UNTAMED ABYSS

thegothicalice:

Cruel..?

Originally posted by gatissed

starcrystal-healing:

I have so much to say about beginner herbalism and I love talking about it! I’m gonna start off with the resources I already have. Here is my post study tips for herbalists (includes schools, general tips, websites) and here is my recommended books list. Books I recommend depend on what kind of path you are trying to take with herbalism.

Here are my most important points

You dont need to know EVERY DAMN THING. Just find one thing, or two things. Maybe those things will change later. For example, even though I am trained to work with herbs for chronic illness, pain, etc am I going to try to be really GREAT at ALL of that? Every single illness? No way!! I am specializing in emotional/mental issues and female reproductive issues and those are the kinds of people I will serve for the most part.

Be sensible and be safe online. Don’t trust information no matter how many likes or reblogs it has. The wellness industry brings in a ton of money, and there are many people and companies who post bullshit (knowingly or unknowingly) online because the more you post = the most exposure = the more money you make. But still you should totally follow and surround yourself with herbalists on social media, just don’t believe everything. When you gain enough experience you will be able to tell when something is true or not. Sometimes people just have different opinions and thats okay but you can’t budge on safety.

Surrounding yourself with herbalists is a good idea because it will give you an idea of what being a herbalist is like. There are hundreds of different ways to be a herbalist. A doula who uses herbal medicines to help her clients have natural births. A medicine maker who sells massage oil for breast health and menstrual pain. A family herbalist who helps family and friends with everyday remedies. A clinical herbalist who sees clients and helps with their issues. There are pros and cons to every career in herbalism and if you are considering this as a career then it is good to scope out your options before you really dive in.

You need to get your information from good sources. I have the booklist linked but that is by no means every good herbal book. You want books written by people who really have experience in the herbal field. If there is a specfic topic in herbalism you want help researching feel free to ask me.

Don’t get swept into the detox craze. That is all.

Other points:

Join groups, make groups. This may be on Facebook, IRL, or even on Tumblr (Id love to be invited to a group)! Consider joining the American Herbalists Guild if you live here, there are some great resources. It is uncharacteristic of me to actually say something nice lol but I have actually met some very kind people from joining herb groups! For example one person owns a herb farm locally and she gifted me some plants so that I could make some medicine because I can’t grow that plant myself right now.

Don’t try to learn everything alone. If you want to learn about herbs and astrology, herbs and energy healing, herbs and depression, or if you want to go my route and learn a lot more: don’t try to do it all yourself! There are good courses out there. Self-learning is great and it is how I started out when I was a teen but I never would have gotten to the point where I am if I had not taken any courses. Maybe self-learn through books and small mini courses for a year and then evaluate where you want to go with herbalism after that.

Give thanks and be grateful. I believe that plants have spirits and are alive. I cherish my relationships with them and I am so grateful for their medicine. I love them so much I do not even know how to get it into words. You do not have to agree with me on this and that is okay. But at the very least you need to be sustainable with your herbalism and be aware of the impact of your actions. Do not go running out into the forest to forage and pick things up with no consideration. Ask nicely. Don’t take things you don’t need.

What herb is good for ________? Throw that question out of the window! A good herbalist knows there is no one size fits all approach. If you want a herb for high blood pressure the answer is not simply to choose a herb that is supposedly good for high blood pressure. Herbal assessment requires you to take a deep look at the persons overall health and the patterns in their body in order to tell the root cause of the illness or symptom. The body is constantly talking in many ways: in urine color and frequency, in appetite or lack of appetite, in preference of heat or cold, in the types of pain that may be stinging or dull, in depression that happens at certain times of day. Good herbal assessment is understanding these signs. After understanding these signs you can choose an appropriate herb, but if you choose one before it is like taking a shot in the dark. So those of you saying that other people should take a few turmeric capsules for their chronic inflammatory diseases and basically everything else? Nope.

Herbal study plan ideas:

Maybe one day I will write some more detailed study plans with links to recipes (would you all be interested in that?) but its getting late so this is it for now

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Cold and flu study plan

Research:

What are diaphoretics? What is the difference between a relaxing and stimulating diaphoretic? In what cases would you use one vs the other? What is Wind-Cold in Chinese Medicine? What is Wind-Heat? 

Projects:

• Cough syrup
  
• Cough drops
  
• Cold and flu teas (based off of what you learned about diaphoretics, Wind-Cold, etc)
  
• Cold & flu soup with herbs

Ok I am thinking it would be best if I linked recipes tbh so I am gonna just make a separate post another day with a few study plan ideas that are easier to follow!! But hopefully this one will help you start out.

Herbs to start out with

The herbs you are going to want to start out with are gonna depend on what you want to do with said herbs. Do you want to make pain salves? Soothing teas? Choose herbs you will really use. Here is a list of relatively safe herbs that have pretty common uses. Check the study tips for herbalists post that I linked above for websites to buy herbs.

• Lavender flowers
  
• Nettle leaf
  
• Yarrow powder
  
• Activated charcoal powder (not rly an herb but whatever)
  
• Rosemary essential oil, lavender essential oil, tea tree essential oil
  
• Peppermint leaf
  
• Chamomile
• Elder flower
• Lemon balm
• Orange peel
• Fennel
• Ginger
• Cinnamon

That is all I have to share right now! I hope this helps and feel free to ask more questions.

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