Medicine Walk: Reconnecting to Mother Earth

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

The wisdom, advice, and information in Medicine Walk comes from the
author’s personal experience. Laurie Lacey has found spiritual,
physical, and emotional healing in nature, which has served as refuge,
inspiration, and altar.

The work of American philosopher and naturalist Henry Thoreau has also
influenced this book. The original manuscript became a self-published
course in nature therapy. Medicine Walk explores the insights and
practices that have helped Lacey on his journey of self-discovery from
being a handicapped teenager to becoming a popular nature therapist
working in the area of Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona.

The book examines the spiritual nature of plants and the healing nature
of special places that help individuals feel connected to the earth.
“Special places,” Lacey writes, “are like old friends whom we can
visit with our problems, and in whom we find both support and
solutions.” There are chapters on meditation, on wild and edible teas
and the use of plants in Native medicines, and on reconnecting with
nature as a means of healing.

Lacey’s earlier books include Micmac Medicine and Black Spirit: The
Way of the Crow (both published by Nimbus). This attractive volume,
which includes black-and-white sketches of plants and natural
landscapes, as well as an index of medicinal plants and trees, is a
refreshingly different book with valuable reflections on natural
healing.