We’ve all experienced times in our lives when we’ve felt vulnerable and scared when we just didn’t know what to do. One of those times for me happened when I was 19 years old. I had been living on my own for over a year and was feeling very independent… then I got sick.
Now, I had had colds occasionally, but this was worse. I felt so bad I started to get scared… maybe something was really wrong. And then I realized I had no idea what to do. I had, up until that point in my life, acquired no skills for taking care of myself or others during an illness. I didn’t even know what foods to eat, or whether to eat at all. I decided to call my mom. She took care of us kids when we got sick (though I couldn’t really remember what she did), so she must have some good advice.
She told me to go to the doctor.
Now, let me first say that I love doctors. We need them and I am so glad they are there for us. But I was also very disappointed. I felt somehow, maybe just a gut feeling, that we should be able to care for ourselves with traditional skills and knowledge for minor health issues without always having to run to the doctor. I did go to the doctor that day and came home with some kind of prescription, but I also remembered the feeling of helplessness.
When I found herbal medicine, one of the things that attracted me the most was the way it empowered me to care for myself. I started to acquire the skills to know which herbs to use and how to prepare them for all kinds of daily issues.
When my own children came into my life, I raised them with this traditional knowledge, making teas and syrups to ease their complaints. Doctor’s visits were reserved for routine check-ups and more serious issues. I felt like I was reclaiming a lost tradition that we all once had access to.
This is why I love herbal medicine. It is the people’s medicine… anyone with knowledge can grow or harvest medicine plants for taking care of their family. And it is also the medicine of the earth. How amazing that medicine grows right in our backyards, if only know how to recognize and prepare it.
I believe in herbal medicine. I have seen it come through for me and others time and time again. This is why I teach. I believe we can restore those lost traditions, that we can reclaim the knowledge of how to work with the medicine plants for our own well being. And I also believe that the more people know how to prepare their own medicine, the more they will care about protecting the plant populations.
If you interested in beginning or deepening your connection to the plant medicine, please join me for my 9-week foundational course in Folk Herbalism.
We start on January 9th and meet every Saturday (online) for 9 weeks.
Through this course, we will explore herbal teas, syrups, tinctures, elixirs, infused oils, salves, hydrosols, and more. I will get you started building your own materia medica, those plants you know so well you can rely on them easily. We will also explore energetics, formulation, external applications, harvesting, and more.
For all the details, click the button below. To register now and reserve your spot in this course, send me an email at nettlejucie@gmail.com.
Let’s get started on the journey to becoming your own herbalist in 2021!