Down to Earth Herbalism
We have been marketed to, that natural medicines come as tablets in small bottles. Not much different to pharmaceutical medicines really, in terms of how we take them. Next to the ibuprofen or aspirin in our home medicine cabinet is vitamin C or a Blackmore's cold and flu support supplement.
Taking a handful of supplements every day is not a wholistic approach. Living plants carry life energy. The Indians might call it Prana, the Chinese Qi. I tend to call it Life Energy.
Do you know what echinacea tastes like- how it tingles your tongue? Do you know what the turmeric plant looks like? How beautiful the ancient ginkgo trees are in the autumn in Japan?
When we develop relationships with the plants in our very own surroundings,.we are more likely to protect them. Our garden, the neighbours’ gardens, the local parklands and our environment can do with all the protection we can offer. If we can smell them, see them and appreciate their living vitality, we remember on some level our own vitality. Imagine a world without plants! We would not be here. We exist because plants exist.
When we buy capsules and tablets of exotic plant medicines from other parts of the world, we can jump over the fact they may be endangered in the wild, that slave labour may have been used, that the farmers growing them have been paid pittance by brokers, or that the life energy is missing or depleted by the time they are processed. We do not need to reject the many benefits of the modern world. But to only have relationships with the bottles and not the living plants, is sad, and unnecessary. It objectifies plants, which are alive. And will make us less likely to want to protect the world for future generations.
In my street and many others in Perth, grow simple lavender, roses and rosemary. Lavender is excellent for relaxation, insomnia, and adrenal exhaustion. You can put it in a tea, crush it and smell it as you walk past, or pick some and place it in a cloth bag under your pillow. You can develop a relationship with lavender.
Smelling a rose opens the heart and takes us out of our world of problems for a moment, into beauty. Placing some scented petals in my morning cup of tea, as I did this morning, brings delight and a deep sigh. It has physiological benefits to do these things and this is more like the herbalism has been practised for thousands of years.
Rosemary is wonderful for the brain, for waking us up and to help the circulatory system and heart. Try putting some branches of rosemary in a bottle of red wine and let it steep for a few weeks before drinking (a little at a time!). A wonderful heart tonic! Or, put some in your winter stews for that pungent, circulation stimulating taste and smell.
Doesn’t it feel somewhat more enlivening to walk outside and pick herbs to add to dinner than pour them from a jar bought in the supermarket?
In Perth, we have a common native street tree we have called Western Australian Peppermint, or Agonis flexuosa. It is our equivalent of the English weeping willow, the way it hangs, but it also has the most beautiful peppermint scent. The Noongar name for it is Wonnil. The Noongar people burned this plant in smoking ceremonies for cleansing and healing. Can we not also use this abundant plant, rather than smudge sticks from California?
Turmeric is grown in tropical Asian countries and the potent curcumin is extracted from it. It has proven anti-inflammatory benefits, even in its whole plant form. The areas in India where it was used extensively in the diet had low levels of inflammatory issues. Businesses can’t patent whole foods, so they create fancy named extracts with proven scientific benefits. Often the original plant can be good enough if you can include it regularly in your diet. You can also grow it here, although it’s not its ideal climate. Other plants that do grow well here also have proven anti-inflammatory benefits. These include garlic, rosemary, tomatoes, olive oil, olive leaf, green leafy vegetables, berries, honey, lemons, avocados, Gotu kola, parsley…and many more. There are also many native plants that have proven anti-inflammatory benefits, and you can grow some of them.
Not everyone is going to want to dive deeply into the world of herbal medicine the way it is taught nowadays, with all the science needed for treating others. But we can look after ourselves and our loved ones with safe local plant medicines. We can create bonds, and living relationships with plants in our area. We look after them, and they provide us with beauty, medicine, and nourishment.
The herbal manufacturing industry is a huge worldwide business with many middlemen, and this is not so sustainable for our planet. We do not need to have access to hundreds of medicinal plants- I am not saying we shouldn’t use some of them, but not at any cost. If we just learned 20 medicinal plants that we can grow or access locally, and include them in our diet or made simple medicinal teas or creams or wine medicines from them, we would have covered a lot of our basic needs. When used for minor issues and preventatively, we also help prevent the need for stronger medicines later.
By emphasising Local, we reconnect with the earth, with the life spirit that nourishes us all. It’s hard to overemphasise that this is what the world needs, it is what we need. To love where we live, to connect with it, and nourish its potential to feed us and heal us. We need to form those relationships before it is too late. We don’t have to reject modern medicine or even nutraceuticals- they have their place. But we do need to love and appreciate real plants, and not just a list of benefits packed into tablet form.
