Published in 2020, his first book, “The Great Book of Healers”, has sold more than 100,000 copies. She recounts the practices and the place of these women in the shadows in history, from the Middle Ages to the present day.
What is a healer, a healer?
In my opinion, these are people who practice care with others, outside the official health system.
What are the differences between mainstream and alternative medicine?
Traditional medicine is perceived as legitimate. It was taught in monasteries and then in faculties. It is rather the business of men. Alternative medicine is profane, it is often transmitted orally and concerns mostly women.
“Healers can be charged with illegal practice if they make diagnoses or claim to cure”
In your book, you explain a strong interest in alternative medicine today. Has this always been the case?
In history, the two types of medicine have taken more or less place, depending on the era. The image of alternative medicine, which is moreover a recent term, has evolved according to political, social and scientific mores. In the Middle Ages, for example, this daily medicine was completely accepted. Things changed at the beginning of the Renaissance, when it was equated with the irrational, with witchcraft. Today, although popular in France, it remains unconventional. Healers can be charged with illegal practice if they make diagnoses or claim to cure. That said, alternative medicine has never disappeared, even if it has experienced periods of decline.
Clara Lemonnier lives in Fourques-sur-Garonne, near Marmande.
Patrick Parage
Is there a relationship between alternative medicine and esotericism, witchcraft?
There are several treatment techniques based on observation, such as the use of certain plants. Others, like Chinese medicine, appeal to the invisible. A method is chosen according to the identified problem. If it is digestive, we will use plants or massages. If it is the evil eye, we will turn to magic, spirituality.
“In my book, I go beyond contemporary times and come back to the history and techniques of the past”
How did you come up with the idea for the book, and its theme?
It all started with my thesis, “Care quests”, which I published in 2016. For five years, I was interested in the different ways of taking care of yourself when you are a woman and live in the countryside in France, sometimes in a medical desert. I carried out a field survey, in the Médoc, which led me to look into the non-conventional remedies mobilized. Then, Éditions L’Iconoclaste contacted me and offered to write a book.
Is the book an extension of your thesis?
I studied anthropology in Bordeaux. To do my thesis, I told myself that it was important to know more about what was happening near my home, before going very far. Also, my director was working on women’s health and medical desertification in contemporary times, so I followed that path. In my book, I go beyond contemporary times and come back to the history and techniques of the past. It deals with a national problem, but I used a few examples found in the Southwest.
Why female healers?
I found it interesting to study the relations between the sexes. To understand who treats what, how and the recognition provided. There are no statistics, but it is believed that there are more female healers. Nowadays, they are becoming more and more professional, embarking on self-employment with a priced catalog. One wonders what this says about the place of women in our health care system.
“The big book of healers”, Editions L’Iconoclaste, €22.