Living and working with medicinal plants predates written history. In fact some herbalists/shamans consider plants to be
our very ancestors. Such perspectives include understanding that we are in deep communication with plants in many ways: via taste, smell, beauty. Some speak with plants, some hear plants, others communicate via understanding a plant’s chemical constituents, a language in itself, so to speak. Some simply drink and digest them daily and have for 1000s of years, as food and spice. It is all encompasses ancient form of communication.
The truth is
I have mud on my hands
from digging roots
The truth is
I brought them to you
It is the truth
I worked to get them
and complained
while digging them up
The truth is
once i got back here
and saw your face
It didn’t matter
that work.
~ Ojibway First Nation
It is known in many indigenous and traditional western medicines, across the world, that plants work in relationship with practitioners. It is in fact through respect and connection with the plant, when grown, sung to, asked to be medicine, and then administered, that the plant heals. This may be your cup of tea, it may not, but regardless, herbalism and the medicinal plants, have a wide range of languages from where to meet you, and change your life: from indigenous knowledge, the doctrine of signatures (traditional perspective in knowing plant medicine), to hard core scientific testing.
My first experiences with medicinal plants was as a child. Harvesting random seeds from the forests and gardens, singing and making random potions, always full of magic. Then, later in my life, during a particularly challenging period, someone remarked on the beauty of my garden. It then occurred to me, that actually my garden healed me, much more than I took care of it: the mere presence of plants nourished me.
Later, while working in Nicaragua, and doing research with bamboo, a local man refused for months to tell me about his perspective on its medicinal qualities, stating that as a western woman, I would not believe him. My last day in his nursery, he finally let me know, “the medicine of bamboo, is how it sounds in the wind”. There are some days- when that is still my favorite form of all plant medicine.
“If you want to feel me
Better be divine
Bring me water
Water for my mind
Give me nothin’
Breathe love in my air
Just be gentle
‘Cause these herbs are rare..”
~Erykah Badu
Other days- I am constantly amazed by the power of different plants, to enter the field and body of an individual, and shift/soothe/ignite digestion (you choose- they can do it), to ease sleep or nervous systems, to clear lungs, to hold hearts. Their support is endless, and they are often able to work with an intelligence, that determines where you are in need of balance, as a whole plant, supporting you in more ways than one, often with few side effects, unlike the laboratory made pharmaceuticals.
Beyond Indigenous knowledge around the globe, and western traditional herbalist, also lies the work of both ancient India and China. They both have strong traditional systems which categorize plants into different temperatures and energetics, allowing for further exploration of 
creating treatments very specific to each individual. Some plants are more supportive for those of us who are fiery and frustrated, as they are known to be cooling. Other plants will have more heating qualities, for those of us who are cold, get stuck on heavy damp foods during heavy damp weather (in both these traditions- we know that certain people can eat like this – others cannot- the medicinal plant allies offer support).
Furthermore- many thousands of dollars are regularly spent on plastic bottles of digestive enzymes and antioxidant blends! Some of the plants growing right outside your front door, on your sidewalks (here in Fernwood, Victoria- we are literally blessed with Fennel tree forests on our sidewalks by late summer) are excellent digestive enzymes and full of antioxidants.
Medicinal plants are some of the most powerful medicine on this planet- why not get to know one or two? It is always an honor to work with you and the plants.