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Welcome to Bright Circle Herbcraft

Here you’ll find a gathering place for remembering the ways of plants,
and reconnecting with the rhythms of the earth. 

 

hollyhock

 

Herbal Medicine and Earth’s cycles.

 
Herbs speak to us in an ancient language that has been compared to a dance between two partners: Person and Plant.  Humans evolved in an environment of wild plants that are a vital form of nourishment, and provide health to us on so many levels.  We have eaten them, breathed their scents, made medicines from them, and used their wafting smoke to open the portals of deeper being from earliest recorded history. 
 

The Earth’s rhythms are the rhythms of  Life.  Her patterns of  light and dark, activity and rest, flow and ebb provide a matrix for regenerative living.

 

A Deeper Medicine

Working with herbs puts us in touch with our potential for wholeness, and helps reunite us with the natural world, reminding us of our connections with all life. Herbal Medicine is the People’s Medicine.   This website is dedicated to fostering  true health through herbal medicine, and aligning with the rhythms of life.

 


Come walk with me.  Come remember.

Road into woods

Joan

Hello!  I’m Glad to Meet You!

 

I’m an herbalist and educator in Oklahoma City, and an ambassador for the evidence based HeartMath Global Coherence Initiative, that is doing groundbreaking research into the unseen connections between living beings.  I practice locally and throughout the state to help others experience the health giving benefits of herbs.  I teach in my community and beyond, and foster the growth of herbalism in Oklahoma through the Prairie Rose Herb Circle, mentoring, and supporting networking between herbalists.  

Woods, water, and hours of dirt roads beneath my feet run through my life, and I have been in love with the natural world since childhood.  From a young age I was intuitively certain that herbs could help us heal, and nurture true health.  I mark time with the sun and the moon as the seasons pass over garden, field, and hills, and bring the love of these into my work. 

In a journey that also includes paramedic work, wilderness skills and mythic studies, I spent over two decades honing my herbcraft before taking my clinical training at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism, where I graduated with honors.

I hold a vision of the earth as sentient and sacred, and weave intuitive practices with the art and science of herbalism. My vision of healing with herbs is both personal and planetary:  A way to intimately reconnect with our deepest selves and to the magical life-web of the planet, in a dance of reciprocity that can heal both.  

Guides and Teachers on the Journey

I thank Paul Bergner RH (AHG) for his clinical training through the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism; and teachers Matthew Wood MS, RH (AHG), the late Jolie Elan MS, Sam Coffman RH (AHG), Leslie Williams RH (AHG) and Leslie Alexander PhD, RH (AHG) for their insights along the way.

Most of all I am grateful to the plants that continue to reveal themselves in ways that surprise and delight, in a relationship that deepens, daily.

Herbs

Why Use Herbs?

Herbs connect us to a way of life that has supported us as beings for all of our evolution. They have been present when we’ve come together in community; we’ve used them in sacred ceremony; they support healing in the body; they provide care for our homes and animals; and they are the slow, deep medicine of nourishment.  Herbal medicine is most profound when used in conjunction with a lifestyle of plenty of sleep, truly nourishing food, play, and attunement to one’s own inner self and spirit. 

For many, an alliance with herbs is marked by a renewed awareness of the clock of Nature: Dark and light; the waxing and waning moon, and seasons marked by the growth and fading of plants in those cycles.  

Our cells evolved with food and medicine provided by plants, and they remember this! The medicines of whole plants (but not so much extracts of their constituent chemicals) promote healing in cells and organs in ways the body understands. Plants are still the primary medicine for most of the planet, today.

The real beauty is when herbalism becomes every-day for you: When herbal self care with teas, tinctures, vinegars, oils and foods becomes part of the culture of  your home and life.

Consultations

Custom Herbal Support

Whole foods, lifestyle choices and herbs can help maintain health, or help the body return to a healthy state.  Herbs are matched to the person, not an illness, and are part of a holistic approach that also includes sleep, food, and other lifestyle factors. These methods support the body’s innate ability to heal itself.

For a consultation, you can use the form here, to contact me. Full consultations for herbal assistance vary in length, and depend on your needs. I will go over that and answer your questions in a short visit before we schedule an appointment.  After your initial appointment I will create custom formulas to support your health goals.  We can meet in person or through online conferencing. 

 

The Rose Gate – A Blog

Time of Roses

I  mark time by what is happening in the natural world. Gabriela Piwowarska, Pixabay One of my earliest memories was of the roses in my childhood backyard.  They bloomed at the very start of May, often on May first.  My mother, who was Catholic,  would encourage  us cut several to put in small vases and …