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.
