As I was walking over the mountain this morning, I became aware of just how many healing and medicinal plants were offering themselves up for our wellbeing.
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I barely walked ten paces without noticing some herb, leaf, root, flower, or exuded sap that could bring balm to the body and soul.
This great natural pharmacopeia lies forsaken and mistrusted within the hollows and meadows of its own ecology.
In the past, this was one of the great offerings of the Commons and the wisdom and application of this wild herbal resided within the feminine. It was at the same time, powerful, indigenous, and free… its very wildness adding to its potency.
Sadly it became imprisoned by the hands of the medicine men who confused us with their pills and potions. Its power waned even as the sacred feminine was pushed to the margins.
However these powers did not die, they lay, barely sleeping within the rocks and the ancient trees, their voices still heard in the streams and on the edge of the wind and most powerfully within the moon.
Stopping, one realises that these voices are becoming louder, their power is returning as the wheel turns full circle.
Our healing lies literally within our own hands and grows at our feet. She is calling to us, perhaps it is time to start listening once again.
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Photo: Mallows and wild marigolds. Courtesy of the author
About Neil Hill
Neil Hill is one of Europe’s top outdoor, wilderness and survival coaches. He believes that our modern disconnect from nature has led to many of our personal, physical and social problems. He has led courses into some of the worlds most hostile and wild environments. His passion is to reconnect people with their aboriginal roots in nature, enabling them to have adventures and experiences that unlock their massive potential, Neil is the founder of Rewilding Bushcraft.
