All information on this page is for your education only. Herbalists, like plants, do not diagnose or treat diseases. We help you learn health from the plants and work with the inner ecology of body and spirit to help us be more whole.
The plants were our original health. Our allies. Our teachers. The way we got better when something in us was sick.
When we knew the plants as our health, a stroll in the forest was a walk among friends and helpers. All along the shaded path or in the light of the open meadow, the bright helpers grew.
When need arose, someone in the community would go seeking their generosity; or sometimes the plants themselves would call someone near, sharing in image, feeling, or dream a willingness to help with an ailment known or not yet revealed.
The Wisdom of Herbalists
There is so much suffering in the human community and for much of it, institutionalized medicine can struggle to help. We are confronting chronic ailments of body and spirit that can elude simple labels and resist the blunt linear treatments of linear, blunt treatments of pharmaceuticals.
Yet when we turn to find more natural solutions, we confront an internet full of confusing and contradictory information. AI articles sit next to thoughtful essays from herbalists, and search engines decide what shows up when. The herbal supplement industry pushes plants as health fads, suggesting everyone take the new “superfood” or “miracle herb.” The most common way of talking about plants is to reduce them to an explanation of “what they’re good for.” This is a misunderstanding and leads people to think that natural solutions do not work.
Plants do not treat diseases or problems. Plants work with people. Their complex chemistry and spiritual signatures work in ways that science can never fully explain. The main way we know that plants help people is that they have been helping people for thousands of years and they still do.
A skilled herbalist takes the time to get to know you and to understand your experience. They embody the patience and perspicacity of a plant. Symptoms speak. Herbalists do not rush to fix a symptom. They help you learn to listen to the messages of your own body.
Human bodies and plants are alike in being very, very complex. Herbalists can’t guarantee results. What a skilled herbalist can promise is to listen deeply and to do their best to connect you with one or more plants that can guide the body and spirit towards being fully well.
To do this, they pay attention not just to what immediate physical challenges you are having, but also to your body’s constitution, your life history, and even the specific words you use to describe a pain or difficulty you are facing. They see the body as an ecosystem and look to address imbalances in our inner ecology. This is why plants and herbalists are sometimes able to help with difficulties that can be perplexing to the modern medical system. They look beyond diseases and symptoms and work with the body’s innate capacity to heal itself.
Relying on the Plants to Help
For years, I have relied on the subtle gifts of the plants to find my way to full health. I have sought them out for pain in my body and my spirit alike. I work with my own herbal tinctures and teas with a special focus on local plants growing around me.
In 2023, I began to formalize my learning by studying with two herbal teachers, Sajah Popham of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism and Matthew Wood (and many guest teachers) of the Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism. I have also undertaken traditional South American plant diets to open myself to the deeper teaching and healing that plants, in their unconditional love of humanity, are willing to share with those who commit to listening.
The common thread that ties together my work in Permaculture and as an herbalist is faith in the vital force of life to renew itself, to heal itself, and to continually move towards balance and full health. The work of Permaculture and herbalism are both primarily about listening deeply and then working with plants to find gentle interventions that help a system out of balance find its own way back to remembering the harmony it never truly forgets.
Working Together
As a new practicing herbalist who is still learning a lot every day, I am currently offering a low-cost, donation-based herbal practice for a small number of people. I am willing to work with people remotely online or in person in central NC and Southwest VA.
If you feel we might be a good fit, please reach out to me.