Just Julie’s
Approach to Plant Medicine
When I started making products with plants, I was motivated by wanting to learn how to treat myself and treat my own body in three basic ways: simply, naturally, and justly. This has been, and will always be, my approach to plant medicine:
We treat ourselves with simple, low-tech practices & simple products with simple ingredients.
The point of plant medicine is to be in relationship to plants; using only natural ingredients, and increasingly over time, local ingredients.
We see personal healing in relationship to social & ecological justice. There is no individual healing without collective healing.
Treat Yourself
I learned about herbalism in 2011 when I had insistent stomach pain and no health insurance. My first-ever herbal treatment connected me with a deeper kind of wisdom about healing. I began to learn about how to treat my own basic health concerns with plants. This relationship with plants helped me to slow down and listen to my body. Plant medicine is a supportive practice that can assist us in tuning in to the rest of what we need to do, both as individuals and as communities, to know a more fundamental wellness. Modern medicine is important. I go to the doctor when I need to, and for all my annual physical exams and lab work. But I also think we have given much of our power to heal ourselves over to others. There are so many ways we can learn to listen to our bodies and heal ourselves. I learned this for myself and want to encourage others.
Because my desire is for others to also learn how to treat themselves simply, naturally, and justly, I am not an expert in in-depth herbal treatment. Please see the disclaimer on the product pages for more information. There are many other herbalists with much more training and experience who can treat serious and complicated health conditions. I am happy to refer you to some fine herbal practitioners for more in-depth ailments of the body and mind.
Treat Yourself Simply
My work seeks to be supportive of living an abundant, just, simple and natural life. I am always looking at food, rest, lifestyle changes, and spiritual practices as integral to natural approaches to overall wellness. These can be simple things. I do not claim special powers that others do not have. I seek to educate and empower others to know that together we all have access to both the wisdom and the means of our healing and liberation. Together we can identify many sources of stress that keep us off-balance and unwell. Sometimes we need one another to help us identify these needs. I am happy to offer products that I and others have found supportive to our wellness. I love it when people love and enjoy the things that I make. But anyone can make medicine. You could make these items too, and I’d be glad to tell you how to do it. In this complicated world, it is important that we learn how to live our lives more simply and treat our ailments naturally.
Treat Yourself Naturally
Plant medicine helps us to address issues from the grassroots; literally from the ground-up. Our well-being is dependent upon the land we stand on, and the plants on that land, including food. It is important that we learn to know and develop a relationship with all of life around us. This takes a lot of unlearning and changing our habits of consumption. The things that we put on and in our bodies do not need to have synthetic chemicals in them. Treating ourselves naturally means returning over time to creating and using products with fewer, simple ingredients. This is why all of my products are made in small batches and have shorter shelf lives. They are all natural. Over time, I am working on shifting all of my products to using local plants.
Treat Yourself Justly
Plant medicines can help us to address ailments of modernity – stress, poor diet, addictions to substances and unsustainable ways of life, environmental toxins and degradation. If we want to be well as communities, then we must also address the systemic issues of injustice in our world. There is no complete individual wellness and healing without addressing these larger issues. We cannot underestimate how different forms of oppression, such as racism and sexism, homophobia and capitalism, are affecting our communities and therefore our health. We have to take our individual and collective healing both as individuals and as a whole. Thus the pursuit of peace and justice, abundant life for all, is central to my vision of healing. As we work for our own personal transformations, we recognize that we cannot heal fully without justice for the entire community and creation.
While I have taken classes in many locations in-person and online, I did my primary studies and apprenticeships at: Moondance Botanicals (Denver, CO), Boston School of Herbal Studies (Arlington, MA), Eclectic Institute of Aromatherapy and Herbal Studies (Winchendon, MA), and Bear Medicine Holistic Services (Lincoln, MA).
