Herbal Nook: Herbal Healing

Last month I introduced you to peppermint, but before we dive any deeper into my Herbal Nook, I wanted to tell you the story of how this SW Forest Goth became an herbalist:

I grew up in a small town called Haysville, along a creek called the Cowskin.  My mother was a plant lady and was raised as a farm girl.  Having survived cancer before I was adopted, she was always visiting the natural food and plant storse back in the '80s and early '90s, before it was "cool".  

When I was 9, I was playing within the dark coolness of my closet, which was my secret fort.  I laid down upon my trusted blanket, and disaster struck.  An eight-legged invader, a silver dollar-sized brown recluse, the dreaded fiddle back, spider had made its way within my blanket.  Soon, I had a giant lump behind my left ear.  It was upon this night, we learned I had something greater to fear than the spider...
I was deathly allergic to the Lidocaine shot they gave me for the pain.
1 in 33,000 is allergic, 1 in 333,000 will go into anitphlyactic shock...
and I was that 1 in 333,000.  I don't remember anything from the next 2 weeks.
Even now, my memories of those 2 weeks, 30 years later, have never returned.

This left me in a bind.  What could I use for topical pain relief?  For a few years it would be nothing.  Then at about 13, I began to learn about herbs.  I learned of peppermint and its aid to the stomach and fever; of lavender and its calming and antibactrial effects; of arnica and its topical pain relief uses.  From there my learning would grow.  Any book I could find, any class I could take, any seller at the natural food and plant stores, I would study.   

I would continue to study and learn, as I stepped into the Gothic Subculture, met and married my husband, and moved into the Desert Southwest, where I would meet my beloved herbs of Greenthread (Navajo Tea) and Mountain Sage.

I longed to be an herbalist, but my family and I thought they were just historical people, and no longer a trade skill.  It would not be until I was 30, that I actually learned it was still a trade, and began my official studies, though as many of my teachers would say, I had already 17 years of being self-taught, a vital skill for any herbalist who wishes to keep growing and learning.

Herbs were created for our healing by God.  They are food and natural medicine. Sone uses the for "magic or dark arts", but this is a perversion of their intended use.  They are tools, healing plants, meant for the health of bodies, while we live upon this earth.  

So, now at nigh 40, I am trained with over 500 hrs of learning in Herbs, a certificate in Natural Health Consultancy, and am able to help care for my friends, family, and subculture community around me.  It is well worth the time spent, and a journey I hope to aid others upon in the future.

In Umbra Terras,

 Lady Morria