Though trained in the science of herbalism at Bastyr University - my heart, soul, blood and bones are grounded in and made by the folk herbalism of the people, your people and mine, who have walked upon this Earth for millennia in deep yet simple relationship and co-creation with the healing plants that live where they live.

I define herbalism as allying with the plants to bring healing to the people.

My flavor of herbalism is not clinical. There are many great and gifted clinical herbalists out there and thank goodness for them. I am particularly drawn in by the reweaving, re-membering aspects of herbalism – the fact that relationships with the plants pull us into deeper embodiment of our membership within the web of life, attunement to the seasons and forces of nature, and greater love for all our relations.

My flavor of herbalism is equal parts practical and spiritual (much like my personality).

To me, practical means local – getting to know and allying with the plants that grow where I grow. This is how our ancestors did it and I believe this is how the Earth would like us to do it again now and moving forward. My herbalism focuses on the plants that grow around me.

I also think practical means accessible, meaning herbalism is easy enough for most anyone to understand and can be seamlessly woven into most households with relative ease.  We do not need to be literate, let alone scientifically nor even esoterically literate, to ally with the plants to bring healing to our people. Herbal knowledge and plant allyship is a birth rite.

Practical also means useful. While not decidedly clinical, I do know and teach how to utilize plants and herbal medicines to support and maintain health in most basic home care situations. I also know and teach how to maintain and increase vitality with the allyship of plants and herbal medicines.

As for the spiritual components of the herbalism I practice:

I believe that plants are literal extensions, digits or fingertips of the Mother Earth - the “hair” that covers her beautiful body. And I believe the plants should be treated as such and approached in this manner.

I believe that plants are Great Beings – as archetypal emanations of the Creator they each carry a particular stamp of the original vibration – the plants are, as most wisdom teachings say, the true healers and teachers. 

I believe in conscious relationship with the plants, wherein permission is sought before harvesting, the spirits of the plants are held and communed with, gratitude and offerings are given, and the spirit of “service to all life” is invoked and maintained throughout the process of plant to herbal medicine.

The plants, through simply being, through their rootedness, and their belonging-ness, hook us into the very dream of the Mother Earth. Their wild, wise, ancient nature opens up channels within our own beings for the wild, wise, ancient nature within us to flow. The plants help us become more receptive to these whisperings from the dream of the Earth.

It is my honor to share what I know about allying with the plants to bring healing to the people. May it help you, your people and all people, human and otherwise.