Masking Herbal Tastes
In this post I want to share a little bit about some of the dynamics around the taste of herbs. In traditional systems of medicine, the way an herb tastes, whether it’s bitter or pungent or astringent or sour or sweet, is a really strong indication of the medicinal properties of a plant. From a…
How Herbalists Can Change With The Times
I want to talk about the state of the world right now how everything seems to be turning upside down. Everything is changing very rapidly in terms of the picture of human health and what’s going on culturally and what’s going on in nature. So how do we as herbalists change along with that? What…
Alchemy and Herbalism Part IV- Illness as Initiation
Welcome to the fourth and final part of our Alchemy and Herbalism series! Hopefully, you’ve been able to watch the last three episodes that we’ve published over the last few weeks. My intention here is to share some teachings here about the tradition of Alchemy and the profound influence that it can have on your…
Alchemy and Herbalism Part III- Spiritual Herbal Pharmacy
Welcome to part three in the Alchemy and Herbalism series. This series introduces you to the Alchemical tradition, which is not usually a standard part of our herbal education. This is really unfortunate because I have found this tradition to be an incredible adjunct to my herbal studies that ultimately has made me a better…
Alchemy and Herbalism Part II- The Macrocosm and Microcosm
Welcome to part two in our alchemy and herbalism series. In part one, I shared with you how throughout history as science became more of the dominant worldview, a mechanistic model stripped the spirit and the meaning out of cultures and systems and traditions, and we looked at how that affects our perspective of people…
Alchemy and Herbalism Part I – The Science and Spirituality of Herbalism
Welcome to the first part of a four-part series discussing alchemy and herbalism. The tradition of alchemy is a tradition dear to my heart. I’m excited to share some of these teachings with you because the alchemical tradition was the missing piece of the puzzle on my quest for a holistic system of herbal medicine.…
Spagyrics: Ancient Medicine for the Modern World
There’s something that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I’ve been looking at the state of the world and everything that’s been going on politically and culturally. With the fires that we’ve been having out here on the West Coast, it feels like things are heating up—literally—on planet earth right now. I’ve been thinking…
The Client Intake and 5 Health Determinants
In the Vitalist Herbalist Practitioner Program, I talk about “root determinants,” which are the big-picture, general things that we do each and every day that determine our relative state of health (or lack of it). These are important things to know when working with clients, but sometimes they’re overlooked by practitioners because they’re considered basic…
The Different Types of Herbal Tonics
What does the word “tonic” mean? This word is frequently used in herbal medicine and in the alternative health world. We hear about health tonics, rejuvenative tonics, nutritive tonics, bitter tonics, and chi tonics. “Tonic” is one of those terms in herbalism that can use some clarification to make sure that we’re all on the…
The Allergic Load
We’re in the midst of summer here in the northern hemisphere. This is the time when a lot of people get affected by the pollens in the air and end up dealing with a lot of upper respiratory stuff. One question I get asked a lot during this time of year is why do some…
