Joseph Smith and Herbal Medicine

What a wonderful and well researched book! I will be quoting it often!I always felt like I was judged to be a little strange and on the fringes of my religion, because even though I am educated as an RN, I do not currently practice standard medicine except under extreme situations. It seems that the more I was educated in medicine and the more I worked around disease and doctors, the more it seemed that the science I was practicing was treating only the symptoms and not curing any cause of the diseases. It's like an unending roller coaster for the patient and their family. Traditional medicine is a lucrative business to be in and I didn't like being a part of that.So I took it upon myself to get an education and certification in herbology and aromatherapy and I now use those almost exclusively in conjunction with prayer and blessings. I am not a typical 'earth-mother hippie' or 'green witch' kind of person, but I have been accused of such and been made to feel like I was not following my faith because I was practicing herbal cures and using essential oils and crystal therapy. I knew the Word of Wisdom and tried to follow it, but this book opened up a whole new aspect of it for me. I now have solid answers for my critics.It saddens me that so much of what our foremothers knew and practiced has been lost to 'modern' science. I love the fact that part of this book was about the cures used by the pioneers and by early members of the church. Herbs that are easy to find and easy to grow instead of imported, rare plants that are found in so many other formularies. I have tried out some different herb combinations I had not used before and gotten some good results from them, so that has been a great addition to my pantry.

If you're looking for an herbology book, this isn't it. This is an interesting historical study of how the Mormons started out equating 'Thompsonian' medicine with the Word of Wisdom, reserving doctors for surgery and trauma cases. Joseph Smith was traumatized by the death of his brother Alvin who died after ingesting calomel (mercury chloride) prescribed by a physician. Later with Brigham Young, allopathic doctors and the 'poisons' they prescribed gradually became accepted among the Utah Mormons. Eventually over time, knowledge of the old herbal remedies, which had been so effective in the early years of the Mormons, has been lost.

This is not a recipe book, so if that's what you're looking for, I would not recommend it.

Great book on the early prophets of the Mormon church and their adherence to Tompsonian herbalism.

Very happy to find this book. I had one like it over 30 years ago and lost it.

What great insights! As an herbal medicine practitioner, I found this a very valuable asset to understanding why and what works best for our bodies. Since reading this, lobelia has become our new "go to" for lung issues.

I love this book.

Good information.

I have just finished a Herbalist course and found this very interesting how herbs were used by every day folk. Worth a read especially about the religious side, good to get a unbiased view.

mon anglais n'est pas assez bon pour cette lecture