Witches for alternative health care

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Health care is downright expensive. How many won't see a doctor because of the cost? And maybe others stay away out of fear of painful procedures and tests that don't always offer relief or a cure. Still more just don't want to reveal their embarrassing conditions.This is how it was 500 years ago when the working-class peasant had no hope of attaining medical care. So what did the people of Europe and the American colonies do when they fell ill or were injured? They went to the village healer, typically an older woman who spent her entire life learning the folk healing plants and proper dosages. She would have gleaned the information from her mother or other mentor, and from these techniques, recipes and potions have risen some of our most valued medicines, such as digitalis, a well-proven heart regulator.Naturally, plants were the source of her medicine. Many species were grown in her dooryard, where they were close at hand, but some had to be collected from the wild. Among them were yarrow, which was packed into wounds to stop bleeding, and nightshades, to stimulate the failing nervous system. Chamomile and mint calmed the stomach, lavender disinfected and fleabane drove lice from the hair.In cold climates, she would keep busy harvesting and drying plants throughout the growing season to save for the winter. Her rafters would be hung with bundles of plants and flowers. She'd infuse fresh leaves into various liquids to bottle, or blend them into fat for salve. Essentially she became the perfect blend of botanist and pharmacist, with a uniquely maternal bedside manner thrown in for good measure.But when times were bad, when the stock market crashed, when the wrong fellow was elected or war broke out, this woman became the object of blame. When the people grew fearful of uncontrollable shifts in their world, this woman was seen not as a wise healer but a dangerous witch. Many of her plants were indeed potent poisons and only she knew the difference between a killing and a curing dose. Such power made everyone nervous, particularly leaders of state and religion who preferred she became the cause of hard times rather than they.It is impossible to know how many healers were burned as witches during periods of famine, war and plague. Certainly a great deal of important plant knowledge died with them. But much of it was recorded and reprinted in the old English herbals -- books about plants and herbs. In 1931, the best of this knowledge was recorded by a Mrs. M. Grieve in "A Modern Herbal," published in two volumes.Grieve goes into great detail about many a plant, its origins, its role in history, healing and myth. She takes actual excerpts from the famous Culpepper and Gerard herbals, which saves you having to read through those dry older works. While the original volumes went out of print long ago, Dover Publications has reprinted them in paperback and they are available as a set at www.botanical.com. This same Web site also offers both books online so you can access all the information for free. This is one of the most wonderful databases of old plant knowledge on the Net.To women who garden, who love herbs and natural cures, witches aren't malevolent forces but the true pioneers of medicine. For while their male counterparts were bleeding and purging their poor patients to death, the healing women with their plants and potions offered alternative health care straight out of Mother Nature's pharmacy.(Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist and former host of "Weekend Gardening" on DIY Network. Her blog, the MoZone, offers ideas for cash-strapped families to live more richly on less. Read the blog at www.MoPlants.com/blog. E-mail her at mogilmer(at)yahoo.com.)