Queer Herbalism: Nervines.
Herbs and queer people have loved and supported each other throughout history, and this legacy carries on today. As we are in the depth of winter, this session will be looking at plants supporting the nervous system.
We will be exploring medicinal plants through blind tea tasting and tincture tasting. Everyone will be guided to explore the effects the herb has on them. We'll then share these experiences together to see how the plant works on our bodies and minds, and how it compares to traditional uses and current biomedical understanding.
By drinking multiple herbs acting under the same umbrella term of “nervines”, their differences will be highlighted to understand better their individual quality.
All sessions bring links between queerness and herbs through:
- Literature and historical records.
- The queerness of botany and interacting with nature as self-exploration.
- Queer health and herbal medicine in current times.
Host
Odhran (they/them) is a trans medical herbalist living in London. Their practice involves the practical application of herbalism within local communities, researching herbal trans health, and the curiosity of seeing the world from non-human perspectives.
They encourage the exploration of individuals’ subjective perspectives by involving all the senses, and by playing with the stories we learn and tell ourselves to make sense of the world.
@mordicaherbs