Reflections from Botanicwise #1: We need more herbalists.
Driving back from the Botanicwise herbal conference yesterday, windows down, radio off, allowed me to begin the process of digesting all that I had been exposed to over the past three days. I’m going to blog about this for the next few weeks, taking turns with different themes each week. Buckle up.
This was my second time at this conference, and the second conference I had attended this year (I think). It feels like I have just come back from the American Herbalist Guild Symposium; I really like the balance of the AHG Symposium paired up with Botanicwise because the combination provides both of what I need as it relates to my understanding and relationship with herbs. The AHG nourishes my clinical side, my the hunger for knowledge and understanding of how the body works with plants on the scientific level; Botanicwise nourishes what I like to think of as the beautiful side of herbalism. The talks, activities, and community at this conference remind me of the importance of relationship with our plant family- yes, Amy goes full woo here. Well, as much as she can muster given the journey of self-discovery and ego-dissolving she is currently struggling with…but, I digress.
Going into this conference I had planned on making this more about Me Time than about networking or learning all the things. I just wanted to have a good time. And I did. But throughout the weekend something else was unfolding. While I did attend classes, dutifully scribbling notes in my notebook, a deeper revelation was taking hold. Well, more than one, to be honest. Some deep shit was downloading, man. I was tuned in.
My purpose has changed- again. Or, maybe it’s just more clarity in the way the plants are calling me.
Lately I've noticed that everything I have spent energy on for the past six years has all been about my clinical practice. Building a business. Finding clients. Learning, learning, learning. Becoming a Registered Herbalist. Teaching yoga, teaching herb classes, vending at markets and events, making medicine- literally every single breath of each day has been all in an effort to build my practice. Admittedly, it wasn’t healthy, and now I realize I had it all wrong. Well, mostly wrong.
We don’t need more clinical herbalists. We need more herbalists.
This used to annoy me. It seemed like everyone and their mother was new herbalist, giving advice to people after taking a few online classes. Or- God forbid- following some herbal person on social media {insert eye roll}. I was wrong.
Side note:
The way I differentiate between clinical herbalists and other types of herbalists who serve their communities is that a clinical herbalist has spent (at least) a number of years studying and training with (at least) one school or mentor, and who possesses a thorough understanding of physiology/ pathophysiology, plant pharmacology, herb-drug interaction/ contraindication, herbal formulation, and intake skills/ assessment. But that’s just my two cents.
And BTW: You don’t need this to work with herbs! I think if you’re working with everyday health support and staying away from providing guidance on chronic or serious conditions (or with folks on certain medications), most people can help others using basic herbs for simple things.
The reason I think the focus should be on getting more people out there working with herbs is this: we’re in a crisis, whether people choose to believe that or not. Without getting into the weeds about the climate and concerns regarding our abuse of the Earth, I realized the only way to get things to take a turn, or if nothing else, slow down the destruction, is to get the numbers- massive amounts of people- on board. The majority. This means the normies. The average Joes. Not just the herb nerds and ecoconscious hippies. We need ‘THEM’. They want this herbal stuff.
Now, Their priorities may not be aligned with mine- They might want to learn about this because They’re antivaxers who want natural alternatives (while still getting Their fillers and Botox). They might be revolutionaries who hate the government and want to go off grid to be independent. They might mistrust doctors and science, and would rather take Their health into their own hands. Fine. Fine fine fine. You know why? Because if we can get Them to buy into herbal remedies, we can start the REAL WORK. We can teach Them to form relationships with plants, since They’ll rely on them, and then They’ll start to love them. Respect them. PROTECT THEM. When enough people care, when the voices are louder, the powers that be will make the changes we need.
You don’t need clinical herbalists to help your community.
You need community herbalists.
You can refer someone to a clinician if they have complicated cases or are on medications that make things a bit more tricky. You don’t need hardcore intake skills to know how to help someone with a cold or acid reflux. You don’t need phytochemistry to do wound care with plants. If you have a basic understanding of holistic health and a decent grasp of a handful of plants in your ecosystem, you can make magic. We need more people helping others connect with the land than we need exotic formulations.
My goal at this juncture is to heal the Earth (more so than the people) by sharing what I know with the people who want to know it. The budding herbalists. The curious. I want that Green Spark to spray like fireworks in my community. And I want those people to spread it to other people and places. Get everyone involved.
That’s what I thought I was doing as a clinician. In my mind, I was working tirelessly with the goal of helping people. In my efforts I was very much focused on myself and whether or not I was successful. What I forgot about were the plants themselves. Yes, I believed that by having people work with plant medicine that they would in turn care more for the Earth. But even then I was thinking of plants more as a tool rather than the focus.
Kat Maier did this to me. She changed my life this weekend. She doesn’t know it.
But you'll hear more about that story next week.
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