Herbalism, A (Very) Brief History

Since the dawn of human history, people have turned to the plant kingdom for healing. In the earliest days of our history, shamans and wise women learned the many virtues of plants in order to maintain the health of their tribes and villages. As the centuries passed, this knowledge was handed down through the generations.
Nearly every major culture developed an extensive system of herbal medicine. From India to Egypt, from China to the frozen lands of Northern Europe, as well as across the sea among the Natives of the Americas, herbal healing was the main form of medicine for thousands of years. Names such as Dioscorides, Galen and Culpeper, reverberate down through history, and their works are consulted to this day by modern herbalists. In addition, thousands, perhaps millions, of village wise women and men—whose names we will never know—carried on this noble tradition of healing, often in the face of persecution. In the Americas, Native people taught European settlers how to use medicinal plants of the New World. With the advent of modern bio-medicine, herbalism was temporarily relegated to the shadows. Now herbs are experiencing a renaissance in the West. It is the job of herbalists to make sure they are used wisely, sustainably, and with the respect due to them.