Medicine Stories

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 Sioux (from the song Wild Eyes) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take my fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? quiz 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 Sioux (from the song Wild Eyes) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take my fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? quiz 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 Sioux (from the song Wild Eyes) Mythic Medicinals herbals Take my fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? quiz Medicine Stories Facebook Group Medicine Stories Patreon Permalink