I am a home herbalist.
That means that my goal is having the knowledge to offer first aid on things like skin issues, burns, bug bites, etc., and to soothe symptoms of self-limiting illnesses.
Home herbalists can help with sleep, anxiety, and lots of (mild) mood issues. We can ease the pain of over-used muscles, cramping, indigestion, and nausea.
In short, there are hundreds of issues that we can address. We know that if they don't improve or worsen, we visit a doctor or a registered clinical herbalist.
We use years of learning, generational knowledge, and intuition.
Generally speaking, we do not come at this to cure ourselves from some life-threatening illness. It's just knowledge - like why you add an egg or baking soda to a recipe.
I've spent the last 30 years working with home herbalists, the last 20 publishing a magazine for home herbalists, and the last 10 writing books for home herbalists. This life's work was intended to help those who didn't have family showing them plants or teaching them to use chamomile or ginger for their tummies.
Over the last decade, we're being repeatedly told that what we know isn't good enough. In order to sell classes, new terms are being created to describe that which we all do without even thinking about it.
Two things happened that really brought this to a head for me yesterday.
I opened an email selling a class that told me that books that (paraphrasing here because I deleted it) list which herbs are good for which issues are not good books.
Imagine having the hubris to say that. Shame on anyone who wants to trash the books written by virtually
everyone who came before them, and taught almost everyone how to
incorporate herbs into their lives.
Then I posted on a couple Essential Herbal social media accounts, asking what was the first herb used, and why. Not one person mentioned their constitution or the taste of the herb (unless it was for food). They said a relative taught them or that the same place that sent me the email suggested "use this herb for that" - which I found pretty ironic.
I'm sorry to see herbalism being contorted for money. I hate to see it being complicated so that people feel like they have to spend a fortune to learn it, especially at a time when there is so much information available freely at everyone's fingertips. I'll keep plugging along, teaching anyone who will listen that they can learn it themselves, one herb at a time.
I stand by the books I've written, and the 20 years of magazines we've published.
EDIT: After speaking to a friend who has been teaching the tastes of plants for over 25 years - to home herbalists - I must add that constitutions and flavors are indeed valuable and can really help people choose which herbs to use.
My point is that we all come to herbs armed with our own knowledge and learn more each time we come in contact with the plants. It's even great to take classes and learn more.
If someone needs to put other herbalists down in order to sell classes, you might want to think about who you're learning from.
