Death and Herbs: 3 Topics to Think About Right Now
In this episode, “Death and Herbs: 3 Topics to Think About Right Now,” I explore how herbalism, culture, and nature can help us reimagine death—not as something to fear, but as a natural teacher and an essential part of life’s cycle.
As an herbalist, I’ve always seen the threads between life, sleep, and death. In this talk, I share how our nightly rest can be a small rehearsal for letting go, how symptoms and illness can be wise teachers, and how creating rituals around death can deepen our connection to life itself.
We’ll look at death through the lens of spirituality, healing, and culture, considering what it means to celebrate mortality rather than resist it. Together, we’ll explore how embracing death can awaken a greater sense of joy, purpose, and reverence for the living world.
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Key themes:
🌿 Death as a teacher, not an enemy
💤 Sleep as practice for dying
🌺 Ritual and celebration as ways to honor mortality
🌱 How herbs and nature can guide us through transformation
✨ Living more fully by accepting impermanence
If you’ve ever wondered how herbs, healing, and spirituality intersect with the great mystery of death, this conversation is for you.
Resources:
Alan Watts video on Death and The Tao: https://youtu.be/56yLoF-PGbk
Chapters: Death and Herbs: 3 Topics to Think About Right Now
0:00:00 - Intro and podcast introduction
0:02:03 - Start of discussion about death
0:11:24 - Discussion about sleep and death
0:00:35 - Seasonal context and changing leaves
0:02:15 - Three main points about death
0:11:24 - Third point: Death is vivifying