Decolonizing with Plant Medicines - An Interview with Philippa Joly

03/22/17 • 62 min

Herbalism As Activism - Stories of healing, justice, resistance and change

In this episode...

I interview my friend Philippa Joly, a long time activist, organizer and herbalist living on Denman Island.

“Just the basic elemental thing of reconnecting a human with a plant can be revolutionary for people. When people realize that not only is there a healing capacity in plants... but they realize there’s a sentience in the plants, there can be a new forging of relationship.

There’s this opening that happens for people where they feel less alone. They feel less afraid. And there’s an empowerment when there’s plants growing all around me that can be my allies.”

In this interview we talk a lot about decolonization and how herbs can change our relationship with the Land and how we defend it. Philippa also shares some of her stories from working at a couple of pay what you can herb clinics in Vancouver and Victoria. And we talk about some of the challenges we share in terms of balancing accessibility to the medicine and the need to make a living as practitioners. She shares some of the behind the scenes about the business models of the clinics that she’s worked at.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Philippa Joly.

In this episode...

I interview my friend Philippa Joly, a long time activist, organizer and herbalist living on Denman Island.

There’s this opening that happens for people where they feel less alone. They feel less afraid. And there’s an empowerment when there’s plants growing all around me that can be my allies.”

I hope you enjoy this interview with Philippa Joly.

Next Episode

Defending Herbal Medicines from Health Canada and the World Disease Agenda - An Interview with Yarrow Willard

In this episode...

I interview my friend Yarrow Willard. Yarrow is a co-founder of Harmonic Arts Botanical Dispensary based out of Courtenay, BC

He’s also a co-founder of the Vancouver Island Herb Gathering, now the largest herb gathering in Canada.

“yes , we need to get up and fight this. We also can’t live in fear... that’s just going to put us into a shellshocked state. If we’re going to see the change we want to see in the world, we need to be strategic about how we spend out energy and time... not get too frantic and overwhelmed by this stuff cuz that easily happens."

In the interview we start and end by talking about a very important issue for everyone who wants to be able to buy herbs in Canada. In Sept. 2016 Health Canada proposed some changes to the regulations that cover which herbs are available on store shelves.

It may not seem like a terribly radical topic, but this legislation is the sign of things to come. The Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical industry is trying to limit our personal and collective health sovereignty.

The interview also bounces around a little. We hit topics like the Dangers of high concentration single constituents extractions, personal connection to the land, colonialism, and the global disease industry.

I hope you enjoy it...