Many people are taught binary thinking and dualistic approaches to learning about and perceiving the world around us, but this is inherently problematic.  While nature, indeed, includes binaries, it is by no means limited to them. 

It is especially the case that energetic systems of medicine, which look at patterns of heat & coldness, dampness & dryness, and tension & laxity, can appear to be, and are too often simplified into binary systems.  Why can't I figure out if this person's constitution is hot or cold... I see both?  How can cramp bark tighten and relax tissues at the same time?  If I combine a drying and moistening herb together, will they cancel each other out?  I understand this, but see also contradictions, am I actually wrong?   Do I actually even really know what I'm doing?

When we just look for two words to understand energetics (aromatics, or cholerics, are "hot and dry") we miss the nuance we need to really see people and plants with the attention they deserve.  Join herbalist jim mcdonald in an exploration of ways we can embrace the complexity of herbal energetics without losing its elegant simplicity.

In 1994, jim mcdonald's life changed when he drank tea from a wild plant he harvested from the land he lived upon.  Since those first sips of strange tea, his life in the woods and meadows of southeast michigan has been centered on the plants & ecosystems of that land, and how he might share their virtues to restore wellness with those around him.  jim's approach to herbcraft is deeply rooted in the land he lives upon, and blends traditional european folk influences with 19th century eclectic and physiomedical vitalism, which he conveys with story, experience, humour, common sense and lore to students, clients, random passersby and readers of his websites www.herbcraft.org & herbcraft.podia.com.  He's taught classes throughout North America, is one of the organizers of the Great Lakes Herb Faire and is currently alternately writing “Foundational Herbcraft” and the “A Great Lakes Herbal”, in addition to articles for journals and other publications.  jim is a community herbalist, a manic wildcrafter and medicine maker, and has been an ardent student of the most learned teachers of herbcraft… the plants themselves.