Numen: The Nature of Plants

by Ann Armbrecht. Ann and Terrence Youk

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Ann Armbrecht. Ann and Terrence Youk. Numen: The Nature of Plants. DVD $27.00  95 min.
          Winner Los Angeles Film Festival – best documentary editing

'Numen' is animating force of nature. I really like this film. It does an excellent job of presenting the healing potentials in (re)connecting with the natural world, particularly through plants, and with Gaia. The editing is outstanding – weaving together the words of many healers’ voices in a harmonious chorus. The images are beautiful and the experts in ecological medicine and planetary healing are well worth listening to.Included in this documentary are medical doctors Tiearona Lowdog and Larry Dossey; the late Bill Mitchell, ND; author and founder of the Bioneeers,  
Kenny Ausubel; herbalists Rosemary Gladstar, Phyllis Light and many others.

Quoting from the numenfilm.com website:

Numen will appeal to herbalists, gardeners, medical practitioners, plant lovers - and everyone else who is concerned about human and environmental health.

A primary objective of Numen is to bring the same awareness to medicine and the medical industry that the organic food movement has brought to food and the food industry. The film presents a sobering view of conventional healthcare and the dangers of environmental insults, as well as a vision of safe, effective and sustainable medicine. It offers stories about how individuals have improved their own health and well-being and provides concrete steps for viewers to do so as well.

Most broadly, the film encourages viewers to think deeply about the sources of their medicine and how their healthcare choices affect themselves and the larger web of life. It inspires us all to deepen our relationship with the natural world and reminds us of the healing made possible by re-embracing our place in the wider web of life.

See also the list of contributors, including:

Rocío Alarcón received her teachings from her mother, grandmother and shamans of the Amazonian Rainforest and Andes of Ecuador. She was a founding member of EcoCiencia, Ecuador's leading ecological organization, and worked for over 20 years as an ethnobotanist in the tropical rainforests of South America. Rocio is currently living in England where she received her diploma in Holistic Therapies and continues to travel, teach and inspire.

Ken Ausubel is the CEO and founder of Bioneers, a nonprofit educational organization that promotes practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring the Earth and communities. He is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker and social entrepreneur whose books include The Bioneers: Declarations of Interdependence; and When Healing Becomes a Crime: The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Clinics and the Return of Alternative Therapies. He co-founded Seeds of Change, a national biodiversity organic seed company, and founded Inner Tan Productions, a feature film development company.

Josef Brinckmann is the Vice President of Research & Development at Traditional Medicinals in Sebastopol, California; a Consultant on Market Intelligence for Medicinal Plants & Extracts for the International Trade Centre (ITC) of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; editor of ITC's quarterly Market News Service for Medicinal Plants & Extracts, and a member of the Advisory Board of the American Botanical Council.

Charlotte Brody joined Blue Green Alliance as Director of Chemicals and Green Chemistry in January 2010. Prior to joining the Blue Green Alliance, she was the National Field Director for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a nationwide effort to pass smart federal policies to protect us from toxic chemicals. A registered nurse, Charlotte previously served as the Director of Programs for Green For All, Executive Director of Commonweal, and a founder and Executive Director of Health Care Without Harm.

Isla Burgess established the first four-year Diploma in Herbal Medicine in Australia at the Waikato Centre for Herbal Studies and has trained medical herbalists at the Center over the last 10 years, drawing on 25 years practice. She has presented papers at conferences and seminars both nationally and internationally and is the author of Weeds Heal A Working Herbal. A gardener at heart, Isla continually delights in the potential of unopened packets of seeds.

Dr. Larry Dossey is an internationally influential advocate of the role of the mind in health and the role of spirituality in healthcare. The author of nine books and numerous articles, Dr. Dossey is the former Executive Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, the most widely subscribed-to journal in its field. He has lectured all over the world, including major medical schools and hospitals in the United States.

Dr. James A. Duke, PhD retired from the US Department of Agriculture in 1995. He held several posts during his thirty-year tenure, including chief of the Medicinal Plant Resources Laboratory and director of the Cancer Screening Program. He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular books, including the bestseller The Green Pharmacy, with more than 1 million copies in print. He resides in Fulton, Maryland.

And many others.

The editors are to be commended for their obvious deep dedication to promoting healing ecological awareness – both in this film and on their website. For instance, they also include suggestions for direct actions that viewers can take right now.

My only criticism is that the film feels a bit long, at 95 minutes.

Order your copy at http://www.numenfilm.com/

You can also arrange to have a showing of the film in return for purchase of 5 discounted copies of the DVD, which you are free to resell at market cost.

Review by Daniel Benor, MD, ABIHM
Editor-in-Chief, IJHC

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