HERBOLOGY – a practical seminar on the oldest medicine of humankind in the Herdecke medicinal herb garden

Herbal medicine, which combines the two disciplines of botany and medicine, is a fascinating field, perhaps precisely because the powers of nature are particularly evident here. It is based on a holistic understanding of human beings and nature, from which various approaches have developed. These range from humoral pathology to monastic medicine, homeopathic medicine, and Kneipp medicine to anthroposophical medicine. Instead of treating individual symptoms, these therapeutic concepts are always about balancing the individual constitution of body, mind, and soul; their philosophy is based on treating the "whole person" and not just the diagnosis or the current symptoms.

Even the ancestors of modern medicine, e.g. the Greek physician Hippocrates of Kos or Hildegard von Bingen, used the healing powers of plants for their therapies, regardless of whether these were the pleasant effects of traditional medicinal herbs and spices or the relatively dangerous effects of poisonous plants. Herbalists use a wealth of medicinal plants to treat everyday or common ailments. They prefer to use whole plants and benefit from their synergistic effects rather than isolating or synthesizing plant constituents, as is usually the case in modern pharmacology. A variety of remedies (teas, tinctures, oils, ointments, creams, etc.) can be made from plant extracts, offering a safe and effective method of natural health care with few side effects.