do, however, hold space for folks who follow religious traditions that do place responsibility for illness on the person who is unwell due to previous transgressions.  In these cases I still encourage a focus on present accountability to seeking wellness while acknowledging a person’s need to address previous actions of wrongdoing.

The Clarifying Beat: Eucalyptus

from botanical.com

The dancing trees of the Eucalyptus are unmistakeable in their form and scent.  As medicine the Eucalpytus tree, specifically its essential oils and leaves, has been used as a plant of healing and purification for a very significant part of our humyn history.  The tree is said to guard against all forms of illness and the leaves are useful when placed in the body of a healing poppet.  Hand a branch of Eucalyptus above one who is afflicted with illness to bring about a speedy recovery.  Wear the pods of the Eucalyptus as charms of protection.

Whenever I think of Eucalyptus I think of koala bears (more on that later), but more importantly, dancing.  The grace of a windswept dancer curling their toes against dust of earth and stars.  Extending their breath along the lines of their arms, the straightness of their spine, the sturdiness of their thighs.  Much of Eucalyptus' powers lie in its ability to center and call us back to our inner beating rhythm.  As a remedy, Eucalyptus is useful for those of us who are seeking our true rhythm beyond the drudgery of schedules that keep us distracted from our passions, our desires, and our calling(s) in life.  So many folks are seeking "the best new thing" whether it be the newest diet, a popular exercise regime, the latest spiritual practice, and with so much noise the resounding beat of our own healer remains unnoticed and, at worst, ignored.  Along comes the dancing trees of the Eucalyptus, who clears our visions, strengthens our breath, and with its fragrant sharpness helps set us on a path of authentic renewal and adventure.

As someone who spent a great deal of their childhood as a koala bear, I have a great fondness for Eucalpytus.  I spent part of my adolescence playing beneath the dancing green leaves of the Eucalyptus - its clarifying scent and the way the wind sounds moving through its branches remind me of my earlier adventures into herbal medicine and magick.

Eucalyptus has been used for tens of thousands of years in Australian Aboriginal medicine - it is a plant that has taken an interest in humyn affairs for a long while and it deserves a great deal of gratitude.  Some of the primary uses of Eucalyptus in modern Western herbalism is as an expectorant, helping to move colds, pneumonia, and bronchitis out of the chest, to clear-up and prevent viral infections, and as an astringent.  Dilating the bronchiales of the lungs, Eucalyptus moistens mucous membranes and helps regulate mucous secretions.  Excellent for other respiratory complaints such as asthma, coughs, the 'flu, and sinus infections.  Use the leaf  in a tea and, along with the essential oil in steams, diffusers, and chest rubs.

The essential oil is especially excellent to use for promoting mental clarity - it has a sharp heat that burns away the feeling of being in a stagnant swamp of mental muddledness.  Overall, the essential oil is tonifying on the nervous system.

Use topically as a warming chest rub and as a diluted oil for rheumatic pain, aching joins, stiffness, neuralgia, and bacterial skin infections.  Apply the diluted oil to blisters, burns, herpes sores, scratches, and wounds.  For those folks who have excessively oily skin (remember that some oil is good and healthy for our skin) or acne might consider using Eucalyptus is facial toners and steams.  As a diluted gargle, Eucalyptus is great for cold sores in the mouth.  Try mixing the leaves of Eucalyptus with  honey as a general syrup for respiratory ailments.  Burn the oil as an insect repellant and use in anti-flea washes for pests.  For my textile friends, Eucalpytus can be used as a dye, producing shades of green, brown, and orange.