by Steven Johnson, DO
Over the past six years, a devoted group of biodynamic gardeners has been collaborating with Uriel Pharmacy in North America to integrate local plants into existing anthroposophic remedies, create new medicines, and explore previously unused medicinal plants and minerals. Recent additions include Monotropa uniflora (Indian Ghost Plant) for trauma and pain, and Sun Pyrite for the rhythmic system and upper respiratory conditions.
Jean-David Derrameux, Ben Davis, and their interns at Churchtown Dairy near Hudson, NY—alongside Mark Blachere, Andreas Fontein, and their colleagues at Camphill Copake—have steadily provided an increasing supply of plant and animal preparations to Uriel Pharmacy. Adults with developmental disabilities at Camphill are active contributors to this meaningful work.
A wide array of biodynamically grown and wild-crafted medicinal plants from the United States are now part of remedies used daily by thousands of children and adults. These carefully harvested tinctures are created through anthroposophic and alchemical processes, tested for safety and quality, and include mother tinctures prepared using the delicate day/night rhythm methods developed by WALA in Germany.
Once harvested and crafted, tinctures are shipped to Uriel Pharmacy in Wisconsin for potentizing, processing, qualitative analysis, and purity testing. This entire effort reflects a deep commitment to the elemental nature of the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms. Not only can you sense the freshness of these tinctures, but their exceptional quality is also visible—through chromatography, their extended vitality, and their effectiveness. Qualitative research is expanding, with new laboratory facilities underway.
The seed of this initiative was planted in 1996 between Jean-David Derrameux and myself, when we began developing the Healing Plant Garden at Camphill Copake. Our vision was to use local plants in our medical practice, supporting both the Camphill community and a more localized, sustainable approach to medicine. We were inspired by the story of Karl König, founder of the Camphill Movement, who once spoke of receiving guidance in a dream from an elemental being. That quiet inspiration has guided our work with nature ever since, shaping our gardens into spaces of healing and contemplation.
König had a profound karmic connection with Dr. Ita Wegman, the world’s first anthroposophic physician and co-founder (with Rudolf Steiner) of Anthroposophic Medicine. In 1921, she established the first anthroposophic medical clinic in Arlesheim, Switzerland—now the Ita Wegman Clinic.
Camphill Copake proved to be the right community to support our humble beginning. Over the past 30 years, our efforts have expanded significantly. Hundreds of plants have been incorporated into Uriel’s offerings, and our gardens have become a cornerstone of anthroposophic medicine in the United States.
Together with local physicians and biodynamic gardeners, we regularly study Rudolf Steiner’s guidance on working with the elemental forces of nature—insights that influence our landscape practices, pharmaceutical methods, and spiritual orientation. We reflect on how our inner attitudes shape the atmosphere around the gardens. This work is a remarkable confluence of phenomenological science and modern qualitative research.
Eventually, Jean-David relocated to a new garden that joined the initiative, while Marc Blachere has led the Copake Healing Plant Garden to become an essential part of the North American pharmacy impulse. The garden also serves as a therapeutic space for adults with special needs—a powerful local and national medical contribution.
Marc and Jean-David, both master biodynamic gardeners (and native French speakers who also craft delightful teas and culinary blends), have made working together a joy. Encouragingly, other gardeners across the U.S.—from Pennsylvania to California—are beginning to join this growing movement.
Economically, this work also represents a move toward more human-centered financial models. While Uriel Pharmacy supports much of the production, it’s not feasible to fund every preparation. These medicines—often created in small, labor-intensive batches—are sustained by the nonprofit missions of their communities. The medicines touch thousands of lives across the country and abroad. They cannot be mass-produced. Their quality depends on manual work and spiritual care.
Rudolf Steiner envisioned localized pharmacies providing regionally sourced remedies, noting that illnesses are often connected to local geography. Allergies, for instance, may respond better to locally made preparations. While there is still a long way to go, this initiative offers a hopeful beginning.
This initiative is supported by quarterly retreats, bringing together physicians, gardeners, and pharmacists—like Mark McKibben of Uriel Pharmacy—to study plant and mineral substances and formulate new remedies. From these gatherings have come innovations like Helleborus niger for cancer and inflammatory diseases, Reynoutria for Lyme disease, bitter formulations for digestion, and Viscum vitalizer for chronic disease prevention. These efforts continue to inspire doctors across the country.
In recent years, this initiative has become a foundational source of anthroposophic medicine in North America. Apprentices are now learning the craft with enthusiasm. At Camphill Copake, a new facility is under construction, which will include a laboratory for improved testing, expanded pharmacy work, and eventually research. A second facility is in planning nearby.
Steiner spoke of the essential unity between medicine, agriculture, natural science, and therapeutic education. Waldorf schools were originally envisioned as places where physicians and teachers worked together to support children’s health. Today, local schools—including both Waldorf and public—visit these gardens, experiencing nature in a rare and meaningful way. The medicines serve both children and school physicians.
With companies like WALA and Weleda exiting the U.S. due to regulatory and economic hurdles, it’s fortunate that we anticipated this shift. Over the last six years, this initiative has quietly taken root. We remain in dialogue with Weleda in Switzerland and WALA in Germany, exploring continued collaboration and future certification possibilities.
We’re also grateful to have guidance from alchemical pharmacy teachers like Albert Schmidli, former chief pharmacist at Weleda Switzerland, and Mark McKibben at Uriel Pharmacy, whose openness and innovation continue to support the evolution of this field.
Still, we stand at a crossroads.
Can we find the spiritual, social, human, and financial resources to grow this work in an increasingly difficult regulatory and economic landscape? We don’t wish to merely preserve what we’ve built—we want to evolve anthroposophic medicine into the future.
Our two remaining North American pharmacies—Uriel and True Botanica—have invested deeply in this vision. For this impulse to fully take root, more support will be needed: new facilities, research funding, and, perhaps most critically, the trust and goodwill of communities and patients who value anthroposophic medicine.
The Physicians’ Association for Anthroposophic Medicine (PAAM) has supported a five-year pharmacy training program, now in its fourth year, certified by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Everyone mentioned in this article is participating in this training. If you wish to help, please consider donating to educational efforts through PAAM or the Anthroposophia Foundation, which supports physicians across the country in learning and practicing this medicine.
In closing: all of us involved in this work feel the profound significance of a renewed alchemical approach to medicine. We live in times that demand spiritual consciousness and moral will to counter forces that undermine health and harmony. There is a growing push to dismiss natural medicine as ineffective—despite global evidence of its value. Yet this is also an opportunity: a privilege to support the healing of both people and our ailing Earth.
To work with plants and substances in this way is, to me, a kind of new social sacrament. A sacrament where people unite in recognition of the sickness of our times and strive together to heal.
That, in itself, is a deed of love.
As a physician, I feel this truth every day when I see anthroposophic medicine work in patients—and so do my colleagues. For this initiative to flourish, we will need passionate new co-workers with deep interest and inner commitment.
Yes, working with plants may sound simple, even romantic. But the reality is often repetitive, rigorous, and humble. And yet, it brings a profound inner reward. It is an act of love.
This work can only continue with the emergence of a new consciousness—one that sees medicine not just as a science, but as a healing art and sacred social act.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Steven Johnson