It has recently occurred to me that whilst most people understand and recognise the relevance of herbal medicine in their daily lives (eg. Echinacea for immune health), the role that an Herbalist plays remains somewhat of a blurry bewilderment.
The history of herbs being used medicinally is many tens of thousands of years old. There have been discoveries of herbs used for medicinal purposes within ancient burial sites in Iraq 60,000-80,000 years ago, cave drawings in France that have been radiocarbon-dated to 13,000-25,000 BC and written record of the uses of plant lore on stone tablets and papyrus, dating back to 3000 BC and 1543 BC respectively.
Traditionally, the training of an Herbalist would have involved many years as an apprentice under the guidance and supervision of a wise and experienced teacher, spending long durations identifying and gathering medicinal plants in nature, drawing and documenting their unique signatures, gaining insight into the growing habits and patterns, preparing tinctures, drying herbs for teas and powders, etc. Once the teacher deemed the student ready, the lessons would then be directed toward using these potent plant remedies to treat people and animals. Understanding the nature of disease and learning how to identify characteristics of symptom behaviour and human constitution would have been paramount before being able to administer medicine to the patient. These basic principles of practice still exist today.
In these modern times, the training and education of an Herbalist is much the same as a Naturopath, albeit with more focus on plant medicine (the herbs) and less on nutritional supplementation (vitamins & minerals). Both qualifications involve many hours in lecture rooms, followed by many more hours of study, research, assignment writing and exams, and about 300 hours of clinical work experience. After approximately four years the student emerges as a practitioner, receives his or her registration and licence to practice, and goes forth into the world of complementary and alternative medicine. Many become practising Herbalists and Naturopaths, whilst others choose to follow different paths within the industry.
The role of an Herbalist is primarily to support the body and its management of the myriad of internal and external stressors that it encounters throughout life. A typical consultation with an Herbalist involves the gathering of personal and family medical history, detailed description of symptoms, information on diet and lifestyle habits, and much discussion on a variety of bodily functions (who doesn’t love talking about poo?!) and might also include some observational methods such as iridology, pulse, tongue, nails and skin to better understand the presenting ailment. Some typical conditions and diseases that an Herbalist might be called upon to support the treatment of, are arthritis, autoimmune diseases, hormone imbalances & dysregulation, skin conditions & gastrointestinal disorders. Initial consults usually take 90 minutes and at the end of the session the client receives some herbal medicine to take and a detailed written report with suggested diet and lifestyle recommendations to follow.
So I hope that has helped in the understanding of what it is exactly that a Herbalist does.
Blessed Be!