I live with my herbs on daily and more or less intuitive basis. Of course, I have some knowledge. Herbs interested me since childhood, but I cannot call it an obsession. That changed in the last few years, when I use them also externally for ointments, salves and especially soaps.
With herbs, I usually follow my instincts and then I double check the nature of my intuitive recipes in books and online resources. I would like to continue in this manner, but recently I decided to structure the knowledge base a little bit.
I enrolled in the Herbal Materia Medica Course on The Herbal Academy website last week. They impressed me by the combination of scientific and intuitive approach and I’m happy for the practical exercises. And what’s more, they push us to study only one plant in one moment, which I consider very useful. So back to school!
It is necessary to quickly pass the botanical definitions, which I learned in elementary school already, although not in English. It means shapes of leaves, their arrangements on stem, types of inflorescences, etc. Plus to observe the herbs of my choice according to these definitions. And because the fresh herbs are not available under snow, I have to work with dried ones. Luckily I still have enough from the last year’s harvest.
However, there is one thing which I do not feel harmony with. I should find the names of my herbs according to Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. I spent a lot of time on the internet with very disappointing results. First, I am not familiar with these types of medicine. I fully respect both because they proved their longterm validity and efficiency. But somehow they are not compatible with my body and mind. All my inner setup has four elements rather than five. I am able to perceive how the herb works inside of the Kabalistic Tree of Life but my effort to see anything through the five elements leads me into the empty darkness again and again. So I gave up!
Instead, I returned to my own setup. I will continue in the course, looking forward to next interesting lessons. I will continue to believe that the most effective medicinal herb grows for anyone near his home because I continue to trust in wisdom of the Creator.
What is your opinion?
With love, Ivana
vikaherbs 