The Feminine Way of Plant Medicine – Deb Soule

Herbal wisdom connects us to herbalists and healers throughout the ages who have called upon the healing power of plants.

And using herbal teas, tinctures, baths, and flower essences enhances our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing beyond their prescribed uses when we look to their “spirits” — those qualities that make them nutritive to the soul, as well as the mind and body.

We can also start our healing and help heal the Earth with how we work in our gardens, offering blessings and other reciprocity practices — many used by our ancestors — to energetically connect with the land.

The daily use of herbal remedies empowers us to care for ourselves, our families, and our communities.

In this module, you’ll learn how to:

• Cultivate a daily meditation practice that will help you deepen your relationship with plants and your connection with Mother Earth
• Live in harmony with seasonal, solar, and lunar rhythms
• Create a reciprocity practice to use when gathering and preparing plant medicines
• Determine the quality of herbs — how they’re grown, gathered, prepared, and stored affects their vitality and therapeutic benefits
• Prepare and use herbal infusions, decoctions, tinctures, elixirs, foot baths, and spiritual healing baths from fresh and dried herbs
• Understand herbal dosages and safety considerations
• Work with flower essences for nourishing our self-esteem, dignity, inner harmony, and capacity to heal

Herbs replenish and restore the health and vitality of the body by supporting the body’s inherent metabolic processes of strengthening, toning, and rebuilding. Herbs that support liver and adrenal function are especially vital for women as these herbs balance shifting hormones and mood swings and increase the emotional capacity to be less reactive and more resilient.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Nourishing herbal teas to regularly keep in your cupboard
• The role of the liver in hormone imbalances
• Herbs for supporting liver function
• Herbs for reducing stress and supporting adrenal function and vitality
• Herbs and lifestyle suggestions for enhancing memory, mental clarity, and inner harmony

Medicinal roots strengthen our inner core, help us cultivate confidence and feel present and rooted throughout life’s varied journeys. Infinite possibilities emerge from strong roots. Digging roots in the garden or ingesting root medicines grounds and reconnects us with the Earth. Root medicines, when taken over a period of time, offer long-lasting health benefits.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Diets and herbs for maintaining healthy bones and flexibility
• Roots that support detoxification, digestion, balance, and immunity
• Lifestyle and herbal support for low libido
• Meditation for meeting the spirit of a plant whose roots are used for medicine
• Energetic qualities of the earth elements
• Digging roots based on the Biodynamic planting calendar

The shapes, colors, textures, and fragrances of leaves have many stories to tell. The water contained within leaves and the early morning dew covering leaves are reminders of the magical and transformative power of water and herbs.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Specific leaves that support heart health, liver, digestion, memory, and meditation
• Herbs for relaxing the nervous system and promoting sleep
• A seed-planting prayer
• How to plant your own holy basil plants from seed
• A meditation for meeting the spirit of a plant whose leaves are used for medicine
• Energetic qualities of the water element

The beauty, aroma, and expansive nature of flowers inspires healing on physical and spiritual levels. They move us from feeling separate and isolated into being present, awake, and embodied. The subtle and vibrant colors of flowers can be easily incorporated into teas, massage oils, baths, and foods for nourishing and healing body and soul.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Specific flowers that support breast health, liver, lymph, nerves, and skin
• How to create your own herbal breast massage oil
• Diet and herbs for supporting healthy vaginal tissue
• Flower baths for uplifting the spirit and enhancing inner peace
• How to integrate flower essences into daily life
• A meditation for meeting the “spirit” of a plant whose flowers are used for medicine
• Energetic qualities of the air element

When seeds are placed in moist soil they undergo an awakening process. Adding seeds into our teas, tinctures, and foods offers us a similar awakening. Using seeds as medicine, growing and eating food that our Ancestors ate, and saving our own garden seeds connects us with our roots and with the Earth, and helps us heal the places we have been wounded.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Specific berries and seeds that support heart health, nerves, liver, kidneys, immunity, and vaginal health
• Herbs for soothing agitation, anxiety, heart palpitations, insomnia, and grief
• Using seeds for healing intergenerational trauma
• A meditation for meeting the spirit of a plant whose fruits or seeds are used for medicine
• Energetic qualities of the fire element

Let’s spark an herbal revolution by encouraging more people to incorporate medicinal herbs and flowers into their window boxes, gardens, hedgerows, and farms for nourishing both people and pollinators.

All of us depend on healthy food and herbs to thrive whether we are a gardener or someone who simply enjoys the beauty of nature. More than ever, holistic systems of agriculture, such as Biodynamics, play an important role in helping heal our ecosystems and in protecting our pollinators and seeds.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• A meditation for meeting the spirit of a place or garden
• Design elements for a healing garden
• Biodynamic gardening and farming
• Specific medicinal plants for people and pollinators
• How to think about creating healing gardens for public places, including school yards, hospitals, nursing and rehabilitation centers, community vegetable gardens, farms, and more