[Antoine]

Australia is so vast it’s a bit of a double-edged sword: there’s a variety of plants that can grow across the country but they may come from super far depending on where you live. I would thus encourage you to find your local herbalists/herb shops/growers/health shops to work with, so you get acquainted with what’s happening in your area, make contact and engage with the local herbal community.

When I was in the Brisbane area I did try the Happy Herb Co. as well, they had a bunch of dried herbs (as Georgia said they only offer quite small quantities) and some tinctures too. That’s where and when my herbal journey started so I couldn’t tell you about the quality of their products as I was super new to it all; however the “spagyric tincture” I got from them felt nowhere near as qualitative as Natura Sophia Spagyrics. You can still get regular tinctures and herbs from them and hopefully get good results with that. I also worked for an organic shop company in the area that had a decent selection of dried herbs in bulk, which was quite handy at the time. Surely Tassie would have a whole bunch of different herbs to offer! May not be local though, but if you’re after specific plants it may be a good area to look into.

And then there’s the bush and all you can harvest respectfully there… which would provide you with some fresh material at least.

Natura Sophia does ship to OZ far as I know but it wouldn’t be a sustainable choice, nor a cheap one. Great if it’s just for yourself to try different plants and be sure of the quality, otherwise I would keep it as local as possible 🙂

[Antoine]

Thank you Katerina for this great discussion!

Just last week while meandering in the forest, I was doing a mental count of the medicinal plants in the vicinity, to know what is potentially on hand as well as for the curiosity to try and understand what the land reflects of the people living here. I came to the early conclusion that we have an abundance of plants that relate to the water element in a way or another. Could it be that we need some remedies to balance/cleanse the body from the rich diet of the area? Local specialties are duck, black truffle, porcini, walnut, chestnut, goat’s cheese, and all sorts of fatty specialties that come with those ingredients, plus the usual French diet – wheat, dairy, potatoes and ALL the ways to prepare those in combination.
Seasons are quite different from one to the other here in Southwestern France, and the temperatures vary greatly. Lots of rainfall but unfortunately not well spread across the seasons… Winters are increasingly dry and milder than when I was a kid – still getting around -7°C but only for a few nights now, when we used to get around -10°C at night for a few weeks back then. Significant snowfalls happen every 5-10 years. Spring has always been very wet and still is. Summer is always hot but is getting wetter now, almost turning tropical at least early on, then it usually turns really hot and dry come July-August (we often get 38-41°C for weeks on end during the day) and most plants die at that time. Autumn is always lovely with milder temperatures but beautiful sunny days (especially until November) and the occasional rainfall to bring the mushrooms out.

Within walking distance of home I have seen, in the surrounding forests:
– Oak (one of the two main trees here)
– Chestnut (the other main tree found around)
– Pines, unsure what kind
– Hawthorn (which are often quite small, and I haven’t seen any of them bloom so far…)

These are the main trees found in the local forests. Then we have the smaller loved ones:
– Blackberry (by the thousands)
– Dead Purple Nettle
– Nettles (abundant)
– Juniper
– Teasel (rare)
– Burdock (rare)
– Violets (scent-free ones, and a few scented ones that come later)
– Turkey Tail
– Primrose (Primula veris)
– Lungwort
– Bugleweed
– Ivy (so much of it)

And in the surrounding fields or close to houses:
– Chickweed
– Cleavers
– Dandelion (lots and lots)
– Yarrow
– Mullein
– Self-heal
– Plantain (everywhere)
– Red Clover
– Mugwort
– Poppy
– Ground Ivy
– Common Fumitory

There is definitely a focus on the purple colour, followed by white and yellow. I wouldn’t be surprised if the land was trying to raise the consciousness by trying to open the crown chakra… 🤣
It is only my second spring here. Growing from seed (plus a couple of trees) in the garden (or seedlings) at the moment we have:
– Sage
– Lemon Balm
– Calendula
– Wormwood
– Chicory
– Tagetes (lucida)
– Oregano
– Basil
– Coriander
– Raspberry
– Vitex
– Linden
– Peppermint
– Garlic
– Chamomile
– Borage
– Fennel
– California Poppy

… And a bunch of other plants I have tried without success so far:
– Angelica
– Ashwagandha
– Echinacea
– Holy Basil
– Hops
– Hyssop
– Licorice
– Lobelia
– Marshmallow
– Motherwort
– Rosemary
– Skullcap
– St John’s Wort (this one has been frustrating to say the least, there’s a wild species that grows abundantly but isn’t Perforatum, and we have an ornamental one that isn’t suited for medicine either… the seed one doesn’t seem like it wants to be around just yet!)
– Valerian

Exciting times! Just listing those makes me realise how abundant plant medicine is at my doorstep, although I’m always looking forward to growing more. 🙏

[Antoine]

Today I’d like to share a book following a conversation in another post. It’s the second time I refer this book in the Teahouse so it’s probably good to share it here.

It has nothing to do with herbalism, however it it a fantastic reference for psycho-emotional work and its relation to disease. Introducing Jacques Martel’s “Encyclopedia of Ailments and Diseases”, which I thought was only in French and I just found out it’s available in English, so all of you folks can have a peak if interested!

While maybe not 100% accurate (which would be difficult as diagnosing disease from emotional or psychological viewpoint isn’t widely popular in scientific circles, making research in the field fairly limited), it is quite relevant in many of its analyses and will go a long way for those who are interested in the psycho-emotional aspect of healing. I have been introduced to it during a holistic healing course I’ve undertaken two years ago and it’s been with me since.

The book is alphabetically organised in chapters for each ailment/body part/symptom, be it emotional or physical (you’ll find phobia as much as herpes, pregnancy as much as fear, gallblader as much as pyrexia…). Each section might be divided in several subsections if applicable (for example, the Bone section is divided into Aches, Cancer, Acromegaly, Difformity, Dislocation, Fracture, Osteomyelitis, and Osteoporosis), giving a quick definition of the subject, then going into detail and relating it to the emotional or psychological pattern at play. Each subsection (or section) ends on some advice about what to do and address in the psycho-emotional realm.

I am unsure about the English version but I believe the author is French Canadian so surely it would be a fine translation. A must have if you are interested in the invisible side of disease and the psychological/emotional side of your clients! Absolutely complementary to the work we are doing here as far as I am concerned.

Happy reading!

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[Antoine]

Hi Renginar! You’re absolutely correct, the time/event that started the issue is crucial to resolve it. I’ve worked extensively on the causes of my allergies, especially last year (lucky enough to have a teacher who can trace those things back to their origins), and so I’d say I need another year to confirm that all this has been digested and to see if it’s mostly behind me now.

I wouldn’t say Gemmo is miraculous (especially without working on the origin of the trouble) but it really does help support the body gently and safely. In my little experience it is a mild but effective practice, working in the background. I also haven’t tried anything else but that allergy formula, so it’s hard to have a broad view of it so far. More experience needed at this stage, but I like the way it provides new horizons in terms of herbal medicine!

[Antoine]

Thank you for sharing Marilyn, it’s good to hear that Gemmotherapy can somehow be achieved with more than ‘just’ trees. From that book I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ve seen a couple of non-tree ones among the list: Rosemary and Pollen. There could be a few more, I just quickly went through and was pleasantly surprised about those. While I can understand the reason(s) trees are favored in this practice, I don’t see why flowers couldn’t technically be used as well and this is nice confirmation!

[Antoine]

Hi Amanda, looking forward to hearing from your experimentations! Please share when your tinctures are ready and you’ve had a bit of a trial with them – if you feel like it 🙂

[Antoine]

Hi Caryn, yes anticipation is a lot better. I’ve narrowed down my allergy season and now know when it starts almost to the day which makes it easier to start ahead, but have struggled in the past to gauge the timing, partly because I was living at the other side of the world where seasons and pollens are different.

Happy exploration!

[Antoine]

Hi Lucille from Mullumbimby! (This brings up memories – I worked for a few months on an organic farm in Murwillumbah some years ago 😄)

I have noticed there is a fair gap between Naturopathy courses comparing here in France and OZ/NZ – you guys get an actual degree, whereas here it is not technically recognised so far but only accepted (or more accurately, tolerated…) so we don’t have any official qualifying courses yet. Some schools are more serious than others and work towards having some recognition and those are longer (3-4 years), more expensive courses. Mine is all self-paced, online and not as involved, although from what I’ve gathered talking with other French practitioners the longer ones are not necessarily full time either but just spread out in time, so at the end of the day it seems that we are learning roughly the same things but in different ways. Unsure if other schools in France bring up Gemmotherapy but mine does.

So you get qualification without the magic, and we get (some of) the magic without qualification… What a choice! 😁 I’m happy to have the magic but as I will potentially move back to Aotearoa at some point, it’ll be annoying having to start all over again because there won’t be any bridging or recognition option… I do feel there’s a bit more freedom in Oceania than here when it comes to those practices so far though, so I trust I’ll be able to do my own thing without too much fuss. 🤞🌿

[Antoine]

If you haven’t tried Reishi yet, it is quite magical for seasonal allergies… A friend at the time introduced it to me (it was actually the first tincture I ever tried!), and from then on it went a lot better each year compared to the previous 20 years without it. She nearly fixed all her allergies with it too. Capsules work greatly too! My mum has had miraculous results with them, from unable to be outside to just having to take a couple of capsules when a crisis starts (after a couple of month-long sessions on it). I’ve also used a bit of Dead Purple Nettle tincture this year as I made one earlier in the spring, I feel like this helped too. And stopping gluten/dairy products is definitely a must as far as I’m concerned – can handle them okayish year round except around the pollen season, which took me decades to understand. 😩

In the blend I was taking there is Common Hornbeam, Rosemary and Blackcurrant (glycerinated macerates) + Nettle extract + Tarragon hydrosol. That woman crafts about 30 different simples and 10 blends just for gemmo.

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It seems to be a bit of a process as the bud season is usually quite short and many trees have similar budding times, so early spring is super busy with the harvest and transformation of those – the timing has to be on point. She was saying it takes a whole day of picking to barely get 100g of Hawthorn buds…

Lucky day for those who are interested, I had a quick look and an English translation for one of the main reference books on the subject is available. It’s a nice book with an explanation for the main buds currently used (I think it’s not quite up to date anymore but the main ones are in there), some formulas, an index by ailments and a history of this modality.

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[Antoine]

That’s fairly understandable – reading at your list I can tell our environments are significantly different! Which makes it all the more interesting 🙂 I have no medicinal experience with Fumitory so far. They are only tiny at the moment, nothing like the drawings from your pictures (I could totally read that page 👌). This plant seems to be well-known here and has been traditionally used for a very long time; I’ve seen it in most herbal shops if not all, in one form or another. It has a cool herbal action: “amphocholeretic” (I just like the name of it), modulating either an excess or deficiency of bile secretion. It is advised to not use it in case of gallstones at it may push those stones down the ducts and block them.

Cool book by the way! I like that it’s a translation from French authors, I didn’t know they were known beyond this country. François Couplan is a beloved figure in the herbal world here and a big advocate for foraging, using forgotten plants as food and medicine and living more simple, natural & mindful lifestyles. He’s actually worked with starred chefs over the last few decades to incorporate wild plants (culinary and medicinal) in their dishes and restaurants. In a country where herbalism is technically forbidden, we owe him a lot as far as re-popularising and using wild plants goes, as well as sharing about their properties with a greater audience.

[Antoine]

I’ve never heard of that wine before but felt compelled to look it up. Must have been an actually good tonic back then! The brand went into oblivion and was brought back to life about 10 years ago with a new recipe that tried to copy the original (no one knows what it tasted like anymore) and a “decocainized” coca liquor added to it, which indicates that it wouldn’t get anywhere near the original potency. Beyond the taste, I’m not sure it would have any medicinal value today 😐

[Antoine]

Totally looks like my jam! I see there’s a second edition now. Not cheap but I might be able to find it on eBay. Thank you!

[Antoine]

The cheapest I saw on eBay was 30 euros, adding to that 15eur shipping fees and the good old 20% added on anything coming from non-EU countries from our government – now it’s getting a bit much for a 2nd hand book… Other eBay options are twice the base price and all shipping from the US too. Amazon (fr) has no new copy, cheapest starting at 166eur haha. Kindle might be the way to go but I’m still struggling to get into ebooks..! I’ve got so much reading already waiting anyway. It’s bookmarked to see if cheaper ones show up at some point. Thank you for checking Chad 👌

[Antoine]

Looks interesting, thanks for the recommendation. Seems to be quite hard to find and pricey these days though, from here anyway… From the few pictures you shared, it reminds me a bit of Barbara Brennan’s “Hands of Light” book, which may be a bit more oriented towards energy healing but has lots of content on chakras and the aura too. Will keep an eye out for it.

[Antoine]

Thanks again. I figured there can’t really be a “one-size-fits-all” book in this area of herbalism, just as it’s really difficult to pinpoint one in any other field… They are all complementary and it’s great that way – makes it more interesting, and we do need everyone’s vision to understand anything holistically!

That said I appreciate you sharing further references on this very topic. I am looking into trusted herbalists’ recommandations so I can see what books tend to show up more than others – my way of skimming through without having to invest in all of them. Not that I wouldn’t want to but books about herbalism are totally a rabbit hole I can see myself getting trapped into… and they’re not cheap as they add up 😅