One of my greatest sources of strength - that which provides me with the capacity to continue showing up in my work as a clinician, mentor, and colleague - is my morally-guided, internal sense of professionalism. But like every well-intentioned self-reflective herbalist, I have a duty to continually reevaluate my rationale and beliefs surrounding my core values - and ‘professionalism’ is most certainly one of these core values.
There is no other sight in these feral woodlands of Southeast Ohio that makes me feel the way that Blue-eyed Marys do. It is the warming of unconditional acceptance…like being held in the arms of Mother Nature herself as she kisses me on my forehead and reminds me that I am worthy of her love.
In hindsight, the unforeseen disappearance of essential oils from my life and my clinical practice wasn’t so much that I had ‘forgotten’ about them as it was perhaps a reflection of the culture of aromatherapy and aromatic medicine here in the US. From an ‘outsider’s’ perspective, it is as if there is a gaping wound between the herbalism and aromatherapy communities.
"Even as a ‘rational’, scientifically-minded clinical herbalist, I am not in search for pharmacological truths today. I am less interested in ‘how lemon balm hydrosol can be used for my or others benefit’ and more focused on the meaning and intention that lemon balm brings to the ritual and prayer of this distillation. Although this is herb and I have worked together before and I know where and how it likes to grow, its uplifting citrusy-sweet aroma, even its clinical applications, I am open to the reality that perhaps I don't know this plant at all. Not in this capacity, not in ritual or prayer. It is from this place that I search for supportive meaning."
