What it means to me

To be a Wise Woman Herbalist.

Upon preparation for teaching my workshop yesterday (a Wild Medicine Walk) I got inspired to try and articulate this, so I could print it out to include with the handouts.

How did I do? Did I forget anything?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What it means to be a Wise Woman Herbalist

To be a Wise Woman Herbalist means to carry a philosophy of wholeness and inclusion. We view the human body as a self-actualized ecosystem, capable of complete healing and regeneration. We believe that health is innately ever-present and continues through nourishment and love. That health is nourished through whole foods and plant medicine. We believe that illness is the body’s way of bringing information to our conscious selves. It is the language of the body. We do not believe that the body is broken and is in need of fixing. We do not believe the body is filthy and needs cleaning and purging. Illness is our Teacher not our enemy. Herbs are our naturally available healing, nourishing allies.

To be a Wise Woman Herbalist means to use locally available, abundant, sensible resources; to use herbs wisely for food and medicine, ethically harvested or grown, and to ally with them. It means that I am the ultimate authority on my health, happiness and well being and I ask my self first and last before making any choices. I choose to listen to my body’s cues, and to trust my body’s capacity for health. I consciously prepare whole, holographic medicines.

Wise Women Herbalists honor the plant bodies as living beings, and honor their gifts of sacrifice upon harvest. Gifts of food or liquid or something sacred is offered to the plant in gratitude.

Our philosophy or paradigm is manifested as a spiral symbol. Life, death, birth, and rebirth are all an equal experience and a constant. We all grow, change, shed old patterns, and recreate ourselves and our environments. We are part of Mother Earth, therefore we embody her patterns and cellular knowledge. Life includes all expressions and experiences and is in constant flow.