Before echinacea and homeopathy there was Hildegard and her medieval herb remedies. Hildegard's Healing Plants provides a natural healing manual by a woman who used herbs around her convent in the early 1100s. Listings from her medieval Physica book provide reviews of the various herbs and their properties.

Hildegard Von Bingen was a mystic, a musician, a moralist, as well as a poet, playright, and prophet. She added a little science in there, too, and some believe she must have been a physician. She follows the tradition of the time in that created things are composed of four elements: hot or cold, and wet or dry. She then goes on to tell the medicinal uses for over 200 plants. From aloe to oats to valerian, even an opinion on St. John's wort, it is amazing that the same plants continue to be a part of natural healing over 800 years after this book was written. That alone makes the book very interesting...

I was disappointed to see that not all Hildegarde's visions have been translated and included. The editing seems primarily to eliminate those visions popularly believed to refer to the future "end times". Almost the entire section of "vision eleven", dealing with that subject, has been edited out.
The book is definitely useful as a reference for the character of St. Hildegarde, and the "language" of dreams & visions, however I was, as I said, disappointed with what seems to be a "censoring" of the material.

I don't remember reading a book before that provoked such awe of God. Her visions are vivid and her words invoke realistic mind pictures. She interprets a lot and sometimes writes what she heard God say. Some of the things she believes God told her, I am not sure I accept, but all in all the work inspires me to want to make God the center of my life. It is not always the easiest reading, but is understandable -- the translator did an admirable Job. I will look for more of her work.

From what I had read concerning this book and other works of Hildegarde's, I had assumed that it would be useful for one interested in herbal medicine. Though I fondly smiled at remedies involving unicorn horn, and at cautions about avoiding the meat of the gryphon, I was very disappointed that there were no useful ideas, for all that I respect the skill of the medieval herbalists. Entries are merely Hildegard's description of a plant or animal and its humours.