Medicine Stories

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 (<-- click the Patreon link below to get a $75 off coupon code for this course by 7/31/19) 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)