Creating an Herbalist’s Code of Honor + Prompts

A Code of Honor is a personal standard of conduct measured, attributed, and continuously tested not by convention or authorities, but by us ourselves. It’s an unbreakable agreement that we make to our missions and our world, containing standards and stipulations we can’t just weaken or amend depending on shifting circumstances. It’s always evolving as our self-awareness and understandings of the world grow, yet it remains uncompromisable and resolute—an oath reflecting our values and priorities; our calling; purpose and aims.

I invite you to ponder, define, announce, and then wholly devote yourself to a deeply felt, highly individualized code that strengthens and informs, nourishes and furthers all that means most to you. It’s a potentially defining and enabling asset for anyone, but the more significant the potential harms and benefits of your role or endeavor, the more crucial it becomes that we know clearly what we value and what we reject; what we seek or support; embrace or express; or cannot accept. And it’s difficult to imagine a role with more consequence, with more potential to damage or to improve than an MD, a naturopathic doctor, a caregiver, herbalist, therapist, or alternative healer.

A healer’s code can be one that guides our lives unspoken, or else a public pledge that we post online, share with any clients we seek to help, and let stand as our standards and guidelines. What’s vital is that our principles reflect what we truly are, know and care about, that they be specific enough to be testable and measurable, and that we genuinely and dependably live up to them. Our principles need to be non-negotiable and self supervised, we thus need to be completely dedicated to embodying and applying them. For this reason, the oaths we make must be deeply personal— personally considered, composed, adapted, and adopted by us.

The following is a sample Herbalist’s Code of Honor featuring some of the values, principles, and commitments that I consider most applicable. Give each some thought, then omit what you cannot pledge to, add what else you feel strongly about, and make amendments until you have an oath that represents who you are at the core, a code you can both commit to, utilize and maximize.

I pledge to fulfill these promises to myself, to the very best of my ability:

• That I will serve a mission of contributing to the healing of not only unwell bodies but also of unsettled minds, fractious community, toxic political systems, and the damaged natural world.

• I’ll do all in my power to address conditions and ailments in the most natural ways, utilizing medicinal herbs and alternative therapies whenever possible instead of artificial and often dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.

• My practice isn’t about waging war on death and illness, but instead, systematically nurturing wholeness and actively assisting natural bodily and emotional balance. I’ll do this by addressing conditions, imbalances and root causes, while providing natural healing support.

• I’ll do so with sincerity, complete honesty, and full disclosure. I will explain to any clients how and why I make the recommendations that I do, and what I believe the actions, primary effects, and possible side effects are of any herbs I recommend or provide.

• I’ll purchase herbs only from verifiably ethical companies looking out for laborers as well as ecosystems.

• Before harvesting any wild plants for medicine, I’ll make great efforts to understand their needs and regional population numbers as well as any threats they face.

• I’ll make the health and conservation of herbal species a priority, limiting my harvesting when necessary, helping to reseed or otherwise propagate however possible, standing up for the protection of their habitat in all the ways I can.

• I pledge to give freely or discount deeply my services for those in need.

• I will actively oppose injustices and work to end or alter clearly unreasonable regulations.

• I will actively support, defend, and promote diversity, from biodiversity to diversity of opinion, gender, race, ethnicity, and neurodiversity, in the face of unhealthy conformity.

• I will honor and learn from existing healing traditions, without being defined, limited, circumscribed, or constrained by them.

• I will test all ideas and practices, even the most broadly accepted. I will measure them against my own experiences, and alter or adapt them as serves best.

• I will honor my elders and predecessors who practiced medicine and herbalism longer than me, yet no more than I honor the younger or less experienced who bring forth new ideas, new synthesis, passion, vigor, and commitment to this meaningful and valuable purpose.

• I’ll acknowledge and credit my teachers, and promise to attribute the sources of the information I pass on to others.

• I will not knowingly impugn or disgrace other honorable herbalists, even when they make mistakes, but I will address what I believe are mistaken notions in a respectful, honorable way.

• I will refer clients to other herbalists or practitioners in other fields whenever I think they could benefit from insights, experience, diagnosis or treatments that I don’t offer.

• I recognize that herbs are not always the first or correct step to take, and that the services of a conventional MD are required in certain cases, I will, therefore, suggest a client see an MD for tests or treatment whenever called for.

• I swear to work to heal myself as I work to heal others and this world, for there’s no separating myself from the larger body and context.

• I will tend and nourish my being and psyche— giving myself desired rest and pleasures— knowing that I am more effective and can serve others best when I have wholly taken care of myself.

• I will, without fail, act so as to preserve and further the finest qualities, knowledge, means and mission of my calling.

• I will do all that is necessary to feed, sustain and grow my enthusiasm for this practice and purpose, and to embrace and express the joys of this work; and I will honor my field and mission by quitting it if ever my interest, enthusiasm, and satisfaction fade.

• I will only pledge to what is personally know to be most honorable... and I will keep my pledges.

• If I swear falsely, betraying or ignoring my pledges, may I recognize the ways in which my spirit and aims suffer. If I fulfill my oaths and do not violate, compromise or sacrifice my Code of Honor, may it be granted to me that I ever more successfully aid and remedy others, while wholly enjoying my life and my healing arts!

I hope that sharing my Code of Honor helps to inspire you to create one that resonates with you. What will you include in yours?

Want to Learn More From Jesse Wolf Hardin?

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