Medicine Stories

Relearning ancestral skills is the best antidote to the fear and chaos of these times. Let's recreate a culture of simple home healing and feed the river of resilience so that all may drink from it. Check out Kami's wonderful online course Handcrafted Healing Herbal Oils. IN THE INTRO: Cultivating self and community sufficiency IN THE INTERVIEW: How herbs help us ground into embodiment The screen needs to not be the only decompression space Decreasing susceptibility to our toxic culture Herbalism is human intelligence weaving together with the intelligence of plants in order to heal The cultural energy is mired in fear and chaos and information overload- In Ayurveda, what we are experiencing right now is classic Vata derangement The tight interplay between the nervous and immune systems Restoring our covenant with the earth that gives to us so generously- elderberry is out of stock everywhere, but the earth is always making more! (no need to hoard) The deeply restorative medicine of St. John's Wort oil- the one herbal remedy neither one of us would ever want to be without How seemingly innocuous over-the-counter medications up our inflammatory markers and lower our immunity What happens when you bring a bottle of herbal oil to a gathering LINKS: Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

In a brilliant act of human photosynthesis, our cells evolved over millennia to receive and transform information from the source of all life on earth, the sun. Yet our species has moved further and further away from the consistent solar interaction that our ancestors thrived on. As industry seeks to instill fear for profit, and as millions of us slap highly toxic sunscreen onto our (and our childrens!) bodies each summer, we are missing out on a profoundly rich source of health and vitality. Let's talk about all the ways in which the sun supports wellness, and how we can most wisely interact with our local star. IN THE INTRO: Lessons of the tulip IN THE INTERVIEW: Radical beauty- how an early feminist consciousness got Nadine interested in the medicalization of women's bodies and the need to reframe beauty as radiant health The effect of sunlight on the human body is like charging a battery When our Vitamin D receptors are amply supplied, our chance of developing many diseases is dramatically lessened The sun directly affects both the topical and internal microbiome, as well as our cell signaling systems What we have to do to to make up for the lack of sunlight we get is often more harmful than just getting the sun exposure our bodies evolved to need Heliotherapy: our forebears knew how to utilize the sun for healing When and how we came to fear the sun Science shows that people who get lots of sun exposure, and people who live closest to the equator, have LESS chance of developing melanoma (plus, the form of light that *is* implicated in this insidious form of cancer) A meta review of studies showed no correlation between melanoma and sun exposure, meanwhile over 2,500 studies have linked lack of natural, sunlight derived Vitamin D3 to increased cancer risk Our DNA is able to heal a sunburn much more easily than it can heal the effects of chemical-laden sunscreen baking into our skin all day (which is not to say that we shouldn't try to avoid sunburns- we should) Sunscreen separates UVA from UVB rays, which bypasses the body's natural sunburn warning system, exposes us to the dangerous form of solar radiation, and filters out Vitamin D Our bodies can store up Vitamin D to keep us supplied (and less likely to catch viral infections) throughout the winter How to acclimate our sun exposure slowly in the springtime so that our bodies are ready for unabashed sun worship come summer Laying out in the sun literally creates muscle tone (all while laying still!) What we offer to the sun, in terms of what we put into and on our bodies, matters when it comes to getting the most nourishment- and the least harm- from our time in it What to eat to maximize our nutrient intake from the sun and create an internal SPF effect Peptides: new science around how to get a base tan before sun exposure How zinc works as a sunblock Food is just sunlight slowed down into matter Shadow food: pesticides affect plant's abilities to photosynthesize appropriately (eat organic), pastured animals eat sunlight that we then ingest (eat pastured animals), eating plants and animals that grow in the same light environment we live in is helpful (eat local) Making sure Vitamin D gets in to our bones What we can tell by comparing ancient Egyptian skulls to those of their contemporaries The best cure for many skin conditions is sunlight We can get up to 2/3rds of the energy that fuels our mitochondria from sunlight (!) Vision and the sun: eye health, myopia, and why to limit your time with sunglasses on Nadine and I both have our phones on night shift (red light) 24/7 The connection between the oral microbiome and the gut microbiome: the mouth is a portal into the rest of our body (more on this in the next podcast episode) The importance of Vitamin D in preventing viral infections LINKS: Nadine's website Living Libations Nadine's book Renegade Beauty Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Wise Traditions episode 177 Eating Light Organic_Olivia on Instagram (peep her Highlights) My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

It is our ancestral inheritance to know and work with the plants growing around us. Tending to, nurturing, and gleaning nourishment and medicine from the land is a way of life that is available to us all, and is the most direct path to healing people and ecosystems alike. Let us remember. IN THE INTRO: Self and community sufficiency, wild foods, & plant friends IN THE INTERVIEW: The moment you realize that you can interact with the plants around you (and how odd it is that that's surprising to modern humans) How plants helped Rosalee overcome a terminal and "incurable" autoimmune disease How her doctor reacted when she showed back up after curing herself The many ways to be an herbalist The best way to take herbal medicine isn't as a tea or tincture, it's to bring plants into your life Living deeply with the seasons (no matter where you live) Conscious stewardship of the land as an act of community healing Reciprocity and the many ways mindful, informed wildcrafting can support plants and ecosystems Violets! and incorporating story medicine into our medicine making Chickweed! delicious, nutritious pesto, vinegar, and more Foraging makes it so easy to get a much needed diversity of phytonutrients into our bodies Expanding our lens to the wider ecological relationships the plants we are working with are a part of Other ways to bring plants into your life when foraging isn't possible or of interest What if everyone wildcrafted? We cannot buy ourselves into wellness, but we can nature ourselves there IN THE OUTRO: A genius way to freeze pesto (it's not the ice cube tray method) LINKS: Order Wild Remedies now and get the amazing bonuses! Medicine Stories Patreon My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) Charles Eisenstein's essay The Coronation, on the transformative potential of coronavirus (Charles was my guest on The Boundaries of the Unthinkable are Wavering)

As Slowness Medicine is being experienced by the collective consciousness on an unprecedented scale, we can more clearly than ever see that the frenetic pace of the human species under endless growth capitalism is the root cause of global ecosystem disruption (one consequence of which is the emergence and lightning fast spread of novel viral pathogens). From newly clear canal water in Venice to dolphins swimming closer than usual to Italy's coast to record breaking breathable air in China, let's embrace this opportunity to pause consciously, learn deeply, and critically rethink our approach to the many threats that face our planet and all who share it. IN THE INTRO: Coronavirus, planetary interconnectivity, and what stillness reveals IN THE INTERVIEW: Pushing the belief button: self confidence on the life path That underlying feeling so many of us have had that there has to be something other than the consumerist capitalist culture we were born into Ayana's awakening to a life of questioning, seeking, and activism The role of the erotic in meeting overwhelm and hopelessness in these times Burning ourselves out will not save the earth Time plugged in v time in nature and the lie that we'll be more productive if we're hooked into technology 24/7 When we slow down, the earth slows down (literally) How the For The Wild podcast came to be (Ayana had no idea what she was doing at the beginning) and how the vision has evolved "My devotion is unwavering, but I'm very flexible with how I understand things" The cultural moment that we're in is a spiritual crisis Rebuilding consent, trust, and reciprocity Planting a million redwoods and building a living library of species Striving to be successful while also staying small and slow and moving through the world with integrity LINKS: Matriarch Collective For The Wild website The 1 Million Redwoods Project Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Specific For The Wild episodes mentioned- Dr. Bayo Akomolafe on Slowing Down in Urgent Times, Bronte Velez on The Pleasurable Surrender of White Supremacy and on The Necessity of Beauty, Dr. Max Liboiron on Reorienting Within a World of Plastic, Dr. Kyle Whyte of The Colonial Genesis of Climate Change Specific Medicine Stories episodes mentioned- Planetary Intelligence, Ancestral Resonance, & the Perception of the Heart w/ Stephen Harrod Buhner and The Boundaries of the Unthinkable are Wavering w/ Charles Eisenstein For The Wild on Instagram For The Wild Patreon My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) The Overstory (novel) by Richard Powers The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake (article in the Atlantic) by David Brooks

Modern medicine now recognizes the menstrual cycle as the fifth vital sign. By simply paying attention to what our periods are telling us, we greatly increase our body literacy and quickly regain the deep self knowledge that is our birthright. Whether you want to avoid pregnancy, optimize your chances for conception, or gain insight into the state of your health, cycle charting and fertility awareness is a safe, effective, and empowering choice. IN THE INTRO: Why rest is vital for bleeding women IN THE INTERVIEW: How Naturopathic medicine synchronistically found Dr. Elizabeth How getting pregnant despite being on hormonal contraceptives (HC) brought fertility awareness (FA) into her life Root cause healing v masking symptoms The deceptive history of the pill (it's not your period, it's a "withdrawal bleed" calculated for a specific psychological purpose) What HC actually does in the body is completely shut down communication between the ovaries and the brain, which has many consequences Millions of women have been told that the pill tricks the body into thinking you're pregnant, but women's bodies aren't that dumb IUDs and inflammation There isn't one hormone in the body that HC doesn't effect; it creates full body dysregulation Common side effects of HC- including changing your physical anatomy down there (!) The adverse effects build the longer you're on HC Dr. Elizabeth blows my mind and connects a lot of dots for me by explaining what happened to me when I got the depo provera shot at age 17 The menstrual cycle is now recognized by modern medicine as the fifth vital sign, and FA gives crucial insight into our overall health FA is *not* the rhythm method, and is 99.4% effective when used correctly A deep dive into what happens in the body each month during the menstrual cycle How FA both frees and empowers female bodied folk When our periods are used against us Tuning into and honoring our natural cycles of creativity and rest Breaking down the two key tracking methods of FA: cervical mucus and basal body temperature How long to chart before you rely solely on FA for birth control We aren't raised to trust ourselves How charting your cycle and fertility signs can alert you to health problems that might otherwise go unnoticed, shine light on whether infertility is caused by lack of conception or by recurrent miscarriage, and help you know right away if you've gotten pregnant LINKS: Dr. Elizabeth Wade's website Dr. Elizabeth on Instagram Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Previous episode- Herbalism, Menstruation, and Innate Knowing w/ Kami McBride Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

These times call for potent healers. If you're feeling the call of the plants, this episode is for you. IN THE INTRO: There is no right way to be an herbalist Guidance for navigating your unique plant path IN THE INTERVIEW: The soul's need to connect with nature The most common mistake that newcomers to the plant path are likely to make Why an herb will help one person but not another The vital ecology of the human being Seeing beyond symptoms (and the insufficient approach of merely managing them) to the root cause of illness An overview of the four phases of herbalism: indigenous/folk, vitalist/energetic, molecular/biomedical, evolutionary/integrative "I'm woo to the max, but I'm also scientific to the max" Healing is open-ended and endless, and to know healing is to know life itself The (in)significance of the past when trying to heal forward The herbalist is first and foremost and forever a student of nature Plants are the living, healing intelligence of the earth The transference of healing intelligence from nature into the plant and then from the plant into the person We can understand health and disease simply by understanding nature Narrowing down possible herbal remedies to find the right remedy for the right person- what is the ecosystem behind the symptom? Why some people get overwhelmed when they start walking the plant path Perceiving with the heart v memorizing information (bodily understanding is superior to intellectual knowledge) My favorite personal health reference library Herbal medicine should be accessible to anyone and everyone Helping others using medicinal plants, and crafting the most potent herbal remedies IN THE OUTRO: My Top 5 Reasons to Be an Herbalist LINKS: The Vitalist Herbal Practitioner Program The Evolutionary Herbalism website The Plant Path Podcast Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

We cannot talk about collective health, planetary health, or the health of future generations, without talking about the health of mothers. As Rachelle says, "The dysfunction and disharmony within our human environments is manifesting through the vulnerable bodies of postpartum women. In fact it is through the bodies of mothers that humanity is being alerted to the urgency of our collective need for change." IN THE INTRO: The reaction to my previous episode on parenting without a village IN THE INTERVIEW: Our culture is set up to fail new families/parents, and pathologizing the postpartum period overlooks the fact that it's our social structures that are the cause of the immense emotional and psychological pain most postpartum mothers feel Mama- it's not your fault New moms lose up to 700 hours of sleep during the first postpartum year The baseline of normal is that human babies need care 24/7 (your baby is not "high needs"), what's not normal is living in isolated nuclear families Postpartum care cannot happen without community, and community is the one thing we are all lacking Why it's so hard, when it's what we all deeply crave, to recreate the community living of our ancestors/how the colonial mindset keeps us mired in separation and distrust The pelvis as the seat of trauma for most every woman, and how we can begin to heal that How we feel in our pelvis is how we feel in our life- the connection between mental and pelvic health Intergenerational trauma and clearing the "bad medicine" that was embedded in the bodies of our female ancestors and passed down to us Anchoring in what we actually believe about ourselves, our bodies, this life Women are, and deeply feel, unsafe in our culture The incredible responsibility of raising girls (and boys tho!) in this culture, and how Rachelle and I navigate talking to them about the realities of patriarchy in an age appropriate way Teaching our kids to respect their inner authority first and foremost Reproductive and environmental justice are one and the same It's time to grow up and do the work- our primary responsibility as adults on this planet at this time is to caretake life One simple way we can create community and support the parents of little ones If we can't be resourced horizontally (by the folks around us), we can be resourced vertically (by our well ancestors) and by the land The sacrifices we make as mothers are a holy offering to life itself LINKS: The Innate Traditions website Innate Traditions on Instagram Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Related podcast episode- Without a Village: Isolation, Honesty, and the Paradoxes of Modern Motherhood My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) Mentioned in this episode: Vagina: A New Biography by Naomi Wolf I'm a 37-Year-Old Mom and I Spent Seven Days online as an 11-Year-Old Girl. Here's What I Learned. A mom's response to a stranger insisting her daughter speak to him (seems the original post is no longer available, this is a summary)

The old stories that have guided our recent ancestors are falling apart, and we live in a time of great upheaval and division as we grope for a new guiding mythology. Yet enfolded into this chaos are the seeds of deep and revolutionary change. Charles Eisenstein has a knack for expressing the thoughts and feelings that many of us born to these times have had but never articulated, and a brilliant capacity for elucidating a way forward. IN THE INTRO: Following your curiosity & finding lifelong teachers IN THE INTERVIEW: None of us fit in to the boxes our culture makes for us, and the story we've been handed down is no longer resonant Transitioning between paradigms, as the boundaries of the unthinkable begin to waver The initiation into love that is the environmental crisis A radical reframing of the climate debate (I so needed to hear this) Appreciating the complex physiology of the organs and tissues of the living earth, and realizing that we cannot reduce that complexity to the one metric of carbon emissions and offsets- "We can cut carbon emissions to zero, and the planet will still die of organ failure if we continue to degrade its organs" What we lose when we look at herbs, ecosystems, and anything/everything through a reductionist lense Bringing nuance and empathy back into our highly polarized culture, where folks are both sides (of any issue) are impervious to ever being wrong Holding our enemies in reverence (just channel Mr. Rogers) The legacy trauma of living in this culture, and how to minimize its impact on future generations What the germ theory of disease gets wrong, and why our inner ecosystems often play a larger role in our illness than the outer pathogens that get all the blame A new perspective on autoimmunity, self, and the story of separation Shifting the war paradigm by which we often approach health Sacred economics: living in The Gift paradigm within our capitalist culture, and why Charles' online courses are donation based The individual as a holographic map of the universe unfolding When you hold a question long enough, it will always bear a result IN THE OUTRO: Human hubris and the unforeseen consequences of thinking we can outsmart the vital life force (nature/evolution) How challenges to the immune system both initiate children into their next level of unfolding and prevent later chronic disease The polarization in the vaccine conversation, cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias, and exploring what it would take for me to change my mind on the issue A short exploration of and some resources for learning more about the harmful consequences of praise, rewards, and punishments when raising kids LINKS: CharlesEisenstein.org Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Some of Charles' related essays: Reuniting the Self: Autoimmunity, Obesity, and the Ecology of Health, We Are Unlimited Potential: A Talk with Joseph Chilton Pearce, In a Rhino, Everything Alfie Kohn's website Article- Praise Not Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

My favorite herb book has been out of print for decades, but is now available again! In celebration, I had the extreme honor of interviewing the author. We talk about weaving enchantment and changing our inner states through language, the opposing paradigms of holistic, herbal healing and modern, mechanical medicine, how resting and rooting down in the darkness creates space for creativity and wholeness, and so much more. IN THE INTRO: Slowness Medicine Herbal Rituals IN THE INTERVIEW: The role of story in our human lives Remembering, rather than learning, ancient herbal knowledge How Judith decided, after a violating experience in a doctor's office at a very young age, to take her health into her own hands Why the mechanical medicine system is trauma producing to the creatures that we are Growing up in Brooklyn, living in NYC as an adult, and being a city herbalist Widening the lens by learning about the animals is the ecosystems where our plant friends live How our senses and capacities become stunted when we don't engage in ancestral human practices, and instead spend all our time in the narrowness of digital technology Mycelium as both the neurons and the fascia of the earth Morphic resonance between similar tissue types in the body Anecdotes and subjective experience are data to be trusted How Herbal Rituals came to be Changing states and casting spells of enchantment with words Along with species and ecosystem loss, we are also losing the capacity to retain certain states of consciousness The story of healing told by modern medicine does not actually lend itself to healing Radical, empowered self health care Our bodies and herbs are meant to be together Rooting and slowing down- viewing the dark time of the year (or day) as the beginning of a new cycle Our culture doesn't support descent into inner realms The magic of mugwort Smoke medicine as an instant nervous system reset, and how burning mugwort helped Judith remember her life path Taking in a plant's medicine via the skin, just by touching it Growing and deepening through life's challenges LINKS: Buy the world's most beautifully written herb book Herbal Rituals Judith's website Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) The Overstory by Richard Powers On Being interview with author Robert Macfarlane (Judith mentioned the author, I found the interview and wanted to share it here): The Hidden Human Depths of the Underland My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Poisonous plants have long been misunderstood and even forbidden, yet they hold a special medicinal power. Let's do as our ancestors did and carefully, respectfully ally ourselves with this potent family of healing herbs. IN THE INTRO: Poisonous plants, visionary journeys, and Samhain/Halloween witches IN THE INTERVIEW: How trees and plants companioned Kathryn through her dark and disconnected teen years, led to her meditation practice and relationship with wrathful deities, and eventually brought her to the poison plant path Safety: we are not talking about ingesting these plants, but working with their spirits Making space to integrate traumatic experiences My recent experience with belladonna What happens when many people all tune in to the same plant spirit The effects of deliriant plants How (not) to work with datura, a gateway plant into underworld/angelic work How the scent of plants can bring us into deeper relationship with them Gender, pronouns, and plants Reclaiming lost visionary lineages Being aware of projecting our desires and our wounds onto plants When plant knowledge transmissions get broken through the ages When Amanita muscaria came to Kathryn in a dream Exploring the myth of Persephone The dose makes the medicine/poison- the poisonous plants used in modern medicine, and the different mechanisms of action by which they can harm LINKS: Kathryn's website Ben Vierling art website Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Poisonous Plant Book Recommendations- Pharmako Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path by Dale Pendell Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and its Applications by Christian Ratsch and Albert Hoffman Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants by Claudia Muller-Ebeling, Christian Ratsch, and Wolf Storl Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers by Richard Evans Schultes, Christian Ratsch, and Albert Hoffman Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart Malleus Maleficarum Hammer of the Witches on the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast Witches & Witch-Hunts: A Global History by Wolfgang Behringer My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Owen never thought he'd be a dad, neither of us planned on getting married, and we had no idea that our love for plants would play such a big role in sustaining our relationship. Here's a peek into how we make our lives together work... IN THE INTRO: Elderberry & Motherwort Three things that make our marriage work IN THE INTERVIEW: How we met and then, six years later, got together (St. John's Wort oil played a role) Why we pretended we weren't falling in love even when we clearly were What we were doing before we got together, and how we've changed and grown together How Owen, who never thought he'd have kids, transitioned first into the role of stepdad and then new father How we find balance and prioritize our marriage while sharing kids, land, a home, and a business (spoiler alert: we don't) What roles we each take on within the family and the business Ramblings on getting married and raising kids in middle age Parenting a teenager and a threenager Adulting, we hate it but it brings us closer Our reaction to our unexpected pregnancy How we became homeowners and married people, two things we never envisioned for ourselves What's growing in our gardens, what tending our land looks like Sustainable wildcrafting (and pivoting away from wildcrafting) Why plant communication has been heavy for Owen lately What Owen thinks about my activism around the issue of vaccine mandates Civil uprising is the only option left to us on so many fronts, so many issues, as big businesses continue to destroy environmental and human health in the name of profit What we've learned from our fights Envisioning the future of our business and family LINKS: Our website MythicMedicine.love (herbal medicines & more!) Medicine Stories Patreon Amber's/Mythic Medicine's Instagram Owen's Instagram Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Empaths are trending right now; let's dig beneath the surface into what it really means to be empathic and/or to have a highly sensitive nervous system, and then talk about the plant and fungal allies that can help us to relax, recalibrate, and ground. IN THE INTRO: The difference between empathic and highly sensitive people High sensitivity is an evolutionary adaptation Ritual is remembering IN THE INTERVIEW: Part I, Lola interviews me: How I came to walk the plant path My experience as a vegan postpartum woman What fat does for our bodies- resilience and deep nourishment- and why it's extra important for Highly Sensitive People Remembering the intelligence that is woven throughout every cell in our body (not just the brain) Overcoming the empathic tendency to shut everything out Healing the legacy of highly sensitive/empathic ancestors making harmful decisions in an endeavor to self medicate How psychedelics can help heal and empower HSPs Reishi as an ally The importance of touching something before ingesting it Practicing the felt sense of our food Making a game of tuning into and experimenting with changing the aperture of your sensory gating channels Knowing your strength as an empathic person Part II, I interview Lola: How Lola came into relationship with psilocybin mushrooms Time is the most persistent illusion Knowing that all is well, not as a bypass, but as the deeper reality of nature The stark difference between altering your consciousness recreationally and doing so ceremonially Tracing the motherline to find the medicine that belongs to you Being deep in an ancient cave with the bones of your ancestors Psychedelics, neurogenesis, and healing trauma LINKS: Lola's website Empath to Power podcast Foundations of Ritual online course with Daniel Foor The Highly Sensitive Person by Dr. Elaine Aron How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia by Paul Devereaux Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Myth is the power of place speaking, and the story threads that made meaning and held guidance for our ancestors can be found anew and re-woven for our times. When we tap into the mythic imagination, we remember the calling that brought us into the world. IN THE INTRO: Dreaming the ancient ways Sisters of rock and root IN THE INTERVIEW: The Loss of the Voices of the Wells: the sacred contract between humans and the land, and how the desecration of women and the destruction of the earth are interwoven The loss of lineage results in the loss of our stories The sophistication embedded in ancient myths, and how we've been raised misunderstanding the old stories Stories have an independent existence outside of the human mind and reside in the imaginal realm A myth is the power of place speaking The Otherworld is an overlay, interwoven with this one How the heroic journey is killing the planet Archetypes are universal, but expressed in myth through different cultural filters The wise old woman of the world, and the Cailleach that informs much of Sharon's work Cultivating the mythic imagination & courting the world soul The meaning of "calling": every one of us came here to do something that matters The stories that we loved as children hold meaning for us Discerning coincidence from synchronicity Grounding the imaginal realm Bodyfullness v mindfulness The root of the word "enchantment" means "to sing into"- becoming re-enchanted is singing yourself back into the world Telling stories to the land, and the sacred responsibility to engage with the earth LINKS: Sharon's website (books, online courses, and more) Medicine Stories Patreon (enter the giveaway!) This Mythic Life podcast The Boudica book series by Manda Scott Wisdom of the Mythtellers by Sean Kane The Cry for Myth by Rollo May The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling by James Hillman My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Every woman throughout time has taken some kind of plant and some kind of fat, put them together and used it as medicine. Herbal body oils are the One Remedy to Rule Them All. And no one knows more about making and using them than Kami McBride. IN THE INTRO: Ancient sacrament, modern necessity Handcrafted Healing Herbal Oils online course IN THE INTERVIEW: How herbal oils came into Kami's life and immediately replaced petroleum based products If you wouldn't put it in your mouth, don't put it on your skin Kami's favorite herbs for oil making Mugwort as a deepening, driving, carrying herb St. John's Wort for bruises, burns, cuts, eczema, growing pains, inflamed skin, muscle pain, nerve pain, neck tension, spasms, back pain, insomnia, anxiety, relaxation, children's health, smashed fingers and a million other things How oiling nourishes and calms the nervous system If the skin is dry, then the nerves are dry- this dehydration makes us feel agitated and irritated and anxious (and is exacerbated in summer and fall), "Oil is the antidote to nervousness" The skin is an immunological organ- why oiling is so important for supporting optimal lymphatic and immune system health Using oils with kids Earlobe oiling! Game changer Herbal oils for sleep support- goodnight insomnia When you study herbalism you're also learning about the earth and the human body No one can tell you how much of an herbal preparation to take- even doctor's dosage recommendations are guesses (know thyself!) How herbal body oiling helps you develop deep listening to and knowledge of your body Embedding self care into the culture All the places where Kami keeps little bottles of oil for immediate access How oils helped revive Kami's ailing great aunt The skin as a reflection of internal health How making an herbal oil is different from making an herbal tincture MAKING OILS: Learning to make shelf stable and potent herbal oils How to know which herbs to use fresh and which to use dry Preventing spoilage when making fresh plant oils: the 5 things to pay attention to (FLAHM) Using alcohol in your oil making for greater potency and preservation The most controversial of all oil making questions- should you solar infuse your oils? There's not just one way to make your herbal medicine- herbalism is vast If you're making a blend, should you make separate oils and blend later or just put all the herbs into one jar? Should you oil your face? And our skin care practices "Every woman throughout time has taken some kind of plant and some kind of fat, put it together and used it as some kind of medicine" Why making your own oils will save you SO MUCH MONEY Oils are the least amount of effort for the most return home remedy and are such an effective and easy place to start your herbal journey All the first aid uses for herbal oils LINKS: Handcrafted Healing Herbal Oils online course Mythic Medicinals St. John's Wort Oil Dr. Vasant Lad and the Ayurvedic Institute Medicine Stories Patreon Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Embodying the blessing of being a child of diverse lineages, being rooted first in our ancestral stories and second in our cultural narratives, embracing our inherent worth as we step into the work we came here to do, and so much more... IN THE INTRO: Imaginal remembering How primal human posture has greatly diminished my pain Gathering the stories of your elders IN THE INTERVIEW: Tamira's childhood experiences with the unseen, and how that was (not) held in her family We are accountable to our ancestors The process of remembering and learning to be in daily, direct communication with those who hold the container for our lives Being a bridge between our children and the ancestors- incorporating small ritual into our lives and sharing our peoples' stories Our children are the ancestors returning as the new faces of the lineage The evolution of Tamira's ancestral healing journey as a black woman in the south with both African and European ancestors Seeing today's -isms as rituals of disconnection that feed shame and hatred and anger, which further fuel racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. Remembering that black and white are not ancestral categories and stepping back to view the larger historical narratives of our people The story of the harmonizing of two of Tamira's lineages, one of West African descent and one of European- what was shown to her during the ceremony and how the healing changed her life (we cry) Victimhood, blame, forgiveness, and how our redemption is tied into one another's Claiming first the identity of being a child of your ancestors before being anchored in the (very real and valid) identities the world assigns you Ancestral connection banishes imposter syndrome- you belong with and to your people always, they're holding the container of your life so that you can bring your medicine forward (and when we feel this belonging this we are much less likely to perpetuate cultural and personal harms) Holding space for childrens' grief, and the generations of unmetabolized grief wreaking havoc on our culture LINKS: Tamira's website (teachings, podcast, ancestral healing sessions) Tamira on Instagram: Get Your Chit Together Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Christine Kent's Whole Woman website and her interview on the Honey Talks Podcast Ruby Sales TEDtalk: How We Can Begin to Heal the Pain of Racial Division Martin Prechtel The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Through untold eons mammals have evolved a beautiful birth-giving physiology based around a complex cascade of hormones that are released during labor. We give both mother and baby the best chance at a peaceful, ecstatic birth and postpartum period when we remember and respect this ancient dance. IN THE INTRO: Complex parenting topics: sleep, immunity, birth IN THE INTERVIEW: Sarah's mainstream doctor grandfather and how she got interested in natural birth The exquisitely designed ancestral/mammalian hormonal blueprint of labor The impact of (unnatural, external) stress on a laboring woman and how it disrupts the optimal hormonal flow Creating optimal conditions for birthing and for bonding The hormonal consequences of bypassing the natural physiological onset of labor (such as by induction or scheduled C-section) How feeling unsafe (at a subconscious, limbic system level) disrupts the flow of birth The irony of how we treat animals in labor v how we treat human women in labor The ecstatic, altered state of mind we enter into during labor What first time mothers need to know but are often not told Fear and mystery in birth The body is designed to transcend the (natural, intrinsic) stress and pain of labor and they play a critical role in bonding The role of vocalization in labor Newborns need placental blood: cord clamping and how our cultural beliefs around that have changed over time What "No hatting, no patting, no chatting" means for the postpartum period Ancestral family sleep and motherbaby biological regulation: the many reasons that co-sleeping is best for babies and the science that backs it up The fascinating phenomenon of some birth attendants being able to smell the moment before the baby is born LINKS Dr. Buckley's website Dr. Buckley on Facebook Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering book Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing report Jeanine Parvati Baker CO-SLEEPING RESEARCH- James McKenna's Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre-Dame Sara Wichkam's website Midwifery Today's website Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Soft power, honoring our elders, and banishing imposter syndrome by remembering that we're in service to the earth. IN THE INTRO: Honoring the lineage of plant healers that led to this podcast Intuitive breast care w/ herbs What every herbalist should know IN THE INTERVIEW: Kneeling to the earth- herbalism isn't about you, please don't be afraid to share your voice How Rosemary's name (which came from her two grandmothers) set her on her path from an early age Plants that carry soft power & the medicine of rosemary (the plant) What Rosemary learned about plant healing from her Armenian grandmother The necessity of recognizing our elders How Rosemary came into teaching herbalism to others during the American herbal renaissance of the 1970s How herbalists seem to come to the same conclusions as one another over and over again, and realizing that it's because we aren't figuring new things out but simply stepping back into the ancient human/plant relationship and the knowledge that comes with that The importance of monitoring, conserving, preserving, and cultivating wild plants and how United Plant Savers has changed the face of American herbalism How plants that grow in abundance tend to be super nutritive plants that our ancestors used in daily life as food and medicine, and how rarer plants tend to have more specific medicine and were used more sparingly in acute cases The ongoing Fire Cider controversy and what happens when folks choose trademarks over traditions Life transitions, looking back on Rosemary's incredible legacy, and looking forward to what's next LINKS: Rosemary's websites: www.sagemountain.com and www.scienceandartofherbalism.com ( United Plant Savers: Medicinal Plant Conservation Free Fire Cider Queen of Heaven & Earth Herbal Breast Oil and episode w/ Anja Robinson Root Cause Medicine & Breasts as an Intuitive Center Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Mariee Siou's music is medicine for the living and medicine for the dead, a direct portal both to and from the ancestors and the land spirits. In this interview she shares profound stories of hurt, healing, and visions gifted from the otherworld. IN THE INTRO: Making grief more beautiful and more bearable How to enter the Giveaway of the Grief in Exile album Songs played during this episode are- Wild Eyes Black Snakes Grief in Exile Two Tongues IN THE INTERVIEW: Mariee never dreamed she'd be a musician & how that ended up happening Mariee's connection with her indigenous Mexican and American maternal ancestors and her Hungarian and Polish paternal ancestors Songs pouring through you and the magical process of bringing something into being When the ancestors choose one person in their lineage to drop their stories into Ethnic stereotypes and what people will say to your face Mariee's work with the Nisenan, the native people of the lands she and I live on, and how growing up here she literally never knew there were remaining tribal members here "I experienced so many spirits on the land that hadn't been grieved" Some deep medicine stories- how this podcast has changed Mariee's life (so much interweaving serendipity, since her music opens and closes every episode) How datura embedded into Mariee's consciousness and how that plant relationship touched her life, even before she'd ever worked with the plant physically The amazing ancestral vision Mariee was gifted that supports the music and voice medicine she carries in this lifetime The different ways that people who come from lineages with unmetabolized grief and trauma [all of us] carry that ancestral inheritance How magic and the synchronicities start showing up once we commit to following our soul calling A digression on the Aquarian archetype LINKS Hear Mariee's music and order Grief in Exile: www.marieesioux.bandcamp.com Nisenan Tribe: 1) www.nisenan.org, 2) Ancestral Homeland Reciprocity Program, 3) California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), 4) Tribal Chairman Richard B. Johnson's book History Of Us: Nisenan Tribe of the Nevada City Rancheria Sophia Rose's interview with Mariee at Garden Party Past episodes mentioned- Reclaiming Kitchen Wisdom & Ancestral Healing w/ Darla Antoine and Becoming the Medicine & Seeing the Wide Arc of Time w/ Sophia Rose Medicine Stories Patreon (enter the giveaway!) My website MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Humans have been joyfully engaging with rose medicine throughout the ages. This luxurious herb works on so many different parts of the body and spirit because of its many healing properties. Let's talk about them. Click here to get the beautiful PDF Bringing Rose Medicine Home, featuring 6 rose recipes from 5 herbalists, plus my 3 favorite rose products. An overview of rose's abundantly generous physical & energetic medicine Wild v cultivated roses Which roses are best to use, and which to always avoid A healing message from rose that came to me recently, and the synchronicities that followed "Rose unwinds the stuckness that is often rooted in old grief, old trauma" Rose Delight Honey recipe from Kami McBride Rosebud Tea recipe from Rosalee de la Foret Rose is medicine for the whole heart Rainbow Heart Beams Elixir Giveaway! Discount on the Wild Rose Surprise Box from Rebecca Altman The Big (podcast related) Realization that came as a result of rose showing up in my life Upcoming guests & subjects LINKS: Medicine Stories Patreon (the Bringing Rose Medicine Home PDF, the giveaway, and the coupon code for the Wild Rose Surprise Box!) Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Sophia Rose: Being the Medicine and Seeing the Wide Arc of Time Kami McBride: Herbalism, Menstruation, & Innate Knowing and Kitchen Herbalism: The Body Remembers Lola Venado: The Medicine We Carry Rebecca Altman: Magic Makes Us Human & Plants Keep Us Rooted Kami McBride's book The Herbal Kitchen Rosalee de la Foret's book Alchemy of Herbs Lola Venado's podcast Branch + Bone Medicine Show My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Facebook group Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Remembering that our ancestors can guide us because they've done this all before, relating ancestral healing & communion to our sexually traumatizing culture, helping people without assuming that we hold knowledge of what it is they need, and so much more... IN THE INTRO: Lilac water Creating apart from perfection IN THE INTERVIEW: The sweet vulnerability of praying out loud Bespoken Bones and the magical process of naming things Discarding the expert paradigm- "I don't know what you need to know" When jealousy is pointing you toward what you want to be doing Navigating the pathway of harm to healing Discerning the well from the unwell dead/ancestors Trancestral healing & the blessings and the powerful magic of complex gender The difference between our ancestors of blood and our ancestors of heart Engaging trauma as an alternate state of consciousness in which deep healing can happen and potent gifts can come forth Coming back into sexual wholeness We're living in a sexually traumatic culture Sexual liberation is not a state we permanently get to, it's a path and a process and a practice Most of us don't feel like we can bring our whole, authentic selves to our relationships Shame, you know we talk about shame The throughline of selfhood LINKS: Pavini's websites: Emancipating-Sexuality, Trancestral Healing, and the Bespoken Bones Podcast PlantMakeup's Instagram lilac water post Dr. Daniel Foor's Practical Animism online course My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

You come from a long line of healers, midwives, songstresses, herbalists, dancers, birth-givers, artists, and wise folk. You are a direct descendent of powerful visionaries and earthwise geniuses, and their ancient knowing resonates today deep in your marrow. These are not empty platitudes or the wishful thinking of modern spiritual yearners; these statements are genealogical fact. In this episode I talk about: Why these statements are true How knowing our ancestors helps us to know ourselves 3 ways to connect with your ancestors LINKS: My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (find the written version of this episode) Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

We are in relationship with plants, animals, fungi, mountains, metals, fire, bodies of water, spirits of wind and weather, deities, human ancestors, star people, and others we don't have words for, whether we are conscious of it or not. In this conversation Dr. Daniel Foor and I talk about reclaiming kinship through earth-honoring ritual, getting right with your ancestors and with the land you're living on, finding your own unique medicine, and so much more. IN THE INTRO: Making animism practical $300 herbal medicine giveaway! (ends May 1st) IN THE INTERVIEW: Living humans are only one kind of person Animism isn't necessarily spiritual- that other beings also exist and that we are accountable to them is just fact The distinction between animism, shamanism, and indigenous ways Food and the psychological implication of realizing that both animals and plants are people Understanding the human dead as part of the sacred ecology of place The impacts of colonization on trusting our own knowing Being consent-minded and respectful of boundaries: how to hear no from (and say no to) the spirits/ancestors "Colonialism is a massive systemic consent violation" Expanding our vocabulary for the sacred by recognizing the incredible diverse of bodies and wisdoms of the world Contextualizing our devotions amidst the current crises the earth is undergoing (we need to get really good at grieving, but also not lost in it) Finding your own medicine and soul level calling Hierarchy is an intrinsic part of nature Seeing where you're at as the Holy Land (even if you're in suburban Baltimore) Everyone has an ancestral connection with plants (let go of your story that you're not a "plant person"!) Earth as deity (and exploring how we project a gender binary onto the this ancient, complex, multivalent being that is dreaming us up) Down to the water to pray: grief, the erotic, ancestors, food, healing Understanding deeper layers of magic at your specific place Considering inclusive ways to think about deities, archetypes, and weird old gods Harmonizing ritual skills with cultural and political advocacy- not compartmentalizing an animist approach to just our spiritual life, but taking it out to the wider world as well Daniel's three steps to get your life together (so real) LINKS: More info on the Practical Animism Online Course Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Patreon Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

This is a vulnerable and very personal story of how a plant friend recently stepped in to create a bridge of communication between me and my mother, who died three years ago. It was an unexpected and super meaningful healing message for me, and I switched my podcast release schedule around to share this story. Real magic happens when we cultivate relationships with plants and stay open to messages from the multiverse y'all. I also talk about synchronicity, dealing with overwhelming grief, and how we can heal with a plant even when it is not physically present in our space or in our body. Also I cry a lot. Mentioned in this story: Asia Suler's Intuitive Plant Medicine online course (from which I downloaded the meditation mentioned) The Medicine Stories Patreon page Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Our Rainbow Heart Beams herbal medicine Asia's two previous interviews Multidimensional Plants and the Fabric of Consciousness and You Are Your Own Healer: Earth Intuition and Self Knowledge Further reading: My blog post Angelica: Mama Bear of the Spirit Realm (more about Angelica as bear medicine and more about its medicinal properties)

Asia Suler talks about how being in relationship with the aliveness of the earth brings us deeper into ourselves, healing within the complexities of chronic health conditions, working with the story medicine of flowers, and so much more… IN THE INTRO: Finding a plant ally Reishi: Medicine of the Ages IN THE INTERVIEW: How plants bring us deeper into ourselves, and the kind of second sight that only comes when we tune into the aliveness of the earth The cultural fallacy that spirituality and rationalism can't coexist The chronic health issues that revealed to Asia her intuitive self and brought her to the plant path We don't have to do it alone When it comes to healing, the body works on its own timeline One willow to rule them all: how one (ever-evolving) plant relationship can transform a life But literally on an actual physical, biological level, you are your own healer Your pain, symptoms, ailments- everything is happening for you The daily routine that keeps Asia's past chronic health issues at bay The interplay between stress, the nervous system, and health Being truly seen, and the difference between being seen by nature v being seen by humans When you're given a book on a subject you've never heard of before and the truth it contains makes you cry Finding the core flower essence for your multidimensional self Bringing story medicine into your healing LINKS: Medicine Stories Patreon (Meet a Plant Ally guided meditation) Mythic Medicinals Reishi Elixir - Triple Extraction Asia's article Reishi: A Psychedelic of the Unseen My interview on the Free Birth Society Podcast- the stories of my one unassisted birth and one midwife assisted birth Medicine Stories Facebook Group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) and here's Asia's FREE Opening Earth Intuition online course!

We are entitled to a (re)membership with the holy, the never-ending and ever-evolving wisdom of dreams, and guidance on the path of remembering ourselves home. I forgot to mention this episode's Patreon offering in the intro, but check out the Links section below to access Toko-pa's Dream Recovery Kit ebook, designed for the individual who is feeling estranged from their dreams, this guide will help you cultivate a rich dream life. This kit contains guidance for dream recall, tips for overcoming blocks, exercises for deepening your practice, and ideas for ritual and dream incubation. IN THE INTRO: Ancestral Voices, Women's Weariness, & the Illusion of Linear Time Chronic pain Dreamwalking IN THE INTERVIEW: A childhood in exile, a lost community, and finding belonging again Being grabbed by the hair and dragged into the bottomless underworld An incredible story about physical pain, a powerful dream, the grandfather who jumped from a train on the way to Auschwitz, and ancestral healing Healing is open ended When a family must keep their stories secret in order to survive, and how that silence affects the lineage- "Nothing influences children more than the silent facts in the background" -C.G. Jung The dreaming channel is always open- being in reciprocity with the world behind the world We are literally made of story, and dreams are the original stories Why we should not be down with OPI- Other People's Information Dreams are nature pulsing through us, and incline us toward our unique medicine The multiplicity of our coherence Not all dreams carry equal weight, but there is no such thing as a throwaway dream either Approaching a dream as if it were a wild animal in a forest Heirlooms, the storying of objects, and what we reclaim when we make things by hand To feed the holy that sustains us, give in a way that doesn't require any more taking The meaning of Toko-pa's name (which was given to her at birth) LINKS: Toko-pa's website Dreamwalking Online Course My piece Ancestral Voices, Women's Weariness, and the Illusion of Linear Time My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (Dream Recovery Kit) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

We each carry our own unique ancestral medicine, and can (and should!) spend a lifetime uncovering it. A teacher of herbal, folk, and indigenous medicine, Atava is deeply grounded in and a powerful guide through this sacred work. IN THE INTRO: Synchronicity, mushroom medicine, and the deer dress Herbal Medicine Giveaway Ancestral Apothecary's Student of Color Scholarship Fund- investing in herbal education is investing in the health of your community The Ancestor Song IN THE INTERVIEW: Invocation When an ancestor becomes an ally from the other side How to know when it's really a message from spirit and not just our own projection Food as the one surviving cultural tradition within a family Remembering your indigenous mind How giving time and attention to our roots can heal relationships among the living Ancestral connection and reverence work never ends Healing is in our bones, our blood, our DNA Being witnessed in our stories Remembering that the plants are (literally) our ancestors Using plants to ground deeply when talking about and facing ancestral issues like colonization and slavery- we're never alone as long as we have our plant allies Making space for people of color to explore and reclaim their ancestral medicine Teaching healing skills so that people can treat those within their own communities and not need saving from elsewhere Herbalists are the grassroots community healers You're going to be a better herbalist and healer if you're rooted in your own ancestral traditions We all come from people who work with plants Love is the basic fundamental vibration that keeps the universe moving- how love and community saw Atava through uterine cancer & remembering to reweave the energy of love back into the healing arts A beautiful death: how the love we give and receive in this life carries us into the realm of the ancestors LINKS: Ancestral Apothecary School Ancestral Apothecary Ancestral Apothecary on Instagram Weaving Earth Immersion Lead To Life Ancestral Medicine My website Mythic Medicine Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Herbalist Kami McBride is back to dive even deeper into the uses of plant medicine for long term vitality and well being. This time we focus on home & kitchen herbalism, which is both super easy/accessible to everyone and the most important way to utilize herbs for daily health. Win win! INTRO: Home herbalism is the best kind of herbalism Put this spice (already in your kitchen!) on a cut to stop bleeding quick Kami's fabulous book, The Herbal Kitchen, has a new 10th anniversary edition! Pre-Order now and get these bonuses: The Turmeric Sessions Video Class Pesto for All Seasons eBook Kitchen Medicine Workshop Herbal Kitchen Recipe Cards Pre-order access to Herbal Kitchen chapter on Herbal Honey INTERVIEW: How simple kitchen herbalism bypasses the overwhelm many new herbalists feel (IT'S SO EASY Y'ALL) Culture begins in the kitchen Empowering yourself to take care of everyday illnesses and ailments at home The magic that happens when women gather to make food and medicine together (with our uniques lineage of women standing behind us) How Kami has her kitchen set up so that incorporating healing herbs into every meal takes no thought Herbal sprinkles alone can change the whole food culture in a home No one eats perfectly healthy at every meal, but adding herbal salts, vinegars, oils, honeys, etc. to each dish automatically and dramatically boosts the nutritional- and flavor!- content Kitchen herbalism returns a vast diversity of missing micronutrients to the Standard American Diet Digestion is literally the foundation of health, and an herbally oriented kitchen supports the flow of blood, energy, and oxygen to your digestive track at every meal Evolving our medical care to the next level begins at home Pesto is as sacred as the elements and is incredible for fighting colds & flu (and has endless possibilities beyond basil!) Reawakening our senses & activating ancestral taste and scent perception Why you need the bitter flavor in your life Alchemy Oil, Chai Honey, and mind blowing Herbal Cordials The best herbal food gifts to give for every occasion Mega next level meal planning- taking 15 minutes to ask yourself what's going on with your/your living mates lives and health this week, and then planning meals and herbal condiments around that LINKS: Pre-Order The Herbal Kitchen now to get the bonuses! My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Our task as European-ancestored people, seeing what's been hidden beyond our short-sighted view of history, and why healing isn't possible in the absence of love. IN THE INTRO: Who gets to claim their ancestors? Healing broken lineages Cultural appropriation & reparations IN THE INTERVIEW: How Lyla, raised to acknowledge only her Native American side, came to understand and honor her indigenous European ancestors What happens when people hate their ancestors (and therefore themselves) Making space for everyone's healing- permission to grieve all the ancestral traumas Going way back in time to understand colonizer/oppressor actions Lyla's early experiences with sexual abuse, alcohol, and drugs and how they informed her perspective on restorative justice Pilgrimage to the Sacred Motherland of Europe- "These mountains may have lost their people, but that doesn't mean they don't need ceremony" Seeing through the thin wall of time that dominates our understanding of history & remembering that the vast majority of our ancestors lived before cultures and humans got broken Indigenous languages are the sound of the land speaking through the people Love is the only thing worth doing here Where do we go from here? It depends on where we came from LINKS: Reclaiming our Indigenous European Roots by Lyla in Moon Magazine Lyla on Facebook Anti-Racist Genealogical Research (For Everyone) w/ Darla Antoine Ancestral Reverence as Devotion to the Earth w/ Daniel Foor My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

The stories that call to us, the ancestors who live in us, the cultures that are lost to us, and so much more... IN THE INTRO: Self care and energy hygiene for sensitive types Ancestral languages Elderberry magic IN THE INTERVIEW: Making peace with our names, the legacy of patriarchal naming, changing names, prehistoric kinship ties, and pondering how our most ancient ancestors chose names Spectral visitations from the grandfather who died before Janelle was born Rootlessness, and what is lost when people set out on their own and leave their land and people behind How our ancestors live in us, even when we can't claim their culture as our own Language as a gateway to the ancestors Megalithic monuments and the transition from hunting and gathering to farming in Europe Starting a podcast Knowing whose land you're living on The ancient tales we're drawn to Diving deep into embodiment and creativity The profound inner and outer journey of Personal Mythmaking Navigating the world as a Highly Sensitive Person and empath- "I need a lot of self care to be connected to my deep self" Biodynamic craniosacral therapy, somatic experiencing, and other coping mechanisms/self care Chronic trauma responses and nervous system stuckness The more ephemeral cultural transmissions: textiles, fiber arts, music, dance, cooking, etc. LINKS: Janelle's website My interview on the Personal Mythmakers Podcast My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) The Memory Code by Lynne Kelly Ancient Spirit Rising by Pegi Eyers The Highly Sensitive Person by Dr. Elaine Aron Lyla June on the For The Wild Podcast, Part 1 and Part 2 Sylvia Lindstead

How strategic inefficiency can make us more efficient, knowing your personality type, and being deeply rooted in place. IN THE INTRO: What time can do (my recent family emergency) Ancestral Lineage Healing Lion's mane mushroom & hawthorn berry medicine IN THE INTERVIEW: How the journey through grief, depression, and getting on and then getting off 5 different pharmaceuticals at once led Rebecca to herbalism Meeting the spirit of a place/seeing your home with new eyes Sexy desert plants: creosote (chaparral/Larrea) & ocotillo Where there is no word for magic because it's just a normal part of life & why believing in magic makes us human The West's missing rites of initiation & why we have such a hard time adulting Realizing that no one else is going to tell you that you belong, that you have the gift, that you are magical The humoural approach to herbalism & healing: why knowing your personal balance of temperaments (sanguine, choleric, meloncholic, and phlegmatic) can help you to know yourself better The debilitating cultural preference/lie embedded in The Hero's Journey The virtues of working inefficiently A practice to get you rooted and step you back inside yourself: reconnecting to what we cut off in order to get things done quicker & better Root medicine: shatavari & ashwaganda LINKS: Rebecca's websites: King's Road Apothecary and The Wonder Sessions Ancestral Lineage Healing Intensive in Berkeley 2/8-10 My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) Malidoma Somé

Most artists, and working women, keep their parenthood separate from their work and creativity. Alela Diane is bucking that (unnatural/inauthentic) trend, and we speak about the hard decisions working moms face, how giving life to her second daughter literally almost killed her, and the many magical ways her songs come into being. IN THE INTRO: The complexities of motherhood, Part 1: Weaning Win a copy of Alela's latest album Cusp The future of this podcast IN THE INTERVIEW: Alela's unique name, bohemian childhood, and deeply rooted familial musical inheritance The painful life experiences that led Alela to start making music Songs that come in dreams, or that contain foreknowledge of the future The complexities of motherhood, Part 2: Tour life as a mom (taking them with until you're like neh, they're staying home) Alela's giving birth / near death experience Knowing when your loved one has passed, before you get the news LINKS: AlelaDiane.com Mother Magazine feature on Alela My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

IN THE INTRO: Evolutionary health, symptoms as adaptations, why there's no such thing as the optimal diet, and why we didn't necessarily evolve to be healthy One of our last remaining collective/ancestral rituals IN THE INTERVIEW: Why to start herbally & nutritionally preparing for your period at ovulation Understanding nutritional needs throughout the menstrual cycle Tracking your period Coffee & chocolate for the cycling woman- good or bad? Iron, blood, oxygen, and women How Anja overcame six years of alcohol and drug abuse and built a healthy, healing life We share our stories of growing up with an alcoholic parent, and of our mothers' deaths, and what it feels like when you get that phone call we all dread A super important but always overlooked perspective on nutrient deficiency in addicts and the role of nutrition in recovery It's never too late to change your path When Anja found out about her German great-grandmother being the town mystic and Tarot reader, and how this ancestor's sensitivity has echoed down through the motherline Food, drink, and herbs for winter nourishment Carminitives: a simple, delicious, and healing class of herbal medicine that you already have in your kitchen LINKS: Anja's website ManaMedicinals.net My website & herb shop MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) BOOKS- *The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease by Daniel E. Lieberman *Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler *Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom by Dr. Christianne Northrup *Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution by Leonard Shlain *The Alphabet Vs the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image by Leonard Shlain *It's OK That You're Not OK by Megan Devine (and her website Refuge In Grief) *Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth by Stephen Harrod Buhner PODCASTS- *LifeSpa with John Douillard *Dr. Gabor Mate on Russell Brand's Under the Skin podcast Past Medicine Stories episodes mentioned- *w/ Stephen Harrod Buhner (sensory gating channels) *w/ Suuzi Hazen (iron, liver, evolution) *w/ Kami McBride (herbalism, oils, menstrual wellness) MISCELLANEOUS- *My video An Herbalist's Perspective on Cold & Flu *Period Tracker apps *Dr. Zach Bush

In the Intro: Living among the California wildfires $200 herbal medicine giveaway! The beautiful complexity of the female body In the Interview: The intersection between herbalism & functional medicine Why "Just live like your grandmothers lived and you'll be healthy" doesn't work anymore Health confusion and information overload A name is a prayer: the meaning of Anja's name and how it ties into her life's path The gateway of birth & the role of a birth attendant Understanding the complex dance of women's hormones and what we can do to create better hormonal health (we talk about digestion, the liver, PMS, headaches, bloating, cramps, water retention, breaking out, PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, toxic overloads, xeno-estrogens, etc.) The importance of the lymphatic system The insanity of the truly toxic products that are marketed to women as real femininity Don't put anything on your skin you wouldn't put in your mouth A deep dive into breast health Reframing self exams: knowing the terrain of your own body, what to look for, and what not to worry about! The flexibility & resiliency of breast tissue Links: Anja's website Mana Medicinals My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) For the Wild podcast: The Myths & Misinformation of Wildland Fires

Why to always work with the ancestors first, diving deep into the meaning of the words we use, and more... In the Intro: A word about this podcast November Tarot Forecast The best bio ever In the Interview: The power of words & etymological knowledge Ancestral migratory paths The history of "queer" & being multisexual Sanyu's Belizean and Ugandan roots Why to work with our ancestors first and foremost What it looks like when a genealogy/research nerd pieces together an ancestor's life Placing our forebears in the wider socio-historical context of their times: discovering a great-grandmother's life through understanding colonialism and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade The feeling of being the first generation in a new land The ancestors & Tarot Being claircognizant When illness is a spiritually energetic leveling up The interweaving of Christianity and spiritualism Working with dreams Opening yourself to the wisdom & weirdness of the multiverse Naming things collapses possibilities Taoism rules The Plant Alchemy Deck Links: SanyuEstelle.com Life as Ceremony Magazine My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

In which I ramble about some of my ancestral resonances, the blocks I've had around exploring parts of my heritage, and what happens when we step through the portal to the Otherworld and let the magic in... When different lineages call- following what pulls me in the moment My deep ancestry in the American south, and the sense of home I feel even though I've never been there Embarrassing confession: my first concert Connecting to our ancestors through music and dance My DNA results, how they've changed over time, and a comparison between the 3 different autosomal tests I've done (Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA, LivingDNA) The best time to buy a DNA test The 5th great grandparents I just found through Ancestry's cool new feature DNA Circles A resource for old books on genealogy & myth/lore Finding the meaning of surnames When the portal to the Otherworld opens A message for you from the archetype of the Seer Links: My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) Forgotten Books Ancestry.com's Surname Origins page The Wildwood Tarot

The potent healing offered by seaweeds and mushrooms, the vibrational power of names, and the unique intelligence that lies beneath the surface of things... In the Interview: Conscious conception, evolving as a family, & choosing a new experience Naming children is giving them the strongest mantra they'll have throughout their lifetime Letting the land you find yourself on guide you to your medicine Seaweeds are regenerative cleansers for the ocean & earth- addressing the question of radioactivity and the safety of consuming seaweed How to sustainably harvest seaweed Breaking down the medicinal content of red, green, and brown seaweeds: which are immunomodulating, anti-viral, anti-parasitic, cancer fighting; helpful for digestion, thyroid issues, autoimmune diseases, liver issues, detoxification etc. Nutrients in seaweed: amino acids, iron, iodine, minerals & more- how they work in the body and things to consider The amazing regenerative, bioremedial, ecosystem healing properties of seaweed The Constellations approach as a divination practice Connecting to the maternal grandmother that Angela never knew The vital intelligence of sub-level (underground/under water) life forms Food is medicine: hot tips for incorporating seaweeds and mushrooms into your daily life The deep soul work that motherhood requires, and the challenges and gratifications that family life present Links: Angela and Yarrow Willard's website Harmonic Arts My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

People of color have limited genealogical resources with which to find their ancestors, while people of European descent's ancestors gave up their ethnic identities in order to become "white". Both of these outcomes, which have cut most Americans off from their roots, are a direct result of racism and white supremacy. In this interview we discuss the history of colonialism in America and its effect on ancestral knowledge, and Darla shares tips and considerations for POC engaged in genealogical research and for white folks wishing to make meaningful cultural reparations. In the Intro: Free access to the Anti-Racist Genealogical Research webinar! In the Interview: Genealogy is America's favorite form of ancestral reverence (and the difference between genealogy and ancestry) The story of Darla's maternal indigenous grandmother and white grandfather The construction of whiteness in early America White bias in DNA tests and considerations for people of color interested in taking a test The history of the One Drop rule for black folk and Blood Quantum for Native Americans Ideas for people with settler ancestry who wish to make cultural reparations Manifest Destiny & how oppressors need to make up myths for why they deserve to oppress people Genealogy research self care ideas for people of color Putting our personal family stories in a larger socio-historical context Project ideas for making something tangible out of your genealogical research Breaking down autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y chromosomal DNA and what those tests show The importance of forming a research question when engaging in genealogical research Links: Darla's website Medicine Stories Patreon (get the free webinar here!) My website MythicMedicine.love The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Your body is your ancestor altar, how hungry ghosts affect the living, the earth as the repository of ancestral wisdom, & more... In the Intro: Cleatus B. Wright , January 20, 1929 - February 27th, 1929 In the Interview: The hunger for our ancestors The story of Daniel's first ancestral connection, and the healing that followed The ancestors are the collective wisdom of our species in all its beauty and trauma Time collapses when in communion with the ancestors Not all of the dead are equally well The deeply embedded alcoholism in my fatherline Addiction as the hunger of the dead moving through the bodies of the living, and the act of taking the substance as a form of ancestral communion There are very few personal problems- a look at unmetabolized ancestral pain and systemic injustice The dead can change Ancestral forgetting as a function of the damage wrought by colonialism We don't arrive at healing by exiling those who commit harm: an approach for white folks wishing to address their slave owning/colonizing/oppressive ancestral legacy (rather than ignoring it or living in perpetual guilt) The role of the ancestors in social and earth justice The interweaving of ritual, genealogical research, and healing Synchronicity They are shaking us awake in the burning house- the growing sense of urgency coming to us from the ancestors at this pivotal point in human history The dead are in the earth, and the ancestors are animating the earth that is our bodies Approaching activism in a more ritual oriented way When a child is a returning of an ancestral lineage, mothering is my main form of ancestral reverence, and remembering that our children are the future ancestors of our further descendants Are souls that die suddenly lost in limbo? I ask Daniel a vulnerable question about my mom, who died in a car accident in November 2015 The most important way that we prepare for death is to be ethical and kind Animism: living humans are just one kind of person / coming into relationship with the wider web of being Links: Daniel's website AncestralMedicine.com My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Herbalism is vast, the second song of a plant, a powerful stone medicine story, and more... Maia Toll spent a life-changing year apprenticed to a traditional medicine woman in Ireland. She mentors spiritual wellness seekers, practitioners, and teachers through her online program, The Medicine Keepers Collective, and is the founder and owner of Herbiary, a natural products store with locations in Asheville, North Carolina, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Maia has taught botanical medicine at West Chester University and at the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research in the Peruvian jungle. She lectures at hospitals, universities, and herbal conferences and runs her own Deep Magic Retreat in the North Carolina mountains during the witchy twilight of autumn. She blogs to an international following at maiatoll.com and lives in Asheville, North Carolina. In the Intro: Coming into relationship with nature Become a kitchen witch Herbalism is vast In the Interview: The layers within A fantastical Herbal Opening to the second song of a plant How a health problem, an unraveling life, and a dream message set Maia on the plant path Apprenticing to a medicine woman in Ireland When having a diagnosis isn't helpful Deep self attunement for stopping illness before it becomes too big A major weakness herbalists face when we're ill The Healing Relationship Stone medicine & a story of healing with morganite How we create the sacred A meaningful swan sighting, union & transformation, and the myth of Caer We talk about how neither of us wanted to get married and now we're both wives, and also the stories of our wedding rings Links: Secrets of the Illustrated Herbiary FREE course! Maia's website MaiaToll.com My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (get The Kitchen Witch's Workshop online course here!) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Fay Johnstone is a Shamanic Practitioner, Herbalist and Reiki Master with a passion for helping people and plants grow together. She believes that restoring our sacred relationship with the Earth and connecting to our natural environment, seasons and cycles is essential in order for us to maintain our vitality, health and well being. Fay is the author of the book Plants that Speak Souls that Sing, a guide to transforming your life with the spirit of plants, inspired by Fay's five years as an organic flower and herb farmer. It's her goal to help us weave nature and enchantment back into our own lives to feel more in harmony with our true nature and sense of self. Fay offers workshops educating on Plant Spirit connection and Earth based ritual and shamanic treatments across the UK, online and from her home in Scotland. In the Intro: Handcrafted Healing Herbal Oils online course (registration ends August 24th!) Becoming a plant spirit explorer How Stephen Harrod Buhner healed his chronic back pain Mugwort, oldest of herbs In the Interview: Returning to an ancestral homeland and taking up ancestral activities Being called by something invisible When something that feels like failure turns out to be a blessing How plants can connect us to the source of creativity Giving ourselves the time and permission for inner exploration and play Bringing enchantment and ritual to our relationship with plants A deeply transformative mugwort medicine story Generational forgetting & shame around using plant medicine A vision/visitation from the great-grandmother that Fay never knew Our bodies carry our stories Meeting the spirit of plants with the breath The benefits of not having a ton of plant knowledge Bypassing the brain to get to the heart Links: Fay's website Fay's Plant Spirit People Facebook group My website MythicMedicine.love Podcast bonuses at Medicine Stories Patreon Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

The simplest and most potent form of herbal medicine that I know, so easy to make yourself at home, so powerful and immediately relaxing... Herbal Body Oiling is an ancient, ancestral practice that the nervous systems of modern folk are in desperate need of. When we think about taking herbal medicine, we tend to picture teas, tinctures, or some other way of ingesting the medicinal benefits of the plant through the mouth. But the skin is our largest organ and is incredibly absorbent, with direct access to the nervous, lymphatic, and immune systems. By keeping the body hydrated with fat (oil) as opposed to water (like in lotion), we keep these systems nourished, running smoothly, and functioning at the highest possible level. In this episode I talk about: The simplest yet most profound form of herbal medicine The healing effects of fat/oil on the nervous system Carrier oils, fresh v dry plant infusions, how long to steep, etc. Which fresh herb to use if you don't have a garden & there's nowhere to wildcraft Medicinal specifics of lavender, calendula, St. John's Wort, mugwort, and yarrow Oiling for pregnancy, babies, children, and motherhood in general Coming back into your self Don't get tripped up. Herbalism is your birthright. Just make an oil. Start where you are. It is enough. You are enough. Scented plants = volatile oil content = antimicrobial action = longer lasting oil Extending shelf life Whole plant infused oils are much more medicinal than just adding essential oils to a carrier oil The nervous system, being in a sympathetic dominant state (most of us are), and being an empath/Highly Sensitive Person The lymphatic/immune system & breast massage Self knowledge & being deeply familiar with the terrain of the only body you're ever gonna have Practical tips & techniques for making herbal body oiling a part of your daily life Oiling the face Should you use heat and/or sunlight in herbal oil making? The home remedy with the least amount of effort for maximum return Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy?

In the Intro: Books to live by Mitochondrial meanderings The deep ancestry of all humans In the interview: The sound of the thing you are called by, and choosing a name with multilayered meaning From outcast to leader What being the daughter of an immigrant taught Yaya about communication & self expression When you realize you're magic Making the radical choice to express the way you really feel (that way, if people hate you, at least they hate the real you and not a false impression of who they assume you are) (also, that way, you attract the exact right people into your life) Why dreams are real, our favorite dream teacher/writer, & how to work with your dreams (and nightmares) Fear is never the truth Magic, nature, and layers & layers of ancestral depth ("I feel like I have an intact ancestral identity in a way I didn't even three years ago") Healing chronic pain Sensory overload and how "there's a lot of undeniably magical things happening all the time, but life is loud" Navigating the world as an empath/Highly Sensitive Person A lot of chronic conditions are due to long term nervous system overwhelm Herbal body oiling How a radical diet change healed Yaya's endocrine (hormonal) and nervous system It's good to do things that our ancestors would recognize from their time on earth Shapeshifting mythical archetypes & fields of consciousness Discovering your own relationship with the plant realm Links: Yaya's website Active Culture Family The GAPS Diet My website MythicMedicine.love Podcast bonuses at Medicine Stories Patreon Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

In the Intro: I share an ancestral story How I define spirituality The food your bones are made from Herbal body oils & elderberry elixir In the Interview: Being the the daughter of a secret witch + becoming a botanical bruja years after the mother passed and the chance to learn from her was gone Racism, secrecy, lineage, and cultural evolution Following the breadcrumbs to get a bigger picture of who your people were (there are more holes than solid information in all of our lineages) Letting your silvers shine Locating yourself within the myths of your ancestors Being empowered to heal yourself Listening to the understory- amplifying the voices of people of color within the worlds of herbalism, spirituality, and the creative arts Comida es Medicina Most magic is mundane When women's knowing and/or calling out injustice are labeled "irrational" What white folks are learning/dismantling right now Links: Lola's website Lola's Branch + Bone Medicine Show podcast Kitkitdizzi in Nevada City Lola's Instagram Medicine Stories Patreon The Mythic Medicinals online herb shop Mythic Medicine on Instagram The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

In the Intro: My number one herb book My healing pilgrimage to the skull of a blue whale I say somthing that's hard to say Edible & Medicinal Flowers eBook The dark places of the soul & sharing our stories In the Interview: The strong childhood memory, and teenage crisis, that started Kami on the plant path Recalling the era when being an herbalist was an underground, misunderstood, frowned-upon thing You never know where or when the seeds you plant will sprout Bringing information to the culture so that it can later be mirrored back to our children (or loved ones) by someone other than us Unspoken soul transmissions from the ancestors How to extract ancestral stories from your living relatives (do it now!) What you are seeking is also seeking you We are downloading decades of ancestral information right now & it's causing information overload- when do we know enough?- an ancestral strategy for simplifying our herb learning You don't have to know everything, too much information clogs the channels Stepping into power as bleeding women Healing menstrual shame & a look at the learned cultural practices of plugging and drugging (which, in the long run, just repress and create more pain) How your blood & bleeding time reflects your state of health back to you Aligning with the energy of your moon time- enhanced perception, clarity around boundaries, awareness of emotion Menstruation is a truth serum Sensitivity is what's gonna save us Women, exhaustion, and rest One small change that has dramatically reduced PMS symptoms for many of the women Kami and I know (including me!) Returning to our innate body wisdom Links: Kami's website The Herbal Kitchen book Kami's Instagram Herbal Medicine Woman Retreat MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon bonuses Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine Instagram Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Calling in the grandmothers! The more dependent we are on the industrialized food system- and the more entranced we are by diet culture- the further removed we are from our ancestors. Food is a bridge between the land, our bodies, and those whose bodies we come from. Darla Antoine is a mixed race Okanagan tribal member, ancestral activist and healer, mother and accidental homesteader in the high mountains of Costa Rica. Darla helps mixed-race and mixed-culture seekers become rooted into place and lineage by combining her master's degree in food and culture, ancestral healing and her own experiences as a mixed race woman and expat. In the Intro: My unexpected, super transformative podcast hiatus: shingles and a family emergency Fat is love (and an absolutely necessary nutrient for the brain & every single cell in the body) Giveaway! In the Interview: Ancestry that's deeply embedded in the land The Grandmother Hypothesis How diet culture keeps us separated from our ancestors Disordered eating & how the fear of fat is pushing us away from what it means to be human To learn about your ancestor's lives, look below the level of empire (& what that means) Reclaiming kitchen wisdom as an act of resistance against the dominant, patriarchal, industrial food system The medicine that people of mixed race are bringing to the world right now Dreams as guideposts A mythic matriarchal dreamscape Charting serendipity: When you're in the right story, nothing doesn't fit Links: Darla's website The Medicine Stories Patreon page The Medicine Stories Facebook group The Mythic Medicine website Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Zach Bush's website How to Feed a Brain by Cavin Balaster Head Strong by Dave Asprey Fat for Fuel by Dr. Joseph Mercola Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Our denatured modern culture doesn't work for our Paleolithic human bodies, as the epidemics of autoimmune issues, degenerative disease, and so many other modern health problems show us. Relearning what our ancestors knew about plants, animals, the land, and the human body in order to integrate that knowledge into today's world is a vital step toward health and wholeness. This is an in-person conversation between two close friends, two mothers (Suuzi once nursed my baby for me y'all), two women trained in different forms of holistic healing who share an interest in ancestral wisdom and a commitment to honest vulnerability. Suuzi Hazen runs a small mixed farm in Northern California, where she lives with her husband and sons. She has a Master's Degree in Oriental Medicine and a BA in English Literature and Women's Studies. Growing up in rural Canada, she spent her childhood outdoors exploring nature and enthralled by stories of her farming ancestors. She's fascinated by and very knowledgeable about traditional and aboriginal lifeways, especially regarding families, child rearing, hunting and foraging, nutrition, and sexuality. Best NOT to listen with kids in the room. In the Intro: Giveaway! In the Interview: How we met & accepting help as an exchange of energy Sex & bodies & desire after having a baby and other realities of modern motherhood How we've lost basic wisdom about health The microbiome & the deep self (Dr. Zach Bush is everything) Mitochondria & degenerative disease Autoimmune issues are the new infectious disease Everything that happens in your body has meaning & everything you do has an effect (damnit) Modern Western medicine is LTRLY based on cadaver studies- dead bodies are considered baseline Our food journeys- from processed food and industrialized agriculture to vegetarianism and veganism to traditional foods Ancestral food resonances My past with anxiety, depression, self harm, weight gain & loss, and the aftermath of my vegan pregnancy Nursing babies literally deplete the minerals from your bones- deep nourishment is needed The illusion of human supremacy: there's not such a big difference between plant and animal consciousness Nature is an ongoing life/death/life cycle and we all consume the bodies of other entities; as Susun Weed says, "Now I eat you, now you eat me"- we are not separate from nature Animism as the oldest form of human spirituality Distorted notions of clean v dirty food Why our ancestors and modern hunter gatherers prefer organ meat over muscle meat A deep dive into the liver- human livers, animal livers, the functions and energetics of this vital organ Food choices, food prices, food privilege Love languages and more on sex & motherhood (in which Suuzi introduces me to the word "choreplay") Links: Suuzi's website Mother's Best Liver Pills MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Dr. Zach Bush- such important info!! The Weston A. Price Foundation: Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts Real Food: What to Eat & Why by Nina Planck Head Strong by Dave Asprey U.S. Wellness Meats The Five Love Languages

The vital intelligence of nature is the force behind all growth, healing, and renewal, and our work as plant healers deepens greatly when we can match whole plants with whole people living inside the dynamic multiverse of the whole cosmos. One of the most common stumbling block upon the path of the budding herbalist is the this-herb-for-that-ailment approach to plant medicine. If you ever catch yourself asking "What's this plant good for?" then this mind blowing episode, and my guest Sajah's FREE online video course (which changed my life forever last year by deepening my understanding of what true healing is), is for you: Vitalist Herbalism Mini Course Sajah Popham, founder of Organic Unity and The School of Evolutionary Herbalism, is a student of the universal truths found within both ancient and modern herbal traditions from around the world. The focus of his work is on integrating ancient teachings for a new paradigm of plant medicine, one that is truly holistic in its honoring of the spirit, energetics, and body of both people and plants. His unique synthesis bridges herbalism not only east and west, but north and south, above and below, into a universal philosophy that encompasses Ayurveda, western alchemy and spagyrics, astrology, clinical herbalism, and modern pharmacology. Sajah's vitalist approach utilizes plants not only for physiological healing and rejuvenation, but for the evolution of consciousness, for a truly holistic practice of plant medicine. Sajah's teachings embody a heartfelt respect, honor and reverence for the vast intelligence of plants in a way that empowers us to look deeper into the nature of our medicines and ourselves. He lives in southern Oregon with his wife Whitney where he teaches at his school, makes spagyric medicines, and practices his art. In the Intro: The way in which most of us (including me) are called to the plant path It's time to remember who we are The multidimensional medicine of Calendula What I do when I want to remember new information forever How understanding the ancient idea of vitalism changed my approach to plant healing In the Interview: The real definition of holistic medicine (it's probably not what you think it is) Approaching plant relationships the way we approach human relationships Why a balanced approach to herbal learning includes intellect, intuition, science, tradition, personal experience, and the experiences of others The best way to get to know a plant The two words that Sajah saw in a newspaper while clearing tables at a coffee shop job and how they changed his life forever The role synchronicity played in introducing Sajah to one of his most beloved plant allies Alchemy- the wholeness of the plant and the wholeness of the person integrated into the wholeness of the cosmos, and the importance using plants for the psyche and spirit as well as for the physical Mythic astrology, the archetypes of the zodiac, and plants as bridges connecting our internal microcosm to the celestial macrocosm Lung herbs and grief Ancient ancestral resonances and the memory we carry in our DNA The vitalist approach to herbalism- "something that is created by the whole is going to be more intelligent than something created by the part" Plants mentioned include oregon grape root, devils club, wood betony, ceanothus, osha, and mullein Show Notes: Vitalist Herbalism Mini Course Evolutionary Herbalism website The Plant Path Podcast The Medicine Stories Patreon page The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

What fate is your intuition calling you toward? Who do you walk with outside of time? With what and with whom are you most deeply interwoven? This is the story of a flower I fell in love with and what happened when I made an essence with it. It's about intuitive connection with the earth, the ancestors, and the deep self. Show Notes: Asia Suler's Intuitive Plant Medicine online course (registration closes 4/28!) My blog post Flower Essences are Story Medicine

Our human roots go deep, both into the earth and into the past, and we cannot know ourselves if we don't know our roots. Yet most of us in the modern West feel adrift, cut off from those things which fundamentally belong to us and which have always sustained humanity. This sense of isolation and the loss of meaning causes us to feel lost, bereft, without purpose. A lived, daily relationship with the natural world and an embodied connection with our ancestors are the birthright of every one of us, and more and more of us are reclaiming ourselves by reclaiming these simple, sacred things. Vicky Salcido-Cobbe is an herbalist, gardener, teacher, writer, and the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants. After years of feeling lost to herself and engaging in self-destructive habits, her life changed in an instant when a clinician offered her a bottle of herbal extract as medicine. She and her husband Russ now work with the land to create small-scale remedies for their herbal apothecary La Tierra Buena Collective (formerly Grandmother's Medicine.) In the Intro: The usual, plus my crying toddler Herbal Medicine Giveaway from Vicky! Sorry not sorry In the Interview: Names as seeds planted by our parents The years Vicky was lost to herself (with some drugs and tall cans), and how she found herself again (with the moon and tall trees) How having big, mystical experiences without proper integration can cause more confusion and pain How nature and the ancestors have always sustained humanity, why we feel so bereft when we lose connection with them, and how we find ourselves when we rekindle those relationships How this suburban SoCal girl stumbled upon the plant path- "herbalism was the way I reclaimed myself" The realities of running an herbal products business (Random segue into One Weird Use for Breastmilk) Dreaming about Wal-Mart (& what it means when you have mostly mundane dreams) Vicky gets really really real about the evolution of her sexuality- masturbation, porn, the shameful stuff we don't like to talk about in our culture- and being extremely candid with her husband now that she's figuring herself out 70s v 90s porn Why the dominant image and dynamic of women needing to please men and get their approval in order to gain entrance into a sexual relationship is the opposite of reality, the opposite of biology in most animal species, including humans, and is a dangerous paradigm that upends nature and hurts girls, women, boys, men, and everyone else Vicky's recent transition from embodying the maiden to mother archetype (without having physically birthed children) Show Notes: La Tierra Buena Collective Grandmother's Medicine The Medicine Stories Patreon page The Medicine Stories Facebook group MythicMedicine.love Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Music by Mariee Siou (from the song Wild Eyes)

Safe, therapeutic, and sacred psychedelic journeys have the potential to enact profound transformation and healing on both a personal and a societal level. Many mistake these substances for party drugs, but their true medicine lies in the properly prepared and undertaken journey inward. Scientists were just starting to understand the therapeutic benefits of LSD, psilocybin, and more in the 1960's when the many studies being done were suddenly shut down. Research is thriving again today, and we are beginning to understand their role in healing addiction, PTSD, anxiety and depression, and so much more. James Fadiman has been at the forefront of this research for over 50 years. He is a writer and researcher with a PhD in Psychology and is the author of many books, including The Psychedelic Explorers Guide, which details how both journeyers and guides can create optimal conditions to have the best possible experience. Jim has also popularized the phenomenon of microdosing (taking tiny, sub-perceptual microdoses of psychedelic substances to enhance performance and treat ailments). In the Intro: How Jim and I met The amazing free resource Jim is making available to listeners In the Interview: That feeling when the future Ram Dass gives you LSD in Paris and changes your life forever Ken Kesey, Albert Hoffman, Huston Smith and other heroes of mine who Jim knew Why psychedelic research got shut down in the 60's and what was being researched then How psychedelics work How to have safe, therapeutic, and sacred journeys Microdosing for: depression, colds, menstrual problems, asthma, allergies, stroke, and SO MUCH MORE Dying is absolutely safe Links: Jim's Website Free Journey Guide PDF at the Medicine Stories Patreon page Microdosing Psychedelics website Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) MythicMedicine.love (my website) Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? The Medicine Stories Facebook group Music by Mariee Siou (from the song Wild Eyes)