My name is Shirlea Pemberton and I am a Herbalist. To me, an Herbalist is someone who has a connection with plants & trees. Through that connection, they are able to select the plant or plants needed to restore a body to a state of balance.

My connection to plants started at a very young age, when my parents took my siblings and me for walks on trails. Many of these trails were located in the State Parks of Kentucky. My mother always brought plant identification books along. As a teenager, my favorite time was camping and hiking in the Daniel Boone National Forest, where I would continue to learn more about the living forest. When I wasn’t hiking, I was canoeing - and learned about the trees and plants that grow along the water’s edge. By the time I was 15 years old, I planned to attend the University of Kentucky with the intention of getting a job where I could live and work within the forest. I graduated with a BS in Forestry. After graduating, I traveled for 8 years inventorying the forest of five southeastern states for the US Forest Service. I left the Forest Service to marry a forester and settled in Virginia on 13 acres and started planting. To further my education, I completed a 3 year Herbal Program certification at Sacred Plant Traditions in Charlottesville.

Today I am a practicing Herbalist in Richmond, VA, where I do intakes for individuals who feel they are out of balance. As a practicing herbalist, I teach clients how to balance their health with Herbs, Food and Happiness.

I also teach herbal classes at our office, through Energy Medicine Center. I give several woods walks a year, teaching the plants of the forest and their past and current healing properties. I am also on the staff at Sacred Plant Traditions to teach the forest plants to the first year students. In addition, I am also a Reiki Master and use crystals with energy healing.

With the internet, there is plenty of information about herbs. An important question I often receive is what websites should a person be looking at and what books they should they be reading.

What I like most about being an Herbalist!

I love reading and learning about amazing plants that heal. I like being able to go to my apothecary and creating an herbal formula for my family and animals. I’m still planting and growing! When it’s time, I pick the herbal plants and prepare them into herbal remedies. I like knowing that they are fresh and home grown. I love creating a formula that can help the many different imbalances that may be going on in an individual at one time.

I love to teach about the past and present healing properties of plants. By seeing clients and allowing several hours to listen and talk, I can share the amazing herbal plants that their body needs to stay health. I can recommend what foods they should eat to help balance their body. I always remind them to take time to do what they love most.

At our Energy Medicine Center office in Richmond, I enjoy teaching classes that help students discover the world of plant medicine as a food and a way of healing the imbalances that we all tend to go through in life.

To see a list of classes with dates and time go to the EMC website.