Medicine Stories

It is through land that we find ourselves. It is through lineage that we return to ourselves. It is through community that we expand ourselves. In this age of disorienting change and fracture, let us wander within our daydreams of another way of being. TOPICS: A Western suburban childhood- television, processed food, malls, and fear of nature’s dangers Evolutionary Mismatch Theory: our human bodies were not made for these times We are living in the Eremocene: The Age of Loneliness The medicine of women’s circles and the two questions that should be central to each gathering The collective yearning for ritual and embracing the awkwardness of not knowing what you’re doing Repercussions of the Burning Times We do this reclaiming work for our descendents, knowing we may not reap the fruit of our labors in this lifetime Listening to what the soul of your home wants Connecting to lineage with food and folklore How an offering of food from a stranger saved Becca’s ancestors’ lives Connecting with our ancestors in Mythic Time: what stories from your lineage are ever happening? The echoes of the electroshock therapy Becca’s grandmother underwent & how writing Root and Ritual completed an ancestral storyline Musings on women in the 1960s, twilight births, the rise of consumerism and isolated living The world we were born into is gone: the end of the Pax Americana and the unraveling of culture and collapse of institutions We need to grieve as a culture so that we can be responsive to what’s next Your body is sacred land Parenthood and postpartum in the modern age Mothering as ancestral reverence Calling in energy from unexpected sources RESOURCES: RootandRitualBook.com BeccaPiastrelli.com Becca’s Instagram 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) A Hunter Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein The Millionth Circle: How to Change Ourselves and The World: The Essential Guide to Women’s Circles by Jean Shinoda Bolen My interview with Toko-Pa Turner, The Dreaming Channel and Remembering Ourselves Home My blog post Ancestral Voices, Women’s Weariness, and the Illusion of Linear TimeFamily Constellations Becca’s interview with Megan McGuire on the Belonging Podcast: Mothering as Ancestral Reverence Becca’s interview with me on the Belonging Podcast: Motherhood, Grief, and the Grandmother Hypothesis

Herbalism is an outlet for creative expression, a tool for community care, and a pathway to our own inner knowing. Let us revel in the freedom we have to make our own healing medicine with guidance from the land, the ancestors, and the mythic realm. TOPICS: Being an abuela in training When an ancestral name is tied in to a landscape Kitchen herbalism in Mexico Gardening with whatever is on hand Following the threads of our ancestors’ herbalism The multifaceted medicine of rose (& making an essence from 100 roses!) Your romantic relationship is yours to create; it doesn’t have to look like anything Healing is not a straight line Acknowledging the limits of ancestral healing, and the positive outward ripples we create when we self heal Damiana shares the story of being held up at gunpoint while delivering herbal medicine to folks in need, and what facilitated the perpetrator’s unexpected change of heart Anger as the fire that triggers action Expanding the possibilities of flower essences- infusing without harvesting, Aguas Serenadas, and spontaneously capturing moments Collective essence making in liminal space RESOURCES: Damiana’s Patreon, website, and Instagram  See a video of the cenote where the dragonfly essences were created Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Damiana mentions Natalie Ross of the EarthSpeak podcast Medicine Stories interview with Amy Mea Woodruff I Forgive You: A Story of Loss & Transformative Healing The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence by Gavin de Becker My Patreon offering eBook Bringing Rose Medicine Home Medicine Stories episode Rose Medicine: Softness & Strength from the Queen of the Flowers 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)

St. John’s Wort has evolved over millennia to capture the ultimate expression of sunlight on our planet and turn it into the molecule hypericin, which has numerous profound effects on our human bodies. Find our St. John’s Wort Oil & check out my teacher Kami McBride’s course Handcrafted Healing Herbal Oils. From deep nerve healing, relaxation, and pain relief when applied externally to its antidepressant, antiviral, and liver supportive properties when taken internally, SJW has always occupied an exalted place in the medicine cabinet of the ancestral humans who were lucky enough to live where it grew, and is one of the most used and loved herbal medicines in the world today. IN THIS EPISODE: St. John’s Wort acts as an extension of sunlight The endless external uses include the healing of wounds, bruises, burns, blisters, cuts, eczema, growing pains, inflamed skin, muscle pain, nerve pain, neck tension, spasms, back pain, neuralgia, sciatica, insomnia, anxiety, and stress The oil is indispensable for menstrual pain, pregnancy, postpartum, babies, children, elders, empaths, and highly sensitive people Photosensitivity, precancerous skin cells, and using SJW as sunscreen Internal uses: notes on the antidepressant, antiviral, and liver supportive effects (including my shingles story) Hypericum feeds our inner radiance and summons forth our purpose and power This ancient herb has always been associated with fairies and other magical beings How empire co-opted pagan rituals and herbal practices The widespread ritual use of St. John’s Wort as a protective herb A word on wildcrafting and non-natives v invasives Making your own high potency, shelf stable herbal oils Herbal medicine is so simple, yet also endlessly complex Kami McBride speaks about St. John’s Wort RESOURCES: Mythic Medicinals St. John’s Wort Oil  Medicine Stories Patreon (patrons can download Rosalee’s ebook here) Cute, short video showcasing our St. John’s Wort garden Learn to Make Your Own Herbal Oils: Kami McBride’s Handcrafted Healing Herbal Oils online course My video Sneak Peak at the Handcrafted Healing Herbal Oils online course from Kami McBride Previous Episodes & Books Mentioned: The Profound Medicine of Herbal Body Oils Kami McBride Healing Herbal Oils: How to Make and Use Them Lola Pickett Highly Sensitive People are the Psychedelic Plants of the Human Realm Nadine Artemis Harvesting Light: the Alchemy of Sun & Human Rosalee de la Foret Wild Remedies: Tending Relationships with the Land Around Us Sajah Popham True Holistic Healing: Bridging Plant & Human Consciousness Sajah Popham Called to the Plant Path: Herbal Myths, Healing Forward, and Human Ecology The article Feeding Your Inner Sun with St. John’s Wort from The School for Evolutionary Herbalism Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine by Rosalee de la Foret and Emily Han The Untold History of Healing: Plant Lore and Medicinal Magic from the Stone Age to Present by Wolf D. Storl The Herbal Lore of Wise Women and Wortcunners: The Healing Power of Medicinal Plants by Wolf D. Storl A Modern Herbal II by Maude Grieve The New Healing Herbs: The Essential Guide to More Than 130 of Nature's Most Potent Herbal Remedies by Michael Castleman More Good Stuff: Kathi Keville’s website  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 these times, we all need all the healing help we can get. How lucky then that an infinite source of renewal and vitality lies just beneath our feet. Connection with the earth and plants never fails to shift our animal bodies into a place of calm receptivity and deep entrainment with the rhythms of nature. This is our ancestral birthright as human beings. Let us remember it. TOPICS: Name meaning and magic Weaving together ancestral lines How a chance encounter with an intuitive foretold Farai’s future path as a healer Being the cycle breaker in your family Working with plants is infinitely healing Living with a partner in the military Connection is the main thing that heals trauma Including kids into our every day folk herbalism Mullein medicine for littles Treating ear issues herbally Herbal care for animals Healing with topical honey Drawing salves for the win What we do when we find an embedded tick Folk herbalism is for you LINKS: Farai’s Patreon Folk Herbalism for Everyone Farai’s website Farai on Instagram Medicine Stories Patreon (tick resource and Farai’s ebooklet are here) It Didn’t Start With You by Mark Wolynn What Happened to You? by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry Naturally Healthy Babies & Children by Aviva Jill Romm Natural MD Radio Podcast Previous episode Herbalism is Homecoming & Our Senses Are Portals of Connection with Marysia Miernowska Juliette de Bairacli Levy’s books (including animal care)  Farai’s video on how to harvest nettles without getting stung Camille Rose hair products 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)

For most of human history, herbalism hasn’t had a name. It was just a way of life, part of being human upon the earth. The folk traditions of our ancestors have deep nourishment to offer us, and are an antidote to the depleting and disheartening realities of modern life. Let us reclaim an embodied relationship to plants, come into alignment with the regenerative currents of nature and ourselves, and get back to the root of the root of the root. TOPICS: Remembering parts of ourselves through plants and storytelling Learning simple herbalism at her great-grandmother’s feet in Poland The many uses for nettle, including urtification or the application of the sting on the body Herbalism as homecoming Cultivating embodied presence in relationship with the plant realm Earth’s electromagnetic frequency brings us into the brainwave states where healing can happen Body portals (chakras) in relationship to plant healing Noticing where in your body a plant lands  Flooding the body with nourishment: drinking herbal teas & infusions every day (sometimes) Blending fresh spring greens to create herbal “juices” The most ancient herbal healing tradition on earth (v the way herbalism is often practiced today) Seasons and cycles: harmonizing ourselves to the regenerative currents of nature Midwifing death & dismantling structures in our own lives and society at large The dark womb of the universal mother: a personal, powerful medicine story in which names, archetypes, ancestral threads, and healing are interwoven The plants and the magic of Beltane LINKS: School of the Sacred Wild website The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary book Marysia on Instagram The book’s illustrator Maggie Eileen Lochtenberg Sharon Blackie’s book If Women Rose Rooted My interview with Sharon: Lineage, Calling, and the Mythic Imagination Judith Berger’s book Herbal Rituals  My interview with Judith: Herbal Rituals, Rhythms, and Remembrance Article: Urtification or Stinging Nettles on the Skin Marysia’s article on The Pagan Roots of Easter Sage Mauer and The Gaia School of Healing and Earth Education 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 Instagra Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

How do we support thriving life on earth through the pathway of maternal health? Our physiologic design is the inarguable truth, but in today’s confusing online culture well meaning morality politics often obscure what eons of evolution make clear. If we want to best support babies and their families, do the deep repair work of these times, and become the fully realized adults we were born to be, we must have an accurate understanding of what our biology needs from us. Learn more about studying in community with Rachelle and exploring true wellness on the childbearing continuum, creating a culture of thriving life, and growing ourselves into the elders we so desperately need in the Innate Postpartum Care Certification Online Training at https://tinyurl.com/1darrj59. TOPICS: Social engagement: the lesser-known third branch of the autonomic nervous system (beyond sympathetic and parasympathetic)  Getting out of our conditioned morality and turning to nature/life/evolution as our ultimate teacher  Eating to grow a baby, birth a baby, help the body recover from birth, shift from gestation to lactation, replenish iron stores, and supply the nursling with necessary nutrients Babies in utero and at the breast literally grow their brains off of their mother’s brains (our bodies will always give our gestating or nursing babies nutrients first- at our expense, if we aren’t getting enough) Health is multigenerational The profound lack of emotional and spiritual maturation in modern adults Be real with yourself and speak your truth, because you’re going to offend people no matter what “I can’t be triggered if I don’t have something to work on” Reorienting towards joy and the alchemy of women coming together to exalt life How lack of community support is toxic for mothers Keeping in mind the both/and in this time of repair Healing can only happen when we feel safe Kids and anxiety in heightened times RESOURCES: Innate Postpartum Care Certification Online Training  Medicine Stories Patreon Our previous conversation- Revillaging: Maternal, Cultural, and Planetary Wellness Are One Rachelle on Instagram Rachelle's Physiologic Baby Care Course Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor 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)

If the phrase “school wounds” stirs something inside of you, or the words “crisis schooling” describe your current reality as a parent or caregiver, or you’ve just always intuited that there’s something not quite right about modern compulsory schooling, this episode is for you. TOPICS: The reimagining of schooling as we’ve known it Akilah's story of schooling and unschooling Unschooling is not just school at home- it’s a whole new paradigm of learning, power, and belonging School wounds The radical presence it takes to raise up kids in this way How leaving school can free up a family’s life in myriad unanticipated ways Schoolishness and the American Dream, in which so much of the actual human gets lost The slow normalization of dehumanizing systems and institutions Being constantly in curiosity about how our children (and ourselves!) actually learn Reframing consent in the parent/child relationship The liberation of being allowed bodily autonomy (especially for black folk) Akilah’s response to the common assertions that only stay at home parents/rich people/white people can school at home Actionizing love & recognizing that it’s all portal work RESOURCES: RaisingFreePeople.com Fare of the Free Child Podcast Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work by Akilah S. Richards Akilah's Patreon Akilah on Instagram Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Psychology Today article John Tayloe Gatto’s many astute writings on modern schooling 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)

Your ancestors are with you every time the portal of the womb opens; our blood connects us to our lineage, to the mythic archetypes that hold meaning for us, and to our deepest inner selves. Whatever sort of womb release you experience, it lies on a continuum of commonality with all releases. Let us explore these interconnections so that we can be deeply rooted in our own bodies. TOPICS: How Samantha got into this work The womb as a source of pleasure and power, instead of pain There is cellular alchemy no matter how a pregnancy ends (birth, miscarriage, abortion) and commonalities between all the different kinds of pregnancy release Abortion is a nexus of sex and death and birth The Dark Goddess and the Underworld Journey- seeing the release of a pregnancy through a mythic lens Modern medicine is an industry, not a healing modality The psychospiritual process of menstruation: when the cervix is open we can more easily access other states of consciousness The Sacred Yes- what we are saying yes to when we say no to a pregnancy Honoring death as a healing need in our culture Function and access to Misoprostol Understanding the two categories of abortion: mechanical and chemical Demystifying the idea of a "natural abortion" Herbs: emmenagogues and abortifacients  Sitting at the feet of the plant elders Systems of false authority, persecution, and the witch wound How shame and secrecy around abortion can prolong bleeding Conscious contraception Giving yourself a 40 day postpartum healing period after any pregnancy release LINKS: Samantha’s website Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Mysteries of the Dark Moon: The Healing Power of the Dark Goddess by Demetra George Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom by Dr. Christiane Northup The Womb Sovereignty Song performance (can also find on Soundcloud) The Self-Managed Abortion podcast Red School Guttmacher Institute Stats on Induced Abortion in the United States BBC reporting on abortion rates Wild Power by Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer PlanCPills.org If/When/How Women on Waves film Women on Web A New View of a Woman's Body by Carol Downer Samantha Zipporah's Patreon Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? My website MythicMedicine.love  Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

From time immemorial, women and wise folk have carried the knowledge of how to manage fertility. From menstruation to contraception to birth to miscarriage to abortion, these processes and this knowing has always belonged to the people. Ending pregnancy outside the modern medical paradigm and the cold, impersonal clinic is not only possible, but there are numerous safe and effective options. Let us eliminate the need for back alley abortions, reframe pro-choice as pro-choices, and step back into our power by educating ourselves and one another on what’s possible. YEARS LATER UPDATE- I hear from folks that my guest no longer responds to messages, please see Plan C Pills instead. IN THE INTERVIEW: Some historical context (women have always ended pregnancies, but laws and attitudes around it have changed) Choosing home care for pregnancy release rather than clinical care Preventing pregnancy with herbs (and the one thing most people do wrong when using Queen Anne’s Lace for contraception) The four ways to release pregnancy at home I see a lot of people championing herbal abortion on social media, but it’s clear that they are not educated about the issues and difficulties with this method (it does not look like your dreamy earth mama one-with-nature self empowerment fantasy) What a beautiful, supported pregnancy release at home can look like Sometimes spirit babies come through to teach us things The four essential herbal actions needed (find this chart at patreon.com/medicinestories) Mifepristone and/or misoprostol (medical abortion) Supportive food and herbs for the process Aftercare: honoring that you are postpartum after releasing a pregnancy and focusing on rebuilding and healing Supporting the liver, nervous system, and immune system A woman going through this is never alone LINKS: Medicine Stories Patreon bonuses (resources, herbal chart, audio recording of my personal story) 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)

“Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium.” -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel prize winner We return to the endlessly fascinating and enormously important subject of water, exploring the fractal edges of H20 and beyond. From its ability to generate free energy to how to structure your own drinking water into a liquid crystalline state to the interplay between water, climate change, and economics- this conversation covers some of the most fascinating and crucial topics regarding the substance that generates all life and that holds our collective future. IN THE INTERVIEW: “The true foundation of all culture is the knowledge and understanding of water.” -Viktor Schauberger Rustum Roy said that “Structured water is the world’s most malleable computer,” referring to how crystalline phase water can store and transmit information The relationship between spirit and science  Viktor Schauberger’s work with water and how he has inspired Isabel’s work and study — particularly considering implosive vs. explosive principles of energy generation The quantum states of water and the many ways that water defies the laws of physics How water amplifies frequencies and emotions Indigenous wisdom, reverence, and ritual with water What water should we be drinking? The difference between irrigation and hydration, and how to optimize your body for hydration How to bring some structure to your water  How your facia acts as a hydraulic system in your body, and the importance of movement for your body’s hydration Water wars, climate change, the future of humanity, and what we can do about it LINKS: Previous episode with Dr. Carly Nuday Isabel’s free webinar masterclass: The Living Liquid Crystal Isabel’s ecourse: Navigating the Waters Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) Isabel Friend’s YouTube channel Find Isabel on Instagram: @jenisabelfriend Water Resources Guide Check out all of Isabel’s incredible resources at waterislife.love Kiss the Ground  Previous interview with Charles Eisenstein Water Codes by Dr. Carly Nuday The Fourth Phase of Water by Dr. Gerald Pollack Zach Bush on Proper Hydration on Take Control of Your Health with Dr. Joseph Mercola Dr. Marcel Vogel Go to FrackTracker.org to find out if your aquaphor is affected by fracking Go to FindaSpring.com to find a water spring near you Isabel mentions the NTFactor supplement that helps rebuild your cell membranes Check Isabel’s Instagram highlight here (a couple slide in) for her friend’s water dispenser that constantly vortexes the water Strolling Under the Skin Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins Waterkeeper Alliance Blue Planet Project Blue Future by Maude Barlow Blue Gold documentary Tapped documentary Last Call at the Oasis documentary Water is Life Find your representatives at CommonCause.org and speak with them directly about what your district is doing with water privatization Caring for Our Watersheds International Rivers Earth Law Center The Rights of Nature The World Water Law 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)