Herbs are the people’s medicine.

One of the reasons I started herbal studies was to begin to decolonize my relationship to the land.  I’m thankful the lineage of herbal studies in which I’ve been steeped includes the recovery of the ancient, even indigenous, knowledge of the ancestors from the lands I originally came from, currently known as western Europe and particularly England, Scotland, and Ireland.  The herbs in my materia medica (my “medicinal stuff”) are ones my ancestors would have known and loved, with stories to go with them.

Our herbal tradition or lineage is sometimes called the wisdom/folk tradition, honoring many ways of knowing including intuition, and rooted in relationship with plants.  I’m so grateful to all my teachers, from experienced herbalists, to other students I have sat in circle with, to people I’ve done consults and classes with, to my mentees, to animals, and especially to the plants.  My deepest thanks to them all.

My Materia Medica includes:
Blackberry
Borage
Burdock
Calendula
Chamomile
Chickweed
Cleavers
Comfrey
Dandelion
Elder (flower & berry)
Hawthorn
Hyssop
Lady’s Mantle
Lemon Balm
Licorice Root
Linden
Marshmallow
Meadowsweet
Motherwort
Mugwort
Mullein
Nettles
Oatstraw/Milky Tops
Peppermint/Spearmint
Red Clover
Red Raspberry
Rose
Thyme
Vervain
Yarrow
Yellow Dock

These are good friends…some of them are best friends and some I’m totally in love with (or they’re in love with me?).  They all want to be our allies.

When I’m able, I harvest herbs locally:  in our own garden, friends’ gardens, and urban wild spaces, though rarely in the wild to honor ecosystems.  Otherwise, I endeavor to obtain herbs and other supplies from reputable sources.

Note: White herbalism in the US is rife with theft from and appropriation of indigenous peoples of this continent and Africa and their healing traditions, which includes herbal healing as a form of resistance against white supremacist violence.  I continue to learn about this and want to be held accountable when I make mistakes.  I do not use, personally or in products for sale, plants such as white sage, sweetgrass, palo santo, and osha for this reason.

Additionally, though a powerful herbal medicine and “legal” where I live, I do not work with cannabis and believe it unethical for me as a white person to make money using a plant whose criminalization has resulted in so many people of color being imprisoned.  Reparations first.