A fellow called me the other day to talk about vitiglio, asking whether I could do something about it. I began to explain that vitiglio is an auto-immune condition, and so the majority of my protocol for working with him would be similar to those for other autoimmune conditions, and that we may also add in some specific treatments to help the symptom of vitiglio.

After a while he said something like, “Well, you know, because vitiglio has no cure”…

I don’t know if I made my explanations clear or not, but it’s been really haunting me ever since the call – this concept we have of “cure”, and the idea that certain conditions “can’t be cured”.
Similarly, I get really vexed about those Walk for a Cure events – why are we so focused on “cure”? The word we should be looking for is health.

An answer to the question: What is Traditional Western Herbalism?

It is sometimes suggested, and often presumed, that the present practice of herbalism in the West is a matter of matching single herbs to individual ailments, in contrast to the better-known systematized forms of traditional medicine—TCM, Unani, Ayurveda, and so on—which emphasize constitutional assessments, individualized recommendations, and complex formulae. The idea is that Western Herbalists have a “take this herb for that symptom” approach which mirrors the model of modern conventionallopathic medicine.

This idea is mistaken, and markedly. Traditional Western Herbalism as we find it today is a full, holistic system of healing with a rich history and a diversely livingrowing present. Literature, lore, experience, and experiment are its primary sources; integrative and inventive, this practice is a polyculture, but everywhere it grows from a shared ground.