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 and 1 tsp to 5 grams, the range of how much of a medicinal plant to give varies greatly from practitioner to practitioner. How much of a plant to administer to someone also greatly depends on their constitution, what herbs you plan on giving, whether…
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…
What Exactly is Herbal Energetics?
It’s common for people to conjure up images of plant spirits or think that energetics is some far out there esoteric “woo-woo” concept in herbalism. This could not be farther from the truth. In fact, before modern science came into fruition and chemical theory of medicinal plants came into being, energetic models permeated literally every…
My Top 5 Herbs for Mental Clarity
When our minds aren’t clear it’s hard to accomplish anything- we scatter into the winds or sink down into the low energetic state of brain fog. But when our minds are clear, focused, disciplined, and engaged, we tend to feel uplifted, positive, productive, and more present. There are definitely certain plants that we can…
