Honoring Women's History Month Through the Legacy of Women Herbalists

Long before herbalism had a name, it had women who practiced it.

Grandmothers who knew which leaf calmed a fever. Midwives who carried herbs alongside their birthing tools. Mothers who taught daughters how to dry, steep, and store what the land provided.

This March, as we honor Women's History Month, we want to pause and recognize something important: so much of what we now call holistic health was quietly kept alive by women who were rarely credited for it.

At Florida School of Holistic Health, we believe that honoring this history is not separate from our work. It is the foundation of it.

Plant Knowledge Passed Through Women's Hands

For centuries, herbal wisdom was not written in textbooks. It was passed down through relationships - mother to daughter, neighbor to neighbor, healer to apprentice.

Women often held this knowledge because they were the ones:

• Tending home gardens
• Preparing food and remedies for the family
• Attending births and caring for the sick
• Managing the health of entire households and communities

This work was rarely called medicine. It was simply called care. But it shaped the herbal traditions we study today.

Women Who Shaped Herbal & Holistic History

Throughout history, individual women have been recognized for expanding what herbalism and natural healing could look like:

• Hildegard von Bingen - A 12th-century abbess whose writings on herbs, healing, and the connection between body and spirit remain foundational texts in Western herbalism.
• Susun Weed - A modern herbalist whose wise woman tradition has shaped how thousands of students approach plant medicine with intuition and relationship-based learning.
• Rosemary Gladstar - Often called the grandmother of modern American herbalism, she has spent decades teaching, writing, and building community around herbal education.
• Juliette de Baïracli Levy - A 20th-century herbalist and naturalist whose field-based approach to herbal medicine influenced generations of practitioners.

Their names sit alongside countless unnamed women whose knowledge was never published, yet still shaped the practices we carry forward.

Why This History Still Matters

Understanding where herbalism comes from changes how we practice it today.

When we learn plant medicine, we are not simply memorizing properties and preparations. We are stepping into a lineage - one built by people who often had few other paths to healing work, yet found ways to lead anyway.

Recognizing this history invites us to hold our own herbal education with:

• Humility for those who came before us
• Respect for traditions we did not originate
• Responsibility to carry knowledge forward with integrity

A Legacy Many Students Are Called to Continue

At Florida School of Holistic Health, many of our students arrive with a quiet feeling that they are meant to do this work - not because it is trendy, but because it feels familiar, even generational.

For some, it is a grandmother's tea recipe. For others, it is simply a pull toward plants they cannot fully explain.

Our Foundational Herbalist and Master Herbalist certification programs are built to honor that pull. Students learn plant energetics, traditional preparations, and hands-on herbal skills, while also being invited to understand the deeper lineage they are stepping into.

Carrying the Tradition Forward

Women's History Month is a reminder that healing knowledge has always been generational - built, protected, and passed forward by people who rarely asked for recognition.

As students and practitioners, we have an opportunity to carry that legacy with care.

Not by claiming to have invented herbalism.

But by honoring those who kept it alive long enough for us to learn it.

Ready to Step Into the Tradition?

If this history speaks to something in you, we invite you to explore our herbal certification programs at Florida School of Holistic Health. Whether you come for personal growth or a new career path, you will be joining a lineage far older than any of us.

👉 Learn more about our Foundational Herbalist and Master Herbalist programs: https://www.fshh.org/certification-programs