{"id":217092,"date":"2023-08-23T22:24:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T02:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/?p=217092"},"modified":"2024-03-13T13:24:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T17:24:52","slug":"honoring-our-elders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/honoring-our-elders\/","title":{"rendered":"Honoring our Elders"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Sambucus nigra<\/em>, the Elder tree, is often planted in the center of the herb garden and is said to be the guardian of the garden, the keeper of the green. The other plants in the garden look to it for protection, wisdom and strength.<\/p>

So it is with the elders of our herbal community.<\/strong><\/p>

Elders are still considered wisdom keepers, and their knowledge of the plants and teachings are sought after. At conferences and events they are often guests of honor, and other herbalists travel great distances to meet and study with them. Why is this?<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Aside from the fact that these individuals are often great characters, wonderfully entertaining and full of stories, they have lived rich and meaningful lives, and their experiences reach in and touch us, giving our own lives meaning.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\tIt is the elders who have kept the teachings of herbalism alive through generations of time, the wise ones who taught the children how to find the plants, how to speak with them, and how to make medicine from them. This lineage, though weakened, still lives on, and our hearts hunger for this connection to our traditions.\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Often, we find in our herbal elders a passion for and a commitment to their vision and life that is extraordinary. They light the way for us. Though many of the elders have passed on, their teachings live on in those whose lives they’ve touched. And, likewise, the teachings of the green will live on through us.1<\/a><\/sup>Excerpted from Rosemary Gladstar\u2019s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health<\/a> \u00a9 2008 by Rosemary Gladstar, published by Storey Publications. All rights reserved. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Voices of the Herbal Elders<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Several years ago, I began working on a book that I was intending to call Voices of the Herbal Elders. I had a long list of elders lined up to interview, all herbalists I knew closely, and some of whom I had the good fortune to work with for many years. These were my friends and teachers, people I traveled far and wide to study with, to work for and be with. Many were getting older, and I was afraid that their stories and teachings would be lost. I wanted to capture some of their stories for future generations of plant lovers. I actually started the interviews way back in 1996, and still have a few of the original recordings. Then I got busy with life, projects, gardens, family, other books, and Voices of the Herbal Elders got put on the back burner\u2026where it’s been slowly simmering, nearly forgotten, for the last two decades.<\/p>

As happens, that amazing generation of elders began to pass over. First, Dr. Christopher. Then Norma Meyers. Adele Dawson. Tasha Tudor. Miss Hortense, Miss Beatrice Wright, Don Jose Matsua, Sunbear, Rolling Thunder, Bear Heart, Dr. Jim Duke, Russ and Mary Jorgenson, Juliette de Ba\u00efracli Levy, my beloved Grandmother Mary Abelian Egitkhanoff and so very many others.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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From top left to bottom: Tasha Tudor and Juliette de Ba\u00efracli Levy, Miss Beatrice and Miss Hortense, Mary and Russ Jorgenson, Mary Egitkhanoff, James Duke, Norma Meyers <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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These elders carried on the teachings of the plants when herbalism wasn\u2019t popular and it was almost impossible to even earn a livelihood as an herbalist. Yet these wise elders generously shared their healing skills, wisdom and knowledge with anyone willing to listen with an open heart.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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While that book kept slowly simmering on the back burner, nearly but not quite forgotten, time was sneaking by. <\/strong><\/p>

Soon my friends, who were those young herbalists studying at the feet of our elders, were gray-haired grandparents, shepherding the next generation of herbalists. And as happens in the normal course of time, the way the river flows, many of these elders, my dearest friends, co-visionaries and dreamers of the green, began their journeys to the Spirit Worlds, the land of stars, rainbows and quiet mystery.<\/p>

Michael Moore. William LeSassier, Steven Foster. Gabriel Howearth. Jessie Longacre. Gail Ulrich. Cascade Anderson Geller. Stephen Buhner. Michael Phillips. And so many other bright souls. The list is long, and grows longer with each passing year.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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From left: Gail Ulrich, Stephen Foster, Cascade Anderson Geller, and Michael Phillips<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I felt that old dream awaking and knew it was way past time to move that pot from the back burner up to the front, time to turn up the heat, and begin earnestly, merrily stirring.<\/p>

While I have many stories I could share about each of these wise herbal elders, what I love best, and think others do as well, is listening to herbalists telling their own stories in their own plant-rich voices.<\/p>

And so the stories begin…what I like to call \u2018inner views,\u2019<\/strong> as we glimpse into the lives of these current herbal elders and listen to them tell of their journeys into the lush world of plants. While it’s an entirely new set of elders than I had originally intended to interview when I started this project back in the 1990s, I am so deeply inspired with each \u2018inner view\u2019 and am having so much fun with this project.<\/p>

And, more than anything, I\u2019m delighted to be able to share these stories with you.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Catch up on Voices of our Herbal Elders<\/a> episodes now!<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Join me on your favorite podcast platform or watch the Inner-View videos on YouTube. I hope they bring you inspiration, joy, and hope.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\tWe would love for you to share stories of your own herbal elders in the comments below!\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sambucus nigra, the Elder tree, is often planted in the center of the herb garden and is said to be the guardian of the garden, the keeper of the green. The other plants in the garden look to it for protection, wisdom and strength. So it is with the elders of our herbal community. Elders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":217112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1343],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1166],"class_list":["post-217092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voices-of-our-herbal-elders"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":1166,"user_id":5,"is_guest":0,"slug":"rosemary","display_name":"Rosemary Gladstar","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01a44e039581c9ec22ad12cfbd8b56208e2d5ddefccae58281710b023bc86def?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Rosemary","last_name":"Gladstar","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217092"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandartofherbalism.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=217092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}