all begins.” For him, “it” is the journey to find the healthy center in your body and figure out how you can stay there.
T
he patient as participant. This is the credo of renowned medical herbalist Rowan Hamilton, who relocated to the Cowichan Valley last fall. If you have the misfortune of being unwell but the good fortune of being treated by Rowan, he will ask what you think about your ailment, and what you would do about it. If you are a child, you will likely be tasked with naming an animal that represents your condition and uttering the sound that it would make. Rowan views being heard as a key step in healing, “a cellular experience, where it
By listening, as well as noting your gait, voice tone, tongue etc., Rowan will be able to help you make choices about your treatment. But it’s about much more than that: “Natural medicine can be done to you, but what if the experience is learning about you and discovering what it is that make you energized and how to support that?” In June, the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations honored Rowan as an elder, for more than 25 years of “offering outstanding contributions to the field of herbalism.” As a student of his, I can say that it is very well deserved.
Medical Herbalist Rowan Hamilton This reference may date me, but Rowan is like the Carl Sagan of the plant world. Not only does he really know the science as a medical herbalist, but he also knows how to convey his knowledge and insights in a way that’s easy to understand and makes you excited to learn more about the “wisdom of nature.” My class notebook is full of pithy observations, from “you are as old as your arteries” and “the more we think, the shallower our breath” to “turmeric is like gold” and “happiness is a medicine.”
A native of England, Rowan first came to this area in the late 1990s to teach at The Hawthorn, a retreat center in Glenora created by herbalist Bernice Woolam, long a local treasure. He is back now for good, charmed by the Cowichan and feeling at home at The Hawthorn in a way that he hasn’t in a very long time. The feeling is mutual. It’s a privilege to have this master herbalist join our flourishing community of healers, herbal and otherwise. Welcome Rowan! David Minkow is a communications professional—currently working for the Canadian Freshwater Alliance--and a student of herbal medicine living in Glenora
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