Today marks a very special anniversary. It is ten years to the day since my journey towards being a practitioner of Herbal Medicine started. As so often happens, it all started with a book. Let me set the scene a little; ten years ago, I was training to be a commercial pilot and had spent most of the summer of 2006 flying. Then the autumn came and due to ‘difficulties’ with a scholarship, I had to unexpectedly and abruptly stop flying. So I drifted for a couple of months. I drifted until a certain book crossed my path – The Healing Power of Celtic Plants by Angela Paine. My mother gave it to me for St. Nicholas’ day, as she thought it would be interesting to me from a Celtic point of view, given my strong interest in Celtic and Welsh history and my own spiritual path.
So, I took the book to bed with me thinking it would be a bit of light bedtime reading. I started reading the book at about 10PM, and by 5AM had finished reading the last appendix in the book. At the breakfast table I announced to the world that I wanted to train to be a medical herbalist. This was rather an unexpected and abrupt change of direction and shocked everyone. It was suggested that I had had a rather long night and to see how I felt after more sleep. That tea time, I was looking at training options and on the phone to UEL. A few days later I was put in touch with New Vitality Tuition and registered for their year long access course in Herbal Medicine. The rest is history… and today I find myself dispensing prescriptions from Clinic yesterday, organising workshops and planning for next year’s event work and learning/CPD. What a difference a decade… and one small book … made to me.
Categories: The Journey