05/02/2025
This exactly ❤️
As a person whom has spent many many years with plants and creating recipes, I always tell people—you can’t just throw plants together and expect good medicine. Each plant is its own being. It carries its own spirit, purpose, and medicine. Our old ones teach us that every plant has a role, a way it works with the body, with the seasons, with the energy of the person receiving it.
Some plants are warming, some are cooling. Some are meant to calm the spirit, others to move the blood or open the lungs. And when you mix plants without understanding those qualities, you can cause more harm than good.
There’s also science behind this. Plants are made up of active compounds—like alkaloids, terpenes, and glycosides—that have real effects on the body. Some herbs amplify each other’s effects (we call that synergy), but others clash or interfere. For example, St. John’s Wort can mess with how your liver processes other herbs or medications. Licorice root, while helpful in small doses, can raise blood pressure if used too often or with other strong herbs.
This is why our people take time to sit with the plants, to listen to them, to learn their stories. It’s not just about what they do—it’s about who they are. Every medicine I make starts with respect. You have to build that relationship with each plant before you ever mix them together.
Good medicine comes from deep knowledge, patience, and prayer—not shortcuts.
www.lakotamade.com
