Our Western medicine does not have its true origins in the scholarly medicine of educated doctors and pharmacists, but goes much further back. Its roots lie in the healing knowledge of the Paleolithic hunters and gatherers, the nomadic herders, and the first settled farmers. It is the traditional folk medicine, the knowledge of ordinary people, grandmothers and root women, herders and herbalists. Alongside the "Wurz" – the healing plant – there were always also the therapeutic, healing words in the sense of shamanic healing, the confrontation with disease spirits, and communication with the essence of the plants. All of this is described by cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist Wolf-Dieter Storl in his usual well-founded, profound, comprehensive, and captivating manner. The true origins of our folk medicine