Tourism Australia's ongoing strategic efforts to tap into the growing tourism opportunities provided by markets in Asia will be boosted following the Federal Budget announcement for a new, dedicated Asia Marketing Fund worth A$61 million over four years. Tourism Australia Chairman Geoff Dixon said the funding injection towards marketing There’s…
 
Looking for a day out with a little entertainment and a little nature? Look no further than Shinagawa Kumin Park and the Shinagawa Aquarium. The park offers a chance to enjoy nature without having to spend hours on a train to get there, while the aquarium lets you explore the…

Travel › Ritz-Carlton debuts mobile app

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May 142012
 
The Ritz-Carlton has released a mobile app that goes well beyond basic hotel search and reservation functionality, initiating a distinctive experience before a hotel visit has even begun. Most notably, The Ritz-Carlton App includes Presidential Tips. As president of the luxury hotel company, Herve Humler has seen and experienced all…

Sneak Peek: Plant Healer Summer Issue Contents

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May 142012
 

Plant Healer Summer 2012 Issue

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Here’s Your Sneak Peek at The
Summer Issue of
PLANT HEALER
The Magazine Different
Available for Download June 4th

Excitement abounds!  We are just this week completing production of the 7th edition of Plant Healer Magazine, the nearly 300 page long Summer issue available for download on the 4th of June.

As always, Plant Healer will bring to you a broad range of articles, photography and art covering every aspect of herbal practice and the diverse culture of folk herbalism, this time including:
•A half dozen plant profiles, case study, therapeutics and herbal actions by our awesome Plant Healer writers
•A new “Herbalism on the American Frontier” Department, beginning with an introduction to Traveling Medicine Show sellers by Sean Donahue
•Essential Plant identification with 7Song… plus a lengthy interview with Bevin Clare, revealing the thoughts and spirit of this tree-hugging vice president of the AHG as never before!
•An excellent introduction to Bioregional Herbalism by Lisa Ferguson, and important piece on plant conservation by United Plant Savers director Susan Leopold
•Herbs of the curandera, Susun Weed on Sweet and Bland, Greek Herbal Medicine by Matt Wood, and Phyllis Light’s Four Elements system
•23 full page art posters, herbalist humor, and Kristine Brown and Jane Valencia’s articles for kids
plus
•A full color photo spread of herbalist tattoo art, Aviva Romm on the use of cannabis in pregnancy, and the Virgin of Guadalupe as a powerful historic icon for rebels and misfits as well as for all herbalists and healers!

Now we ‘spect you know where the “different” comes from, in our motto “The Magazine Different”

To whet your appetites, a complete table of contents follows.  To subscribe in time for the Summer issue, please go to the:
Plant Healer Magazine Website

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Time Keepers by Thea Summer Deer

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PLANT HEALER
Vol.II #III – Summer 2012 Issue Contents:

Cover Art: The Summer Garden (photoshop composite)
Art Poster: The Door To Our Purpose by JWH
Art Poster: Folk Herbalism Defined – “Airmid” by Joanna Powell Colbert
Art Poster: Earth Provides The Medicine – “Traditional Healer” by David Gluckstein & JWH
The Healing Journey: What Herbalists Really Want by Jesse Wolf Hardin

Magnolia Mexicana

Poster: Herbal Rebel Family – Paul Bergner and Tania with their New Baby
Happy & Full of Happiness!: A Review of The 2011 TWHC by Katja Swift
Art Poster: “Time Keepers” by Thea Summer Deer
Mountain Medicine: Four Elements by Phyllis Light

Conception by Thea Summer Deer

Art Poster: Czech Flower Girl – 1906 Postcard
Wise Woman Ways: Sweet & Bland: Part II by Susun Weed
Poster: Traditional Herbalist Wisdom Part I – If They Can’t Take a Yoik by JWH
Differentiating Herbal Actions & Properties by Jim McDonald
Art Poster: “The Green Man II” by JWH

Gaia by Holly Sierra

Detecting False Heat by Rosalee de la Forêt
Herbalist Humor Poster: “Feelin’ Awful Pitta” by JWH
Case Study: Herbal Therapeutics for Post-Surgery ACL Recovery by Kiva Rose Hardin
Art Poster: Unfolding Spiral by JWH
Walking The Spiral by Jesse Wolf Hardin
Art Poster: Growth Is A Spiral Process by JWH

Mullein Harvest by Sandra Crowell

Mullein by Robin Rose Bennett
Burdock by Henriette Kress
Ocotillo by Darcey Blue French

Ocotillo photo by Darcey Blue

Coffee by Charles “Doc” Garcia
Art Poster: Mullein Harvesting Woman by Sandra Crowell
Learning To Identify Plants – Part I by 7Song
Art Poster: 1880s Peruna Herbal Tonic Advertisement
Medicine Oils and Salves by Christa Sinadinos
Traveling Medicine Shows of Rural America and Early Regulation of Medicine by Sean Donahue
Basic Principles of Greek Herbal Medicine: The Four Qualities & The Four Degrees by Matthew Wood

La Virgen de Guadalupe by Kiva Rose Hardin
Los Remidios de la Guadalupe by Kiva Rose
La Curandera de Auza by Dr. Javier Alvare Caperochipi
Art Poster: “La Nuestra de la Yerbas” by JWH
Art Poster:    “Doña Rosa” by JWH
Art Poster: “Curandera” by Ochichi


Tattoo Bloom: Skin Art for Herbalists by Jesse Wolf Hardin
Art Poster: “Conception” by Thea Summer Deer
Cannabis in Pregnancy by Aviva Romm
Art Humor Poster: Unhelpful Herbalist Language #1 by JWH
Refreshing Mint (for kids) by Kristine Brown
Hawthorn’s Generous & Protective Heart (for kids) by Jane Valencia
Paloma & Wings (for kids) by Jane Valencia
Wildcrafting Cattails by Wendy Petty

Bitternut Fruit

Edible Bitternut by Samuel Thayer
Art Poster: “Gaia” by Holly Sierra
Piles of Greens (food recipes) by Loba
Art Poster: Cultivating A Culture of Healing by JWH
Growing Adaptogens: Gotu Kola and Jiaogulan by Juliet Blankespoor
Art Poster: The Green Scare by Anon
Sacred Groves: Activism & The Conservation of Plants by Susan Leopold
Herbal Humor Poster: 12 Steppe Program by JWH
Plant Healer Interview: Bevin Clare
Bioregional Herbalism: Ecological Relationship & Place-Based Practice by Lisa Ferguson
Healing Animals Heals Us & The Earth by Cat Lane

Photo copyright Henriette Kress http://www.henriettesherbal.com/index.html

Self Care, Part II: Decadence by Katja Swift
Magical Realism: Medicine Bear Review #1 by Charles “Doc” Garcia
A Jewell of a Story: Medicine Bear Review #II by Virginia Adi
The Medicine Bear (fiction for herbalists) Part III by Jesse Wolf Hardin
Art Poster: Ringtail Woman by Rebekah Klitzke
The Medicine Trail: Wild Rambles, Tales & Wanderings by Kiva Rose Hardin
Art Poster: “Keeping An Eye On Folk Herbalism” – 1915 Postcard

The deadline for article submissions for the Fall issue is July 1st.  And August 1st is the deadline to advertise in either the Fall issue or the upcoming 2012 Plant Healer Annual book.  Write for more information.

Thank you for RePosting and Forwarding this Announcement.

Love, Kiva ‘Ringtail” Rose

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Kiva Ringtail Rose by Jesse Wolf Hardin

Travel › Japan on Foot – Part 3

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May 122012
 
“Japan on Foot” (published by Fine Line Press) chronicles the exploits of two “roving reporters” (one English, one Japanese) who set off to capture the spirit of Japan by walking the length and breadth of the country, a 15-month odyssey of 7,500 kilometers. Mary recounts adventures and meetings with some…

Travel › Mt Takao a fun day trip from Tokyo

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May 102012
 
Fancy a day trip out of Tokyo to commune with nature? Consider a visit to Mt Takao, on the far western edge of the Tokyo Metropolitan District. Elevation 599 meters, Mt Takao has been regarded as a sacred mountain for over a thousand years. These days it’s both a popular…
May 092012
 
Hawaiian Airlines plans to start flying to Sapporo, its fourth destination in Japan. The airline said in a news release Wednesday it hopes to begin service from Honolulu to New Chitose Airport on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido in November. It must obtain Japanese government approval to begin flights.…
May 082012
 
Getting online while traveling has never been easier. Getting online for free is still hit-or-miss. Travelers run into a patchwork of free vs. paid access as they trek from airports to planes to hotels. Speed also varies widely, from fast enough to stream a movie to just enough to send…
May 082012
 

Without Remedy: An Exploration of Scent, Plants, and Perfumery

Excerpted from the now available Spring 2012 Issue of

Plant Healer Magazine

by Kiva Rose Hardin

White Honeysuckle, Lonicera albiflora

Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.”

- Patrick Süskind, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Scent, above all else, distinguishes. One lover from another, grass from tree, cream from honey, cardamom pod from vanilla bean, our child from all others. In the complex array of notes and tints of the aromas we’re daily immersed in, the unique nature of each person and place can be discerned just by breathing in. Each day I inhale the distinct maple and cinnamon notes of our daughter’s skin, the butterscotch and vanilla of the Ponderosa Pine forest that I live within, the sage and spice of the winds that travel the Gila. Each of these is unique to the rest of the world. No one else’s child smells like ours, no other mountains taste this way on my tongue as I exhale.

Smell is incredibly complex. For example, a single rose emits about 172 different odor molecules   and has a physiological impact on the human nervous system similar to Valium in its relaxing actions, and Gardenia jasminoides has a similar effect. For those who’ve had experience in aromatherapy or herbalism, this will come as no surprise, and probably elicit eye rolling at science’s somewhat belated attempts to catch up with what traditional medicine and the human senses have known for millennia.

While conventional medicine has, for the most part, removed itself from the realm of the senses, herbalism remains a healing art entirely interwoven with sensory knowledge even as we integrate more modern scientific ways of understanding illness, medicine, and the human whole.  One of the elements of herbalism I have invested the most time and energy in passing on, is herbal energetics. Energetics rely innately on sensory observation and interpretation of patterns and physical phenomena, both our own and those of the folks we’re working with.

The taste of a plant tells us an enormous amount of information about how it will interact with the body. Our sense of smell is also incredibly important in interacting with our medicines, not only in perceiving what actions the herb may have, but also in our personal connection with the ally. Scent evokes memory more intensely, insistently, and urgently than any other sense. What we learn or experience is forever tied to the scents of that time and place. Taste and scent tie us to a plant ally on a level so deeply imbedded in us, that it would not be amiss to term it cellular.

The human brain is also capable of what’s called predictive coding, which means that by the time you actually breathe in a potentially familiar scent, you brain has predicted what it’s most likely to smell. This can helpful when it comes to discerning spoiled food from good, or telling one flower from another, but if we’re not careful it can also allow us to slip into olfactory laziness where we forget to actually smell things because we’ve convinced ourselves that we have it already stored in our brains.

In addition to reminding ourselves of the true complexity of scent, practice will refine and expand our sense of smell. Another aspect of this practice takes us beyond simply being able to smell something, to what is called olfactory memory. This allows the skilled and sensitive nose to not only fully smell a scent but also to match it to its source or find its similarities to other smells. Strangely enough, this is not necessarily an inherent ability and even those with a developed sense of smell are unable to match an odor with its origin without a visual or other sensory cue.

Desert Buckthorn (Redroot), Ceanothus greggii

Conversely, olfactory memory can be one of the strongest triggers for memory, for good or for ill, possible for the human mind. The signature perfume of a former lover, the scent of a beloved grandmother’s skin, the odor of spiced food from a lost homeland, the distinct wine richness and iron weighted smell of blood, the inhale of a wildflower-tinted breeze specific to a certain meadow, all of these can evoke intense pleasure or ravaging grief in the most stoic of us. Fragrance is a portal into our most primal selves, unlocking doors long barred and sealed with a single, poignant breath.

Some scientists say that intolerance to certain smells, usually chemical, is a sign of the sensitive individual’s lack of ability to adapt to new smells, but I have a problem with the idea that all smells should be adapted to as if safe or acceptable.  Some we should certainly be noticing and then removing ourselves from the effects of.  People who are chemical intolerant often have great difficulty in being near strong scents, primarily synthetic, such as perfumes, cleaning products, and room fresheners. The consequence of continued exposure for these people can range from sneezing fits to debilitating headaches to nausea and vomiting.

Referring to a dissertation by Linus Andersson this subject, Science Daily summarized:

“Sensitivity to smell impacts the entire body…. People who cough more when they inhale capsaicin, the hot compound in chili peppers, also have heightened reactions in the brain to other smells. Besides the fact that intolerant individuals perceive that smells grow stronger, effects are also seen in mucous linings and in the brain.”

Some of us are better than others at tuning out what we find unpleasant or unacceptable, or even elements we like, once we’ve become accustomed to them. Whether this tuning out of sensory input is a way of adapting to potentially overwhelming stimuli, or sensory numbness probably somewhat depends on the situation and level of shutdown. The normal mucus in our nasal passages act as a conductor to scent, and being in a somewhat humid and warm environment will also enhance our ability to smell things in a more complex and detailed way, whereas cold or dry conditions can make it more difficult to pick out subtle or faint scents. Humans have a comparatively weak sense of smell in relation to many other animals, and especially compared to most top tier predators. Nevertheless, what we do smell effects us intensely and intimately, touching the primitive reptile brain with a fierce kiss that invokes passion, rage, fear, and wonder in a way that little else can match.

Food of Gods, Seduction of Men: Botanical Scent in Adornment, Ritual, and Devotion

Asmodeus, god of lechery, enlists fragrance as his assistant, filling the night with lethal honeysuckle, unfailing acacia, wanton lime-blossom, to ravage hearts that remember and shatter ones that resist.

-Colette, Fragrance

from the Slav Epic by Alfonse Mucha

Perfumery is an ancient art, and one that is intimately entwined with medicine, magic, seduction and religion. It has been revered, outlawed, and obsessed over by turn, depending on the cultural context of the time and place. We may first think of France when hear the word perfume, and certainly our perfumes even now are based in classical French methods. Nevertheless, the origins and reach of perfume are far older and broader.

One of the first known perfumers was a woman name Tapputi in ancient Mesopotamia, two thousand years before the birth of Christ, but the art of perfumery seems to have its roots in ancient Egypt, with records referring to perfume going back at least 3,000 B.C. Perfume as we think of it now only arrived in Europe in the 14th century, it’s popularity most concentrated in Hungary before spreading to Italy, and finally France in the 16th century.

Despite the elaborate and complicated history of perfume as precious and rare substances, new fragrances now seem to be released on the market every time a commercial flashes on the TV screen. These new perfumes are often represented by a scantily clad, surgically enhanced pop star and given the fact that they frequently smell like nothing so much as bubblegum, suntan lotion, and public restrooms, it’s not surprising that we often forget what an art fragrance creation truly can be. On the other hand, perfumery has also long been at least much about covering up what we don’t want others to smell as much as enhancing or creating a scent we want to impart. In Renaissance Europe, perfumes were tools of the privileged to mask the scent of unwashed bodies and the open sewers that ran through the cities, and were applied not just to skin, but to every surface that would hold scent.

I have very mixed feelings about the sustainability and ethics of large scale essential oil production, given the enormous amount of plant matter needed for even minute amounts of these precious substances, even from companies who claim sustainability. Nevertheless, there’s no denying the absolute pleasure of both creating and wearing botanical perfumes. Many complain about the short livedness of these fragrances, generally lasting from two to eight hours (depending on the person’s individual skin chemistry and the plant essences involved), and yet I much prefer the short-lived but lush authenticity of an entirely botanical scent  over the clinging longevity of chemicals that carry nothing of the wild spirit of the flowers, leaves, roots and resins that I consider the embodiment of true perfume.

Subjective as scent is, there are certain ones that have widespread appeal, not least the heady blossoms of Jasmine, and the dark richness and wild honey of Roses that make up the heart notes of the world’s most well known and loved perfumes. Deeper are the base notes, tenacious in nature and lacking the quicksilver volatility of top notes. From the butter-sweetness of Sandalwood to the forest berried notes of Spruce, Pine, and Fir absolutes. Perfume is an entanglement, an evolving seduction as layer after layer of scents evaporate on warm skin, blooming not on top of human flesh but in conjunction with our own unique aromas.

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To read the entire article, subscribe or resubscribe now to: www.PlantHealerMagazine.com

New Mexico Locust, Robinia neomexicana

TWHC 2011 Presentation Book – Digital Edition

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May 072012
 

Conference Book and Class Notes
Extensive PDF from last year’s
2011 Traditions In Western Herbalism Conference

Last month we surprisingly ran across a single box of the 178 page-long 2011 TWH Conference Books, complete with extensive class notes with detailed information on a wide variety of subjects.  Since the moment last copy was sold and sent out, we’ve been getting so many letters asking for them that we’ve decided to format a full color PDF version that you can now download

$18


After you pay, we’ll send you a link to download your copy of the pdf book.

.
Class Notes Included:

  1. 7 Song: The Art of Formulation
  2. Robin Rose Bennett: My Ally, The Elder
  3. Robin Rose Bennett: Women’s Self Care For Sexual and Reproductive Health
  4. Paul Bergner: How To Become A Master Herbalist In 30 Years Or More
  5. Paul Bergner: Herbs For The Spiritual Heart
  6. Juliet Blankespoor: Growing At Risk Medicinal Plants
  7. Juliet Blankespoor: Phytoestrogens Demystified
  8. Howie Brounstein and Kristi Reese: Understanding and Treating Adrenalin Stress
  9. Kristine Brown: How To Teach Kids To Use Herbs
  10. Larken Bunce: The 5 Phases
  11. Bevin Clare: Intake, Interview & Assessment
  12. Rosalee de la Foret: Detecting False Heat
  13. Sean Donahue: Plants For The Underworld Journey
  14. Sean Donahue: Herbs For Asthma
  15. Ryan Drum: Rural Pathology, Rural Herbs
  16. Ryan Drum: Seaweed Solutions
  17. Margi Flint: Living With Cancer
  18. Lisa Ganora: Traditional Cannabis Medicines
  19. Lisa Ganora: Herbal Constituents
  20. Charles “Doc” Garcis: California Curanderismo
  21. Charles “Doc” Garcia: Guerrilla Herbalism
  22. Jesse Wolf Hardin: The Wild Herbalist
  23. Kiva Rose Hardin: The Medicine Woman’s Roots
  24. Phyllis Hogan: The 4th Sister Was Wild
  25. Kathleen Maier: Entheogens and The Dying Process
  26. Jim McDonald: Humoural Treatments
  27. Jim McDonald: Teaching Herbcraft
  28. CoreyPine Shane: Getting Specific With Pain
  29. Christa Sinadinos: Constitutional Treatment of The Digestive System
  30. Katja Swift: Plantain For Kids

(please re-post and share)

Thank you much,

Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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