What Is An Herbalist?

Check out this vintage photo of me on an herb walk talking about Burdock. No neck tatts!

A question I've been asked many times lately surrounds the definition of 'herbalist'. In the era of pop herbalism, we are unfortunately encountering weekend retreats and 10-hour online courses that award the attendee with a certificate of 'Master Herbalist'... is this enough? How effective a healing channel can someone be with this kind of education? What is an herbalist really- and who can confirm one as an herbalist?

First off, let me preface this by saying that my definition is mine. It won't work for everyone and it certainly won't please everyone. I take my work incredibly seriously- and because I am a full-time, professional herbalist and mentor to apprentice herbalists, my actions have a great deal of gravity. If I screw up, people lose faith in the plants and in their own ability to find harmony. I am constantly scrutinizing my processes, what I know, and how I approach the work in order to know better, do better, and be better. There will always be people who find value in the shortcut and the fast track- these folks will not likely enjoy my definitions or my personal expectations of what an herbalist is and what they can do confidently and competently.

So, that being said... my definition of an herbalist is this:

an herbalist is one to whom
the plant spirits reveal their mysteries

Simple, no? Let's unpack.

To me, a true herbalist is someone who is in deep and personal relationship with the plant spirits all- and with a collection of working plant spirit allies. This person has done the work to soften their heart, refine their intuition, work through personal blockages, and tone their own virtues so that the subtle voices of the plants can be experienced and understood.

Having learned to slow down to the pace of plants and experience their sometimes wild ways of communication, the herbalist is then blessed with the initiation of revelation. The plants can communicate- and then they do. What do they communicate? Far more than can be learned in a course or from a book or even from a mentor. They stir up language symbols from within the deep heart of the seeker and use them to explain, in their own verdant ways, who they are as spiritual persons.

And why would the plants reveal such deep mysteries to a human seeker?
This is the next level of my definition. An herbalist is an occupation. The plants reveal to those whom they wish to act as mediators between the world of plants and the world of humans. They speak to those who work for them. Just as a mechanic is only a mechanic if they fix cars and a cook is only a cook if they actively make food and feed people, an herbalist is only an herbalist if they are actively engaged in the work of herbalism in such a way that their respective community naturally and intuitively draws to them for plant spirit wisdom. An herbalist who is not serving their community with herbal wisdom, making medicine, stewarding plants, and teaching is someone who loves herbs and even practices some herbalism; I cannot say this person is an herbalist any more than I can say that someone who doesn't clean windows is a window washer.

As I mentioned before, my definition of what an herbalist is will not work for everyone. My standards are high, my expectations are based on eons of ancestral herbal traditions, and my personal goals are heavy and serious. Should you be one who is called to this work, I hope you find the challenge to dig deep in these ways something of a personal calling.

With all this being said, anyone and everyone can (and I dare say should) practice herbalism for themselves and their families. To know something about first aid healing herbs, healing foods, simple remedies for acute illnesses like cold, headache, and cuts is both smart and a way to honor ancestors and land. One job of the true herbalist is to educate their community in these broad-spectrum artes so that families and clans can provide basic herbal care for themselves without the expensive and exclusionary intercession of allopathic medicine. Medicine from the backyard requires no co-pay.

So there you have it. My definition of what an herbalist is and my personal goal as someone who has been called to this work. I wake up every day grateful that my 'job' is to act as emissary between the worlds; a go-between translating the language of flesh to the language of leaf. I take it as a personal ethos to strive to go deeper and deeper into embodying what I think and herbalist is and to earn the trust, blessings, and initiations of my plant allies at every step.