Ancient Medicine for the Modern World

The world needs healing right now more than ever. And not just patching up symptoms and definitely not suppressing them- we all need deep healing within our bodies, minds, hearts and souls. We need healing that will reconnect us with our true nature internally, as well as the natural world externally.

This is desperately needed at this time, for it is the illusion that most humans carry that we are separate from nature that lies at the root of a lot (if not most) of the problems the we are seeing in this crazy world right now. And because of this illusion that we are split from the natural world (because we in fact are as much a part of nature than anything else), we see all sorts of different forms of separation within us as people, within our culture, and even within the realm of herbalism.

The rational mind is separated from the intuitive heart, the spirit is separated from the body, our science and religion are at odds with one another, and this has ultimately led to us humans creating a world that is separate from the Earth. 

It’s sort of like our own ego and soul. The ego is comprised of all the things imposed upon us externally- it is not our true nature. Similar to how we have imposed our minds onto the Earth to create the world- cities, buildings… all the things created from the human mind. Whereas our soul is our true essential nature, the core of who we are, which we can think of as the Earth.

When our ego is separated from our soul there is an incongruency within our being, a sort of schizophrenia, where we feel divided, split unto ourselves. Like there’s something essential missing.

So too does the same consequence occur when the world is separated from the Earth.

In this way, if we are to heal the world and get it back into alignment with the Earth, we all as individuals must heal the splits within ourselves. We must purify the true from the false, the essential self from the conditioned self- to decondition the modern culture from our minds and reinstate a healthy state of being that is in accordance with life.

Herbal medicines have the power to do this, especially when prepared according to the ancient tradition of alchemy.

Unfortunately it’s all too common in modern herbalism to see this dynamic of separation- physical symptoms seen as separate from psychological/emotional dynamics, the chemistry of the plant separate from its energetics and spiritual qualities, and even in modern herbal preparations, where teas and tinctures are used to treat the body and more vibrational forms of medicines used to treat the psyche and soul- like a flower essence.

I mean how can we expect to be truly holistic practitioners of herbal medicine if we continue to see this divisions within people and plants? How can we address the whole person if we don’t utilize the wholeness of the plants?

How do you have a truly holistic model of herbal medicine that equally addresses the wholeness of both people and plants, and their relationship to the wholeness of life?

That is what alchemy is all about.

The tradition of western alchemy gives your practice of herbalism this truly holistic quality, where you are able to see the connections between the spiritual and physical qualities of both plants and people. It also enables you to have specific methods of preparing plant medicines that balances their chemistry, energetics, and evolutionary potencies.

This means that they function equally on the human body, psyche, and soul, supporting us in reaching rejuvenative states of health, vitality, clarity, and helping us to learn the lessons that we need to learn as a soul in order to further our growth, development, and evolution.