Typical description of activity.

Traditional Western Herbalists and Methods of Service
[Essay directed to other herbalists.]

In terms of treatments for ill-health, most of your customers/clients/patients have already decided that herbs, in some way, are part of their key toward health restoration. Many will be doing other things to restore their health as well. Perhaps they are receiving one hour “little finger massages” daily from some other Alternative-health practitioner. Any treatments they receive which they perceive to improve their body physically, spiritually, mentally, or nutritionally are all potentially viable and legitimate in their efforts to restore health. The herbalist, through herbs, is seeking to reinforce the customer’s efforts.

Alternative health is a completely separate health paradigm from Allopathic health. It is not necessary for Alternative health to be a part of the Standard-health paradigm one little bit. There is no right or wrong on the part of clients who wish to mix these modalities (i.e. complementary medicine); however, it is not the pervue of the herbalist to make these decisions. Exclusive of both Allopathic health and Alternative health is trauma care (i.e. very advanced first aid). Trauma care is an art form, fully justifiable in its own right, but it has no justification being extended out, monopolistically, toward chronic care.

There is no room for animal experimentation in Alternative health. Not only is it unnecessary from the herbalist’s perspective; it is also morally repugnant. This tenet of not torturing nature for our own sake is one of the fundamental principles which makes up the practice and belief of herbalism. Leave animal torturing and its new-fangled “natural”-product results to the medicos and naturopaths, who have come to depend upon this unreliable (i.e. bought & paid for) type of modern, scientific data. They cannot see the forest for the trees’ leaves. This is why true herbalism can only be practiced by a herbalist.

Type I — Typical Apothecrist or Herbologist Procedures

The apothecrist or herbologist is in many respects the purest type of herbalist. Their relationship with herbs is one of intuitive understanding with little or no scientific justification known or desired. Science to the herbologist merely clouds any issues and biases herbal judgement away from historical usage. The herbologist is usually well versed in historical usage and in herbal lore while the apothecrist is inimately familiar with all the tastes, smells, and textures of their herbs. In the end, each arrives at decisions as to which herb to use based upon an intimate knowledge of each herb’s given attributes.

Certain minimum pieces of equipment are needed by the apothecrist. A mandatory piece of equipment is a legal-tender scale costing in the neighborhood of $300, and a coffee grinder costing far less at about $25. A manually-operated #3 meat grinder is invaluable for cracking and breaking-up harder roots such as Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) and hard seeds such as Hawthorne berry (Crataegus oxyacanthus). Use of a meat grinder to reduce the size of hard herbal products will save the life of many a coffee grinder. A stone-mill grinder is also handy when grinding very hard substances such as Hawthorn berry. It should be used post-meat grinder and pre-coffee grinder. Herbs should be stored in an air-tight container (I use inexpensive one litre, glass, wide-mouthed canning jars) and protected from direct lighting. A size “0” manual capsule stuffing device really speeds things along, too. A white lab coat is also handy. After just a few days of herb grinding it will be stained with a rainbow of herbal colours, and it will acquire the lovely aroma that only an apothecrit’s coat can attain. Many stains will prove to be intractible or permanent. A subtly-stained lab coat makes a fine uniform.

Learn the Latin name for your herbs. Common names are simply not unique enough. Common name use simply invites confusion and error. What herb am I thinking of when I say, “Heal All?” However, that being said, it is the convention among herbalists to use common names when discussing herbal teas, decoctions, and powders with the general public.

Type I - One — Hot Flashes Preparation

An acquaintance, knowing that you are familiar with herbs and that you keep a large number of of herbs on hand, comes to you and asks for a herbal remedy which will relieve her symptoms which have become quite bothersome. Her symptoms include frequent hot flushings which occur almost two dozen times per day, each lasting for several minutes; bothersome irritability and inattention; and difficulty in sleeping through the night usually awakening three or four times.

In response, you go to your herb cupboard and pull out and weigh: 14 gms of Black Cohosh root which you grind into a coarse powder with your coffee grinder; 14 gms of Sage herb; and 14 gms of St John’s Wort herb. You then toss the herbs into a handy-dandy 5x8” zip-lock polybag. Next you write out on a tag the preparation instructions, “Simmer herbs, closely covered, in one litre of water for 20 minutes, strain, sparge the wort (i.e. pour boiling water through the herb until the end result of one litre is attained); refrigerate.” Also on the tag you write that a recommended dosage of "3 tablespoons, 3 - 5 times daily" is a good starting point.

Discussion: Your customer is pleased with the herbal decoction. Her hot flushes have all but disappeared; however, she is still waking up two or three times in night. She continues to buy your preparation over the next six months and then she simply stops coming back.
Night awakenings without night sweats are probably the most difficult symptom to overcome. They rapidly become ingrained into a habit and it becomes difficult to distinguish nervous habit from formal menopausal symptom.

Type I - Two — A Regular Customer

A lady has come back to you after three months asking for “those same capsules that you made up for me last time.” Also, she wants 100 additional capsules of nothing but Kelp. After a bit of to-n-fro discussion it is determined that her last order of capsules had these three herbs within them: Crataegus oxyacanthus, Silybum marianum, and Ginkgo biloba. You are guessing that you probably used each herb in equal weights.

When you ask how many capsules she wants of the tri-herb combination she replies that 200 will be fine. She adds that last time she asked for 200 but only 180 were made. You reply that it is hard to tell in advance how many capsules a certain quantity of ground-up herb will make.
After asking her for her name, you tell her to come back the day after tomorrow and her order will be ready.

You know by rule-of-thumb that 28 gm of unpowdered herb makes up approximately 100 #0 capsules of powdered herb. Your last preparation for the lady was probably 18.7 gm [(28 gm + 28 gm) / 3] of each herb for 200 capsules. And, you know it came up shy of 200 capsules. So this time you resolve to use 20 grams of each herb to fill her order.

Twenty (20) grams of Silybum marianum is weighed out and twenty (20) grams of Ginkgo biloba is weighed out. They are both dumped into the coffee grinder and reduced to a fine powder. The Silybum, being a soft seed, powders up better when ground with a herb. This helps break apart and prevent clumping of the seed’s oily components.

The Crataegus oxyacanthus is another matter entirely. As the fruit has an extremely hard seed core much of the weight is lost in the three-step (meat grinder, stone grinder, coffee grinder) grinding process. A hammer mill or, I’m told, a Vita Mix does an excellent job reducing even the hardest herbs to a powder but they are pricey items that most herbalists who are not producing commercial quantities simply do not own. Therefore, it is the powder that is weighed and not the original, unground dried fruit. In the last step of the three-step grinding process, Crataegus powder is removed from the lid of the coffee grinder (the lightest, finest powder floats up and sticks to the coffee grinder lid) until the desired twenty (20) grams of powder is attained.

The problem of grinding hard herbs, such as Crataegus fruit and Trillium root, can be avoided entirely by purchasing herb already ground to a powder. I do not recommend this to any professional herbalist. Powdered herb degrades rapidly. Roots and especially fruits degrade when broken much as an apple turns brown when cut: the more broken they are, the more rapidly and completely they degrade. Always buy certified organic and whole; as much as possible. Herbalists must maintain high standards. Leave mass marketing to the holistically self-declared medical dropouts or to the mercenary, morally bankrupt naturopaths.

Once all the herb is weighed out and thoroughly blended your tri-blend is stuffed into capsules. Use a size “0” capsule filling device. They are inexpensive ($20) and very easy to use.

Do much the same with your customer’s Alaria esculenta (Kelp). Alaria is a very densely-packed herb so you will find that it takes approximately 56 grams of herb to fill 100 #0 capsules.

Once all the herb is weighed out and thoroughly blended your tri-blend is stuffed into capsules. Use a size “0” capsule filling device. They are inexpensive ($20) and very easy to use.

Do much the same with your customer’s Alaria esculenta (Kelp). Alaria is a very densely-packed herb so you will find that it takes approximately 56 grams of herb to fill 100 #0 capsules.

Discussion: In three months, when Ms. P. Shilling comes back again for her two hundred capsules you can reliably re-fill her order.

Type II — Typical Chartered Herbalist Procedures

The chartered herbalist represents the style of practice upon which the bedrock of herbalism is based. A herbalist is “chartered” when recognized by an accepted standardizing body. Aboriginal healers are chartered when recognized by their tribe or band. “White” people are recognized by institutions which have long fought for the preservation of herbalism. Immigrant ethnicities are chartered by their culturally accepted use of natural medicines. Self-declared medicos are never chartered and naturopaths are never chartered — this is because they answer to a different, more evidence-based drummer. It has been observed that when publishing scholarly information herbalists use the fewest references, self-declared (holistic) medicos use a medium number of references, and naturopaths by far the most. [Thank you Conrad Richter of Richters Herbs for this observation.] In other words, herbalists, as healers, know their art form while naturopaths heavily rely upon their science (they are doctor-wannabes, afterall). Medicos are just inept in both realms.

The practice of chartered herbalism in North America is by far the most dangerous (in terms of persecution by the law) type of herbal practice. A chartered herbalist will accept clients with any form of disease and treat them as if no other paradigm of medicine existed (except first aid and trauma). Their clients, of course, may be picking and choosing from dozens of modalities, and there is nothing at all wrong with this. However, the herbalist knows herbs work, knows the body heals itself, and knows that nature is supreme. It is this assurity of herbalism that causes clients come to herbalists.

Off-hand, I can think of no medical drug which is necessary in the treatment of disease and for which there does not exist a replacement herbal therapy which is as efficacious or better. For a complete understanding of the power of Traditional Western Herbalism I encourage all Western-style chartered herbalists to read New Green Pharmacy: The Story of Western Herbal Medicine, by Barbara Griggs, ISBN 0-09-181461-8.

Type II - One — Formula Discovery

The chartered herbalist not only relies upon an innate knowledge of herbs attained through constant exposure and personal experimentation but also upon the knowledge of respected herbalists, past and present.

In studying the works of past herbalists such as Dr. Nowell, Ella Birzneck, Bernard Jensen, and Dr. Christopher, and Priest & Priest you realize that they have a common thread in combating serious inflammations. They all have common applications of the herbal tenet, “like cures like.” They use inflammation-promoting therapies to treat inflammation.

In realizing this you build a composite formula incorporating and preserving the sum of all they were trying to accomplish. Specifically, you adapt it to an encapsulated product which is far more tolerated by today’s typically modern but wimpy client.

You name your formula Compound Lobelia Capsules.

Discussion: This is a very useful formula. A great deal can be attained in health promotion by using it. Learn to vary the dosage according to the need. I always keep plenty on hand.

Type II - Two — Client with Acute Abdominal Pain

A male client comes to you with acute abdominal pain. You ask him if he would like a shot-in-the-dark herbal tea to try (i.e. the apothecrist approach: perhaps a $20 cost) or if he would prefer allowing you to explore the problem more fully (i.e. approximately $30 for a consultation and $20 for herbs). He chooses the later. You show him into your office where you proceed to take a stream-lined case history of the man.

He is 45 years old, married with three children, and self-employed as an artist. He is normally healthy but complains of a very difficult time keeping ahead of the bills. He indicates that his pain is slightly left of centre abdominally, and under the lowest rib perhaps below it. He walks as if balancing a book on his head but he is stooped and not eager to move quickly. He demonstrates that he can aggravate the pain by bobbing up and down. He is mobile, indeed, he plans on doing some grocery shopping later in the day.

The man isn’t particularly holistic-health minded but does wish to avoid the hassel of spending four hours waiting in the emergency ward of the local hospital waiting for a treatment which he knows will be more intensive and invasive than he would prefer.

You suspect inflammation. Be it caused by stomach ulceration or bowel ulceration or other cause is of no great matter to you. Naming diseases is not pertinent to the treatment of acute ill-health for the chartered herbalist. Your treatment of choice is to stimulate his body toward improved inflammation responses; in other words, his body knows best how to heal itself and your plan is to help it along.

You decide to treat him with Compound Lobelia Capsules — your tried and true treatment for all manner of minor inflammations. Giving him 100 capsules which you have prepared and bagged-up in advance (it is, after all, one of your bread & butter items) you advise him to take 12 capsules, each chased with a full glass of water, in a well spaced-out manner throughout each day and on an empty stomach. Also, you advise him to not eat any solids for the next two days but instead to drink vegetables juices. You also advise him that as he starts feeling better to continue taking the capsules but at a slowly reducing rate until they are all consumed.

You caution to the man that if, after a 24 hour period, he feels worse then he should either call you for a more intensive treatment or he should consider contacting an allopathic health practitioner. It does no good to insist to a complementary-thinking person a soley Alternative-health course of action.

Discussion: The next day Mr. Hughs phones to tell you that, although his pain is still there, it is much reduced and he feels more mobile. He says that from now on you are “his doctor.” You advise him to continue taking his capsules, to stick to his vegetable juice diet, and especially, to refer to you as “healer” and not with the moniker “doctor” which you find a tad disparaging.

You may be aware of the “medical” side of this case. The medicos would almost certainly hospitalize Mr. Hughs where they would likely fill him with antibiotics, take blood (counter-productively I might add as it would probably be done after submitting him to antibiotics), x-ray, invasive body examinations, and even perform surgery. The cost of his treatment would be many thousands of dollars, initially, with a very high probability of down-the-road adverse consequences.

Because the medical system has no independant advocacy components the default in terms of treatments is always to over-medicalize every condition. Birth, for example, is a medical condition and not a natural body function for no reason other than the medical monopoly has dictated it. They see everything in terms of themselves when, in fact, it is the individual who should direct their healthcare just as the individual directs the extent of any service ... home repair, for example.

One can expect the medico community to strike out against any healer who does not kowtow to the authority of their paradigm, especially when a client chooses Alternative health before Allopathic health.

Type III - Typical Clinical Herbalist Procedures

The chasm between chartered herbalism and clinical herbalism is quite severe. The clinical herbalist is far more likely to refer patients to allopathic practitioners for medicalizing tests and procedures. Issues of ill-health become diseases, and medicalizing individuals is considered “for their own good.” Often forgotten is that the process of medicalization is one of the most dangerous activities a human being can undergo. It is by far the leading cause of accidental death — far more deadly than road accident or murder.

The clinical herbalist is trained to think medically and in keeping with this much more medical information is required from the patient. Not only are full medical histories taken as a matter of course but many tests are performed by the clinician as well, including urine, blood, and saliva testing. For what tests the clinician cannot perform the patient is often sent off into the medical system for even greater batteries of tests which usually escalate into still more tests, and worse, exposure to medical treatments.

The great moral difficulty for clinical herbalists is in deciding when (or how) to disentangle themselves from the allopathic medical system. The clinical herbalist must not only treat disease but must also protect the patient from allopathic practices and work to undo the damage done by them. The distinction between a clinical herbalist and a naturopath is often blurred. A naturopath works with medicos so that drug and surgery treatments can be maximized (e.g. alleviating the nausea from chemotherapy) hence a naturopath’s proclivity for the word “complementary”. A herbalist works to undo or counter the effects of drugs and surgeries. Allopathic medicine is poison-based and animal- testing-based medicine of a diametrically different medical paradigm hence deserving little or no support of the holistic practitioner.

Type III - Patient with persistent ovarian pain.

A woman aged 23 comes to you complaining of chronic, persistent right ovarian pain. It is at its worst during ovulation. She was told by her doctor that she has several large ovarian cysts. She has had one surgery already where the surgeon has removed a wedge of her right ovary ... all to not avail. Her doctor is suggesting more therapy with hormonal drugs (which she abandoned due to the side-effects of the drugs and worries over their long-term consequences) and her surgeon is talking about removing the ovary entirely.

The woman tells you that she thinks they are simply running her through a series of medical treatments with little regard for the hows or whys of her condition or of herself as a woman and person. She informs you that she is “interviewing” several complementary and alternative practitioners in the area, including you, and that she will decide on what approach or which practitioner in the due course of time. She asks you to do whatever it is that you have to do and then to indicate what you think about how to treat her.

You tell her that she is wise to extricate herself from the medical system and that her decision to seek natural, health-promoting therapies is by far a safer approach, at least for the moment, than it is to allow oneself to be abused medically. You take a detailed case history, perform a physical examination, and do some urine testing. You inform her that, “yes,” you think you can help her and that herbs are especially good for female pelvic conditions.

The woman then pays your primary consultation fee and disappears. Two weeks later she is back asking you to be her healer and to treat her accordingly.

Your patient, in addition to stating that she has multiple fluidic cysts, reflected a checkered case history. She is prone to many long-standing attacks of the flu each year; she has seemingly perpetual acne; had a detached retina repaired; and an inguinal hernia repaired. She takes several types of drugs to help with back pain, tension headaches, and sinus flare-ups; has a flu and DPT shot annually; takes metamucil for haemorrhoids; and has eye drops for her very dry eyes.

She revealed a family history of ovarian cysts; scleroderma; and obsessive compulsive disorders. She herself displayed and admitted to an obsessive compulsive style of behaviour which you remark upon (i.e. her method of seeking an alternative health practitioner). Her diet is reflected in a tendancy toward cheeze whiz and margerine.

She has cold hands and feet, and states that it runs in the family. She has constant post-nasal drip and clears her throat a lot. She displays sharp intakes of breath when speaking. The patient suspects she is hypoglycaemic and complains of brain fog. She drinks a lot of water and complains of urgency. She is slightly built with her weight being 51 kgs. Her back gives her difficulty and she is unable to sit for any appreciable period of time. Her menstrual cycle started when she was 16 years old.

Examination revealed a firm thyroid bilaterally, and cyanotic finger tips. Blood pressure was 110/72, pulse 91 bpm, respiration 12. She has no excess fat. Liver was not palpable, nor were her ovaries.

Discussion: The 500 ml tincture prescribed to the patient was not the only tool used in helping the patient to overcome her problems. Other critical advice included the complete avoidance of hydrogenated oils (cheeze whiz, processed cheese, shortening, margerine, clear or colourless vegetable oils of all types, deep-fried foods); no more infuenza or DPT shots; no exposures to pesticides or herbicides; and adding wheatgerm and pumpkin seeds to her diet, as well as plentiful amounts of colourful root vegetables such as beets, turnips, and carrots.

The patient popped into the office three weeks later declaring that her pain was completely gone. She was just stopping by on her way back from undergoing a follow-up ultra-sound and the result was that the cysts were “much reduced.”

The patient again popped-in after a further six weeks to relate to me how wonderful she felt and that she was adhering to her new diet strictly. She says she never felt better. I could see that even her compulsive manner was markedly reduced.

She felt no need to re-fill her original five week supply of tincture.

Healer J. Mark Taylor, Medical Herbalist

5, 1922 - 9 Avenue SE.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 0V2