The Lost Art of Medicine

…  We have forgotten the old ways of caring for ourselves. Just a century ago, it was common for households to maintain a working knowledge of herbs and home remedies. Families knew how to respond to everyday ailments with what they grew, gathered, or stored. Pantries held elderberry syrup and garlic honey. Cupboards stored poultices and salves. People foraged mullein, yarrow, bee balm, and wild mint as casually as we now scan the shelves at a pharmacy. These weren’t trends or niche skills; they were part of ordinary life….

Instead of learning the plants around us, we drive to a chain store and buy whatever package seems to match our symptoms. Most people don’t know what is in those packages or how they work with the body. The default trust has shifted away from ancestral knowledge and towards aisles of identical boxes.  None of this diminishes the value of modern medicine….

Emergency medicine, skilled surgeons, and lifesaving interventions are gifts [to us all]. But somewhere along the way, balance vanished. Instead of blending old wisdom with new tools, we simply replaced everything that came before. Instead of cultivating connection with our own bodies, we outsourced understanding. And now we have entire generations of people who couldn’t identify a healing herb if it grew beside their front porch….

Herbal traditions were never meant to compete with emergency medicine. They were simply part of everyday life, part of how people understood their own bodies and landscapes. The plants God placed on this Earth have played a role in human culture for thousands of years.  … Healing … was never meant to be outsourced. It was meant to be practiced, remembered, and passed down.

By Mollie Engelhart

Kasara is a mostly retired Board-Certified Naturopath, Mental Health Therapist, Master Herbalist, and energy worker with over 35 years of helping clients find successful alternative health options. Join Kasara in learning as she passes down her knowledge.