About My Work
|
|
What is Traditional Western Herbalism?
The form of clinical herbalism I was trained in and practice is grounded in the modernized understanding and revival of Traditional Western Herbalism. Western Herbalism, as it exists today, is informed by the animist and vitalist philosophies of the West (Europe and the Middle East) substantially developed and articulated during the Classical, Hellenistic, Medieval, Renaissance, and modern periods. It also incorporates (and appropriates) wisdom from several other important medical paradigms of the world: Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Native American healing, and Unani Tibb. Western herbalism and Indian Ayurveda have shared roots in Indo-European culture, and are influenced by ancient Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern medicine. Western herbalism is a continuously evolving tradition, and after centuries of political oppression beginning in the early modern era, it is making a strong comeback!
Why is plant medicine important?
Humans and human ancestors have co-evolved with plants for millions of years. In fact, it was our ancestors' interactions with plants that shaped our faculties to taste, smell, and see! We have been using wild plants as medicines since before we were humans; many other animals use plant medicine as well, from caterpillars, to primates, birds, reptiles, elk, bear, and many more. All of us have ancestors who had intimate knowledge and respectful relationships with plants as givers of medicine, food, fiber, and wisdom for how to live in harmony with all of creation. Only in the last 100 years has this relationship been degraded - but we can do work right now to rebuild it! The first step is to recognize all that already plants do for each and every one us and to be grateful for their generosity. Next, we can begin to learn more about them, to interact with them regularly, with respect, and to take their medicines and notice their effects on our bodies. One of my teachers, Larken Bunce, says that ingesting herbal medicine can be a powerful way for people who don't have access to living plants or natural areas to directly interact with and build relationships with Nature. For many who feel isolated from wild Nature, living in urban or suburban environments, ingesting wild plant medicine can be an important first step in reconnecting to reality; that is, the natural world. Plants, both in whole foods and in medicinal form, remind our bodies how to function as they were designed. While modern conventional medicine is excellent at rescuing us from acute, life-threatening illness and accidents, it is not capable of strengthening our vitality nor building vibrant, resilient health. Only (re)alignment with Nature can do that. In other words, conventional medicine can keep us alive, but natural medicine keeps us well. Plants hold intelligence in all their cells, and when we taste, smell, or touch them, they remind our bodies, both epigenetically and energetically, how to be human again. Furthermore, as we begin to experience their intelligence directly and strengthen our sacred relationships with them, we cannot help but be drawn into the struggle to protect them from disrespect and destruction at the hands of a psychopathic society.
The form of clinical herbalism I was trained in and practice is grounded in the modernized understanding and revival of Traditional Western Herbalism. Western Herbalism, as it exists today, is informed by the animist and vitalist philosophies of the West (Europe and the Middle East) substantially developed and articulated during the Classical, Hellenistic, Medieval, Renaissance, and modern periods. It also incorporates (and appropriates) wisdom from several other important medical paradigms of the world: Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Native American healing, and Unani Tibb. Western herbalism and Indian Ayurveda have shared roots in Indo-European culture, and are influenced by ancient Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern medicine. Western herbalism is a continuously evolving tradition, and after centuries of political oppression beginning in the early modern era, it is making a strong comeback!
Why is plant medicine important?
Humans and human ancestors have co-evolved with plants for millions of years. In fact, it was our ancestors' interactions with plants that shaped our faculties to taste, smell, and see! We have been using wild plants as medicines since before we were humans; many other animals use plant medicine as well, from caterpillars, to primates, birds, reptiles, elk, bear, and many more. All of us have ancestors who had intimate knowledge and respectful relationships with plants as givers of medicine, food, fiber, and wisdom for how to live in harmony with all of creation. Only in the last 100 years has this relationship been degraded - but we can do work right now to rebuild it! The first step is to recognize all that already plants do for each and every one us and to be grateful for their generosity. Next, we can begin to learn more about them, to interact with them regularly, with respect, and to take their medicines and notice their effects on our bodies. One of my teachers, Larken Bunce, says that ingesting herbal medicine can be a powerful way for people who don't have access to living plants or natural areas to directly interact with and build relationships with Nature. For many who feel isolated from wild Nature, living in urban or suburban environments, ingesting wild plant medicine can be an important first step in reconnecting to reality; that is, the natural world. Plants, both in whole foods and in medicinal form, remind our bodies how to function as they were designed. While modern conventional medicine is excellent at rescuing us from acute, life-threatening illness and accidents, it is not capable of strengthening our vitality nor building vibrant, resilient health. Only (re)alignment with Nature can do that. In other words, conventional medicine can keep us alive, but natural medicine keeps us well. Plants hold intelligence in all their cells, and when we taste, smell, or touch them, they remind our bodies, both epigenetically and energetically, how to be human again. Furthermore, as we begin to experience their intelligence directly and strengthen our sacred relationships with them, we cannot help but be drawn into the struggle to protect them from disrespect and destruction at the hands of a psychopathic society.
"In many Indigenous traditions, plants are understood not only as persons, but as among our oldest teachers. They have been on the earth far longer than we have, and they embody the virtues that we honor. Who better to look to for guidance than those who can take light and air and water, turn it into food, and then they give it away--who makes medicines and then distributes them for free?" - Robin Wall Kimmerer, PhD., Potawatomi ethnobotanist, "What Does the World Ask of Us?".
"Many already know that plants are the world-makers we need to heed; they know that plants have terraformed this earth in a way that makes it livable and breathable for everyone else... Plants compose the atmosphere; they matter the compost; they cleanse the waters and seed the clouds; they concoct marvelous chemistries and generate abundant nourishment for all other forms of life, not just for humans. They are the substance, substrate, symbol and sign of cultures and economies the world over. They keep everyone clothed, sheltered, nourished, pleasured, medicated, intoxicated, and adorned... We should be vegetalizing our own sensoria in order to begin to appreciate plants' lively, expressive, curious, and articulate ways of being. This makes even more sense when we realize that it was the plants who taught us all about taste, smell, colour, texture, and form in the first place." - Natasha Myers, PhD., anthropologist, "Seeding Planthroposcenes".
"The essence of all beings is the Earth, the essence of the Earth is Water, the essence of Water is Plants, the essence of Plants is Humanity..." - First Prapathaka of the Chandogya Upanishad.
For thousands of years, Western philosophers and physicians alike have understood plants to have intelligence of their own, especially with regards to healing. In the West, plants were understood to embody the wisdom of different planetary archetypes, thus they were used to treat different illnesses correlating with different planetary energies. Plants are balanced in and of themselves, thus they can show us how to embody each archetype in a balanced and resilient manner.
Traditional Western herbalists practice whole-plant medicine, meaning that the healing power of plants cannot be reduced to this or that isolated constituent. I use barberry root, not just berberine. I use licorice root, not just glycyrrhizin. The whole plant contains a healing consciousness which we humans have co-evolved with over millennia. Our bodies know how to deal with whole plants much more effectively than a single constituent isolated in a lab, and that's why whole-plant medicine is more effective than modern nutraceuticals. This is, at its core, an animist understanding of the world. When Nature (humanity included) is viewed as sacred, exploitation and desecration of our world can no longer be witnessed without feeling disgust, despair, and moral outrage. This healing philosophy which sees all of Nature as alive, vital, and conscious may serve as a useful foundation from which we in the West can take action to dismantle the capitalist industrialist Western empire... from the inside. There have always been healers, philosophers, and scientists within the Western tradition that have resisted the dominant reductionistic, capitalist, and colonial agenda. Many Western herbalists, such as myself, seek to participate in this rebellious legacy.
Traditional Western herbalists practice whole-plant medicine, meaning that the healing power of plants cannot be reduced to this or that isolated constituent. I use barberry root, not just berberine. I use licorice root, not just glycyrrhizin. The whole plant contains a healing consciousness which we humans have co-evolved with over millennia. Our bodies know how to deal with whole plants much more effectively than a single constituent isolated in a lab, and that's why whole-plant medicine is more effective than modern nutraceuticals. This is, at its core, an animist understanding of the world. When Nature (humanity included) is viewed as sacred, exploitation and desecration of our world can no longer be witnessed without feeling disgust, despair, and moral outrage. This healing philosophy which sees all of Nature as alive, vital, and conscious may serve as a useful foundation from which we in the West can take action to dismantle the capitalist industrialist Western empire... from the inside. There have always been healers, philosophers, and scientists within the Western tradition that have resisted the dominant reductionistic, capitalist, and colonial agenda. Many Western herbalists, such as myself, seek to participate in this rebellious legacy.
What is Astrological Herbalism?
Astrological herbalism is an ancient healing art practiced for many thousands of years in the West (the Mediterranean, Egypt, Persia, the Middle East, and Europe). From the Hellenistic period in Greece, Egypt, and Persia (4th to 1st century BCE) until the early modern period, Western medicine operated within an enchanted astrological paradigm. Medicinal herbs were often associated with planetary archetypes to describe their medicinal effects. Plants were used therapeutically not only to address physical illness, but also to correct astrological imbalances in a person's natal chart. Since the beginning of time, in every culture on earth, plants have been used both for medicinal and magical purposes. Astrological herbalism, as it is practiced today, is both a continuation and a revival of this magical-medicinal art.
Why astrology?
I believe the ancient wisdom traditions contained within Hermeticism, astrology in particular, are especially useful and complementary to the practice of Traditional Western Herbalism. For thousands of year, Western medical practice used astrology as a primary tool of diagnosis, timing, and treatment. Not until the early modern period did astrology fall out of favor with the intelligentsia as a result of the rise of the mechanical paradigm now espoused by modernism. I find it fascinating that during the 1960's, both astrology and Western herbalism were revived but were not reunited with each other in any significant way. Astrology is the puzzle piece missing from modern Western herbalism. I believe it is time now for this reintegration for the purpose of restoring Western medicine to its holistic and mystical roots.
Psychiatrist Carl Jung, one of the founders of modern psychotherapy, was himself an astrologer and understood astrology to be one of the world's most ancient and most advanced systems of psychological assessment. I had practiced Traditional Western Herbalism, primarily from a biomedical perspective (I am a scientist after all), for five years before I began studying astrology, and during those early years I always felt like something was missing from my practice. I saw over and over again that my clients' beliefs and psycho-spiritual states were significantly impacting their physical health, but I felt ill-equipped to understand and address them. As a person trained in science, I favor empiricism and approach most things with skepticism, including astrology. But the shockingly literal astrological correspondences to the real-world events of 2020, both in my personal life and in society at large, presented sufficient evidence to finally convince me that astrology is indeed a science, though it may not operate within the modern scientific-materialist paradigm. Astrology is not a science of causality as scientific materialism is; astrology is a science of correlation. The planets do not "cause" someone to sprain their ankle or get fired from their job anymore than the hands of a clock cause the sun to rise in the morning. Astrology is a way to keep track of patterns and cycles in time, and a way to analyze synchronicities. This is certainly helpful with regards to mapping changes in personal health. Ignoring or rejecting a significant body of evidence simply because it doesn't fit inside the mechanical worldview cannot be called science at all--that is called ideology, dogma, or fundamentalism--and yet ignoring challenging evidence is all too common in mainstream scientism today.
I've finally found a tool to help me see the connections between a client's psycho-spiritual health and their physical health (for in truth, this is a false division), and it allows me to perceive what lies at the deepest roots of disease. I am still a beginner in my astrological studies and I expect it will take the majority of my life to become a master, but even so, I've been astounded by the results thus far.
What is my approach to holistic and complementary healthcare?
I consider myself both a scientist and a mystic. I have a B.Sc. in ecology and environmental policy, and I've spent much of my life immersed in the scientific paradigm. Both of my parents are involved in the medical field and I was raised to value mainstream medicine. At the same time, I was also raised to question authorities (including medical authorities), to think critically, to analyze data, and to look beneath simplistic or ideological explanations for phenomena. As a result of a personal health crisis in my mid-20's, I was forced to learn how to heal myself. As I became aware of the many shortcomings of modern conventional medicine in my early years as a holistic healthcare explorer and clinician, I made a somewhat predictable dialectical swing and became almost dogmatically opposed to modern conventional medicine, avoiding conventional interventions as often as possible. Given my disease, cystic fibrosis, this was a difficult thing to do. I knew that doing every single treatment my doctors suggested would be harmful to my health, but for a period of time I reacted too strongly against their advice and ran in the opposite direction. I had not yet achieved a balance between the mechanical and holistic medicine paradigms, and I made many mistakes along the way. After years of experimenting on myself and assisting clients in navigating this polarity, I've found a middle path. It is a clear fact that I would have died many times if not for the tools of conventional medicine. And I would be quite depleted and imbalanced if not for the compliment of holistic modalities. Each paradigm is useful in different situations. My goal in working with clients is to help the body become as vital and resilient as possible to the point where conventional tools are less necessary. Yet I strongly believe that if those tools are required, we should use them. I believe this is consistent with the ancient Hippocratic healing philosophy where both physical and spiritual medicines were used side by side and applied differently, according to the ailment. In that ancient system, healers used a variety of modalities in a complementary fashion including herbal medicine, physical surgery, dream therapy, drama therapy, nutrition, rest, exercise, immersion in Nature, astrological assessment, petitions and offerings to gods, hydrotherapy, and more. Healing is no place for dogmatic thinking because everyone heals differently. Hippocrates spoke to this well: "There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance." We must use what works, no matter what paradigm it comes from, and yet we must always be careful to use treatments that do the least amount of harm. Healing requires us to use critical thinking skills and resist falling into one or more ideological traps. When we resort to using the modality we are resistant to, we may feel shame, and shame is extremely harmful to healing. Furthermore, I am not in the business of "healing miracles". True, lasting, deep healing requires the patient to do their own work. Lastly, as a legal disclaimer, I do not practice medicine and I do not diagnose, treat, or cure diseases. The information I share publicly and the work I do with clients is not meant to replace regular medical care.
What are my specialties? What is my educational background and clinical experience?
After receiving my degree in ecology and environmental policy from the University of Vermont, I attended and graduated from the three-year clinical herbalism program at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism in 2016. I have been seeing clients since 2015. In addition, I have been studying nutrition and supplementation since 2012. In my early years of this work I created this website to record my healing journey, my experiments, and my research regarding natural medicine's applications to cystic fibrosis (my illness), respiratory disease, diabetes, and digestive disorders. My personal experience with disease began at birth when I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF). I also have CF-related diabetes and a constellation of other CF-related delights. I like to joke that I'm going through the experiential track of medical school. While not a disease, I am transgender (non-binary transmasculine) and my personal transformation in that regard has been a profound spiritual experience and a truly alchemical process (indeed, the ancient alchemists believed the balance and fusion of male and female to be an important step towards achieving the ultimate state of consciousness). After graduating from herbalism school I co-founded Railyard Apothecary in Burlington, Vermont (N'Dakina, Abenaki territory), where I served as herbal dispensary manager and chief medicine-maker. I will attend the California Institute of Integral Studies Masters program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness in the Fall of 2021.
My areas of specialty include:
I accept clients with other health issues as well, and if I sense that your goals may be better served by other practitioners with special knowledge of those issues, I am happy to refer you to the right practitioner. It is my intent to make sure you get the best care possible, even if that is not from me.
I have also had training in traditional Irish herbalism from herbalist Rosari Kingston. As a person of Irish descent, I'm called to learn who my ancestors were before they were "white" and respectfully re-engage with the cultures and languages that were robbed from them during English colonization of Ireland and assimilation into mainstream U.S. culture. For North American settlers of European descent, this is an important piece of dismantling white supremacy and resisting the urge to steal other peoples' herbal and spiritual traditions through cultural appropriation.
What am I doing to address decolonization, white supremacy, and capitalist atrocities?
As a queer settler receiving white privilege, it is my duty to take an active role in dismantling white supremacy, resisting and healing the harms of colonialism, challenging cis-hetero-patriarchy, as well as disengaging from and seeding alternatives to capitalism. Inasmuch, I pledge to give 10% of my income to BIPOC-led organizations that are doing important work to tackle these issues. These organizations include but are not limited to: Honor the Earth, California Kitchen - Rogue Climate, Every Town Vermont, N’Dakinna Education Center, and the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust. I will also weave discussion of these issues into all of my educational offerings. As a teacher and healer, it is part of my work to continue deepening my experience and understanding of these important issues, and I fully acknowledge that as a settler of European descent I will never “arrive” at a complete understanding. I will be unlearning colonialism and white supremacy until the day I die, for it is a commitment that spans multiple lifetimes and multiple generations. In addition, I offer by-donation consultations to Black/African American and Indigenous persons, as well as a sliding scale for those who cannot afford to pay full price for my consultations.
What does Mythos & Mater mean?
Mythos, or mythology, is a term referring to an archetypal story told over many generations that speaks to a fundamental truth about human nature and the nature of reality. Since the beginning of human existence and up through the present day (though in a more covert form) myth has helped us define our place in the Universe. In colloquial American English, the word “myth” has become synonymous with “lie”, which itself is a diagnostic clue to the cause of our modern state of spiritual poverty. Myths are not just the stories that a people tells itself to make sense of the mysterious complexity of the world around them. More than that, as the great mythologist Joseph Campbell once wrote:
Astrological herbalism is an ancient healing art practiced for many thousands of years in the West (the Mediterranean, Egypt, Persia, the Middle East, and Europe). From the Hellenistic period in Greece, Egypt, and Persia (4th to 1st century BCE) until the early modern period, Western medicine operated within an enchanted astrological paradigm. Medicinal herbs were often associated with planetary archetypes to describe their medicinal effects. Plants were used therapeutically not only to address physical illness, but also to correct astrological imbalances in a person's natal chart. Since the beginning of time, in every culture on earth, plants have been used both for medicinal and magical purposes. Astrological herbalism, as it is practiced today, is both a continuation and a revival of this magical-medicinal art.
Why astrology?
I believe the ancient wisdom traditions contained within Hermeticism, astrology in particular, are especially useful and complementary to the practice of Traditional Western Herbalism. For thousands of year, Western medical practice used astrology as a primary tool of diagnosis, timing, and treatment. Not until the early modern period did astrology fall out of favor with the intelligentsia as a result of the rise of the mechanical paradigm now espoused by modernism. I find it fascinating that during the 1960's, both astrology and Western herbalism were revived but were not reunited with each other in any significant way. Astrology is the puzzle piece missing from modern Western herbalism. I believe it is time now for this reintegration for the purpose of restoring Western medicine to its holistic and mystical roots.
Psychiatrist Carl Jung, one of the founders of modern psychotherapy, was himself an astrologer and understood astrology to be one of the world's most ancient and most advanced systems of psychological assessment. I had practiced Traditional Western Herbalism, primarily from a biomedical perspective (I am a scientist after all), for five years before I began studying astrology, and during those early years I always felt like something was missing from my practice. I saw over and over again that my clients' beliefs and psycho-spiritual states were significantly impacting their physical health, but I felt ill-equipped to understand and address them. As a person trained in science, I favor empiricism and approach most things with skepticism, including astrology. But the shockingly literal astrological correspondences to the real-world events of 2020, both in my personal life and in society at large, presented sufficient evidence to finally convince me that astrology is indeed a science, though it may not operate within the modern scientific-materialist paradigm. Astrology is not a science of causality as scientific materialism is; astrology is a science of correlation. The planets do not "cause" someone to sprain their ankle or get fired from their job anymore than the hands of a clock cause the sun to rise in the morning. Astrology is a way to keep track of patterns and cycles in time, and a way to analyze synchronicities. This is certainly helpful with regards to mapping changes in personal health. Ignoring or rejecting a significant body of evidence simply because it doesn't fit inside the mechanical worldview cannot be called science at all--that is called ideology, dogma, or fundamentalism--and yet ignoring challenging evidence is all too common in mainstream scientism today.
I've finally found a tool to help me see the connections between a client's psycho-spiritual health and their physical health (for in truth, this is a false division), and it allows me to perceive what lies at the deepest roots of disease. I am still a beginner in my astrological studies and I expect it will take the majority of my life to become a master, but even so, I've been astounded by the results thus far.
What is my approach to holistic and complementary healthcare?
I consider myself both a scientist and a mystic. I have a B.Sc. in ecology and environmental policy, and I've spent much of my life immersed in the scientific paradigm. Both of my parents are involved in the medical field and I was raised to value mainstream medicine. At the same time, I was also raised to question authorities (including medical authorities), to think critically, to analyze data, and to look beneath simplistic or ideological explanations for phenomena. As a result of a personal health crisis in my mid-20's, I was forced to learn how to heal myself. As I became aware of the many shortcomings of modern conventional medicine in my early years as a holistic healthcare explorer and clinician, I made a somewhat predictable dialectical swing and became almost dogmatically opposed to modern conventional medicine, avoiding conventional interventions as often as possible. Given my disease, cystic fibrosis, this was a difficult thing to do. I knew that doing every single treatment my doctors suggested would be harmful to my health, but for a period of time I reacted too strongly against their advice and ran in the opposite direction. I had not yet achieved a balance between the mechanical and holistic medicine paradigms, and I made many mistakes along the way. After years of experimenting on myself and assisting clients in navigating this polarity, I've found a middle path. It is a clear fact that I would have died many times if not for the tools of conventional medicine. And I would be quite depleted and imbalanced if not for the compliment of holistic modalities. Each paradigm is useful in different situations. My goal in working with clients is to help the body become as vital and resilient as possible to the point where conventional tools are less necessary. Yet I strongly believe that if those tools are required, we should use them. I believe this is consistent with the ancient Hippocratic healing philosophy where both physical and spiritual medicines were used side by side and applied differently, according to the ailment. In that ancient system, healers used a variety of modalities in a complementary fashion including herbal medicine, physical surgery, dream therapy, drama therapy, nutrition, rest, exercise, immersion in Nature, astrological assessment, petitions and offerings to gods, hydrotherapy, and more. Healing is no place for dogmatic thinking because everyone heals differently. Hippocrates spoke to this well: "There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance." We must use what works, no matter what paradigm it comes from, and yet we must always be careful to use treatments that do the least amount of harm. Healing requires us to use critical thinking skills and resist falling into one or more ideological traps. When we resort to using the modality we are resistant to, we may feel shame, and shame is extremely harmful to healing. Furthermore, I am not in the business of "healing miracles". True, lasting, deep healing requires the patient to do their own work. Lastly, as a legal disclaimer, I do not practice medicine and I do not diagnose, treat, or cure diseases. The information I share publicly and the work I do with clients is not meant to replace regular medical care.
What are my specialties? What is my educational background and clinical experience?
After receiving my degree in ecology and environmental policy from the University of Vermont, I attended and graduated from the three-year clinical herbalism program at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism in 2016. I have been seeing clients since 2015. In addition, I have been studying nutrition and supplementation since 2012. In my early years of this work I created this website to record my healing journey, my experiments, and my research regarding natural medicine's applications to cystic fibrosis (my illness), respiratory disease, diabetes, and digestive disorders. My personal experience with disease began at birth when I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF). I also have CF-related diabetes and a constellation of other CF-related delights. I like to joke that I'm going through the experiential track of medical school. While not a disease, I am transgender (non-binary transmasculine) and my personal transformation in that regard has been a profound spiritual experience and a truly alchemical process (indeed, the ancient alchemists believed the balance and fusion of male and female to be an important step towards achieving the ultimate state of consciousness). After graduating from herbalism school I co-founded Railyard Apothecary in Burlington, Vermont (N'Dakina, Abenaki territory), where I served as herbal dispensary manager and chief medicine-maker. I will attend the California Institute of Integral Studies Masters program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness in the Fall of 2021.
My areas of specialty include:
- Cystic fibrosis and other respiratory diseases
- Digestive complaints including indigestion, malabsorption, leaky gut syndrome, SIBO, dysbiosis, constipation, diarrhea, GERD, etc.
- Diabetes and blood sugar imbalances
- Transgender wellness
- Immune dysregulation (allergies, atopy, autoimmunity, low immunity, etc.)
- Astrological herbalism
I accept clients with other health issues as well, and if I sense that your goals may be better served by other practitioners with special knowledge of those issues, I am happy to refer you to the right practitioner. It is my intent to make sure you get the best care possible, even if that is not from me.
I have also had training in traditional Irish herbalism from herbalist Rosari Kingston. As a person of Irish descent, I'm called to learn who my ancestors were before they were "white" and respectfully re-engage with the cultures and languages that were robbed from them during English colonization of Ireland and assimilation into mainstream U.S. culture. For North American settlers of European descent, this is an important piece of dismantling white supremacy and resisting the urge to steal other peoples' herbal and spiritual traditions through cultural appropriation.
What am I doing to address decolonization, white supremacy, and capitalist atrocities?
As a queer settler receiving white privilege, it is my duty to take an active role in dismantling white supremacy, resisting and healing the harms of colonialism, challenging cis-hetero-patriarchy, as well as disengaging from and seeding alternatives to capitalism. Inasmuch, I pledge to give 10% of my income to BIPOC-led organizations that are doing important work to tackle these issues. These organizations include but are not limited to: Honor the Earth, California Kitchen - Rogue Climate, Every Town Vermont, N’Dakinna Education Center, and the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust. I will also weave discussion of these issues into all of my educational offerings. As a teacher and healer, it is part of my work to continue deepening my experience and understanding of these important issues, and I fully acknowledge that as a settler of European descent I will never “arrive” at a complete understanding. I will be unlearning colonialism and white supremacy until the day I die, for it is a commitment that spans multiple lifetimes and multiple generations. In addition, I offer by-donation consultations to Black/African American and Indigenous persons, as well as a sliding scale for those who cannot afford to pay full price for my consultations.
What does Mythos & Mater mean?
Mythos, or mythology, is a term referring to an archetypal story told over many generations that speaks to a fundamental truth about human nature and the nature of reality. Since the beginning of human existence and up through the present day (though in a more covert form) myth has helped us define our place in the Universe. In colloquial American English, the word “myth” has become synonymous with “lie”, which itself is a diagnostic clue to the cause of our modern state of spiritual poverty. Myths are not just the stories that a people tells itself to make sense of the mysterious complexity of the world around them. More than that, as the great mythologist Joseph Campbell once wrote:
“Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. Religions, philosophies, arts, the social forms of primitive and historic man, prime discoveries in science and technology, the very dreams that blister sleep, boil up from the basic, magic ring of myth.”
Myth gives context and meaning to human life, and a life without meaning is not worth living.
I believe that myth is a remarkably effective therapeutic tool. My own life has been radically transformed and illuminated by understanding the myths that live me. The perennial archetypes that move through the human collective unconscious, as Carl Jung described, have profound effects on the shape of our psyches and the events in our lives, even if we're unaware. The goal of the alchemist or Hermetic practitioner is to become fully aware of the myths and archetypes that live through us, and take charge of their manifestations in order to achieve a most refined state of consciousness (which some might call enlightenment). Otherwise, when we are unconscious of their energies, the archetypes take charge of us in perhaps not so empowering ways. Thus, I aim to help my clients become conscious of how the archetypes effect them, and there is no better way to do this than by analysis of the natal chart. In my own experience of this process, I've come to realize that I can co-create my personal myth in cooperation with the archetypes, and therefore achieve empowerment. You can do this too! There are many spiritual procedures to achieve type of awareness, but the one that seems to work most effectively for me is alchemy. Thus I'd like to share what I've learned and continue my learning through assisting others work with these tools.
Mater has several meanings. The first meaning is "mother" from the Latin "mater", referring to any kind of mother but especially the Great Mother, the being and primordial material from which all of existence springs. The second meaning is the scientific concept of "matter", which is very connected to the first meaning in that all of physical existence is composed of matter. I thought to pair mythos with mater to emphasize the importance of working with both the soma (body) and psyche in the attempt to achieve enlightenment. Denying the body, as so many Axial religions do in the pursuit of purifying the consciousness, causes a disconnection between the Divine, the Earth, and humanity, between spiritual substance and material substance. The consequences of this disconnection are readily apparent in the state of the world we live in today: environmental desecration, colonialism and genocide, religious fundamentalism, and so on. It's time to bring the physical and spiritual parts of ourselves back into alignment, both individually and collectively. Therefore, in my practice I pair the psycho-spiritual therapeutic tool of mythos with material healing tools such as plant medicine, balanced nutrition, exercise, etc. Using one will result in holistic healing.
On centaurs...
The centaur has been a useful metaphorical tool for me to understand the importance of realigning spirit and soma for complete healing. A centaur is a (supposedly) mythical creature, half-horse and half-human. Centaurs represent the integration of the wild, instinctual, embodied, emotional, and irrational half of human nature with the intellectual, rational, compassionate, and wise half. In order to be whole human beings, we must balance these two sides of ourselves. We must balance our identification with Nature with the development of our intellect and psycho-spiritual capacities. There is one centaur in particular whose archetype has guided my healing journey: Chiron, mentor to Asklepios (Greek god of medicine), Hercules, Odysseus, Achilles, and many more. He was the wisest of the centaurs, the most compassionate and civilized, and taught his students philosophy, science, astrology, archery, medicine, herbalism, music, and more. In a fight between Hercules and a rowdy band of Chiron's kin, Chiron was mortally wounded by a poisoned arrow and lived in excruciating pain until the end of his life. He traded fates with Prometheus to save him from Zeus's wrath, and because of Chiron's compassion he was immortalized in the stars and now represents the archetype of the wounded healer. His story teaches us of the dangers of heroism and provides us with an alternative to the trope of heroic individualism which so plagues our world today. There is much more to this myth worth exploring. When I first learned of him I was shocked how resonant his story was with my own life. I have other potent centauric symbolism in my natal chart, and all of it reminds me of a karmic lesson I must learn in this life: to live in my body, to pay attention to my instincts, intuitions, and emotions, and to resist getting trapped in my head (which is too easy for me to do). I share this to demonstrate the power of pairing natal astrology with mythology for therapeutic purposes, as the synchronicities I've experienced with the centauric archetypes has profoundly effected my life and have led me to the healing path I am now walking. I identify with the suffering Chiron endured, and this has helped me find meaning in my own illness and suffering. Like Chiron, by seeking ways to heal myself I've gathered knowledge that may help others heal.
I believe that myth is a remarkably effective therapeutic tool. My own life has been radically transformed and illuminated by understanding the myths that live me. The perennial archetypes that move through the human collective unconscious, as Carl Jung described, have profound effects on the shape of our psyches and the events in our lives, even if we're unaware. The goal of the alchemist or Hermetic practitioner is to become fully aware of the myths and archetypes that live through us, and take charge of their manifestations in order to achieve a most refined state of consciousness (which some might call enlightenment). Otherwise, when we are unconscious of their energies, the archetypes take charge of us in perhaps not so empowering ways. Thus, I aim to help my clients become conscious of how the archetypes effect them, and there is no better way to do this than by analysis of the natal chart. In my own experience of this process, I've come to realize that I can co-create my personal myth in cooperation with the archetypes, and therefore achieve empowerment. You can do this too! There are many spiritual procedures to achieve type of awareness, but the one that seems to work most effectively for me is alchemy. Thus I'd like to share what I've learned and continue my learning through assisting others work with these tools.
Mater has several meanings. The first meaning is "mother" from the Latin "mater", referring to any kind of mother but especially the Great Mother, the being and primordial material from which all of existence springs. The second meaning is the scientific concept of "matter", which is very connected to the first meaning in that all of physical existence is composed of matter. I thought to pair mythos with mater to emphasize the importance of working with both the soma (body) and psyche in the attempt to achieve enlightenment. Denying the body, as so many Axial religions do in the pursuit of purifying the consciousness, causes a disconnection between the Divine, the Earth, and humanity, between spiritual substance and material substance. The consequences of this disconnection are readily apparent in the state of the world we live in today: environmental desecration, colonialism and genocide, religious fundamentalism, and so on. It's time to bring the physical and spiritual parts of ourselves back into alignment, both individually and collectively. Therefore, in my practice I pair the psycho-spiritual therapeutic tool of mythos with material healing tools such as plant medicine, balanced nutrition, exercise, etc. Using one will result in holistic healing.
On centaurs...
The centaur has been a useful metaphorical tool for me to understand the importance of realigning spirit and soma for complete healing. A centaur is a (supposedly) mythical creature, half-horse and half-human. Centaurs represent the integration of the wild, instinctual, embodied, emotional, and irrational half of human nature with the intellectual, rational, compassionate, and wise half. In order to be whole human beings, we must balance these two sides of ourselves. We must balance our identification with Nature with the development of our intellect and psycho-spiritual capacities. There is one centaur in particular whose archetype has guided my healing journey: Chiron, mentor to Asklepios (Greek god of medicine), Hercules, Odysseus, Achilles, and many more. He was the wisest of the centaurs, the most compassionate and civilized, and taught his students philosophy, science, astrology, archery, medicine, herbalism, music, and more. In a fight between Hercules and a rowdy band of Chiron's kin, Chiron was mortally wounded by a poisoned arrow and lived in excruciating pain until the end of his life. He traded fates with Prometheus to save him from Zeus's wrath, and because of Chiron's compassion he was immortalized in the stars and now represents the archetype of the wounded healer. His story teaches us of the dangers of heroism and provides us with an alternative to the trope of heroic individualism which so plagues our world today. There is much more to this myth worth exploring. When I first learned of him I was shocked how resonant his story was with my own life. I have other potent centauric symbolism in my natal chart, and all of it reminds me of a karmic lesson I must learn in this life: to live in my body, to pay attention to my instincts, intuitions, and emotions, and to resist getting trapped in my head (which is too easy for me to do). I share this to demonstrate the power of pairing natal astrology with mythology for therapeutic purposes, as the synchronicities I've experienced with the centauric archetypes has profoundly effected my life and have led me to the healing path I am now walking. I identify with the suffering Chiron endured, and this has helped me find meaning in my own illness and suffering. Like Chiron, by seeking ways to heal myself I've gathered knowledge that may help others heal.
That's me riding Duke in a recent horse archery clinic. Find out how to join our clinics by clicking on the photo.
