Sun Medicine / Moon Medicine: An Alchemical Approach to Balance

by Dave Meesters. Summer solstice, when the sun's powers are at their height, is a good occasion to recognize and give thanks for the gifts bestowed by the sun and the light that it brings into our lives, as well as to be thankful for the night, and the dark that gives us reprieve from …

Venerable New Language for the Human “Reproductive” System

by Dave Meesters. In all the years that I’ve been studying, teaching, and discussing health and the human body with students, clients, and fellow practitioners, I’ve always felt a disconnect, something a little off, with the customary use of the word “reproductive” to describe a certain portion of the human anatomy & physiology. The term …

Radical Vitalism

by Dave Meesters and Janet Kent Holism and vitalism are related concepts—frameworks for observing, interpreting, and acting—used by herbalists and other practitioners in the quest to support health.  They both encourage us to understand the broader patterns and interrelations between all of life, to see the flows and interdependencies that make life and health possible, …

Bidens as an Herbal Antibiotic: A Case Study

by Dave Meesters I got curious about using Bidens species as an “herbal antibiotic” after reading about it in Stephen Buhner’s book Herbal Antibiotics (2nd edition, Storey Publishing, 2012).  I usually take the clinical information in Buhner’s books with a grain of salt, as he always seems to be reporting much more on the results …

Dark Medicines: On Seeing Patients with “Bad Habits”

by Dave Meesters (This article was originally published in the Autumn 2013 edition of Plant Healer magazine.) Faced with a patient who habitually uses certain problematic herbs or substances such as tobacco, coffee, alcohol, cannabis, or harder drugs, most herbalists instinctively frown upon such use, or take a “harm reduction” approach that emphasizes the harm …