One of the most important things to me, in helping Europeans make this shift back to their literal roots of maintaining their health with herbs, is to emphasize the need for taking care of the natural environment... not only to prevent pollution in their local regions... but to restore the habitat for plants to grow naturally... AND to encourage growing your own medicines in your private or community gardens. It is also VERY important to limit the impact we make on the natural environment (forests etc) as we begin this shift back towards herbal medicine and the true healing our Earth Mother provides to us... To do this, a concept which is called "ETHICAL HARVESTING" is important to begin... when you begin to find and collect your own wild plants. Some of the most important aspects of this system of creating sustainable interactions with the plants are: 1.) Never take more than 1/4 (25%) of any group of plants. Leave the rest undisturbed so that they can re-seed and make more of themselves. 2.) When possible collect ripe seeds from one area and take them to another similar area, to start a new community of medicine plants. (make sure the sun exposure, rainfall, soil type, and most other conditions are similar, so that the new community of plants will thrive). Try to establish these new plant communities in areas close to where you live, so that the necessity to drive anywhere is minimized or eliminated. 3.) Always collect plants from clean, unpolluted areas. Be careful to collect AWAY from roadways... and AWAY from agricultural areas which use pesticides or artificial fertilizers, because the plants will accumulate these toxic substances in their tissues (nitrites and estrogens)... and will not make suitable medicines, and could even be toxic. 4). Become familiar with the life cycle of each plant, and the conditions it needs to be vibrant and healthy.... 5.) Share seeds from these plants (along with the details of what type of soil, sun exposure, and water requirements they have... so that these plants can be brought back to all areas where they once naturally occurred. 6.) Carpool (share rides) with others when you go out to collect or plant these medicine plants... and do whatever else you can think of, to lessen the impact of these activities on the natural environment. 7). Keep an inventory of the plants and plant communities in your area... so that you can see over time if they are growing or shrinking. IF they are shrinking, work in whatever ways you can to begin to expand their numbers.. In these ways, we can have a positive impact on the world of plants,and especially on those we depend upon for our medicines. Then, these medicines will be available for everyone to use in the future.
So, these are a few of my ideas about the herbs, and the dance we do with them.
Hello to all of you whom I have met, and to all of you who I have yet to meet here in Poland and throughout Europe. I am engaged in this process of creating working groups of people in as many countries as possible, who choose to learn about the healing power of herbs, and to dance with the spirits of Nature, and depend upon her for their healing. I started a closed facebook group for the people who have attended one or more of my workshops and for the friends they have who are also interested to begin to learn about how the plants are used medicinally, and the techniques we herbalists use to make different kinds of medicines. After the inital workshops, to learn these techniques, it is my intention to continue to keep in touch with these groups, through this blog and through the Circles of Herbs group on facebook.... and through e-mails. It is also my intent to leave behind me a group of people, who will cooperate and support each other in each local community... I hope they will collaborate on ordering raw materials to make the medicines they make, and also work together to purchase things like herb presses, which are used to press out infused oils (which are then used to make salves (maszt), and to press out other herb material when making plant extracts. I also hope that each group will get together regularly after these classes... to talk about different herbs, and to make these medicines together... I hope they can eventually work to create a shared herbal "pharmacy" of the different kinds of medicines they feel are necessary and appropriate to keep themselves and their families healthy.
To date, I have presented the Circles of Herbs weekend workshop twice. The first class was held in Janow, Poland,... outside of Warsawa. The participants enjoyed the course, during which we made 2 alcohol/water extracts, prepared the fresh plant extract for the next circle of herbs class (to pass on to the next class, as a way of connecting these groups together energetically)... and made a wonderful salve. Materials were provided to do these processes, and printed materials were also provided in the form of worksheets and information about each herb we used and looked at. It was an amazing group of people, and it was wonderful for me to see the enthusiasm and joy that this learning brought to them. I also had an amazing interpreter, Aleksander Kowalski, who provided almost telepathic translation skills... which were invaluable in bringing my thoughts and words to everyone, without losing any meaning. Awesome Job, Alek :-) Thank you so much !
The second Circles of Herbs workshop was held in Wroclaw, two weeks later... and was also an amazing success. The same outline was followed, where we made one fresh plant extract and one dried plant extract... and a salve. We had an herb walk in the local area, and had a photo presentation of the herbs I have met since I have been in Poland over the past 4 months. Thank you to all of you who participated in this group too.... and for sharing with me two plants which I did not know before. I will be doing some research on these and present them here at a later time.
Please follow this blog, and I will post new information as regularly as possible. I plan to return to my home in New Mexico, USA, sometime in November or December... (this may change)... but will keep posting here even from New Mexico. I would like to create a journey for people interested to come to the Southwestern United States... to dance with the early spring bloom in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, which is fantastically beautiful. I would also like to introduce participants to the Native American sweat lodge ceremony, and to various sacred and scenic areas, and natural hot springs in the area around Silver City, New Mexico, where I live. I hope you choose to follow this blog, and communicate with me as it is possible for you. I wish all of you wonderful Fall and Winter seasons.... and may you all be happy and healthy.
One of the most important things to me, in helping Europeans make this shift back to their literal roots of maintaining their health with herbs, is to emphasize the need for taking care of the natural environment... not only to prevent pollution in their local regions... but to restore the habitat for plants to grow naturally... AND to encourage growing your own medicines in your private or community gardens. It is also VERY important to limit the impact we make on the natural environment (forests etc) as we begin this shift back towards herbal medicine and the true healing our Earth Mother provides to us... To do this, a concept which is called "ETHICAL HARVESTING" is important to begin... when you begin to find and collect your own wild plants. Some of the most important aspects of this system of creating sustainable interactions with the plants are:
ReplyDelete1.) Never take more than 1/4 (25%) of any group of plants. Leave the rest undisturbed so that they can re-seed and make more of themselves.
2.) When possible collect ripe seeds from one area and take them to another similar area, to start a new community of medicine plants. (make sure the sun exposure, rainfall, soil type, and most other conditions are similar, so that the new community of plants will thrive). Try to establish these new plant communities in areas close to where you live, so that the necessity to drive anywhere is minimized or eliminated.
3.) Always collect plants from clean, unpolluted areas. Be careful to collect AWAY from roadways... and AWAY from agricultural areas which use pesticides or artificial fertilizers, because the plants will accumulate these toxic substances in their tissues (nitrites and estrogens)... and will not make suitable medicines, and could even be toxic.
4). Become familiar with the life cycle of each plant, and the conditions it needs to be vibrant and healthy....
5.) Share seeds from these plants (along with the details of what type of soil, sun exposure, and water requirements they have... so that these plants can be brought back to all areas where they once naturally occurred.
6.) Carpool (share rides) with others when you go out to collect or plant these medicine plants... and do whatever else you can think of, to lessen the impact of these activities on the natural environment.
7). Keep an inventory of the plants and plant communities in your area... so that you can see over time if they are growing or shrinking. IF they are shrinking, work in whatever ways you can to begin to expand their numbers..
In these ways, we can have a positive impact on the world of plants,and especially on those we depend upon for our medicines. Then, these medicines will be available for everyone to use in the future.
So, these are a few of my ideas about the herbs, and the dance we do with them.
Hello to all of you whom I have met, and to all of you who I have yet to meet here in Poland and throughout Europe. I am engaged in this process of creating working groups of people in as many countries as possible, who choose to learn about the healing power of herbs, and to dance with the spirits of Nature, and depend upon her for their healing. I started a closed facebook group for the people who have attended one or more of my workshops and for the friends they have who are also interested to begin to learn about how the plants are used medicinally, and the techniques we herbalists use to make different kinds of medicines.
ReplyDeleteAfter the inital workshops, to learn these techniques, it is my intention to continue to keep in touch with these groups, through this blog and through the Circles of Herbs group on facebook.... and through e-mails. It is also my intent to leave behind me a group of people, who will cooperate and support each other in each local community... I hope they will collaborate on ordering raw materials to make the medicines they make, and also work together to purchase things like herb presses, which are used to press out infused oils (which are then used to make salves (maszt), and to press out other herb material when making plant extracts.
I also hope that each group will get together regularly after these classes... to talk about different herbs, and to make these medicines together... I hope they can eventually work to create a shared herbal "pharmacy" of the different kinds of medicines they feel are necessary and appropriate to keep themselves and their families healthy.
To date, I have presented the Circles of Herbs weekend workshop twice. The first class was held in Janow, Poland,... outside of Warsawa. The participants enjoyed the course, during which we made 2 alcohol/water extracts, prepared the fresh plant extract for the next circle of herbs class (to pass on to the next class, as a way of connecting these groups together energetically)... and made a wonderful salve. Materials were provided to do these processes, and printed materials were also provided in the form of worksheets and information about each herb we used and looked at. It was an amazing group of people, and it was wonderful for me to see the enthusiasm and joy that this learning brought to them. I also had an amazing interpreter, Aleksander Kowalski, who provided almost telepathic translation skills... which were invaluable in bringing my thoughts and words to everyone, without losing any meaning. Awesome Job, Alek :-) Thank you so much !
ReplyDeleteThe second Circles of Herbs workshop was held in Wroclaw, two weeks later... and was also an amazing success. The same outline was followed, where we made one fresh plant extract and one dried plant extract... and a salve. We had an herb walk in the local area, and had a photo presentation of the herbs I have met since I have been in Poland over the past 4 months. Thank you to all of you who participated in this group too.... and for sharing with me two plants which I did not know before. I will be doing some research on these and present them here at a later time.
Please follow this blog, and I will post new information as regularly as possible. I plan to return to my home in New Mexico, USA, sometime in November or December... (this may change)... but will keep posting here even from New Mexico.
I would like to create a journey for people interested to come to the Southwestern United States... to dance with the early spring bloom in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, which is fantastically beautiful. I would also like to introduce participants to the Native American sweat lodge ceremony, and to various sacred and scenic areas, and natural hot springs in the area around Silver City, New Mexico, where I live. I hope you choose to follow this blog, and communicate with me as it is possible for you.
I wish all of you wonderful Fall and Winter seasons.... and may you all be happy and healthy.