Linda Bates Herbalist

I’m a traditional fourth generation Herbalist via my mothers ancestry. Her grandmother, my great grandmother, was a Herbalist from Northamptonshire in England and she was a Romany. So I grew up with herbs to help me and I learned early to love them.

Herbs were my early friends during a life of constant moving and digestive difficulties. They were a reason to go walking and exploring new wild places. I loved to sit with them, feel their energies, talk to them and take home the ones that spoke to me.

They helped me stand tall and be courageous enough to go to 19 different schools all over England and the Mediterranean. I had to be strong and brave - doing my best to fit in with dignity. My mother helped me find the medicine herbs and make them into remedies for my digestive problems. She had grown up helping her grandmother.

My ancestral knowledge is from the Celtic and the Greek line, known today as European Herbal Medicine. In Australia today we also learn to use herbs from Chinese medicine, Native American medicine, Eclectic American medicine and Persian medicine.

In European Herbal Medicine the earliest texts saved and preserved are held in the Dublin library. Written by the Celts in approx 1500 B.C. they tell us what each herb was used for. The same information on the uses of these herbs has been found in Egypt and dated also from approx 1500 B.C. The herbs we use today are for the same ailments they used them for.

Of course, many more texts have been written and the knowledge has been added to by healers and by those who could write while they observed the medicine men and women of their time. So our knowledge is 3,600 years old and underpins the development of many branches of modern science, such as pharmacy and modern medicine.

A Medicine Woman of the Celts was the most honoured member of the tribe, second only to the Tribal leader. She was appointed by her tribe for her gifts in healing and she chose her apprentices for their ability to be dedicated to learning with her for 10 years at least. She worked hard for the status and acknowledgement.

Her gifts were Shamanic and Spiritual. Honoured and rewarded by her people, in turn she honoured her teachers. If she showed gifts as a Spiritual leader and teacher, as well as gathering knowledge and wisdom, she was elevated to Druid Priestess as well as their Medicine Woman.

My earliest teacher was my mother, with her great love of nature. She also read Buddha’s words to me and other spiritual teachings. She was deeply kind and compassionate and people came for her company to soothe their hurts and hearts. I found my other teachers later – after we came to Australia in 1966, when I was 16.

 Earning a Bachelor Degree majoring in Theatre and Drama  I embarked on a successful 10 year career in Production Management of Opera and Musical Theatre in Adelaide, Sydney and London. Carrying a bag of herbal remedies for the theatricals around me through those years I brewed infusions of herb tea to help Dame Joan Sutherland, Lyndsay Kemp, David Bowie, Mel Gibson and many other artists.   

My mother died suddenly in the late 70’s and I completely lost my way. I quit my work in the theatre and went North to live a self sufficient life in the wilds of Northern NSW. A new path appeared in my life when I discovered that I could formalise my skills and become a professional Herbalist. I could work with my plants and help people. I found my spiritual teacher in Osho.

I chose my teachers carefully. They have all been older, wiser and very experienced at what they were teaching me.

Dorothy Hall at her College of Herbal Medicine in Rozelle for 3 years.

Nutritional Chemistry and prescribing methods as well as J. Angerer’s  Iridology at The School of Somatic Studies.

Glynn Braddy at the International Federation of Alchemists for 2 years.

Edmund Harold, spiritual, energetic and crystal healing over 2 years.

Franco Santoro, Astro-Shamanic teachings at Findhorn, Scotland over 2 years. 

Those teachers taught me so many things – about myself and my gifts – about the world of nature – the sensorial world – and energetic sensing. They all live inside my heart – with my mother, her mother and her grandmother.

Also I have learned Kinesiology, Reiki 1, 2 and Master level, and how to use Himalayan Flower Enhancers and Tasmanian Wilderness Essences with Tanmaya, a dear friend and energetic healer.

Beginning my practice as a Herbalist in 1985 in Balmain, Sydney, I moved into deeper levels of learning. In 1991 I moved to the upper Blue Mountains and became a Village Herbalist. I began to grow the herbs I loved in my garden and to walk in the wild again to find others, and I made my own medicine from them. I made 111 different fresh plant tinctures to use in my dispensary (of approx 230 tinctures) for my patients.

They came as patients and they came to learn in groups how to use herbs in their daily lives to stay healthy. They came with their emergencies and brought their loved ones. They came to collect their repeat mixes and to collect remedies for their Home First Aid kits – like Respiratory Infection Mixes to keep their children well.

These people made me their Medicine Woman. And they taught me that healing only happens with love. Love is the greatest healer. Love your plants and yourself and your patients.

All the mixes I have made available to you on this website shop I have created and refined with my patients and with love over many years now.