Spirituality In Health-Care Network Event 

You Are Invited To A Meeting of The

SPIRITUALITY IN HEALTH CARE NETWORK
Integrating Spirituality and Health Care

Monday November 24,   7:00pm to 9:30pm
Suggested Contribution $10.00
Friends House    60 Lowther Avenue    Toronto
(2 blocks north from the Bedford exit of the St George Subway Station)

Plant Spirit Healing

Modern herbal medicine is being increasingly influenced by the dominant reductionistic, materialistic medical paradigm. There is a growing emphasis on the pharmacological properties of chemical constituents and clinical studies that are modelled on the study of pharmaceutical medicine rather than the practice of traditional herbalism. This unidimensional approach to the use of herbs has significantly limited the healing potential of plant medicines.  

Traditional healers around the world have been able to accomplish profound healing using indigenous herbs with limited knowledge of pharmacology or physiology by relating to plants as spiritual beings who are partners in the healing process. By cultivating a deeper relationship with the plant spirits it is possible to achieve a greater depth of healing in any system that uses plant medicines. In this talk we will look at some of the ways that plant spirit healing has been practiced in traditional and modern contexts and how this approach can be integrated into a modern healing practice.

Presenter:  Michael Vertolli

Michael is a Western traditional herbalist who has been practicing since 1986. He is the founder and director of Living Earth School of Herbalism, which offers in-class and online classes and workshops and a clinical diploma program in Western herbal medicine.

Michael has apprenticed and worked with elders of First Nations traditions in Ontario and central Mexico. He developed Four Elements Herbal Therapy, a system of Western herbalism that integrates the physiological approach of modern European and North American traditions of herbalism within the broader holistic and spiritual paradigm of Native American healing wisdom. He has also done extensive research on many medicinal herbs that are native to and naturalized in northeastern North America, many of which are no longer in common use.

Michael has long been an advocate for herbs and the practice of herbalism. In the 1990s he was appointed by the federal Minister of Health as a member of the Advisory Panel on Natural Health Products and the Office of Natural Health Products Transition Team. He continues to be a director of the Ontario Herbalists Association and the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations.

AGENDA

6:45 - 7:10    Registration
7:10 - 7:15    Opening Remarks
7:15 - 7:30    Opening Sacred Ritual
7:30 - 8:30    Presentation:  Plant Spirit Healing
8:30 - 8:35    Announcements
8:35 - 8:50    Break
8:50 - 9:15    Group Sharing/Questions
9:15 - 9:30    Closing Sacred Ritual

SHCN Chair: Jeannette McCullough RN 

SHCN Steering Committee: John Thornton MD, Larry Nusbaum MD, Heloisa Porto, Brandon Klayman, Catherine Stone MSW
Parking: There are a few spots behind the building, North of Lowther Ave. and West off Bedford Rd.