Respectful Use of Traditional Knowledge

In the present context where communications are accelerating and where cultural, linguistic and socio-economic barriers no longer form insurmountable obstacles, local traditional medicines are influencing each other and constantly evolving. However, as North-American Traditional Herbalists, we enjoy a very peculiar position. Even though our roots are deeply embedded in European clinical herbalism, we have been influenced over the last centuries by Native medicine and Native herbs. As herbalists working on the fringes of modern medicine, our profession has evolved freely, holistically and organically, not just in clinics and factories but in harmony with nature and medicinal plants. Traditional American herbalists cultivate plants, harvest them in their natural environment, transform them, prepare and administer them. A North-American traditional herbalist who grows and transforms plants knows that nature is fragile and complex and part of a greater whole. Cultivating stubborn plants in an unpredictable climate, searching the forest for wild plants, harvesting them at the crucial moment, leaving enough for preservation and propagation, are actions that allow us to see plants in their greater context and lead us to carry this vision into our methods of extraction and into our practice. Traditional and alternative medicine is based on restoring the balance of physiological processes. It uses the strength of the body to heal itself, it taps into plant resources that cannot be entirely analysed or explained. It is therefore logical that our medicine is based on plant healing principles that go beyond their chemistry and constituents. The chemical and energetic nature of plants combined form a powerful team that supports the extraordinary healing capacity.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).