Essential Oils vs. Infused Oils
The Difference Between Essential Oils and Infused Oils People commonly confuse the term essential oil with infused oils, not realizing they are in fact two different types of extraction. We also have the term herbal oils or aromatic oils, which also contributes to the confusion, as these terms have all been used interchangeable and applied…
Ayurvedic Herbal Oil Massage for Balancing Your Dosha
Let’s face it, we all could probably be doing more to tend to our health. But sometimes self care can seem like another thing added to your already overflowing list of things you’ve got to take care of in your daily life. When you add up all the things you’ve read up on that you…
Working with Plant Intelligence with Scott Kloos
In this special episode of The Plant Path, I got a chance to interview a fellow PNW herbalist, Scott Kloos, founder of Cascadia Folk Medicine, The School of Forest Medicine and author of Pacific Northwest Medicinal Plants: Identify, Harvest, and Use 120 Wild Herbs for Health and Wellness. Scott and I have known each other…
Understanding Herbs Astrologically
In a similar way that the astrological pattern enables us to see the relationship between the human body, psyche, and soul, so too does it allow us to understand the connection between a plant’s physical, energetic and spiritual properties. It’s common in modern day herbalism to have one particular system for understanding the medicinal properties…
“How much of an herb do I give?” A discussion on dosage of medicinal plants
From a single drop to 5 mL of tincture or 1 tsp to 5 grams for a cup of tea, the range of how much of a medicinal plant to give someone is as vast and numerous as there are herbalists. Strong opinions exist on both ends of the spectrum; whether to give small…
An Herbal Formula for an Embarrassing Condition
I always like to say that every client you see is a chapter in your experiential book of learning herbal medicine. And that is the very best book you can get to learn about how to use plants effectively. Recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to treat a condition I’d never treated before… hemorrhoids.…
The Human Body: Machine or Ecosystem?
Modern biomedicine tends to view the human body like a machine made up of multiple “gears.” When something goes wrong, we simply need to fix the broken part (or replace it in some instances). This mechanistic view of the body is significantly different from more traditional perspectives on our anatomy and physiology. Central to the…
Plant Medicine Through the Wheel of the Year: Imbolc
We stand upon the threshold between late winter & early spring – marked by the time of Imbolc where seeds are beginning to stir within the belly of the Earth Mother. As the land slowly thaws and the sun lights up the sky a little longer with every passing day, the hope of spring and…
A Guide for Building your Herbal (and Alchemical) Library
We get asked all of the time “what are your favorite herb books?” – so we thought it’s about time we just compiled a list and posted it here for everyone to enjoy. It can be incredibly helpful while on the plant path to know where to go to get valuable and reliable information about…
5 Ways to Deepen Your Connection to Herbs
I got a great e-mail the other day from someone who was asking me how to have a deeper connection with herbal medicines… but from a non-spiritual perspective! This was such an awesome question that I decided the answer would make a much better video than e-mail, and I thought I’d share it with…
