Milkweed Herbals

What is herbal medicine?  

Herbal medicine is the people's medicine.  It comes from centuries of tradition passed down through the ages from many different cultures from around the globe.  It uses energetics to understand the natural world.  Observing nature and energetics was the only way our ancestors knew how to describe and classify the world around them.  From this the medicine wheel came about.  The medicine wheel represents four or five elements and provides a method to analyze and classify the patterns that show up in nature.  There are many different types of medicine wheels.  No one wheel is the right wheel.  There are however similarities from all societies across the globe in understanding energetics expressed through the medicine wheel.  The symbol below is a simplified version of what a medicine wheel can look like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Herbal medicine is the study and understanding of these energetics.  It’s being able to read what the body is out of balance in and then applying the counter energy to help nudge the body back into balance.  The human body is always trying to maintain homeostasis (balance) at any given moment in time and has an innate ability to heal itself.  What herbal medicine is doing is gently reminding the body what that balance or homeostasis should look and feel like and then placing trust in the body to do the rest.    

 

What does the healing process look like?

Healing is a cyclical spiral.  The art of healing has seasons like the weather or layers

like an onion. Healing, just like the weather repeats itself by going around and around,

always fine tuning, going deeper, coming back and meeting ourselves again and again

but each time in a new session, a new year, a new layer all while being present to each

moment.  It is in those present moments that we are able to pull back another layer

and cultivate compassion for our bodies' natural healing process along with loving

awareness of what's going on in the environment inside and outside of our bodies. 

What our bodies need from one day to the next may differ.  What one person needs

may also differ from what another person needs.  It takes awareness, time, patience,

honesty, courage, consistency and compassion.

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Who can benefit from herbal medicine?  

Anyone and everyone.  An openness and willingness is essential to working with the plants.  It is important to seek out high quality herbal remedies and a qualified herbal practitioner.  

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What form does herbal medicine come in?

There are many different ways to get the plant medicine in.  This could look like teas, tinctures, ointment, oil, aromatics, vinegars, compresses, meditation, gardening, flower essences, drop doses (energetics), food, and the list goes on… 

As you can see herbal medicine can take many forms.  Ultimately it's all about finding the right access point that makes sense to each individual.