Explains how 3 classes of wild plants--aromatics, bitters, and tonics--are uniquely adapted to work with our physiology because we co-evolved with them. Provides simple recipes to easily integrate these plants into meals as well as formulas for teas, spirits, and tinctures. Offers practical examples of plants in each of the 3 classes, from aromatic peppermint to bitter dandelion to tonic chocolate As people moved into cities and suburbs and embraced modern medicine and industrialized food, they lost their connection to nature, in particular to the plants with which humanity co-evolved. These plants are essential components of our physiologies--tangible reminders of cross-kingdom signaling--and key not only to vibrant physical health and prevention of illness but also to soothing and awakening the troubled spirit. Blending traditional herbal medicine with history, mythology, clinical practice, and recent findings in physiology and biochemistry, herbalist Guido Mase explores the three classes of plants necessary for the healthy functioning of our bodies and minds--aromatics, bitters, and tonics. He explains how bitter plants ignite digestion, balance blood sugar, buffer toxicity, and improve metabolism; how tonic plants normalize the functions of our cells and nourish the immune system; and how aromatic plants relax tense organs, nerves, and muscles and stimulate sluggish systems, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. He reveals how wild plants regulate our heart variability rate and adjust the way DNA is read by our cells, controlling the self-destructive tendencies that lead to chronic inflammation or cancer. Offering examples of ancient and modern uses of wild plants in each of the 3 classes--from aromatic peppermint to bitter dandelion to tonic chocolate--Mase provides easy recipes to integrate them into meals as seasonings and as central ingredients in soups, stocks, salads, and grain dishes as well as including formulas for teas, spirits, and tinctures. Providing a framework for safe and effective use as well as new insights to enrich the practice of advanced herbalists, he shows how healing wild plant deficiency syndrome --that is, adding wild plants back into our diets--is vital not only to our health but also to our spiritual development.

    It gives a fascinating insight into the literary, historic, and world-wide application of the fifty common plants that it covers. It is the sort of book you can enjoy as an armchair reader or use to harvest and make your own herbal remedies from wild plants. Anyone who wants to improve his or her health in the same way that human-kind has done for centuries around the world, by using local wild plants and herbs, will find this book fascinating and useful.

    Written by well-respected urban herbalist Robin Rose Bennett with over 180 easy-to-follow recipes, this book offers readers who want to take charge of their health an immersion into a myriad ways to use plant-based remedies to care for themselves and others on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. Informed by the wisdom that physical and spiritual healing are inextricably intertwined, The Gift of Healing Herbs explores herbology as the "people's medicine", freely available to all, and as a powerful yet gentle way to heal body, mind, heart, and soul. The book is divided into three parts: the first part examines health and the causes of illness; the second part comprises a reference of all the physical systems of the body and the common and not-so-common herbs for tonifying them; and the third part contains recipes for teas, brews, and instructions for incorporating herbs into our daily lives. The hundreds of recipes for herbal preparations in this book—accompanied by prayers, meditations, and rituals—offer spiritual and physical insights into the relationship between our body systems and the elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, thus helping the reader explore and experience the interconnection of all things in the web of life.With personal stories, case histories, and elements of personal memoir, The Gift of Healing Herbs is equal parts inspiration and instruction drawn from the author's life and decades spent teaching and practicing herbal medicine in a spiritual, earth-based, nondogmatic style. focused as keenly on the spiritual aspects of healing as revealed through personal story. The author explores how one's personal story turns into one's embodied physicality, specific health challenges, and ultimately reveals one's unique path of healing.

    The author provides an eloquent and engaging account of the use of herbal medicine from prehistoric times to the present, reaffirming the incalculable value of medicinal plants in the healing arts. She presents a strong case for the cyclical emergence of alternative medicine at times (such as our own) when allopathic methods of treatment have lost their safety and efficacy.

    Readers who appreciate the health-giving properties of herbal medicines but are discouraged by the high price of commercial products can now make their own preparations for a fraction of the cost. The authors tell you everything you need to know about harvesting, preparing, and administering herbs in many different forms, including fresh, bulk dried herbs, capsules, extracts in water, alcohol, glycerin, vinegar and oil, and even preparations like essential oils and flower essences. The book also covers topical applications of herbs as salves, lotions, poultices, tooth powders, ear drops, and more, and includes an extensive chapter on herbal hydrotherapy. "The Modern Herbal Dispensary "explains why different preparations of the same herb will obtain better results, demonstrating how capsules, teas, tinctures, or glycerites of the same plant will not have exactly the same effect on the body. Leading herbalists Thomas Easley and Steven Horne have tested and proven the herbal formulas they offer, along with suggestions for treating more than one hundred illnesses. They lay out the principles of herbal formulation and also provide instructions on how to prepare single herbs, a procedure that has been largely ignored in other references. More comprehensive than any other guide, thoroughly researched, beautifully illustrated, and presented with ease of use in mind, this book will take its place as the premier reference for those who want to produce all the herbal remedies they need, and to save money in the process. Table of Contents Introduction--Results: The Name of the Game Chapter One--Preparations and Applications: Understanding the Many Ways of Preparing and Using Herbs Chapter Two--Fresh Herbs: Growing, Harvesting, and Using Fresh Plants Chapter Three--Dried Herbs: Using Bulk Herbs, Capsules, and Tablets Chapter Four--Extracting Herbs: Equipment, Raw Materials, and Potency Chapter Five--Liquid Preparations: Basic Extraction Techniques for Water, Alcohol, Glycerin, and Oil Chapter Six--Topical Preparations: Making Liniments, Lotions, Butters, Balms, and Salves Chapter Seven--Herbal Hydrotherapy: Healing with Enemas, Douches, Baths, and Soaks Chapter Eight--Advanced Techniques: Percolation Extracts, Dried Extracts, and Chinese Methods Chapter Nine--Aromatherapy and Homeopathy: Essential Oils, Homeopathic Preparations, and Flower Essences Chapter Ten--Formulas and Dosages: Creating Formulas and Determining How Much to Take Resources, Part One--Sample Formulas Resources, Part Two--Single Herbs Appendix One: Herbal Constituents and Solvents Appendix Two: Sources for Materials"

    Instead of pills, reach for:Cinnamon Tea to soothe your throat . . . Garlic Hummus to support your immune system . . . Ginger Lemon Tea for cold and flu symptoms . . . Cayenne Salve to relieve sore muscles . . . Cardamom Chocolate Mousse Cake for heart health . . . A glass of Spiced Cold Brew Coffee as a powerful antioxidant . . .Alchemy of Herbs will show you how to transform common ingredients into foods and remedies that heal. What were once everyday flavorings will become your personal kitchen apothecary. While using herbs can often seem complicated or costly, this book offers a way to learn that’s as simple and inexpensive as cooking dinner.With the guidance of herbalist Rosalee de la Forêt, you’ll understand how to match the properties of each plant to your own unique needs, for a truly personalized approach to health for you and your family. In addition to offering dozens of inspiring recipes, Rosalee examines the history and modern-day use of 29 popular herbs, supporting their healing properties with both scientific studies and in-depth research into herbal energetics.   Grow your knowledge of healing herbs and spices and start using nature’s pharmacy to feed, heal, and nurture your whole family!

    A necessary resource for anyone interested in alternative approaches to healing, this book contains more than 600 easy-to-follow recipes for essential oil treatments and aromatherapy.

    This new title from Last Gasp is the essential herbal reference book, a complete compendium of practical and exotic herbal lore that is guaranteed to turn you on to the fact that plants and animals have been used for thousands of years in various ways to make people healthier, and to help them to live longer and more effective lives.

    Presented in A-to-Z format, supplemented with easy-to-use charts and lists, beautifully illustrated with drawings and color photographs, it is the only book on herbs you ever need to buy.

    This excellent guide is the work of a team of highly qualified botanical and medical experts, including two of my colleagues from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. It offers reliable, up-to-date, practical information about 72 of the most important medicinal herbs." --Andrew Weil, M.D., from the ForewordThere is a world of health and healing all around you--in your spice rack, your backyard, and on the shelves of health food and grocery stores. This informative guide is a reference you will keep at the ready, connecting 72 of the world's most common and useful medicinal herbs with the body systems they help and heal.Eight chapters focus on body systems: 1. Mental Health & the Nervous System2. Respiratory System3. Heart & Circulation4. Digestive System5. Joints, Muscles & Skin6. Urinary & Male Health7. Female Health8. Wellness & PerceptionEach chapter begins with an overview of how plants can bring health to that part of the body, with stories about traditional herbal remedies from around the world and current scientific findings on herbal remedies for specific illnesses. Then each chapter highlights nine plants, combining botanical and medical information--therapeutic uses, effectiveness, preparations, cautions, and advice, including a round-up of current science about the active ingredients in the plant. Every chapter includes a photo gallery showing how one of its herbs is cultivated and processed commercially--the story behind the contents of that bottle you buy in the store. Special features include "Over the Kitchen Counter"--quick and easy ways to use herbs in your everyday life, and time lines for every herb, showing how today's use of herbal remedies collects wisdom from the centuries and around the world. A functional appendix includes an illustrated index to all the plants in the book, an ailment-by-ailment therapeutic index, a glossary, and an index.

    Line drawings highlight family characteristics, and plant entries discuss medicinal uses, edibility, toxicity, and look-alike plants. A standard reference at herbal and wilderness schools across the country, this resource is essential for herbalists, gardeners, and naturalists.

    Prescription for Herbal Healing brings to herbal medicine the same in-depth, easy-to-understand information and accessible style that Prescription for Nutritional Healing successfully brought to diet and nutritional supplements. This book is divided into three parts for easy reference. Part I discusses the basic principles of herbal medicine and outlines the properties and characteristics of some one hundred sixty single herbs and sixty herbal combination formulas. Part II describes more than one hundred fifty common disorders, conveniently arranged in alphabetical order from acne to yeast infection, and names the herbal therapies that can be used in the treatment of those conditions. Part III is a guide to using various kinds of herbal and other alternative therapies. In addition, it includes self-diagnostic tests and boxed insets throughout, which offer detailed information on a wide variety of topics.Complete coverage of Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs make this volume entirely comprehensive, and thorough scientific references lend it an authority not found in any other herbal book. Prescription for Herbal Healing is the definitive herbal resource and is a necessity for any health-conscious consumer.

    Traveling back to the healing arts of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, The Herbal Lore of Wise Women and Wortcunners takes readers deep into this world, through the leechcraft of heathen society and witches’ herb bundles to the cloister gardens of the Middle Ages. It also examines herbal medicine today in the traditional Chinese apothecary, the Indian ayurvedic system, homeopathy, and Native American medicine.   Balancing the mystical with the practical, author Wolf Storl explains how to become an herbalist, from collecting material to distilling and administering medicines. He includes authoritative advice on herb gardening, as well as a holistic inventory of plants used for purposes both benign and malign, from herbs for cooking, healing, beauty, and body care to psychedelic plants, witches’ salves for opening alternative realities, and poisonous herbs that can induce madness or cause death. Storl also describes traditional “women’s plants” and their uses: dyeing cloth, spinning and weaving, or whipping up love potions. The Herbal Lore of Wise Women and Wortcunners is written for professional and amateur herbalists as well as gardeners, urban homesteaders, and plantspeople interested in these rich ancient traditions.

    Organized in five parts moving from the microcosmic to the universal, this work explores a unique integration of clinical herbalism, Ayurveda, medical astrology, spagyric alchemy, and medical and esoteric traditions from across the world into a truly holistic system of plant medicine. A balance of the heart and the mind, the science and spirit of people and plants, Evolutionary Herbalism provides a holistic context for how plants can be used for transformational levels of healing for the body, spirit, and soul. For both the student herbalist and experienced practitioner, Popham's original perspectives guide readers to a more intimate, synergistic, and intuitive relationship with the plant kingdom, people, and Nature as a whole.

    The most complete reference catalog of nature's herbs ever published.