On September 7, 2024 we are honored to be able to host one of the great herbalists of our time for an intimate gathering at our farm.  David Winston, RH (AHG) has devoted his entire career, spanning over 5 decades, to connecting people with the healing power of plants.

*

MEDICINE OF THE SOUL: The Ritual Use of Plants

 

Herbs can be used not only as physical medicines, but ritual medicines as well. In this class we will explore the ceremonial use of herbs in various religions, indigenous and traditional cultures. Herbs have been used for millennia and are still used as incense, baths, ritual foods, amulets, teas, entheogens and paints to help grow our spirits, heal our souls, make congregations holy, improve our luck and protect us from malign influences. Often dismissed as superstition, the almost universal use of these spiritual medicines strongly suggests they offer real and powerful benefits especially in our crazy, confusing and anxiety producing world.

*

David Winston is an Herbalist and Ethnobotanist with 54 years of training in Chinese, Western/Eclectic and Southeastern herbal traditions.  He has been in clinical practice for 47 years and is an herbal consultant to physicians, herbalists and researchers throughout the USA, Europe and Canada. David is the founder/director of the Herbal Therapeutics Research Library and the dean of David Winston's Center for Herbal Studies, a two-year training program in clinical herbal medicine. He is an internationally known lecturer and frequently teaches at medical schools, professional symposia and herb conferences. He is the president of Herbalist & Alchemist, Inc. a manufacturer that produces herbal products that blend the art and science of the world's great herbal traditions.

*

In addition, David is a founding/professional member of the American Herbalist Guild, and he is on the American Botanical Council and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia Advisory Boards.  He was a contributing author to American Herbalism, published in 1992 by Crossings Press, and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) , 2000-2018, the author of Saw Palmetto for Men & Women, Storey, 1999 and Herbal Therapeutics, Specific Indications For Herbs & Herbal Formulas, HTRL, 2022 (14th edition) and the co-author of Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief, Healing Arts Press, 2007 & 2019 2nd Ed, and Winston and Kuhn‚  Herbal Therapy and Supplements;  A Scientific and Traditional Approach, Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott, 2008. David has also published hundreds of articles in medical and botanical medicine journals and conference proceedings. He is also a member of the AHPA Expert Advisory Council that created the second edition of the Botanical Safety Handbook, CRC Press, published in 2013 (3rd edition in press).

*

In 2011 David along with 9 other members of the Botanical Safety Handbook expert advisory committee were recipients of the AHPA Herbal Insights award. In 2013 he received the Natural Products Association Clinicians award and was awarded a fellowship by the Irish Register of Herbalists. In 2018 he was the Mitchell visiting scholar at Bastyr University, in 2019 he was awarded an honorary DSc degree from the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) in Portland, OR. and in 2023 he was awarded the AHPA Herbal Insight award recognizing his over 50 years of educating people about herbal medicine.