Judith Boice - The Green Medicine Chest: Healthy Treasures for the Whole Family

The Green Medicine Chest

Healthy Treasures for the Whole Family

Also by Judith Boice, N.D., L.Ac.

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The Green Medicine Chest

Healthy Treasures for the Whole Family

By Judith Boice, N.D., L.Ac.

NEW YORK

The Green Medicine Chest
By Judith Boice, N.D., L.Ac.

2012 Judith Boice. All rights reserved.

Cover art 2010 Malinda Rogers

Photographs 2010 Jennifer Roth, www.jenniferrothphotography.com

Typesetting by wordzworth.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from author or publisher (except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages and/or show brief video clips in a review).

Disclaimer: The Publisher and the Author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may becreated or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the Publisher nor the Author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the Author or the Publisher endorses the information the organization or website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

To contact Dr. Judith Boice for consultations or other information:
Web site: www.drjudithboice.com
E-mail:

1% of the profits from this book are donated to support Green Medicine projects and oraganizations.

Note to reader: The information in this book is not intended as a substitute for medical counseling. Please do not attempt self-treatment of a medical problem without consulting a qualified health practitioner.

ISBN 978-1-61448-058-7 Paperback

ISBN 978-1-61448-059-4 eBook

Published by:

MORGAN JAMES PUBLISHING

The Entrepreneurial Publisher

5 Penn Plaza, 23rd Floor

New York City, New York 10001

(212) 655-5470 Office

(516) 908-4496 Fax

www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

To the Green World, the root of all medicine;
and to the Creator of All Things,
the ultimate source of healing.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all of my teachers and mentors who have so abundantly and graciously shared their wisdom and knowledge: Kathleen Luiten, mystic and healer; AmyLee, woodland medicine woman; Dr. Jared Zeff, naturopathic physician and acupuncturist; James Kiji Watters, Shawandasse author, artist and medicine man; R.J. Stewart, author, musician and teacher; Ann Marie Holmes, author and Feng shui practitioner; Professor Hui Xian Chen, qigong instructor; Terri Applegate, qigong instructor and acupuncturist; the Green World and all of the Cousins; the Elements; the river of ancestors in whose wake I travel; and the Ancient Ones, the Masters.

Thanks to my cadre of editors, the best collection of grammar cops and spelling queens ever: Martha Boice (thanks, Mom!), Elizabeth Robinson and Catherine Rourke.

I am grateful to Micheal Reed Gach, founder of the Acupressure Institute of America, for generously granting permission to reproduce the point location drawings in the acupressure section.

Thanks to Missy Rogers for applying her mind, heart, hands and artistic eye to the creation of the cover art.

I am indebted to my beloved partner Jeff, for his love and support, and for his technical wizardry on the computer. Thanks also for watching the boys while I wrote (praise be, the house is still standing).

Thank you, Sebastian and Vincent, for providing the inspiration to send this knowledge into the world, for yours and future generations.

Foreword

Selecting a name for ones book requires the same consciousness as naming a child. That moniker will forever remain the way both book and child are introduced to the world, complete with the publics accompanying expectations of it.

When my longtime friend, colleague and confidante Dr. Judith Boice deliberately determined the title for this most recent of her many books, The Green Medicine Chest: Healthy Treasures for the Whole Family, the innate value of its contents was guaranteed. The reader can trust this book by its title it is a treasure. Over the past several decades Judith and I have intersected Medicine Paths, and each encounter has left us both stronger for the sharing. In Dr. Judith I found a Sister of the Heart, a woman whose love of knowledge, healing and helping was built on both strong evidence (science) and a remark- able set of personal experiences. She is the someday-legend of the modern Medicine Woman, alive and walking amongst us today!

I do not use the term Medicine Woman lightly. While they are English words subject to numerous cultural interpretations, my use of the term here reflects a cadre of dedicated women who give away years of their lives in ultimate service to others via their pursuit of balance through wellness, healing, recovery and prevention of personal and planetary distress.

I was born into such a tradition of dedicated women. My aunties and grandmothers would gather, sometimes in ancient groves and other times in a house-bound aunties apartment, always with the same goal. While ceremony and ritual would change, the content and connection followed true. Each woman would unfurl her blanket and set upon it many gifts and treasures.

Two of the medicine bundles would be opened for all to witness. The first bundle contained the best medicine each woman had discovered, developed and learned since the groups last circle. It would be thoroughly explained and then offered as a new tool to all in attendance who were drawn to accept that gift and its responsibility to use it wisely.

The second bundle held another equally potent gift: the same womans vulnerability that one illness, challenge or mystery that burdened her (personally or in her practice). It, too, was honored as a Teacher, Tool and Gift for those in the circle.

Each woman took her turn studying, pondering and drawing from her own vast pool of knowledge to offer insight, remedy or other incisive perception. All would return home richer for the treasures shared.