Anatomy of a Formula
The Plant Path: Herbalism, Medical Astrology & Spagyric Alchemy
Sajah Popham
4.8 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you been studying herbs for a while, but you still feel unsure about how to combine them into an effective formula?
Or maybe you're newer to herbalism and ready to dive into the art and science of formulation?
Formulation is one of my favorite parts of herbal medicine, so I'm excited to kick off a new series called The Anatomy of a Formula. I love the synergy that emerges when herbs are combined in intelligent, intentional ways—and the specificity you can achieve when formulating for a particular person. It's both powerful and fun.
However, for budding herbalists, formulation can initially feel daunting and a little confusing. Without some kind of framework or guidance, many people end up just tossing a bunch of herbs into a bottle and hoping it works.
That's not an ideal approach because you're essentially leaving your therapeutics to chance. Instead, approach formulation with strategy, intention, and precision, tailored to the individual you're working with.
Here's what we'll cover in this post:
• A brief history of formulation in North American herbalism
• Formulation challenges and how to fix the problem
• The foundations of herbal formulas: pairs and triplets
• The anatomy of an effective formula
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ABOUT THE PLANT PATH
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The Plant Path is a window into the world of herbal medicine. With perspectives gleaned from traditional Western herbalism, Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, Alchemy, Medical Astrology, and traditional cultures from around the world, The Plant Path provides unique insights, skills and strategies for the practice of true holistic herbalism. From clinical to spiritual perspectives, we don't just focus on what herbs are "good for," but rather who they are as intelligent beings, and how we can work with them to heal us physically and consciously evolve.
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ABOUT SAJAH
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Sajah Popham is the author of Evolutionary Herbalism and the founder of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism, where he trains herbalists in a holistic system of plant medicine that encompasses clinical Western herbalism, medical astrology, Ayurveda, and spagyric alchemy.
His mission is to develop a comprehensive approach that balances the science and spirituality of plant medicine, focusing on using plants to heal and rejuvenate the body, clarify the mind, open the heart, and support the development of the soul. This is only achieved through understanding and working with the chemical, energetic, and spiritual properties of the plants. His teachings embody a heartfelt respect, honor and reverence for the vast intelligence of plants in a way that empowers us to look deeper into the nature of our medicines and ourselves.
He lives on a homestead in the foothills of Mt. Baker Washington with his wife Whitney where he teaches, consults clients, and prepares spagyric herbal medicines.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Greetings, everybody and welcome back to the plant path. |
| 0:14.4 | And I am excited to start a new series or category of posts that I'm going to be doing here, |
| 0:23.2 | um, |
| 0:23.8 | called anatomy of a formula. |
| 0:26.6 | And I am super excited about this. |
| 0:29.5 | You know, |
| 0:29.7 | there's one thing about herbal medicine that is probably one of my favorite aspects. |
| 0:35.7 | And that is formulation. |
| 0:42.5 | I just absolutely love the process of formulation. I love the unique synergy that emerges when we combine herbs together in |
| 0:50.9 | intelligent and strategic ways. The specificity for the person that you're working with. |
| 0:57.4 | It's just a lot of fun. |
| 0:58.5 | I love formulation. |
| 1:00.1 | And while I think it's really enjoyable and fun and fascinating and interesting to study, |
| 1:06.2 | it's also one of the areas that I find in the more budding herbalist can be a little bit challenging. |
| 1:13.6 | It can be a little confusing. It can be a little bit difficult to think through. And it can be an |
| 1:22.2 | area where it can, you know, you see a lot of folks kind of end up just throwing a bunch of herbs together in a bottle and hoping it'll work. |
| 1:30.4 | And this is not something we generally want to do. |
| 1:33.9 | We want to approach our formulation with a strategic kind of mindset to suit the person. |
| 1:42.4 | Now, an interesting thing when we look at formulation in kind of comparing |
| 1:48.0 | Eastern herbal medicine to Western herbal medicine is that in the Eastern traditions, notably |
| 1:53.9 | here would be Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, is they have very long-standing formulary, really. |
| 2:04.5 | There's traditional formulas that are prepared in particular ways with certain ratios, |
... |
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