Western medicine revolves around the concept of treating symptoms. This usually requires medication or some kind of medical treatment. However, before the norms of Western medicine were normalized, humans relied on the natural world to heal themselves and, for the most part, took a preventive approach to medicine. Herbology is not as old as one might think. In the 1980s, root doctors practiced in the Louisiana bayou and other parts of the South, primarily within African American communities.
Herbalism refers to the study of medicinal plants and their use as treatments, but is often dismissed as a pseudoscience and marginalized compared to “real” modern medicine. But author Christine Buckley argues in her new book, Plant Magic: Herbalism in Real Life, that herbalism and modern medicine can be complementary. “Allopathic/modern/Western medicine (whatever you want to call it) is adept at heroic intervention,” Buckley writes. “Herbalism cannot be about life-saving surgery or administering antibiotics, and that's okay.” Rather, herbalism “can be a way of thinking and caring about the whole person in their efforts to maintain good health.” ” she says.
In other words, science and herbalism are not at odds, as Buckley believes. This is both an appealing and frankly political proposition, given the current cultural moment in which both modern medicine and the big tent of “alternative medicine” are polarizing topics. But Buckley urges readers to view herbalism and Western medicine as a “dynamic duo” rather than “nemesis.”
We spoke to Buckley about herbalism, science, medicine, and the connections between them. As always, this interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
How did you become interested in herbalism?
I attended the University of Colorado in Boulder in the early 2000s when raw food was all the rage. My neighbor was Bridget Mars, one of the founding members of the American Herbal Society. I didn't know at the time. Brigitte lived in the house next door to him, and he grew all kinds of wild plants in his garden. She was always doing something in the kitchen and she always had the door open. So she aroused in me a curiosity about what can be understood from the natural world in terms of medicinal plants. At the time, I didn't take it that seriously.
My friend and I want to have a juice party. So I want to drink lots of ginger and talk about how my body feels. Because it was Boulder and the food trends at the time were raw food and veganism. We all dabbled in it, even though none of it really clicked.
So I moved to New York and started cooking professionally. It felt really great to be cooking all the time. I loved working with my hands and being part of a team, but it also made me realize how much food we eat, how our dietary systems affect our health, It was also about exploring how we can care for each other.
I started taking herbology classes at the Open Center in New York, as well as evening and weekend classes. He then moved to Boston, where he apprenticed with two herbalists, Lynn Midula and Katja Swift. So I really delved into herbalism.
In your book, you talk about how herbalism is both a science and an art, which I thought was really interesting. Can you tell our readers more about how and why both of these things happen?
A comparable setting is cooking and meal preparation. It's similar to how we understand that baking is a science, that there's mathematics involved, that you're taking measurements and putting together algorithms that produce certain results. And some are the best ways to do it, some are not so good, and it all involves practice, knowledge, and the transmission of that knowledge across generations.
The same is true for herbalism, especially in modern society with access to scientific research. [Researchers] I'm testing [herbal remedies] Things like elderberry, what happens when you take too much cinnamon, and how St. John's wort interacts with medications someone may be taking. In fact, we have a lot of data. There's also phytochemistry and botany, all of these tangential fields of study within the sciences that overlap with herbalism.
But it's also about how we prepare from plants. For example, if you're making tinctures or preparing syrups, if you're making those things for people to consume, you need to do it methodically, keep records, and see how different herbs are used. You need to understand how they interact. And how some combinations mean they are no longer effective, and how other combinations mean they are synergistic. 1 plus 1 is not necessarily equal to 2; it can also be equal to 3 or 5.
But there's also an artistry to it. The same goes for cooking: we make food because we need to eat to live. We can live without food for a while, but we cannot live forever without food. And all of our food comes back to plants. And if either the food we eat or the medicine we take tastes good, we are much more likely to comply with it.
The art of herbalism is figuring out how to combine plants to encourage people to consume them. Whether it's a recipe or recipe that you're trying to adjust to make it tastier. It can be applied topically to make you feel good and smell good, making you feel good and inspired.
Another thing I love about herbalism is the storytelling. This is all the ways we have imagined how to communicate the wonders of plants throughout our lifetimes as humans, especially in our oral and written history.
Stories about plants may sound “hmmm,” but they are intentionally created messages about plants that are meant to remind us, inspire us, or get a point across. It seems like. So I think the art of herbalism lies in the way we tell stories about plants and how we share them as medicine. and how we foster a relationship of reciprocity and compassion with the natural world.
Turning to the natural world as a method of healing can be a very divisive topic. And I think your book did a really good job of being grounded in both science and history and the natural world. How do you think herbalism can complement modern medicine?
I think what's becoming clear, especially now, is that we need a lot of resources and everyone needs help. And the more skills, knowledge and tools we can share, the better we can help each other. And I think the important thing about herbalism is that anyone can do it, really anyone can do it. This means that when emergencies like this occur, there are people with specific expertise who are really needed in specific ways. Just as we need doctors and nurses to help those who need it most right now. — I think what herbology offers is a way for each of us to think about each other and solve problems that can be solved at home. It means that everyone often has more of what they need, and that we are thinking of each other and being prepared when something happens.
What is a brief history of herbology? Why haven't plants been more integrated into Western medicine?
Herbalism is a system of care that marginalized communities have traditionally relied on because they have been left out of other systems of care. So I'm thinking about women, people with non-binary identities, people living with disabilities, and the global majority of people of color. In some ways, I think this is easy to minimize because it ties into communities that are already marginalized in our society. Another thing that a lot of people point to is the Flexner Report from the 1900s, which standardized how medical education should be conducted. In this country. In the early 1900s, in fact up until his 1930s, many doctors still relied on natural remedies, many quoting the prescriptions and procedures of local root doctors. But then things have become so mechanized and regulated.
Why do you think herbal medicine is becoming more popular now?
I think it's a combination of reasons like climate change and loneliness. People are looking for practices that support this idea that we are connected and need to work together. There's a lot going on and a lot of big questions to solve. It makes a lot of sense for us all to come together to solve them and connect with each other. I think herbalism from a healing perspective provides that and provides a connection to each other and even to the land.
Nowadays, people are very passionate about “healing”. But in your book, you're very realistic about expectations. For example, one herb won't solve all your anxiety.
One of the things I love about herbalism is that it throws away any idea that there is a normal way of being. We expect variation and we expect nuance. What you think will happen may not happen or circumstances may change. And every body and every mind will need a different plant, and perhaps a different set of plants.
The way we've been taught to think about our health is that we have a problem and then we solve it. Problems are listed on the back of the bottle. We then match what the medicine expects from our symptoms and take it to address the symptoms. For example, we make joint pain go away, even though the root cause of joint pain is inflammation.
So you may need to dig deeper to address that inflammation. And that probably means a combination of different things, and it probably means adjusting your lifestyle.
We are obviously in a time of great anxiety and uncertainty, and we know that there is no single plant that can help cure all anxiety, but here's how herbalism can help ease anxiety during this time. I'd like to know if this helps, please let me know if you have any advice.
I think the best way we can help each other is to find ways to support our health. One of the best ways to calm down on that is to think about your nervous system. So, as good as chamomile is, drinking something that stimulates these nerves (that's what chamomile is) helps us feel calm about ourselves.
