How to Make Moxa

Moxabustion is a Traditional Asian Medical technique of smoking/smudging the body with the prepared wool of Artemesia/Mugwort.  It is most commonly used during acupuncture treatment but can is also very effective as it’s own therapy. Traditionally, the medicine was developed from whatever species of the plant was growing regionally. I’m not sure why but it [...]

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Fair Trading with Nettles

There are a lot of cliches to inform us on the laws of nature. When it comes to Nettles two come to mind: “You don’t get something for nothing” and ” What you see is what you get.” Every spring in the Northwest, streams of people start coming in to the clinic complaining of hayfever [...]

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radiance, synergy, and sword ferns

If you got faults, defects or shortcomings, You know, like arthritis, rheumatism or migraines, Whatever part of your body it is, I want you to lay it on your radio, let the vibes flow through. -P Funk This weekend, I attended a workshop led by a prominent aromatherapist. His background is as a hair stylist [...]

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Lessons Learned ~ The Art Of Ethical Wildcrafting

I was listening to an interview with Paul Bergner the other day and in it he discussed briefly ethical harvesting.  He’s a very emotional speaker and I love how often he gets choked up when discussing various plant encounters. His words on the subject were touching and inspiring. However, there was one aspect of the subject that [...]

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Rattlesnake Plantain: The Dance of Gratitude

Rattlesnake Plantains energetic and healing properties are explored through its signature and the effects of ingesting it.

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The value of herbal medicine

This past weekend, I had an interesting conversation with a physician. At one point she commented, “I just can’t understand why creating a chemical replication of a plant compound isn’t the same or better than using an herbal remedy.” We were at a lunch table and trying to keep the conversation as inclusive as possible, [...]

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Devil’s Club ~ November Gathering

This month our gathering fell on November 1st, the day after Halloween and the day before lunar Samhain.  Here, in the Pacific Northwest, there are still yellow leaves clinging to trees, the weather is cool but not yet cold, and the recent rains have made the water in the rivers run high and brown. Samhain [...]

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Steam on Cedars, the Essence of Fall

Watching steam rise on cedar tips is one of the great pleasures of living in the pacific northwest. In the dim light of early fall, the rain mixes with the heat of the island and a dense vapor lifts and lingers among the trees. I love the quiet transition when the rain first breaks. The [...]

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My Essential Pregnacy Herbs

On September 17 2009,  I welcomed my first baby into the world.  I was either incredibly lucky that my labor lasted only nine hours or incredibly unlucky that my labor began at midnight with back to back contractions that didn’t let up for nine hours straight:)  Either way, it was an incredible experience that began [...]

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Elderberry, flu healer from the bowers.

My experience with plants and using them for medicine has included a lot of reading. There are many books that lay out common usage of plants, dosage information, chemical constituents and preparations. And though I find many of these book to be priceless in their breadth of knowledge and information, I also find that the plant is [...]

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