Publisher Description

The idea of this book is to help us reclaim and restore a hugely important part of our heritage: our plant medicine path. In some parts of the world plant medicine is still taught at the kitchen table, by the cooking fire, or in the fields, passed down from parent to child and woven through the fabric of the culture. In many places it has been severely eroded, but it has not been lost. Plants feed us most generously and give their medicine freely, and we have the right to reclaim our ability to use plant medicine, to restore our access to the knowledge and the plants themselves-not just for humans but for all species and ecosystems.Conversations with Plants is an invitation to step into your own relationship with plants-their stories and meanings-feel into their medicine, and then understand how to work with them by bringing your own medicine into the conversation. Being an herbalist is not about prescribing, it's about reconnecting with the herbs and their consciousness and holding a discussion with them and the people for whom you are asking their help, nourishment, nurturing, support, protection, and healing along with their wisdom and ability to remind us who we are.This book is about bringing herbs back into your daily life and remembering the direct intimate relationship that has always existed between people and plants. There are plenty of books that provide information on preparations and dosages, but Conversations with Plants shows you how to relate to the green community and use specific plants in your daily food and medicine preparation, explaining the meaning and process behind it, so you can work out appropriate doses and preparations by using common sense.

Author Biography

Nikki Darrell works as a practitioner of herbal medicine, aromatherapy, and aromatic medicine. She studied horticulture and plant science at the Sutton Bonington campus of the University of Nottingham and, after graduating, spent 5 years researching phytochemistry and plant tissue culture. She then went back to her first love of working with medicinal plants and in 1999 graduated with a degree in herbal medicine from the School of Phytotherapy.

Table of Contents

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION
Setting some contextPART I: OUR GREEN ALLIES
CHAPTER ONE
Understanding plant anatomy, their parts and their medicine
CHAPTER TWO
Plants as alchemists (including organoleptic exercises)
CHAPTER THREE
Plant families and their medicine
CHAPTER FOUR
Wild gardening and a new paradigm of growing and harvestingPART II: ENERGETICS, INTENTIONS AND MEDICINE
CHAPTER FIVE
Evolving energetics
CHAPTER SIX
Intentions in medicine making; the wild kitchen and pharmacyPART III: THE HUMAN PLANT
CHAPTER SEVEN
Community, connection and boundaries
CHAPTER EIGHT
The lower cauldron physical survival of the individual and species (reproduction)
CHAPTER NINE
The middle cauldron the emotional being
CHAPTER TEN
The upper cauldron
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The cycles of lifePART IV: PLANT STORIESNOTESBIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX 

Long Description

The idea of this book is to help us reclaim and restore a hugely important part of our heritage: our plant medicine path. In some parts of the world plant medicine is still taught at the kitchen table, by the cooking fire, or in the fields, passed down from parent to child and woven through the fabric of the culture. In many places it has been severely eroded, but it has not been lost. Plants feed us most generously and give their medicine freely, and we have the right to reclaim our ability to use plant medicine, to restore our access to the knowledge and the plants themselves--not just for humans but for all species and ecosystems. Conversations with Plants is an invitation to step into your own relationship with plants--their stories and meanings--feel into their medicine, and then understand how to work with them by bringing your own medicine into the conversation. Being an herbalist is not about prescribing, it's about reconnecting with the herbs and their consciousness and holding a discussion with them and the people for whom you are asking their help, nourishment, nurturing, support, protection, and healing along with their wisdom and ability to remind us who we are. This book is about bringing herbs back into your daily life and remembering the direct intimate relationship that has always existed between people and plants. There are plenty of books that provide information on preparations and dosages, but Conversations with Plants shows you how to relate to the green community and use specific plants in your daily food and medicine preparation, explaining the meaning and process behind it, so you can work out appropriate doses and preparations by using common sense.

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