“My grandmother used to sing to nettles before harvesting… and they never stung her.” (Spiros Thimis)
Spiros shared this memory with me almost two years ago. At the beginning, I was really excited to know about it and then I wrote it in my notebook and completely forgot about it – probably because I had the feeling that there was more to find out in order to be able to do something good with it. I considered it important to find what the words were and who taught this song to his grandmother… and during that time, I couldn’t see what was really important in this memory…
This phrase is now to me one of the most important things that came up in this work. The grandmother’s song to the plants and the salves in the nutshell are the most significant features of our herbal tradition that has survived to these days. None of it seems to be important for modern science or indicative of an impressive healing potential. However, it comprises something which is closer to what I was looking for when I started this work, and what the real reason for this effort is. So far, these two features are the only remnants of a genuine herbal medicine that comes from a period in time when people’s souls and minds were in harmony with the plant spirit world and the Earth’s song… Not the era we have talked about so far, but an era that’s traces are lost in time, but which is absolutely alive inside me and the memory of which makes my heart beat faster…
Our journey back in time to when life was sustainable and in harmony with the land has just started… This work is constantly being refined and developed… It is changing together with the people that participate in it, with the people inspired by it and with the people that will take it forward…
Like life itself…
