Episode 09: The Herbalist in a Time of Revolution: Community Care in Seasons of Unrest
Welcome back to Ritual Herbalism—a podcast exploring the sacred threads of plant medicine, ancestral memory, and the ways we return to ourselves through earth-centered ritual.
In this episode, “The Herbalist in a Time of Revolution: Community Care in Seasons of Unrest,” we are speaking into a moment that many of us can feel in our bones.
A moment of change.
A moment of tension.
A moment when the world around us feels uncertain, and the ground beneath us feels like it is shifting.
For some, this is political unrest. For others, it is social upheaval. For many, it is a deep sense that the systems we have lived inside are cracking, and something new is trying to be born.
Episode Themes:
And in times like these, it is natural to ask what our role is.
What does it mean to be an herbalist during a revolution.
What does it mean to practice healing when there is fear in the air, anger in the streets, grief in the body, and exhaustion in the spirit.
What does it mean to support our communities when people are overwhelmed, under resourced, and struggling to stay steady.
This episode is not a political analysis. It is a community care offering. We will be talking about:
Herbalism was Never Only About the Individual
In our modern often trendy wellness culture, herbalism is sometimes presented as something private.
A tea for stress.
A tincture for sleep.
A supplement for energy.
But historically, herbalism has always been communal.
It has been practiced in villages and households. In the care of children and elders. In moments of birth, illness, grief, and recovery.
It has been passed through generations as survival knowledge.
What Revolution Does to the Body
Political unrest does not only live in the news.
It lives in the nervous system.
It lives in the breath.
It lives in the gut.
It lives in the muscles.
It lives in the way we sleep, the way we hold tension, the way we brace for what might come next.
This is not weakness.
This is the body responding to stress.
And one of the most radical things we can do during a revolution is support the body so the spirit can stay present.
The Herbalist as a Community Support Role
In times of revolution, the herbalist is not a savior.
The herbalist is not the center.
The herbalist is a support beam.
A steady presence.
Someone who knows how to bring the body back to itself.
Someone who knows how to offer comfort without minimizing reality.
Someone who knows how to create small pockets of safety in a world that feels unsafe.
The herbalist may be the person who brings tea to a meeting.
Who keeps extra electrolytes and herbs in their bag.
Who knows how to make a compress.
Who offers a calm voice when someone is spiraling.
Who reminds people to eat.
To drink water.
To breathe.
To come back into the body.
And in this way, herbalism becomes part of the infrastructure of care.
It becomes part of what holds people together.
Ritual Invitation
This episode is an invitation to remember that herbalism has always been more than personal wellness.
Herbalism is a tradition of people caring for each other.
Herbalism is medicine that lives in kitchens, in gardens, in community spaces, and in the hands of those who refuse to let each other fall through the cracks.
Herbalism is a practice of resilience.
A practice of relationship.
A practice of remembering that we belong to each other.
If you’re looking for language around what many of us are sensing in the current astro-political climate, I recommend the Ritual Herbalism Podcast episode 7 Flower Power: Modern Herbalism & The Return of Plant Wisdom with special guest Ilana Sobo. It frames this moment through revisiting and learning from our nation’s past while understanding the current Astro influences of this time.
Let us begin.
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