10/28/2020
About our founder/practitioner:
Jonathan Hadas Edwards, MS, LAc. is a healing arts practitioner and teacher trained in Traditional East Asian Medicine and mantic arts. He's been described as a "wizard" but he thinks of himself as a recovering materialist in awe of the wisdom of the ancients. A NC state-licensed acupuncturist, he holds Masters degrees in East Asian medicine from National University of Natural Medicine and in writing from Warren Wilson College. He lives in the Haw River watershed (traditional Shakori lands) at Heartward Sanctuary, a center he co-founded with spouse Julia Hartsell.
Alongside acupuncture, Jonathan has been offering telemedicine herbal consults and remote divination work since before the COVID pandemic. He works with people on a wide range of health concerns; he has helped many with digestive issues, insomnia, anxiety, menstrual problems, fertility, pain, fatigue, acute injuries and rehab, acute and chronic respiratory diseases, Covid and post Covid syndromes, addiction, post-chemo and post-radiation recovery, and more (see testimonials and FAQ). He also works with clients on questions of direction, drawing on the I Ching and other mantic methods to shed light on life's crossroads and decision points. He considers all this to be sacred work and approaches each individual with a spirit of humility, curiosity and respect.
Jonathan writes: "My own healing journey began after watching my father decline due to dementia, a condition for which Western medicine had little to offer. When I started having health problems of my own, I began to look for answers off the beaten path..."
His journey him in 2005 to India, where he was first exposed to traditional Asian medicine traditions. In 2008-9 he spent a year in Nepal on a Fulbright fellowship to study Ayurvedic medicine. After meeting last-of-his-lineage physician Keshab Laal, Jonathan was inspired to devote himself to the study and practice of herbal traditions. His growing passion led him to NUNM in Portland, Oregon, where he studied under Dr. Heiner Fruehauf and traveled to China with him. In the Northwest he also took the opportunity to delve into western herbalism with renowned teachers Matthew Wood and Scott Kloos, continuing to broaden and deepen his growing knowledge.
Somewhere along the way it became evident to him that the world's divination traditions are undervalued tools in the pursuit of healing and insight. Since then Jonathan has made a serious study of the I Ching and its long history of clinical applications. He has also pursued involvement in the West African tradition of Ifá, traveling to Nigeria for initiation in this living wisdom tradition in 2013. He has been encouraged by the results of incorporating I Ching and other mantic methods into his healing work, and has trained with Dr. Daniel Foor and others in ancestral healing and ritual methods in order to address transpersonal aspects of health. His eclectic and rich background equips him to work with people who are open to unconventional methods that are nonetheless rooted in ancient tradition.
As he is quick to remind prospective patients, no belief is required.
