An ethnobotanical look at ancient heart beliefs, heart-strengthening herbs, and folk remedies for cardiovascular diseases • Discusses traditional understandings of the heart from early European cultures and indigenous peoples of the Americas, Asia, and Africa • Examines the heart as the home of the soul and an organ of perception and looks at traditional beliefs on what makes the heart sick • Presents a materia medica of plants used for millennia to treat heart-related conditions as well as plants in use by modern herbalists and cardiologists Among our ancestors as well as indigenous people still maintaining traditional diets there is little record of heart diseases in the modern sense. In the traditional worldview, the heart was considered the home of the soul and the source of love and vitality. As such, heart sickness was not seen as a result of poor nutrition, too much stress, or lack of exercise, but reflected an imbalance of the heart’s emotional and spiritual energies. Plants and folk remedies used as traditional heart medicine worked on the mental and spiritual level to help make the heart happy again. In this book, renowned ethnobotanist Wolf D. Storl, Ph.D., examines traditional understandings of the heart from early European cultures and indigenous peoples of the Americas, Asia, and Africa as well as a wealth of plants used in both ancient and contemporary times to treat heart conditions and ailments. He explores the heart as an organ of perception as well as its ability to remember, citing studies about the phenomenon of complete personality changes following a transplant. He examines what makes the heart sick, including different healing paradigms used to address the causes. He also looks at how time is perceived by the heart and how the modern epidemic of heart disease can be linked to our culture’s pervasive disconnection from nature’s rhythms. Presenting a materia medica of heart-strengthening herbs and folk remedies for cardiovascular diseases, the author offers in-depth descriptions of plants used for millennia to treat heart-related conditions as well as plants in use by modern herbalists and cardiologists. Sharing a holistic view of the heart—and heart disease—based on traditional perspectives, ethnomedical research, and herbal wisdom, this book reveals new ways to heal the heart by recognizing its integrated role in our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness.

• Reveals how herbalism is a powerful way to participate in the green transformation underway in our culture • Examines the radical and non-hierarchical roots of herbalism, the growth of spiritual awakening and social radicalism • Looks at the most recent research in herbalism, revealing the exponential growth in peer-reviewed literature covering phytotherapy and other herbal-oriented healing modalities Providing a comprehensive guide to the dynamic new landscape of modern herbalism, renowned medical herbalist David Hoffmann explores how ancient healing modalities are once again becoming prominent. Using the concept of viriditas—the understanding of nature as divinely intelligent—Hoffmann examines biodiversity and chemodiversity, elaborating on the ecological role of human-herb interactions and coevolutionary relationships between species. Presenting evidence of medicinal plant use by animals and early humans, he reviews herbalism from its ancient roots to the modern varieties in practice today, emphasizing how herbalism that developed outside of the dominant culture laid the foundations for the effective, simple techniques relevant for our modern world. He examines the radical and non-hierarchical roots of herbalism, considering the parallels between the field’s development and the growth of spiritual awakening and social radicalism. Exploring herbalism through the modern scientific lens, Hoffmann reveals the exponential growth in recent research and peer-reviewed literature on phytotherapy and herbs. He describes the problems inherent in herbalism’s integration into the global marketplace, emphasizing that herbalism must stay rooted in the health of the people to avoid becoming commodified. He offers a range of herbal approaches to support personal and cultural resilience during the myriad crises humanity is facing. Ultimately, Hoffmann says, a vibrant culture of herbalism can have critical implications for the future, serving as a crucial force for health and resilience.

Greek myth is part of our background, the names of many of the gods and goddesses known to us all. Within the myths are numerous references to plants used by goddesses and gods to heal or enchant, and the names of many of these plants have been incorporated into the Latin binomials that are used to identify them. By half a millennium BCE the physician god Asclepius entered into the mythology and temples were built to him called Asclepiaea, where the sick came to worship him and sleep with serpents in dormitories, hoping to experience miracle cures. At around the same time the first actual physicians began to practice within the Asclepiaea, using herbs, surgery and dietary advice. From these remote beginnings Greek medicine and botany evolved and were recorded, first in the Hypocratic Corpus, then by many other famous Greek physicians including Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Galen, who recorded the medicinal plants they used. This book traces the evolution of Greek medicine, the source of Western medicine, and looks at a selection of plants with healing properties, including a large number of trees which were both sacred and medicinal.

• Explores the alphabet of Nature personified in animals and the spiritual lessons of animal medicines—animals personified in plants—including Turtle, Bear, Deer, Wolf, Alligator, and Horse Medicine teachings • Shares profound experiences from the author’s long career as an herbalist and his first years growing up on a remote Seminole reservation in the Everglades • Offers shamanic adventures interwoven with comparisons to the psychology of Freud and Jung, the visions of Castaneda, and the occult teachings of Steiner and Gurdjieff Sharing profound experiences from his long career as well as his first years growing up on a remote Seminole reservation in the Everglades, renowned herbalist Matthew Wood interweaves practical herbalism and the spiritual potency of Nature to explore the plant teachers, animal medicines, and foundational principles of shamanism. Wood explains how his life’s journey required him to learn a new language in which the patterns and relationships inherent in Nature are emphasized, rather than the linear human perspective. Thanking the precious indigenous culture in which his first thoughts were formed, he draws an experiential map to the “Green Tongue,” the “Language of the Shamans.” Based on direct and sometimes supernatural experiences as well as case studies from his practice, he examines the alphabet of Nature personified in animals and the spiritual lessons of animal medicines—animals personified in plants. He shares accounts of Turtle Medicine plants for self-examination, Bear Medicine plants to open the imagination, and Wolf Medicine plants for wholeness and magic. He explores the plants of Alligator Medicine for healthful prosperity, Horse Medicine plants to bring the conscious self in harmony with the animal self, Badger Medicine plants to strengthen gut instincts, and many other herb and animal teachers. He also looks at plants associated with journeying to the spirit world through the medicine of Crane, Dragon, and Bat. Throughout the shamanic adventures he shares, Wood offers profound comparisons between shamanism and the psychology of Freud and Jung, the visions of Carlos Castaneda, and the occult teachings of Rudolf Steiner and G. I. Gurdjieff. Revealing the shamanic roots of his herbal teachings, Matthew Wood provides not only an inside view of his life-long spiritual path but also an immersive and experiential guide to the shamanic wisdom of countless plant and animal teachers.

South Asia, a region of outstanding biological diversity, is home to approximately 2.1 billion people whose rich cultural traditions include sophisticated knowledge of the properties and uses of thousands of native and introduced plant species. Plant-based drugs, integral to the traditional medical systems of India and neighboring countries, play a central role in health care throughout the region and beyond, as regional and global demand for therapeutically valuable plants continues to grow. However, the ongoing transformation and degradation of forests and other natural ecosystems in this region due to rapid environmental and socioeconomic changes, poses serious challenges for the conservation and sustainable utilization of its medicinal plant wealth. Efforts to conserve the region’s rich biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge require up-to-date information on the status and trends of these resources and their importance for health care and livelihoods. Healing Plants of South Asia: A Handbook of the Medicinal Flora of the Indian Subcontinent helps to address this need. The work’s introduction provides overviews of South Asia’s diverse systems of traditional medicine, as well as the region’s biogeography, ecosystem and plant species diversity and associated conservation challenges. Subsequent chapters focus on nearly 2,000 species of plants most commonly used in traditional medicine within the region. In chapters devoted to ferns and lycophytes (including 59 species), conifers (20 species) and flowering plants (1849 species), the information provided draws upon a wide variety of authoritative published sources as well as reliable online databases. Entries for each species include: currently accepted scientific names and common synonyms; vernacular names in the major regional languages; a complete botanical description; information on the species’ ecology and conservation status; traditional therapeutic uses in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Tibetan medicine, and more localized folk medical systems; and key references. The majority of these species are also beautifully illustrated with photos and/or botanical drawings. Healing Plants of South Asia: A Handbook of the Medicinal Flora of the Indian Subcontinent will be of value to students, scientists and professionals in a number of fields, including pharmacology, pharmaceutics, food chemistry and nutrition, natural products chemistry, ethnobotany and ethnomedicine. It should also appeal to conservationists, community development practitioners, industry, and policy makers, among a host of those involved in the world of medicinal plants and traditional medicine in South Asia.

Using simple rituals--whose roots draw from shamanism, spirituality, religion, Native American studies, vibrational energy, and alternative medicine--becoming conscious of healing abilities is possible. This manual demonstrates not only how to gain the knowledge and wisdom afforded by various spirit beings, guides, and helpers, but also how to apply this knowledge in the natural world. Key diagnostic methods address specific ways to talk with plants and animals, understand what they say and how they say it, and how harmony, healing, and wholeness may be attained in both urban and rural settings. Visualization, prayer, and other techniques for accessing the vibration rates and consciousness of living things are also explored.

• Shares insights from herbalism, ecology, neurobiology, psychology, Irish history, and magical tradition to show how to tap into the flow of communication from the wild world • Explores the seven principles of animist herbalism and the ancient Irish understanding of the “three cauldrons” of the body, showing how they can be applied to the practice of modern herbalism • Introduces thirteen important plant and fungi allies and provides simple practices for deepening your connections with wild plants and your ancestors To our ancestors, the wild world around them was filled with meaning, guidance, and insight. They recognized the symbols hidden in Nature that represent invitations to connect with our wild kin, such as the Silver Branch of Irish legend. They understood that plants and fungi are living teachers who can become our allies in healing and magic. They knew that there is deep healing available when one lives in direct connection with the living world. Braiding together insights from herbalism, ecology, neurobiology, psychology, Irish history, and magical tradition, Seán Pádraig O’Donoghue shows how we, too, can tap into the flow of communication from the wild world and our ancestral traditions to transform our lives, culture, and worlds. Introducing the seven principles of animist herbalism, he revitalizes the ancient Irish understanding of the "three cauldrons" of the body and shows how this framework can be applied to the practice of modern herbalism. He examines the importance of physical and spiritual nourishment, including the role of seasonal ritual in setting the rhythms of our lives. He shares ancient Irish stories, with precautions and protocols regarding the ethics of engaging the Otherworld and working with plant medicines, especially psychedelics. O’Donoghue introduces 26 of his closest plant and fungi allies, discussing what it means to develop a relationship with a plant and how to work with their medicines for healing and magic. He also provides simple practices for rooting in nature, navigating the wheel of the year, and deepening your connection with wild plants as well as the sun, water, and the ancestors. Revealing the depths of healing and magic available through wild plants, O’Donoghue helps us to reconnect body and spirit with the living world around us.

Following on from Healing Power of Celtic Plants, Angela Paine's latest book covers a new range of Celtic medicinal plants which are native to Britain, as well as a few plants, such as Sage and Rosemary, which were introduced by the Romans. Combining the latest scientific data on the healing properties of the herbs used by the ancient Celts with recent archaeological discoveries, written in a jargon-free, easy to understand narrative style and offering a botanical description of each plant, an outline of their chemical constituents, and advice on ways to grow, harvest, preserve and use each plant, Healing Plants of the Celtic Druids is an essential guide.