By Starre Vartan / Source: Eco-Chick

I had never heard of Juliette de Bairacli Levy, and now I can’t stop thinking about her. The herbalist, healer, animal-lover, itinerant gardener and life-long traveler is a completely unique human being; she never followed any rules but her own and for that she lived an unusually beautiful life after her own heart.

Born to a Jewish family (her mother was Egyptian and her father was Turkish) in Britain in 1912, she long had an affinity for animals, beginning with those in her own home. When she was young, veterinary medicine was still new, but she knew that was what she wanted to study. When the time came, she enrolled in the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester. She didn’t complete her formal veterinary studies, but left after two years, because she disapproved of vivisection and animal experimentation. She also felt that the education she was receiving was only telling part of the story of healing animals.

So she set off on her own to learn about the animal-care practices and herbal medicine knowledge of traditional people, from Europe, Turkey, North Africa, Israel and Greece, and she lived with gypsies, farmers and livestock breeders to learn the ins and outs of their techniques. Since previously, the knowledge of these groups had only been passed along orally, Juliette of the Herbs (as she is sometimes known), set out to write down what they knew, which she did in a series of books, beginning with herbal medicine for animals and then later using her knowledge to help people.

She went on to become the pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine after her fame was assured by two key events: During the 1930s she ran a distemper clinic for dogs—which she healed via fasting, herbs and a natural diet. She then formulated natural supplements for animals, called Natural Rearing, that are still available today.

(Her famous afghan hounds, which she always traveled with, came from a litter of puppies brought to her clinic, which she healed, raised, and which then went on to win Best of Show.) And later, she cured a huge flock of sheep that were near death, also with natural methods. This latter feat got the attention of Sir Albert Howard, the founder of the Soil Association and considered one of the fathers of organic farming.

In the 1940s during World War II, Juliette was a part of the Women’s Land Army in England, and gathered sphagnum moss to dress soldier’s wounds with, and when the war was over, she continued her traveling and learning.

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