Deep Ecology & Deep Herbalism
A profound rebirth is affecting all aspects of our culture, often manifesting as trauma, chaos, pain, disruption — the whole panoply of crises we are all too familiar with. When an egg is hatching the first signs is trauma in the shell; it cracks. It has to crack so that the new can come out. We are not in a time of trauma as such, but of very positive change often coloured by appalling and excruciating transit. An incredible opportunity presents itself if we could see it, but the trick is to see it and recognize it in the heart of the confusion.
The more we turn our attention toward the nature of our relationship with the environment, the more profound the insights into the close embrace we share. Whether on the global scale of our effects upon climate, and the climate’s effects upon us or at the biochemical level of plants as medicines, the connections revealed are profound and very real. Of the many ways in which our ecological inter-relatedness shows itself, the art and science of Herbal Medicine are for many people in our culture the most unexpected.
Herbalism is the medicine of belonging, the direct experience of the whole healing the part. Our world blesses us with herbs, with leaves of life. In the face of humanity’s blind abuse and rape of nature, we discover remedies that can help us survive the impact of our species’ mistakes. To heal ourselves we must know ourselves, and thus all of our ecological relatives, for spirituality, intuition and common sense tells us that we are all one. If our world is sick and poisoned then so are we. If the forests are being destroyed, then we die a little with each felling. Every whale that is respected and let live, blesses us. Each river cleaned and renewed, flows through our veins and renews us.
Humanity is facing the realities of a shared planet. This may take the form of a drought caused by the greenhouse effect, pollution-induced birth defects or the purgatory of human overpopulation. On the other hand, it may be the dawning recognition that the intimate embrace of our world is a healing force moving humanity toward a transformation of our relationship with the earth, ourselves, and each other.
The Gaia Hypothesis proposes an illuminating context within which to place herbs and humanity. First postulated by James Lovelock, it has been developed by many people, bridging the worlds of science and spirituality. Lovelock has succinctly defined his hypothesis:
“We have defined Gaia as a complex entity involving the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet“[1].
Lovelock’s research for NASA, investigation of planetary biogeochemistry, led to his formulation of the Gaia hypothesis, which suggests that the Earth is not a physicochemical mechanism but a living entity with the equivalent of senses, intelligence, memory and the capacity to act. This is entirely non-human intelligence that in our anthropocentric arrogance we do not directly perceive. Within the fabric of Gaia, there is an interwoven and intelligently driven web which generates balance, continuity and stability. She is the Earth spirit, she is all things biological and inorganic, and she is also the interactions between them. She is ecology!
The Gaia Hypothesis marks a special point in humanities evolution. For the first time, there is a clear point of contact between analytical Cartesian science and the more holistic world views of human spirituality. Both perspectives can now agree that all of life is one, that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. This can be said in both mystical poetry or in terms of the statistical interpretations of quantitative data that underlie biogeochemistry, but fundamentally the same thing is being expressed.
How does Herbalism fit into this worldview? Evolutionary biology tells us that all any species needs are met by its environment, otherwise, it could not survive. This holds true for humanity as much as for slime moulds. The environment provides us not only with food, shelter and resources of all kinds but also with the joy of waterfalls and sunsets. All human needs are met, spiritual as well as physical.
A primary biological need is that of healing, ensuring the maintenance of wholeness and thus survival. The environment provides for this in the same way as food for nutrition. The biosphere was not waiting for the evolution of multinational drug companies before there could be healthy animals! Healing is a Gaian quality as it is an expression of balance and wholeness.
The relationship between healing plants and people can be seen as Gaia in action. It does not matter whether your interest is in the chemistry of secondary plant products, interactions between saponins and the human immune system, whole plant therapeutic actions or the energy fields of plants, the context is one of ecological embrace.
Re-discovery of the profound relationship that exists between plants and humanity renews the old rapport in a new context, offering a way to resolve many apparently insoluble human problems. Inviting Gaia to point the way will open many doors. Whether it be personal health or the social and ecological health issues that assail us today, from both a Gaian and Herbal perspective, the future outcome of our present challenges looks bright indeed.
As an expression of very real and practical links with Gaia, there is an activation of ecological cycles for healing. A unique opportunity is created by the simple act of taking herbal medicines, in fact, the door is opened to the possibility of a miracle of healing far beyond the removal of disease. This profound and deeply transforming miracle is facilitated by a direct experience of ecological flow and integration. An experience of belonging in the deepest sense, knowing that one is home, healed and whole. Such healing goes beyond the treatment of pathologies and the alleviation of bodily suffering that herbal remedies do so well. Rather, it is in the realm of the transcendent, it is the touch of the luminous, the ineffable transformation that comes about through the touch of God.
It has little to do with specific herbs or healthcare programs. It results from the bridging of the alienation deep within the psyche, the separation from the embrace of both nature and soul that plagues humanity. Such experiences cannot be created or predicted, but there are times when the use of green herbs touches us in an experience of ‘the Green’. The medieval herbalist and mystic, Hildegard Von Bingen, talks of ‘Viriditas’, the Greening power. By greening power, I interpret her to mean vital energy that is life, the spirit of the planet, the divine in form, that heals and transforms humanity. The healing offered so abundantly and freely by the plant kingdom is indeed a greening of the human condition, pointing to the reality of a new springtime. Humanity is awakening and finally becoming present within the biosphere, vibrantly alive, eyes wide open with hearts that feel the love of the Whales and the Redwoods, minds revivified, filled with a vision of a healed world and ready for the challenges ahead.
Herbalism abounds with opportunities to experience the reality of the healing presence of nature, whether in treating disease or in hugging a tree. Approaching herbalism from its array of diverse and divergent components illuminates a field of human endeavour that is a wonderful weaving of the miraculous and the mundane. It is a therapy that encompasses anthraquinone laxatives, the spiritual ecstasy of the Amazonian Shaman and the beauty of the flower. The limits to what might be called the path of the herbalist are only those imposed by a parochial vision and constipated imagination!
It has been said that without vision the people die. Without a personal vision, life becomes a slow process of degeneration and decay, and without some social vision civilization rapidly disintegrates. Such a life-affirming vision is different from taking on a dogmatic belief system. It is an expression of meaning in an individual’s life and must come from their core. A green vision of humanity’s place within the family of Gaia is rapidly illuminating our culture. Herbalism, with its reverence for life and bridging between plants and people, is at the heart of this transformation.
From my herbalists’ perspective, it seems self-evident that Viriditas is a driving force behind the changes touching humanity. It reminds us of who we are, where we live, and what embraces us. It an aspect of what has been called the paradigm shift, a profound change in our cultural worldview and context within which we live and envision.
An example of the paradigm shift is the transition from looking at things simply as things, toward focusing on the relationship between things. Much has been learnt about things but it is not helping very much in the current crises. Such approaches have led to the point where we may have modern comforts but we also have fast disappearing species and habitats, lethal pollution levels, and billions of unhappy people. If attention is directed toward relationships some insights into positive change and healing become apparent.
Before applying this perspective to herbalism, we should make sure that we talking about the same thing? Herbs are different things to different people, with definitions varying according to the area of interest and personal bias. What then is Herbalism? Just saying that it is the study of herbs does not answer the question. The lack of clarity reflects the changing fortunes of herbalism in English speaking cultures over the centuries. At one time Herbalism was an honourable profession that laid the foundations for modern medicine, botany, pharmacy, perfumery and chemistry, but as these developed and our culture’s infatuation with technology and reductionism took over, herbalism was relegated to the history books or pleasantly quaint country crafts. This left a word with a variety of uses but without a cultural core. As herbalism develops afresh in what has been called the “Herbal Renaissance’, it is time for this little word to be reclaimed.
For our purposes, we shall define a herb as a plant in a relationship with humanity, and herbalism becomes the exploration of humanity’s relationship with the plant kingdom. The dictionaries, usually the authoritative source of the ‘true’ meaning of words, would probably disagree!
The Complete Oxford Dictionary contains over three pages of definitions around herb and herbalist, demonstrating the importance of this field to our culture. The primary definition of herb reads, “a plant of which the stem does not become woody or persistent (as in a shrub or tree), but remains more or less soft and succulent, and dies down to the ground (or entirely) after flowering”. The second definition says that the term herb is applied to “plants of which the leaves or stem and leaves are used for food or medicine, or in some way for their scent or flavour”.
Botany views herbs as non-woody plants, that is they do not contain woody, lignin fibres. Dorland’s Medical Dictionary similarly defines an herb as “a plant whose stems are soft and perishable, and which are supported chiefly by turgor pressure”. The science of ecology, the study of the interrelationships between plants, animals and the environment, has a very specific use of the word herb. In descriptions of complex communities such as a forest, herbs are plants that are less than 12 inches high that live their life cycles in the ‘herb layer’. This would mean that trees and shrubs such as Sarsaparilla and Cramp Bark are not herbs.
The culinary arts have explored the use of plants in many delicious ways, but usually restricting what is called a herb to those plants that smell and taste wonderful; plants that are rich in pleasantly aromatic volatile oils such as Basil, Peppermint or Oregano. No self-respecting chef would think of creating culinary delights with Stinking Iris, Skunk Cabbage or Golden Seal!
In the various branches of medicine, the word usually implies plants that are sources for healing remedies, either in their ‘crude’ form or as sources of physiologically active chemicals. This can lead to only physiologically potent plants being recognized as herbs, ignoring the gentle tonic remedies. From the perspective of the Medical Herbalist, a herb is any plant material that may be used in the field of health and wholeness. This may be a herb in the strict botanical sense with a remedy such as Horehound, or a part of a plant as in the flowers of Marigold, the heartwood of the Lignum Vitae tree, the seeds of Chasteberry or the roots of Echinacea.
One general definition often given, states that ‘a herb is any useful plant’. However, from the perspectives of the environmentalist, it is possible to ask what plant is not useful? Indeed it could be argued that Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, Nettles and Brambles are exceptionally useful as they keep humans off that piece of land! The wholeness of the environment is vital for individual human health, implying that all plants in our environment have a medicinal role to play in planetary terms.
If the holistic context is taken in its broadest sense, then a herb is a plant in relationship with humanity and herbalism becomes the study and exploration of the interaction between humanity and the plant kingdom. Such a stance highlights the range and depth of human dependence on plants. This relationship is at the core of agriculture, forestry, carpentry, construction, clothing, medicine, and so on. In fact, as coal is geologically processed wood, this broad view would include the petrochemical industry as a subset of modern herbalism!
The depth of this relationship goes way beyond such social and economic issues to the very life-sustaining mechanisms of planetary ecology. The health and well-being of the biosphere are governed by the green mantle of the Earth. Humanity’s rapacious exploitation and destruction of the forests and seas strikes at the very core of Gaia’s life support mechanisms. It is becoming evident that to survive the crises at hand, humanity must learn some environmental humility and co-operate with nature. Herbalism is a unique and important expression of this cooperation within Gaia. The green world is actively healing the human world, as a birthright, we are in the caring embrace of Mother Earth. It does not need to be created, simply experienced.
Medical Herbalism is thriving today, using whole plants to treat whole people, facilitating the healing process within the framework of holistic medicine. It is both an art and science, and with its roots in the venerable past, it is relevant and meaningful in the present and points not only toward an exciting future for the whole of medicine but even for directions in which our society might decide to go.
A new understanding of health is appearing. Such a change is both in attitude and approach and is often referred to as Holistic Medicine. This is a small part of a shift in the way we see ourselves and the issues that affect us. This has been called a paradigm shift; a change in the patterns of belief and perception that our culture has about itself. Such a shift has happened many times before. From the vantage point of history the transformation of society from the medieval worldview to that we now call the herbal renaissance is strikingly clear. However, to the people of the time, the process of change would either have been imperceptible or totally confusing, unless you were Leonardo Da Vinci!
This development of new patterns of expectation and explanation is affecting the field of medicine. Questions are being raised about every aspect of medicine, from the nature of health and disease, to appropriate therapeutic techniques. All of which is the exploration of the new paradigm. What is health from the context of this new paradigm? The World Health Organization has the clearest definition, its simplicity highlighting its profound relevance :
“Health is more than simply the absence of illness. It is the active state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being“.
This is a wonderfully precise encapsulation of the perspectives of holistic medicine. This approach to medicine starts from the assumption that health is a positive and active state, that it is an inherent characteristic of whole and integrated human beings. From a holistic standpoint, a person is not a patient with a disease syndrome but a whole being. This wholeness necessitates the therapist appreciating the mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental aspects of their patients’ lives, as well as the physical. A holistic practitioner, of whatever specific therapy, has a deep respect for the individual’s inherent capacity for self-healing. This enables a relationship of the active partnership in the healing process, rather than one of expert and passive recipient.
Relating to the whole person is, of course, not new. It is an inherent part of the healer’s heritage. From the teachings of Hippocrates onwards, there has been the deeply caring support of the patient that every doctor, every herbalist, every nurse, is guided toward by their teachers. Naming and emphasizing Holistic medicine today is an attempt to correct the tendency in modern medicine to equate health care with the treatment of a ‘disease entity’. Holism does not pre-define any medical technique or theory, it is a context in which the whole person is considered. A medical doctor can be holistic, as can a medical herbalist or osteopath. A framework becomes apparent that can embrace a whole range of therapeutic modalities, whether labelled ‘orthodox’ or ‘alternative’.
Herbal medicine fits well into this emerging holistic paradigm. It is a healing technique inherently in tune with nature and has been described as ecological healing because of its basis in the shared ecological and evolutionary heritage with the plant kingdom that herbal remedies work.
A split is appearing in the ecology movement between what has been called shallow ecology and deep ecology. The words are unfortunate as they imply connotations that are totally inappropriate.
Shallow ecology is the study of the relationships between animals, plants and their environment. It has become part of the toolbox of our rapacious society, as it conserves nature. Who are we to be owning and using them in the first place? We manage resources, never dance with them! Shallow ecology maintains an anthropocentric worldview. It comes down to humanity being given dominion over the world; but if this is the case, it looks like we have blown it.
Deep ecology can be characterized by a move away from anthropocentrism and an actual affirmation of the wholeness of life. We are part of a web; we are indeed part of an ecology and not a particularly special point in it either, other than possibly as a thorn in its side. At this point in time, the human is a special issue, not because of superiority but as a liability.
It is time to move away from perceiving the world as a cybernetic model and toward seeing it as GAIA. Time to take the risk of being involved and subjective, of experiencing the world and not just quantifying it, being present as the living beings that we are. Psychiatry tells us that the human condition is deeply coloured by alienation. They may be right, but it is not alienation from each other and ourselves, but alienation from nature, from what has been called The Green. Wherever we are on the planet we are at home, always, but how often do we truly experience that?
I don’t think we can be healthy individually if our greater body is not healthy. If we are, we have separated and isolated ourselves. Unless we are working with our whole being to heal the greater whole, being selfishly healthy is potentially more unhealthy than having cancer.
I would suggest that the entire field of human health and wholeness, medicine in its broadest sense, is part of planetary Gaian homeostasis. Homeostasis is the concept that we have, in the human body, mechanisms that maintain a constant internal environment. Whether it is temperature, blood sugar or blood pressure, a complex of physiological and behavioural homeostatic mechanisms compensate for changes and so ensure stability.
The percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere has been maintained within similar boundaries for many millions of years, facilitated by massively complex planet-wide mechanisms for maintaining this. This might be called Planetary Homeostasis. If there were 2 or 3% more oxygen in the atmosphere, the first lightning strike in a forest would ignite a fire that would not stop. If there was 2% less there would probably not be enough oxidative power for photosynthesis to be as abundant as it is. The planet has got it exquisitely balanced.
When we work with someone in a healing relationship, we are part of that same planetary homeostasis because we are of the planet, not separate from it. I would suggest that the use of plants in healing is one of the primary interfaces between humanity and Gaia. We are dealing with homeostasis in action, ecology at work, perceiving the fingerprint of Gaia. All we have to do is change our perspective, take the blinkers off and it is clearly in front of us.
How the efficacy of plants is explained, whether in terms of energetics or phytochemistry, does not matter; that is simply a reflection of the belief system being applied. There is not enough space here to explore these different perspectives, but let us focus on the biochemical explanations that the dominant culture places so much faith in.
The secondary plant products, which the pharmacologists insist are the ‘active ingredients, can be understood in a very different way when viewed from a Gaian perspective. They might be more accurately called allelochemicals (other-chemicals), because they are not secondary to the plants’ vital functioning, as they are not for the plant, they are for the plants’ interaction with the environment. They can be seen as an ecological – biochemical equivalents of neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters act as transmitters of information across synapses. Ideas, feelings, even visions are transmitted from one nerve to another nerve. Such chemistry might simply be the physical anchor of the spirit, but there is no denying the chemistry is there. When someone takes a herb, the transmission is the taking on of the chemistry of the plant, on one level they are taking on the ‘green blood circulatory system’ of planet earth. Flavones are actively doing something to us, but we are not choosing for them to do so, evolution has set it up like that.
I recently came across a description of secondary plant products as exophermones. The idea is that rather than being pheromones involved in species population dynamics, these exopheromones are active outside the species as part of whole ecosystem dynamics. Species don’t evolve in isolation, there is as much mutual aid, mutual support, and commensalism, as there are competition and struggle. The evolutionary unit may be the environment and not the species.
The pharmacology of plants did not evolve in isolation either. It occurred over evolutionary time through ecological interactions. The profound biochemical resonances of plants and animals are not just the luck of the draw. It is a reflection of ecological integration, of planetary homeostasis.
Which has brought us to the point where maybe we can wake up to what the possibilities are. Medical Herbalism can be a deep ecology in practice in a consulting room. It gives us the possibility as therapists of working on so many different levels at once. It is almost too good to be true!
You can work pharmacologically, you can work on neurotransmitters, you can work with anthraquinones, you can work on energetics, but you can also work on hugging trees. We are not just dealing with the physiology, we are dealing with the spirit and it is not a separate issue. If you go from one extreme or another, you are reductionist, and where I come from that is a dirty word!
The relationship between medical herbalism and the array of therapeutic modalities available in this country is a social-ecological microcosm of the planetary issues. With the rapidly changing situation amongst the healing professions, it would be a mistake to talk of Medical Herbalism as a form of alternative medicine. Is it an alternative to Acupuncture, Osteopathy or Psychiatry? Of course not, they complement each other, creating a complex of relationships where the whole is much more than the sum of the parts. In light of the unique strengths and weaknesses, each approach offers, mutual support and co-operation is the way forward toward a truly holistic health service. All medical modalities are complimentary from the perspective of the patients’ needs.
Language often blocks communication and a shared endeavour in medicine. Apparent vocabulary and jargon disparities may mask fundamental agreements of ideas and approaches. On the other hand, lack of clarity obscures important differences in both guiding principles and techniques. There is an all too common dogmatic attachment to words and specific formulations of belief, opinion and theory. If the ‘correct’ words or phrases are not used then the speaker must be wrong!
The entrenched confrontation between dedicated allopathic practitioners and dedicated holistic practitioners becomes irrelevant when seen in the context of deep ecology. Open-mindedness and tolerance should be characteristics common to all involved in health care, whether as practitioners, researchers, or patients. Medical modalities that have their foundations outside of the bio-medical model should not be ignored or discounted simply because they exemplify a different belief system. They should be respected as an enrichment of possibilities, and not a challenge to the status quo.
Practitioners of Medical Herbalism have the unique possibility of their patients being introduced to their medicine! A bridge can be built between person and herb, empowering them to be present and responsible in the healing process. They can be given a packet of herb seeds, encouraging a direct experience of the life of the plant. This experience of herbal ‘vitality’ will be translated into a deeper rapport with the impersonal ‘medicine’ they take. The patient will not only get the medical benefit from the herb but also the enlivening experience of growing and preparing their own healing. If there is no garden, part of the treatment might involve a window box!
Medical Herbalism will take its place at the heart of a future national wholistic health service. It is not only an effective medical system, but it also holds out the hope of great rewards for society if embraced as a modality within an array of healthcare services.
Seeing ecological relationships as having a bearing on the healing arts can lead to some important implications. The choice of most relevant therapy should be based on the needs of the individual concerned; however, Donne’s insight that “no man is an island” becomes crucial here. In a world where human impact has become life-threatening, the broader implications of health practices must be taken into account. If the ecological effects of drug therapy or herbal therapy are compared a vital selection criterion reveals itself.
From the Gaian perspective, it is problematic to talk about chemical drugs as unnatural and herbal remedies as natural. The integration between plants and humanity on the biochemical level shows that chemistry is also ‘natural’. If a chemical exists in the body of Gaia it must be natural, if it was not it could not exist without causing major trauma to life on earth. This is, of course, the case with technological aberrations such as Plutonium, but in general, how can we differentiate what is and isn’t natural simply on how it is presented to us? The real problem is how we use the chemistry of nature safely.
It is possible to use environmental impact as one of the ways of identifying appropriate or inappropriate treatments. An example should clarify this; in the treatment of gastric ulceration, a whole spectrum of options are available. A holistic approach will focus on not only treating the stomach itself but examining diet, lifestyle, general health, and so on. Treatment may combine possible food changes, relaxation, exercise, counselling etc., with any specific medicines indicated. How shall these medicines be chosen? Herbal remedies have much to offer in the treatment of digestive problems in general, with ulceration especially, and are arguably more clinically effective than drug therapy. However, it is the environmental impact rather than therapeutic factors we are concerned with here. In comparing the impact of the drug Tagamet with the herb Marshmallow root, we have two medications that produce equivalent symptomatic relief for the patient.
Chemical drugs could be used that reduce the production of stomach acid and so reduce irritation of the stomach’s mucosal lining. Tagamet is a commonly used preparation of the drug cimetidine which inhibits gastric acid and pepsin production in the stomach through blocking histamine receptors. This makes the drug a widely used treatment for duodenal and gastric ulcers. It is now the most prescribed drug in North America, followed by Valium.
Herbal remedies may be selected that soothe the gastric mucosa, reducing the impact of stomach acid, and promoting the healing of ulceration. Plants that are demulcent, vulnerary, and antacid are the most relevant, with the inclusion of nervines to reduce excessive vagal stimulation. Comfrey, Marshmallow root, Slippery Elm, Meadowsweet, Chamomile and Marigold may all have a part in treatment. Used in the context of treating the whole picture, herbal treatments of gastric ulceration are extremely effective.
Regardless of their relative therapeutic merits, if their respective ecological impact is considered a clearer picture emerges. Tagamet is manufactured by a process that is notoriously dirty, producing much waste. This waste has to be disposed of, and even with the best environmental will in the world, there is going to be an impact on the environment, but with less than perfect management there will be a great and excessive impact, causing both water and air pollution. The impact on local rivers leads to the destruction of insect and fish populations and then, potentially, through food webs, and birds. The water can also have an adverse effect on the soil through irrigation use. The pollutants put into the air will have an effect, not only as a contributing factor to acid rain but a direct impact through specific chemicals present, leading to tree damage, soil effects and rain damage to property.
In the development of the drug and fulfilling government safety standards, many laboratory animals are slaughtered. The morality of this fundamental part of modern health care is dubious in the extreme and discussed in the section on research. However, it is a necessary evil when dealing with chemical medicine, as the thalidomide tragedy demonstrated.
Industrial production and distribution of the drug are energy intensive in ways that the resources of the planet cannot support for much longer. The profligate use of non-renewable energy is, of course, an evil of the whole industrial system and not just the fault of Tagamet! There is also the potential for political manipulation with the need for energy to manufacture drugs being cited as a justification for the development of nuclear power. The contradictions in that juxtaposition would be funny if it wasn’t so frightening.
When using proprietary drugs, the patient and prescriber are at the same time supporting and depending upon the multinational drug companies. The very existence of these vast international corporations raises political, economic, and ethical questions that go beyond the confines of this brief review. The patient becomes an unwitting financial supporter of these questionable organizations.
Disempowerment becomes a key concept, with the individuals’ health care needs being answered by the ‘experts’, the M.D., to prescribe and the pharmacist to dispense. This is no comment on the skill and dedication of these professions to their patients’ needs, but a recognition that these same patients have relinquished personal responsibility by handing it over to experts.
Added together this creates a picture of death, destruction, and exploitation in the name of personal health. It is worth seeing the hidden costs of the little tablet, as the overall cost of treatment goes way beyond the price of the pills. The cost and impact of such ‘simple’ treatment for ulcers include environmental damage, death, and the support of a system that may well be at the centre of much planetary dis-ease.
The dilemma about therapeutic choice raised by these ecological, economic, and political considerations might seem daunting. Let GAIA come to the rescue! If herbal remedies are viewed in a similar framework, a very different picture is seen. Preferably the herb is organically grown, or at least there is the need to cultivate the land and so care for it. This will leave the land at least as well off as it started and hopefully the soil will be nurtured through good organic techniques, which Welsh farmers describe as putting ‘heart’ back into the soil. Soil structure and stability is becoming a major ecological problem in much of the world. A basic principle in ecology is that the more diverse a system is the more stable it is in the face of environmental perturbation, and organic techniques increase the diversity of soil populations.
Wildcrafted plants, or collecting wild plants in their natural environment, highlight the imperative to preserve the environment as a source of plant and seed, but more importantly for the sake of the environment itself. Herbalism, as a therapy, is part of a dawning awareness in humanity that life does not exist for our use. Life, our planet, Gaia, all these words and concepts express the wonder of being part of the whole. Herbalism is the therapy of belonging.
Within this experience of embracing and being embraced by Mother Earth, it is no wonder that herbal medicine, and in our example, Marshmallow, involves no abuse of laboratory animals. The traditional use of Marshmallow is ancient with great knowledge of its use in healing. There is no need to ‘prove’ this with the genocide of more laboratory animals.
There is little energy consumption in the growing of this herb, and so is ideal as medicine within a self-sufficient, low impact economy. Even if our society does not yet function this way, we can contribute in the right way with an economically and energetically healing remedy for any ulcers the system generates.
Marshmallow, like other remedies, is produced by small-scale growers and distributed through channels that support a diversified economic system. It is a perfect example of a small being beautiful. Not only are there the benefits of small-scale economics and ecological viability, but this is all producing medicine that carries all the advantages inherent in herb remedies.
The comparison between the two therapeutically equivalent medicines shows that environmental and political criteria can have a lot to contribute to making choices. Put starkly, the choice is between being part of a cycle of death and destruction justified by personal health, or being part of a life-affirming cycle using healing herbs for personal health.
The very process of considering these perspectives is part of the healing of humanity’s alienation from our world. As we think so we become. What is it to be?
The plant kingdom plays a profound role in human health and wholeness, the parameters of which we haven’t even begun to glimpse. The healing relationship is one aspect, but in terms of Hildegard’s concept of Viriditas, there is something much deeper – a resonance with planetary wholeness. This is not simply new age verbal diarrhea (something I get attacks of now & then), but an acknowledgement and potential experience in our most grounded ‘ordinary’ reality that we are HOME.
….. So, Friends, every day do something that won’t compute.
Love the Lord, Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone that does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace the flag.
Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all that which you cannot understand.
Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered, man has not destroyed.
Ask questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium.
Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit, Prophesize such returns.
Put your faith in the 2 inches of humus that will build under the trees every 1000 years.
Listen to carrion.
Put your ear close and hear the faint chatterings of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world.
Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable.
Be joyful although you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap for power, praise women more than men.
Ask yourself, will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields, lie easy in the shade, rest your head in her lap.
Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it.
Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn’t go.
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection…….
~Wendell Berry
[1] Lovelock J., GAIA: A new look at life on Earth, Oxford University Press, 1979
~ Written by David Hoffmann, AHG