Energetic Herbalism: A Guide to Sacred Plant Traditions Integrating Elements of Vitalism, Ayurveda, and Chinese Medicine

by Kat Maier

Rosemary Gladstar (Foreword)

In this indispensable new resource both for the home apothecary and clinical practitioners, a veteran herbalist brings alive the elemental relationships among traditional healing practices, ecological stewardship and essential plant medicines.

By honouring ancient wisdom and presenting it in an innovative way, Energetic Herbalism is a profound and practical guide to family and community care for those seeking to move beyond symptom relief and into a truly holistic framework of health. Throughout, author Kat Maier invites readers to explore their personal relationships with plants and their environs as they discover diverse models of healing.

Inside Energetic Herbalism, you'll find:

• The elements and patterns of Ayurvedic doshas for greater self-awareness as well as positive lifestyle choices
• The relationship of well-being to the seasons through the brilliant lens of Chinese Five Element Theory and how our emotional health is beautifully expressed through the Elements
• The roots and evolution of Vitalism, the traditional Western system of energetic medicine
• How to assess imbalances in the body using the elegant and intuitive vocabulary of the six tissue states, an emerging tool in Western herbalism
• The senses as the main tools for navigating through energetic herbalism
• A deep appreciation of the wisdom of indigenous peoples, which is the foundation of sacred plant traditions

Through the rich herbal tradition of storytelling, Maier seamlessly blends theory and practice with her experience-tested herbal remedies and healing protocols. Maier stresses the critical message of how to address the challenge of threatened medicinal plant populations, offering practical and inspiriting methods for ensuring their survival. Many herbals boast a materia medica of more than 100 herbs, but in keeping with an emphasis on sustainable practice, Maier instead focuses in depth on 25 essential medicinal herbs that can be grown in most temperate climates and soils, including:

• Dandelion
• Ashwagandha (Indian Ginseng)
• Goldenseal
• Burdock
• Calendula
• Echinacea
• Goldenrod

Whether you are a seasoned clinical herbalist, an herbalist-in-training or simply someone seeking to provide the best natural health care for your family, this book is a source of inspiration, insight and answers you will return to again and again.

• ISBN10: 1645020827
• ISBN13: 9781645020820
• Publish Date: 13 January 2022
• Publish Status: Forthcoming
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Chelsea Green Publishing Co
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Energetic Herbalism is a guide to sacred (Eastern) herbal traditions presented by Kat Maier. Due out 26th Nov 2021 from Chelsea Green Publishing, it's 392 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

The author is a clinical herbalist (with 3 decades of experience), physician's assistant, and holistic practitioner. She teaches herbalism, energetics, and elemental medicine (humors, seasonal medicines, the western pre-Christian/Druidic calender). If that sounds like this book contains a fair bit of new age 'woo', well, it does, honestly. That being said, I (firmly 'school of western medicine' and about as non-'woo' as it's possible to be) found quite a lot of interesting food for thought here. It's a well structured and well-written book. The author seems to have a balanced sense of both indigenous (Asian) traditional herbal medicine and an awareness of the western medical system and she manages to have an encouraging and supportive voice with a foot in each camp. She's not strident or preachy or condescending and she presents the information in a reasonable and measured way.

For readers who are interested in alternative/eastern philosophy & healing, this is well written and accessible, containing quite a lot of info. The chapters present the material in an understandable and logical manner: basic information, followed by recipes and tutorials. The text throughout is enhanced by line drawn illustrations by Lara Gastinger.

Graphically the book is light and clean looking with high contrast text and clear directions.

Four stars. Interesting alternative ideas and recipes. This would be a good choice for public library acquisition, smallholders, foragers, and students of natural healing.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.