Kat Maier
Award Winning Author
Available Now!
Energetic Herbalism
(2021)
In this indispensable new resource both for the home apothecary and clinical practitioners, a celebrated herbalist brings alive the elemental relationships among traditional healing practices, ecological stewardship, and essential plant medicines.
Available Now!
Click the above link if you would like a signed copy, shipped by Kat.
Inside Energetic Herbalism, you’ll find:
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The elements and patterns of Ayurvedic doshas for greater self-awareness as well as positive lifestyle choices
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A deep appreciation of the wisdom of indigenous peoples, which is the foundation of sacred plant traditions
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The relationship of well-being to the seasons through the brilliant lens of Chinese Five Element Theory, and how our emotional health is beautifully expressed through the Elements
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The roots and evolution of Vitalism, the traditional Western system of energetic medicine
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How to assess imbalances in the body using the elegant and intuitive vocabulary of the six tissue states, an emerging tool in Western herbalism
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The senses as the main tools for navigating through energetic herbalism
Through the rich herbal tradition of storytelling, Maier seamlessly blends theory and practice with her experience-tested herbal remedies and healing protocols. Maier stresses the critical message of how to address the challenge of threatened medicinal plant populations, offering practical and inspiriting methods for ensuring their survival. Many herbals boast a materia medica of more than 100 herbs, but in keeping with an emphasis on sustainable practice, Maier instead focuses in depth on 25 essential medicinal herbs that can be grown in most temperate climates and soils, including:
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Dandelion
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Ashwagandha (Indian Ginseng)
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Goldenseal
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Burdock
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Calendula
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Echinacea
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Goldenrod
Whether you are a seasoned clinical herbalist, an herbalist-in-training, or simply someone seeking to provide the best natural health care for your family, this book is a source of inspiration, insight, and answers you will return to again and again.
I always ask my students do you want to be a good herbalist or a great herbalist? One of the essentials necessary to achieve a high level of herbal practice is the study of herbal energetics.
Kat Maier in her book Energetic Herbalism, has distilled the teachings of the worlds great herbal traditions into a concise, easy to learn guide that will allow any herbalist to learn to treat individuals rather than generic diseases and truly achieve excellence.
David Winston RH(AHG) Founder of Herbalist & Alchemist and author of Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief
Praise & Reviews
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Kat Maier has written Energetic Herbalism with her heart forward. Beginning with her story of how she got into herbalism--a journey that became her life’s work--Kat takes on the hard task of making complex herbal systems easily understandable. She also does something that is even harder. She leads her readers to understand that plant medicine is a relationship that needs to be approached from the heart.
Karyn Sanders,
Founder of live radio show The Herbal Highway, Co-founder of Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine
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Rosita Arvigo,
Founder of Ix Chel Tropical Reseacrch Center, Author of Satsun, Rainforest Home Remedies
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From the book foreword: How wise you are to be holding this brilliant book in your hands, getting ready to open the first pages, to plunge into the very heart of energetic herbalism. A magnificent world awaits you, and what better guide than renowned herbalist Kat Maier. As a teacher, practitioner, and steward of healing herbs, Kat brings decades of herbal experience to her writing, but also the curiosity and open mind of someone who is forever enchanted by the green world around them.
The world has been enriched by many excellent herb books written in the past few decades, but few contemporary herbalist authors explore the ideas of energetic herbalism, plant stewardship, and the spiritual relationship between plants and humans with such depth and insight as Kat.
Rosemary Gladstar (from the foreword of Energetic Herbalism)
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In this beautifully written resource, Kat has distilled her immense understanding of plant medicine into a captivating and comprehensive guidebook. Her extensive trainings in both the herbal energetic arts and the world of conventional medicine makes her a trustworthy guide at a time when we are in desperate need of them. With the skill of a practiced healer, she deftly balances the practical with the poetic, weaving together the needs of personal wellness with those of planetary health. As an herbal teacher, this is a book I would recommend. As a practicing herbalist, this is a book I will reference. And as a reader, this is a book that offers inspiration and hope.
Lorna Mauney-Brodek, Herbalist, Founder of Herbalista Mobile Clinic
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Wow, an amazing book. Almost leaves me speechless. Energetic Herbalism integrates the many different streams flowing into modern herbalism into an integrated conception and practice. While it is directed for the home herbalist, it is a textbook for beginning to advanced levels, to be treasured, read, and assimilated over many years. This is the type of book that can be written only by one who has been ruminating and practicing for decades, yet it also represents a stream of energy arising from the plants themselves, expressing themselves through Kat, in herbal wisdom. This book touches upon everything that I hold dear in herbal medicine, founded upon the real experience of Nature as a living, intelligent, spiritual being.
Matthew Wood MS (Herbal Medicine),
Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism
I have been an herbalist for 40 years but was never able to understand the concept of Chinese or Ayurvedic energetics as applied to healing with plants. Kat Maier is the first person to make it clear and I am grateful. At last! I get it. This is a book to return to savor and digest slowly but the rewards will merit the effort. I especially liked the section on the energetic virtues of kitchen herbs and spices. The idea of “heart space” in which we acknowledge and reverence plants as spiritual beings in physical bodies, just like us, gives me hope for our future as a planet. Want to be a better herbalist? A better person? A better steward of the planet? Just getting started as an herbalist? This is the wisdom book for you.
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Energetic Herbalism provides herbalists with the essential tools and language necessary to comprehend the patterns of nature. Kat Maier’s way of conveying the ancient art of energetics in healing brings insight not only to the bodily expressions but to the innate nature of plants. This book nurtures an awareness of partnership between people and plants—it is a reverent call to sustainability. Kat’s profound teachings always leave me awestruck and entice me further into my love affair with herbs. In her book, her impassioned voice penetrates the healer’s heart.
Mimi Hernandez, Executive Director, American Herbalists Guild
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Kat Maier has crafted a very necessary book for these times and the era ahead. We all come from an herbalism tradition somewhere in our lineage. Kat weaves together many of these global practices, paying attention to giving credit where it is due and honoring the sources of the wisdom she shares. Her focus on conservation and kitchen herbalism and her message that less can be more are refreshing. The distillation of a materia medica down to 25 mostly common yet powerful plants is one excellent example. Ultimately, this book delves into the sometimes subtle yet significant ways seasonality and energetics aid in healing, filling a niche greatly needed in the herbal community.
Marc Williams, ethnobiologist and facilitator of botanyeveryday.com and Plants and Healers International
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A beautifully written, all-encompassing guide to understanding the major healing traditions from around the world – Vitalism, Ayurveda, and Chinese medicine. Lest you think that this is all Kat Maier offers, let me dispel that thought. Diving deep into sacred healing traditions, Kat leads us to the plants. She enlightens with the uses, indications, and preparations of the plants she has chosen for the apothecary. Energetic Herbalism is a book you’ll return to again and again.
Phyllis Light, author of Southern Folk Medicine
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It has been such a pleasure to dig into this verdant body of work, layered in plant knowledge, folk remedies, and the rich studies of our human experience with herbs and healing. Kat Maier has crafted a beautiful, lyrical work of art. She weaves together her wealth of knowledge on herbalism through the lens of story, culture, archetypes, the medicine of place, the Celtic wheel of the year, and the always abundant kitchen apothecary. This book is chock full of applicable learnings for any novice or astute lover of the healing realms of the plant traditions. Dig in, and enjoy.
Leah Song, Rising Appalachia
That Kat Maier’s book so wonderfully conveys the essence and importance of energetic herbalism is a blessing. That the book also frames our use of herbs within the larger relationships we hold with the land, the seasons, and the sacred is essential. In Energetic Herbalism, Kat doesn't share mere uses of herbs, but keen insights into establishing a deeper understanding of the patterns of health and nature.
jim mcdonald, herbalist and founder of herbcraft.org
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Kat Maier has skillfully crafted a book for the ages. Energetic Herbalism is a guide to building authentic plant relationships, couched in the context of ecology and energetics. This book invites the reader to connect with plant medicine in a living relationship of respect and reciprocity. Paying tribute to cultures of North America and around the globe, Kat offers insight into the traditions that have informed and molded the practice of modern herbalism. Her book weaves together energetic framework, practical application, and spiritual relationship, bringing complex teachings to life in an accessible format for the lay herbalist and clinical practitioner alike. I am excited to share this book with my students, knowing they will pass it down to their students in turn.
Emily Ruff, Director of the Florida School of Holistic Living and the Sage Mountain Botanical Sanctuary
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A wonderfully practical and accessible guide to energetic herbalism, filled with the wisdom and Viriditas of a Real Herbalist. Thank you, Kat!
David Hoffmann, RH (AHG), fellow of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, principal scientist for Traditional Medicinals
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Kat Maier’s Energetic Herbalism is a wonderful, much-needed addition to the growing sophistication of American herbalism.
Stephen Harrod Buhner, author of The Lost Language of Plants and Healing Lyme
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If you want to understand the wisdom and healing potential of herbalism you have come to the right place by choosing this book. At this crucial juncture in our relationship with Nature it is vital we learn how we can live in greater harmony. The way we nurture a respectful relationship with ourselves, society and the planet will determine our future. The insights in Energetic Herbalism will go a long way to helping you understand the language of plants and to develop a deep relationship with their healing potential. So explore this book, awaken your senses, experience the character and personality of the plants, and you will find a whole new world of herbal harmony.
Sebastian Pole, co-founder Pukka Herbs and www.herbalreality.com
"When plant spirt medicine is acknowledged, the potency of the plant as well as the kaleidoscopic nature of what it heals increase dramatically. No longer one constituent, or a bundle of nutrients, the plant's ability to transcend physical form becomes a thing of beauty and reverence."
-Energetic Herbalism
