Bellebuono - An herbalists guide to formulary: the art & science of creating effective herbal remedies

Photo by Eli Dagostino

About the Author

An American medical herbalist of twenty-three years, Holly Bellebuono is renowned for her work documenting women healers and teaching herbal formulary and pharmacology. Hollys seven-year project of interviews and research culminated in the documentary book Women Healers of the World: The Traditions, History & Geography of Herbal Medicine and was awarded Book of the Year by the International Herb Association and the Gold Award for Womens Books by Nautilus Book Awards. Holly directs the Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine on Marthas Vineyard, training and certifying community herbalists in herbal medicine, and she is the founder of Vineyard Herbs Teas & Apothecary. Her work has been featured in Parabola , SageWoman , Juno (Britain), Taproot , The New York Times , and more, and her four other books include The Essential Herbal for Natural Health , The Authentic Herbal Healer , Goal Setting for Open-Minded Business Owners , and The Healing Kitchen . As a two-time Small Business Owner of the Year Award recipient, Holly leads empowerment seminars for entrepreneurs, and she facilitates seminars, retreats, and lectures for womens and business conferences and universities about herbal medicine, symbolism, and the philosophy of healing. Holly lives on Marthas Vineyard with her family; you can learn more about her work or enroll in her school at www.HollyBellebuono.com.

Introduction:
Wholeness and the Ultimate Question
What Is Healing?

In my twenty-three years as an herbalist dispensing medicines and supporting clients, Ive been called a healer, though for decades I considered myself more of a facilitator. When customers used my apothecary products and reported back that the first-aid ointment healed their terrible burn, or the sedative tincture gave them their first solid sleep through the night, they claimed I healed them, and I quickly pointed out that it wasnt me, it was the plants. For a long time I was loath to accept any credit for the good works of my products, but over the years Ive explored the interconnections between myself, the plants, my products, and the people who come to me sick, injured, or concerned, and Ive questioned: when they get better, what, exactly, was my role in their recovery?

Is healing a process or an outcome? Is it scientific or personal? Who has the ability and the authority to healand who doesnt? In other words, what does it mean to be a healer? This is one of the deepest and most important questions we can ask ourselves as healing arts professionals, and its a difficult and even controversial one to answer. It has become vogue to say that we can create our own health, or even that we can influence or change our reality through positive thinking. I think this is both true and untrue. I believe our thoughts have a direct impact on our lives, and they can even structure the energy that makes up our existence with direct cause-and-effect. But Ive worked with enough positive people who have faced illness despite their positive mindset. People who eat well, live happily, and promote a positive ideology can still get sick and die. This begs a lot of questions: What causes illness? What causes health? And who, ultimately, is the healer?

For far too long, sick people have relied on the medical establishment to provide healing. It has been assumed that the educated physician heals with every prescription written. But do doctors heal? Does healing come from an educated mind and a prescription pad?

What about other healing arts practitioners? Do those of us who work with plants, teach nutrition, or lead yoga classes heal? True, we facilitate the healing process and guide a sick person toward wellness, but do we heal? Do our herbs and remedies heal? If so, is it the chemical nature of the plant that brings about change in the body, or is it the inherent spiritual energy of a plant that heals? Perhaps it is the connection with Mother Nature or with a divine origin that shifts a persons health. Does healing come from prayer? Does God make a sick person better? Generations of families have relied on their religious tenets to cure the sick, regarding faith as both the curative agent and the pillar upon which to lean when healing failed. Many of the indigenous women healers Ive interviewed for my documentary have attributed healing to the Divine and are adamant that we as the healers are the conduit to mysterious and powerful forces beyond our understanding.