Medicine Stories

Six days before leaving her body, Cari Leversee and her husband Richard spoke with me about their journey together unto death. Cari died the way she had lived- with curiosity and grace, exploring, learning, and teaching every day. Our conversation is both profound and beautiful, and I am honored to have been a conduit through which Cari's wisdom, in her time of dying, can reach a wider audience. In the intro: How some people become exalted beings in their time of dying In the interview: Dying out loud + creating a living funeral Approaching death with wonder, & finding love in the face of terror Mushrooms & microbes as honored elders / Cari’s experience microdosing on psilocybin during the dying process  / Mushrooms teach us to lead with soul consciousness, show us how to die, and greatly reduce fear in terminal patients Bringing together the love and life and grief and pain and agony of death is where the healing happens Grief and love are not different emotions- the depth of love equals the depth of grief Home funerals: ecstasy, healing, and community / Alternative options for body disposal- deep sea burial, alkaline hydrolosis (or water cremation), green burial / Casket art “I want to go into my death with my arms open” What it is like to watch your beloved life partner die, “I have no intention of getting over my grief.” How our culture gets grief wrong I ask Cari if she's afraid In death, you recognize the true source of self In the Outro: Cari's passing We die how we lived More about microdosing Links: Full Circle Living & Dying Collective Death Cafe Jim Fadiman (microdosing) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook Group Medicine Stories Patreon

There are countless medicinal plants and fungi out there, and among them are a special class of vision-enhancing gatekeepers to the Otherworld. These beings can expand our consciousness and allow us to perceive more than our physical senses can normally detect. Asia Suler of One Willow Apothecaries is an herbalist, educator, and writer with a deeply layered, highly intuitive relationship to the medicine of the earth. Her incredible way with words and ability to convey complex subjects with ease have made her a highly sought after herbal teacher (lucky for us she has many online courses!). I love the plant haling and consciousness exploring aspects of our talk, but I also *really* love our conversational foray into living under patriarchy and why the nice girl trope has to die. In the intro: Bear medicine  My ancient ice age grandmother & the Saami Herbal Tip - drawing salves "The center is the goal, and everything is directed toward that center" In the interview: How Asia’s full name is "a pretty perfect etymological encapsulation of what I ended up doing with my life” Journeying to ancestral lands & how the ancestors are in the land (literally tho) The fabric of the Otherworld: the limits of our senses, atomic space, the playground of consciousness, and dark matter Dream visitations from the dead Angelica: a visionary plant / opens portals of imagination / releasing trauma & coming in to our bodies Reishi as a psychedelic, and the untapped potential of the subtle Asia’s encounter with a creepy dude in the woods, #MeToo, and how being a nice girl is no longer a good evolutionary strategy for staying safe Ghost Pipe as a tool for releasing ghosts Links: Asia's website, One Willow Apothecaries Sylvia Lindsteadt Rainbow Heart Beams Elixir The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker (READ IT) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook Group Medicine Stories Patreon

There is a wider reality behind and beyond the everyday world, and Sophia Rose's approach to plant medicine and healing reflects this in myriad ways. From using herbs in dream work to incorporating plant smoke in ritual to connecting with departed loved ones through flowers, the natural world provides countless doorways into the unseen. Sophia Rose is a clinically trained and magically minded folk herbalist, word weaver, and educator based in Austin, Texas. Through the long-running La Abeja Herbs and her new project Garden Party, her writing is medicine to the soul and her plant potions are medicine to the body for thousands of people worldwide. I am honored to bring some of Sophia's personal story medicine to more folks with this interview. We talk about: The archetypal energy of datura (moonflower) We are holographic representations of plants Dreaming with herbs Working with smoke medicine Seeing the wide arc of time Sophia’s healing journey after a friend’s suicide Intuitive grieving and grief as a sacred responsibility Sophia’s radical reconceptualization of what death is The last ancestor who had a whole heart Your name is your first lesson We work with plant medicine so that we can become the medicine Links: Garden Party La Abeja Herbs Music by Mariee Siou (from the song Wild Eyes) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook Group Medicine Stories Patreon

As people and communities move and change with time, stories evolve and lineages are lost. But information always goes where it needs to in order to survive and resurface again when needed. Ancestral stories can guide us on our paths, and lost lineages can be remembered. Milla Prince is an herbalist, writer, and teacher who moved from Finland, where she had been deeply immersed since childhood in ancestral plant lore from that intact tradition, to the west coast of America about 10 years ago. Her blog, newsletter, Instagram account, Fireweed & Nettle herbal medicines, and The Cauldron zine reach tens of thousands of people each month. But I knew her when... and we talk about how funny that when was, as well as touching on a large range of other topics. We talk about: The unexpected internet subculture that first brought us together Bear lore and the myth that spans the northern lands and shapes Milla’s online identity Baba Yaga arising in the collective consciousness right now The dream that guided Milla to change her work in the world The circuitous paths we take when finding ourselves Ancestral medicine & being indigenous to a place Cultural appropriation as a symptom of spiritual longing #witch #ancestry #medicine and mimetic expression online (evolving lore!) The trauma of the burning times Working with ancestral lines that are lost to you Links: Milla's website The Woman Who Married a Bear Eve Bradford Max Dashu The Seven Daughters of Eve book  Giving Voice to Bear book The Spirit Weavers Gathering The Good Medicine Confluence Palestine on a Plate book Ask Baba Yaga: Otherworldly Advice for Everyday Troubles book Music by Mariee Siou (from the song Wild Eyes) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook Group Medicine Stories Patreon

What it's all about, creating apart from perfection, and why I use the name Magnolia instead of just Amber Hill. LINKS: Music by Mariee Siou (from the song Wild Eyes) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Facebook Group Medicine Stories Patreon