Alfred Vogel grew up in Aesch in Basel (Switzerland) and even in early childhood became familiar with medicinal plants and their mode of action through his father and his grandparents. Phytotherapy and the desire to help his fellow men became his life’s work, which he pursued passionately into old age.
Phytotherapist, Nutritional Adviser and Commentator
* Alfred Vogel managed a herb and health store in Basel at the age of 21.
* Almost immediately he began to advise his customers on the power of Nature as well as on healthy nutrition and lifestyle through lectures and his own publications.
* He began to prepare remedies himself and to sell them to his customers.
* Even then Alfred Vogel was convinced that a life in harmony with Nature means eating as naturally and as healthily as possible.
* In the 1930s he relocated from Basel to Teufen in Appenzell.
* Here he further developed his skills as a herb gatherer and improved the remedies he made for himself.
* In Teufen he made the crucial discovery that the mode of action of fresh plants was fundamentally better than that of dried ones.
* From then on Alfred Vogel manufactured his herbal remedies from freshly harvested plants whenever possible.
* In 1963, at an age when others think of retirement, he founded Bioforce AG in Switzerland.
* Today Bioforce AG is one of the most prominent manufacturers of herbal remedies in many European countries, Canada, USA and Australia.
Researcher and World Traveller
Throughout his life Alfred Vogel was a passionate traveller. Being a Phytotherapist and naturopath, he was full of curiosity: all plants and herbs of the Earth were of interest to him. He took every opportunity to visit foreign countries and cultures:
* From the 1950s, Alfred Vogel travelled in numerous countries on all continents.
* His special interest lay in primitive peoples with a close relationship with Nature.
* His experiences with the people of the prairie and the primeval forest showed him that the skilful management and support of Nature can often do more than the alleged skill of man.
* For example, when he was with the Native American Sioux in the USA he discovered the immune active plant Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower), which became the symbol for the A.Vogel brand.
In 1923, Alfred Vogel established a health store in Basel, Switzerland to share the healing power of herbs, about which he had learned from his parents and grandparents, with all those who crossed his threshold. His greatest desire was to help people stay healthy and so he asked them to examine their lifestyles and diet, rather than simply seek a remedy when something ailed.
For those who could not get better by these changes alone, he worked patiently to create suitable herbal medicines which would bring the benefit of the whole fresh plant to those who sought his aid, painstakingly developing his own unique range of fresh herb tinctures. Having moved in the early 1930s to Teufen in the Appenzell region of Switzerland, where he was able to practice as a naturopath, he cultivated his extensive gardens there, always following his precept of working in harmony with nature. His plants were grown and cared for without the use of any artificial fertilisers or insecticides, hand sown, hand weeded and hand harvested to ensure the gentlest of environments for his herbs.
His reputation grew during the 1940s and his tireless work continued, learning about and working with many native European plants.
Realising that native peoples throughout the world had accumulated knowledge about plants native to their homelands, in the 1950s he began to travel extensively seeking further answers to his patients’ problems – answers which still work for us today.
One country Vogel visited was the USA from where he returned with Echinacea purpurea seeds which he painstakingly cultivated at his home in Teufen and in the Alpine region of the Engadine.
In November 1962 he wrote about his work with these plants.
“I have now raised Echinacea in the Engadine and have acclimatised it slowly, because it has gradually to become accustomed to the long, hard winter. In Teufen too, I have an Echinacea plantation which I have raised from seed. Five years ago, I tried my luck in Engadine with about one hundred plants. About fifty withstood the first winter and developed in a mediocre way because they did not come into bloom before the cold weather once again set in. For three years the plants fought against the cold weather until finally, in the fourth year, the strongest amongst them managed to produce a few flowers. At the time I increased the plants by dividing them so as to raise the annual production. At the beginning of September, in the fifth year, almost 90% of the plantation came into flower so assuring me that they had become accustomed to the climate as well as to the cultivation period.”
A.Vogel and Black Elk“Echinacea purpurea has been treasured by the Native Americans for centuries, not simply for its beauty but because of its exceptional healing powers. When we consult a medicine man about an inflamed, slow healing wound or a malignant boil, he gathers the Echinacea leaves, crushes them and applies them to the affected area. We are also invited to eat it to obtain quick healing both internally and externally.”
A few years ago I was at a conference, the main speaker was Jan De Vries. Jan spoke of many constructive healing experiences through his work at his clinics, personally and also of bioforce. He then spent the rest of his time answering questions from the audience. I was quite near the front of the crowd and had been working up the courage to ask him something about dealing with a chronic condition which has now spanned more than nine years of my life. As always I was determined to beat this chronic condition which has been interspersed with very severe relapse and periods of remission and even more frightening at times been life threatening. As the evening progressed and more questions were answered the eagerness to ask Jan of what in his experience he had found helpful for people with my condition dissolved, as I really didn't know where to start.... remembering the last time I'd spoken to a doctor about the symptoms and healing avenues I'd explored it had taken two and a half hours, and at that it was only the tip of the iceberg. As I sat there taking in all the positive energy, I realised I could not possibly put my hand up and expect Jan de Vries to deliver a two minute prescription "the cure" I'd been seeking for the complex issues and symptoms that I was dealing with, especially as I was sitting there at that moment in time looking and feeling very healthy.
Afterwards as tea was provided I had a nice conversation with a few people I knew and a couple I didn't. I then searched through the many books and read the tincture remedies that were displayed on a side table. Equipped with my purchase (tincture and copy of "The Nature Doctor" by Alfred Vogel) I felt an air of excitement passing through me as I made my way out of the room.
One of the guys from my philosophy class that I'd had missed that evening in order to go to the talk had kindly offered me a lift home, telling me just to wait on him if the talk finished before they were. Parking my butt on a armchair in one of the corridors of the hotel outside our philosophy class boardroom, awaiting my lift home I was eagerly thumbing my way through this wonderful new book, when Jan walked by heading up to his hotel room. I nodded my head and he about turned and came over to where I was sat. "I'm impressed to see you already soaking up the contents of Dr. Vogels book." he said as he signed the cherished book. I continued to have an interesting conversation with him for a few minutes 'till my pal appeared.
The moral of the story...."Sometimes you just aren't supposed to put your hand up. So a big thumbs up for the bright sparks we see through the fog."
Dr. Vogels book (www.mainstreampublishing.com) has supported my family and I through many an illness.
Dear Dr. Vogel although you are no longer here in body your spirit and remarkable knowledge live on as your work continues to be invaluable to those of us who are considered "too complex" and therefore basically ignored by many mainstream professionals. I smile every time I look at your kind face and am eternally grateful for your advice and wise words. The encouragement, support, natural, homeopathic remedies, lifestyle and nutritional guidance offered in your book are exceptional and have lightened the load in what has been an extremely challenging, confusing and frightening decade for my family and I.
Lorna Cameron
"To live according to the principles of nature is much more than a technique. It requires respect and sympathy for creation." by Dr. Alfred Vogel.
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