Page 13 - the NOISE September 2012

Accord- ing to the Dept. of
Health & Human
Services, nearly
half the United States
population is taking
at least one prescrip-
tion drug. People need
medicine, but just what kind
of medicine would best serve them?
Pharmaceutical companies make huge profits peddling their wares: pills made of synthesized compounds are often based on natural compounds found in plants, but often contain a laundry list of side effects and, without health insurance coverage, can cost an arm and leg. Plant medicines, on the other hand, contain synergistic qualities because every compound in the plant is present, as opposed to the pills, which generally synthesize only one active ingredient. On a spiritual note, plants are alive, and contain an element of spirit and connection with the Earth that can never be delivered from a chemical made in a lab.
Since the mid-1990s, for a variety of rea- sons, a once-thriving community of herbal- ists began seeing a decline in their profes- sion. Herbal medicine – and the informed and practiced people who use the plants
– was in trouble. Plant medicine schools were losing students and many herbal conferences were closing down as large corporations began to enter the world of selling herbal supplements.
In response to the need to find different kinds of medicine, author Jesse Wolf Har- din, and his partner, Kiva Rose, an herbal- ist of both traditional folk and modern clini- cal pedigrees, decided to launch the Tradi- tions in Western Herbalism Conference (TWHC) in order to, in Mr. Hardin’s own words: “assist in the reinvigoration of the
‘people’s medicine.’ Our major focus is on making herbal knowledge available to ev- eryone in these times of increasing govern- ment regulation and corporate monopoly.”
The conference, which will be held this year at Mormon Lake, near Flagstaff, from September 13-16, focuses on West- ern herbalism because, although Eastern systems such as Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine are highly regarded and quite beneficial, focus on those exotic tradi- tions has led to a neglect of herbal systems native to our own continent and bioregion, causing people to ignore plant medicines that often grow right beneath their feet.
One of Ms. Rose’s herb- al passions is what
she calls “weed-
In disturbed lands all over the world, plants we call “weeds” prevail, and with good
reason! Weeds are the tough,
resilient pioneer species that
populate disturbed soil and pre-
pare it for future, more long-term
plants. And in the meantime, these weeds provide us with a great deal of food and medicine.
According to Mr. Hardin, the demograph- ics of people interested in herbalism has been rapidly expanding. “It’s no longer just turtle-necked ‘health nuts’ or New Agers that show up, but rather, moms and pops, college kids, and the elderly who are liter- ally sick of the pharmaceuticals that regular doctors routinely prescribe. There is a new and rising wave of herbalists of all ages, in- sistent on learning the old ways and the new twists.”
Ms. Rose believes that everyone has a right to “sustainable, inexpensive remedies that actually work, without worrying about academic theories or even government endorsement.” Mr. Hardin adds: “Herbs are an affordable way to manage our own health, and they can also lead to realiza- tions that are deeply personal, emotional, even spiritual, and inspire us to make life- style changes that result in us becoming more self-sufficient, as well as healthy.”
And plant medicines affect us not only physiologically, but energetically as well. Mr. Hardin explains: “Plants have been given credit for contributing to a spiritual sense of interconnectedness, or ‘oneness,’ the sense of accessing a transglobal body of collected terrestrial wisdom.”
Ms. Rose and Mr. Hardin believe the need for self and community care skills to be of utmost importance. Herbalism is one way to go about this. “As the price of pharmaceuticals go up and their dangers become ever more evident,” says Mr. Har- din, “herbal knowledge is becoming once again as essential and accepted as it was in the days before the advent of ‘modern’ medicine.”
Ms. Rose has been interested in plants since she was a child and has spent her life exploring botany, botanical medicine, physiology, and the history of healing tra-
wifery.”
ditions.
be read about her on
her website, BearMedi- cineHerbals.com. Though
growing up in the suburbs, Mr.
Hardin also fostered a childhood relationship with the plants, finding interest even in his mother’s house- plants and weeds growing in the front lawn.
He now considers himself an herb interlocutor and agent of the plants.
“I am helping grow and deepen the herbalist community while promoting herbalism’s values, aims, and aesthetics. My work in this field naturally follows my years as a naturalist and ecological activ- ist.” His essays and books, including his latest book, a novel entitled The Medicine Bear, can be found at AnimaCenter.org.
More can
Speakers at TWHC include big names in herbalism Matthew Wood, Paul Bergner, and Rosemary Gladstar, with class topics ranging from the scientific, like Musculoskeletal Health & Clinical Skills, to the esoteric, like The Heart as an Organ of Perception.
Sean Donahue will speak about en- theogens in the treatment of trauma, and curandero Charles Garcia will speak on death and dying for caregivers. Other topics include disaster preparedness, aphrodisiacs, discerning plant properties by taste, roots midwifery, and social and political activism among herbalists. No- table are the classes taught by our own lo- cal herbalists, Flagstaff’s Phyllis Hogan, and Sedona’s Feather Jones. The list of classes is long and inspiring, and can be found on the TWHC website:
TraditionsInWesternHerbalism.org . Check the website for camping details; for locals, day passes will be available at
the gate.
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news magazine • SEPTEMBER 2012 • 13