Newsletter Signup »
HERBSTALK
  • Home
  • Mission + Values
  • Event Info
  • About
  • Press
    • Kind Words
  • Blog
  • Community Partners
  • Contact

Meet the Herbalist: Madelon Hope

5/25/2015

 
In today's interview, we speak with local herbalist, Madelon Hope, who is also the director of the Boston School of Herbal Studies. Madelon has over 20 years of experience working with herbs and has trained budding herbalists since 2002 through her apprenticeship program. The Boston School has been a part of Herbstalk since our first event and we are pleased to share more of Madelon's work with you!


How did you first get interested in plants or herbalism? What inspired you to learn about herbalism?

As a child growing up in New York City, I found a haven among the plants and trees at a local park. Much later, when experiencing a serious back problem, plants were critical to my healing. I will always be grateful to Solomon’s seal for helping me regain flexibility in my joints, ligaments and tendons and St. John's Wort oil for relief from pain. They were my allies and companions on my healing journey. I found wonderful teachers on this path – Rosemary Gladstar, Matthew Wood, Phyllis Light, William LeSassier and a bit later, Paul Bergner, among many others.  

Soon, I began to incorporate herbs and flower essences in my therapy practice. As the therapy field became more medication oriented, I became more attracted to plants. Over a period of several years, it became clear to me that my path was among the plants and that I was primarily an herbalist. Their magic and power to heal and transform lives have inspired me ever since. 
Picture
What is the main focus of your work with the plants?

As a director of the Boston School of Herbal Studies, a teacher, and a clinical herbalist, I have many different points of focus. I am always excited to share the wisdom of the plant world – the plants teach us so much. It is a joy to see students making their own connections with the plants, identifying, harvesting and making wonderful herbal products. We have a big herbal medicine show at the end of our Apprenticeships where everyone shares their herbal abundance. 

It is also a pleasure to see budding herbalists become healers and teachers. 

As both a therapist and an herbalist, I have a special interest in emotional and spiritual healing. I have many allies among the nervines: skullcap, wood betony, passion flower, linden, blue vervain, milky oats, and rose elixir, to mention just a few. I like to combine nervines with adaptogens so that stress does not undermine emotional recovery. Among my favorite adaptogens are reishi, he shou wu, eleuthero, holy basil, and rhodiola. Many of these nervines and adaptogens are also shen tonics – herbs that address heart/mind imbalances.  I also find flower essences particularly helpful for many people. Finally, it is important to balance the liver and improve digestion to support mood. 

Picture
What challenges did you face when you first started your business/school?

I began teaching in 2002 with Mary Pat Palmer and Kwa Wah Adabi, who at that time were co-directors of the school. I learned a great deal from both of them. By the end of the year, each of them, for different reasons, decided to move on and offer the school to me. It was both a shock and an opportunity. I realized that the work could not be done through ego, and certainly not through my ego, but only by being in service to some larger energy, which for me is the power and wisdom of the plant world. When I feel challenged, I always come back to this awareness and am grounded by it. 

What advice would you give to budding herbalists?

When beginning an herbal business or practice, some people wonder about how to market. Social media, of course, offers many opportunities. I like to think of marketing as a kind of attunement. We are tuning into the energy field of those who are receptive to what we are offering. In this way, we are informing people rather than trying to convince them.  

Picture
Where do you see the future of herbalism going?

I see the future of herbalism in the excitement and ferment generated by conferences like Herbstalk, where people are introduced to new ways to heal and new herbal products to try. It is where herbalists have the opportunity to share new ideas and strategies. Of course, I had no doubt about wanting to be part of Herbstalk. The energy is wonderful! 

I think there will continue to be more community herbalists, particularly as conventional medicine fails to meet the needs of many people. There will likely be more emphasis on local plants and also, conversely, continued excitement about wonderful plants from traditional healing systems around the world. At this point, I do not think any government regulatory agency or commercial interest will be able to stop this momentum. 

Do you have a favorite plant or two at the moment?

My favorite plants at this moment are plants that have been my allies for a very long time. Interestingly, they are all plants local to New England. If I were stuck on a desert island, of course I would want to include Solomon’s seal and St. John's Wort.  I would also want nettle for its incredibly nourishing and energy enhancing qualities, yarrow for wound healing, blood moving, and diaphoretic actions, elder for its decongesting, diaphoretic (flowers) and antiviral (berries) actions, burdock for its liver cleansing  and moistening virtues, skullcap for balancing mood and relieving stress, and finally reishi for its tonic, immune balancing actions. It is hard to restrict my list even to these seven plants. As with most herbalists, so many plants are calling to me. 

Picture

Picture
Madelon Hope, M.Ed., LMHC is the Director of the Boston School of Herbal Studies where she teaches two seven-month Herbal Apprenticeship programs, Advanced Herbal Training and a variety of classes and medicinal plant walks. A licensed psychotherapist for over twenty five years and a clinical herbalist for twenty, she assists clients in healing from depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, food cravings, PMS and menopausal distress. She combines Western Herbalism with Chinese medicine to assist healing on multiple levels.


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    October 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Angelica
    Anxiety
    Aromatherapy
    Artichoke
    Autumn
    Ayni Institute
    Ayurveda
    Bath Salts
    Becoming An Herbalist
    Beltane
    Bitters
    Black Cohosh
    Blue Vervain
    Botanical Crafts
    Botanical Dyeing
    Cacao
    Calendula
    Cancer
    Canine Nutrition
    Cannabis
    Chaga
    Chamomile
    Chickweed
    Chinese Medicine
    Cleavers
    Climate Change
    Community
    Connection
    Cultivating
    Curandismo
    Dandelion
    Deserts
    Digestion
    Doshas
    Earth Healing
    Ecological Herbalism
    Eco-printing
    Educational Gardens
    Elder
    Eleuthero
    Elixirs
    Energetics
    Essential Oils
    Ethnobotany
    Events
    Evergreens
    Fall
    Farming
    Flax
    Flower Essences
    Folk Traditions
    Food Plants
    Free Clinics
    Fungi
    Gardening
    General
    Gentian
    Ghost Pipe
    Gifts
    Goldenrod
    Groundwork Somerville
    Growing Herbs
    Guide To Herbstalk
    Hawthorn
    Healer's Path
    Herbal Education
    Herbal Energetics
    Herbalism
    Herbal Marketplace
    Herbal Oils
    Herbal Salves
    Herbs For Pets
    Herbs Of The Enneagram
    Hibiscus
    History Of Herbstalk
    Holidays
    Holy Basil
    Honey
    Imbolc
    Immunity
    Interviews
    Lammas
    Liver
    Living With An Herbalist
    Local Classes
    Local Plants
    Lyme
    Marshmallow
    Meadowsweet
    Medicinal Mushrooms
    Medicinal Uses
    Meet The Herbalist
    Meet The Herb Farm
    Menstruation
    Milky Oats
    Mimosa
    Mint
    Motherwort
    Mugwort
    Mullein
    Mutual Aid
    Natural Dyeing
    Nettles
    New England
    Nourishing Herbs
    Oat
    Passionflower
    Permaculture
    Phytochemistry
    Pink Lady Slipper
    Plant ID
    Plant-of-the-year
    Plant Profile
    Podcast
    Poisonous Plants
    Psychological First Aid
    Queen Anne's Lace
    Recipes
    Reciprocity
    Reishi
    Rhodiola
    Rose
    Rosemary
    Russian Herbalism
    Samhain
    Schisandra
    Seasonal Cycles
    Seasons
    Seeds
    Shen Tonics
    Skullcap
    Snow
    Social Justice
    Spring
    St. John's Wort
    Summer
    Survival Herbs
    Tea Blends
    Tincturing
    Tonics
    Traditional Chinese Medicine
    Trauma
    Travel
    Tree Medicine
    Tulsi
    Urban Gardening
    Urtication
    Vata
    Vervain
    Violet
    Water Hemlock
    Wheel Of The Year
    Wildcrafting
    Wild Edibles
    Winter
    Wintergreen
    Yarrow
    Yule

    RSS Feed

Copyright © Herbstalk 2021