Medicine Stories

A replay of the only episode I’ve ever deleted. Please listen to Episode 84 Our Complex Humanity Cannot Be Cancelled first. Our ancestors were in constant biochemical conversation with the world, and so are we. Plants are a gateway into the depths of our consciousness, emotions, and physical experience of being alive. Let us come back into relationship with the information available in each interaction with the natural world. TOPICS: The archetype of the witch in the hut at the edge of the village Neurodivergence, tryptamine, sensory gating channels, and pattern recognition What is the purpose of the human being? Finding one’s path after a confused and lost childhood Psilocybin and the conversation happening between everything Knowing what you’re saying yes to When an herb changes your embodied experience of the world The illusory distinction between plant, animal, and human consciousness Finding what’s ours to do in a world with so much suffering The power of drop doses to create somatic shifts Creating coherence in the complex, fluid, multivalent signalling system within the body Plant compounds that mirror our neurotransmitters and hormones Ancestral names, places, music, language, and stories Hawthorn myth and medicine RESOURCES: Episode 84: Our Complex Humanity Cannot Be Cancelled Sean’s website Otherworld Well Sean’s book The Forest Reminds Us Who We Are: Connecting to the Living Medicine of Wild Plants Sean’s Ancestral Heartbeat Meditation on Patreon Clementine Morrigan on Instagram Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love  Take our fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Let us step out of the mass psychosis of cancel culture and remember compassion, tolerance for differing viewpoints, and recognition of the deeply complex nature of human behavior. TOPICS: Losing compassion in the name of compassion Cancel culture does nothing to create justice or healing It’s an ouroboros- the more a person participates in cancel culture, the more likely they are to be cancelled The goalposts of what is and is not okay are always moving I am not here to intellectually coddle my audience Collapsing both/and issues into either/or issues Shame is not a social justice tool Treating people like human beings, not political abstractions or online content Moral perfection is impossible People are not disposable Less punishment and more rehabilitation Dehumanization only leads to more injustice What cancellation would have meant for our ancestors and how that ancient imprint affects us today The trauma of cancellation shuts down the brain areas needed for healing and growth Quitting the cult of wokeness Choosing truth over popularity The parallels with the witch hunts This is not how we restructure humanity toward a more just, kind, equitable future Cancel culture leads to self censorship Your ancestors will not cancel you, the earth will not cancel you, the sun will not cancel you RESOURCES: On Cancel Culture & the Medicine Stories Podcast Megan Jayne Crabbe’s post Clementine Morrigan’s post The Fucking Cancelled podcast I Was the Mob Until the Mob Came For Me Shame & Accountability by Brene Brown Chloe Valdary Theory of Enchantment Why I’m Leaving the Cult of Wokeness by Africa Brooke Africa’s Instagram Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love  Take our fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

When Amanita muscaria says “Hey bitch, what’s up?”, you listen. Also known as the fly agaric, this most culturally significant fungi of all time has been maligned and misunderstood by modern people. May we reweave the ancient relationship between Amanita and humans and hear what these sentient, wise beings are saying to us. IN THE INTERVIEW: How a chance encounter with Amanita muscaria saved AD’s life the day before she was going to end it (trauma, anxiety, and the pharmacological lobotomy that is benzodiazepines) The nuances of our bodies that are written in to our nervous systems The long history between Amanita muscaria and human beings Examining the myth that the fly agaric is deadly Nerding out on science and how Amanita affects the GABA neural pathways to help with anxiety and being stuck in fight-or-flight The two main active constituents in this fungus: ibotenic acid and muscimol and their effects There is great medicinal variability in Amanita compared to psilocybin This is the kind of mushroom that asks you to slow down and pay attention Preparing the medicine to get the most consistent dosing  When mammal meets fungi meets bacteria- was Soma (the revered ancient intoxicant whose ingredients are shrouded in mystery) Amanita muscaria processed with raw milk? This medicine, the ancestors, and drums are intertwined in the ancient human past When you don’t “get anything” from an entheogenic substance Using Amanita as a topical oil Science, regulation, patents, commerce and the future of this fungus RESOURCES (if listening on an app that doesn’t support embedded links, find these at https://mythicmedicine.love/podcast): AmanitaDreamer.net Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses!) My website MythicMedicine.love  Take our fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Fly Agaric: A Compendium of History, Pharmacology, Mythology, & Exploration edited by Kevin Feeney The Vaults of Erowid Psyched Wellness’ research on Amanita Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

In this meandering medicine story, I share about my mama’s unexpected death in 2015, the unbelievable coincidence of losing my father-in-law the same way 5 years later, the amazing thing my stepdad did at her memorial service, the worst and best things to say to someone who’s lost a loved one, the final gift she gave me after her death, and always remembering that our grief is equal to our love. I love you Mama. I miss you every day. God only knows what I’d be without you. It’s all for you. LINKS: Pictures & a video of my mom Megan Devine’s work at Refuge in Grief Joanna Newsom’s song Time, as a Symptom Brene Brown on Overfunctioning in times of stress

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 Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (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, Medicine Stories podcast Episode 41 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 Episode 70 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 47 Rose Medicine: Softness & Strength from the Queen of the Flowers My website MythicMedicine.love  Take our fun Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (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 (if listening on an app that doesn’t support embedded links, find these at https://mythicmedicine.love/podcast): Mythic Medicinals St. John’s Wort Oil (finally back in stock!) 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 Podcast Episodes & Books Mentioned: Episode 23 The Profound Medicine of Herbal Body Oils Episode 53 with Kami McBride Healing Herbal Oils: How to Make and Use Them Episode 55 with Lola Pickett Highly Sensitive People are the Psychedelic Plants of the Human Realm Episode 67 with Nadine Artemis Harvesting Light: the Alchemy of Sun & Human Episode 65 with Rosalee de la Foret Wild Remedies: Tending Relationships with the Land Around Us Episode 17 with Sajah Popham True Holistic Healing: Bridging Plant & Human Consciousness Episode 62 with 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 Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (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 Medicine Stories Episode 77: 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 Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (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 on Episode 54: Lineage, Calling, and the Mythic Imagination Judith Berger’s book Herbal Rituals  My interview with Judith on Episode 59: 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 Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagra Music by Mariee Sioux (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 (if listening on an app that doesn’t support embedded links, find these at https://mythicmedicine.love/podcast): Innate Postpartum Care Certification Online Training (early bird registration for $300 off ends 3/2; total registration period ends 3/7) Medicine Stories Patreon- get an extra $100 off coupon code for the training through 3/7 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 Which Healing Herb is Your Spirit Medicine? Quiz Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Sioux (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)