

Medicine Stories
Amber Magnolia Hill
Medicine Stories explores the healing intersections of herbalism, ancestral lifeways, and holistic wellness. Host Amber Magnolia Hill shares heartfelt conversations and personal stories that delve into women’s metabolic health, our deep-rooted connection to plants, and the power of storytelling. With compassion for the often frantic search for healing—and a critical eye on the modern wellness industry—this podcast is a grounded space for remembering what it means to be human upon the Earth.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 8, 2019 • 1h 40min
Grieving the Spirits of the Land & Bringing Healing to the Ancestors - Mariee Siou
Mariee Siou’s music is medicine for the living and medicine for the dead, a direct portal both to and from the ancestors and the land spirits. In this interview she shares profound stories of hurt, healing, and visions gifted from the otherworld. IN THE INTRO: Making grief more beautiful and more bearable How to enter the Giveaway of the Grief in Exile album Songs played during this episode are- Wild Eyes Black Snakes Grief in Exile Two Tongues IN THE INTERVIEW: Mariee never dreamed she’d be a musician & how that ended up happening Mariee’s connection with her indigenous Mexican and American maternal ancestors and her Hungarian and Polish paternal ancestors Songs pouring through you and the magical process of bringing something into being When the ancestors choose one person in their lineage to drop their stories into Ethnic stereotypes and what people will say to your face Mariee’s work with the Nisenan, the native people of the lands she and I live on, and how growing up here she literally never knew there were remaining tribal members here “I experienced so many spirits on the land that hadn’t been grieved” Some deep medicine stories- how this podcast has changed Mariee’s life (so much interweaving serendipity, since her music opens and closes every episode) How datura embedded into Mariee’s consciousness and how that plant relationship touched her life, even before she’d ever worked with the plant physically The amazing ancestral vision Mariee was gifted that supports the music and voice medicine she carries in this lifetime The different ways that people who come from lineages with unmetabolized grief and trauma [all of us] carry that ancestral inheritance How magic and the synchronicities start showing up once we commit to following our soul calling A digression on the Aquarian archetype LINKS Hear Mariee’s music and order Grief in Exile: www.marieesioux.bandcamp.com Nisenan Tribe: 1) www.nisenan.org, 2) Ancestral Homeland Reciprocity Program, 3) California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), 4) Tribal Chairman Richard B. Johnson’s book History Of Us: Nisenan Tribe of the Nevada City Rancheria Sophia Rose’s interview with Mariee at Garden Party Past episodes mentioned- Reclaiming Kitchen Wisdom & Ancestral Healing w/ Darla Antoine and Becoming the Medicine & Seeing the Wide Arc of Time w/ Sophia Rose Medicine Stories Patreon (enter the giveaway!) 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)

May 16, 2019 • 46min
Rose Medicine: Softness & Strength From the Queen of the Flowers
Humans have been joyfully engaging with rose medicine throughout the ages. This luxurious herb works on so many different parts of the body and spirit because of its many healing properties. Let's talk about them. Click here to get the beautiful PDF Bringing Rose Medicine Home, featuring 6 rose recipes from 5 herbalists, plus my 3 favorite rose products. An overview of rose's abundantly generous physical & energetic medicine Wild v cultivated roses Which roses are best to use, and which to always avoid A healing message from rose that came to me recently, and the synchronicities that followed "Rose unwinds the stuckness that is often rooted in old grief, old trauma" Rose Delight Honey recipe from Kami McBride Rosebud Tea recipe from Rosalee de la Foret Rose is medicine for the whole heart Rainbow Heart Beams Elixir Giveaway! Discount on the Wild Rose Surprise Box from Rebecca Altman The Big (podcast related) Realization that came as a result of rose showing up in my life Upcoming guests & subjects LINKS: Medicine Stories Patreon (the Bringing Rose Medicine Home PDF, the giveaway, and the coupon code for the Wild Rose Surprise Box!) Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Sophia Rose: Being the Medicine and Seeing the Wide Arc of Time Kami McBride: Herbalism, Menstruation, & Innate Knowing and Kitchen Herbalism: The Body Remembers Lola Venado: The Medicine We Carry Rebecca Altman: Magic Makes Us Human & Plants Keep Us Rooted Kami McBride's book The Herbal Kitchen Rosalee de la Foret's book Alchemy of Herbs Lola Venado's podcast Branch + Bone Medicine Show My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Facebook group Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

May 8, 2019 • 1h 6min
Sex, Trauma, Magic, & the Ancestors - Pavini Moray
Remembering that our ancestors can guide us because they've done this all before, relating ancestral healing & communion to our sexually traumatizing culture, helping people without assuming that we hold knowledge of what it is they need, and so much more... IN THE INTRO: Lilac water Creating apart from perfection IN THE INTERVIEW: The sweet vulnerability of praying out loud Bespoken Bones and the magical process of naming things Discarding the expert paradigm- “I don’t know what you need to know” When jealousy is pointing you toward what you want to be doing Navigating the pathway of harm to healing Discerning the well from the unwell dead/ancestors Trancestral healing & the blessings and the powerful magic of complex gender The difference between our ancestors of blood and our ancestors of heart Engaging trauma as an alternate state of consciousness in which deep healing can happen and potent gifts can come forth Coming back into sexual wholeness We’re living in a sexually traumatic culture Sexual liberation is not a state we permanently get to, it’s a path and a process and a practice Most of us don’t feel like we can bring our whole, authentic selves to our relationships Shame, you know we talk about shame The throughline of selfhood LINKS: Pavini's websites: Emancipating-Sexuality, Trancestral Healing, and the Bespoken Bones Podcast PlantMakeup's Instagram lilac water post Dr. Daniel Foor's Practical Animism online course My website MythicMedicine.love 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)

May 1, 2019 • 43min
The Deepest Magic: To Know Yourself, Know Your Ancestors
You come from a long line of healers, midwives, songstresses, herbalists, dancers, birth-givers, artists, and wise folk. You are a direct descendent of powerful visionaries and earthwise geniuses, and their ancient knowing resonates today deep in your marrow. These are not empty platitudes or the wishful thinking of modern spiritual yearners; these statements are genealogical fact. In this episode I talk about: Why these statements are true How knowing our ancestors helps us to know ourselves 3 ways to connect with your ancestors LINKS: My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (find the written version of this episode) 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)

Apr 24, 2019 • 1h 9min
Animism: Coming into Kinship with All Life - Daniel Foor
We are in relationship with plants, animals, fungi, mountains, metals, fire, bodies of water, spirits of wind and weather, deities, human ancestors, star people, and others we don't have words for, whether we are conscious of it or not. In this conversation Dr. Daniel Foor and I talk about reclaiming kinship through earth-honoring ritual, getting right with your ancestors and with the land you're living on, finding your own unique medicine, and so much more. IN THE INTRO: Making animism practical $300 herbal medicine giveaway! (ends May 1st) IN THE INTERVIEW: Living humans are only one kind of person Animism isn't necessarily spiritual- that other beings also exist and that we are accountable to them is just fact The distinction between animism, shamanism, and indigenous ways Food and the psychological implication of realizing that both animals and plants are people Understanding the human dead as part of the sacred ecology of place The impacts of colonization on trusting our own knowing Being consent-minded and respectful of boundaries: how to hear no from (and say no to) the spirits/ancestors "Colonialism is a massive systemic consent violation" Expanding our vocabulary for the sacred by recognizing the incredible diverse of bodies and wisdoms of the world Contextualizing our devotions amidst the current crises the earth is undergoing (we need to get really good at grieving, but also not lost in it) Finding your own medicine and soul level calling Hierarchy is an intrinsic part of nature Seeing where you're at as the Holy Land (even if you're in suburban Baltimore) Everyone has an ancestral connection with plants (let go of your story that you're not a "plant person"!) Earth as deity (and exploring how we project a gender binary onto the this ancient, complex, multivalent being that is dreaming us up) Down to the water to pray: grief, the erotic, ancestors, food, healing Understanding deeper layers of magic at your specific place Considering inclusive ways to think about deities, archetypes, and weird old gods Harmonizing ritual skills with cultural and political advocacy- not compartmentalizing an animist approach to just our spiritual life, but taking it out to the wider world as well Daniel's three steps to get your life together (so real) LINKS: More info on the Practical Animism Online Course Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Medicine Stories Patreon Medicine Stories Facebook group Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Apr 17, 2019 • 58min
A Plant Spirit Healing Story
This is a vulnerable and very personal story of how a plant friend recently stepped in to create a bridge of communication between me and my mother, who died three years ago. It was an unexpected and super meaningful healing message for me, and I switched my podcast release schedule around to share this story. Real magic happens when we cultivate relationships with plants and stay open to messages from the multiverse y'all. I also talk about synchronicity, dealing with overwhelming grief, and how we can heal with a plant even when it is not physically present in our space or in our body. Also I cry a lot. Mentioned in this story: Asia Suler's Intuitive Plant Medicine online course (from which I downloaded the meditation mentioned) The Medicine Stories Patreon page Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Our Rainbow Heart Beams herbal medicine Asia's two previous interviews Multidimensional Plants and the Fabric of Consciousness and You Are Your Own Healer: Earth Intuition and Self Knowledge Further reading: My blog post Angelica: Mama Bear of the Spirit Realm (more about Angelica as bear medicine and more about its medicinal properties)

Apr 3, 2019 • 1h 16min
You Are Your Own Healer: Earth Intuition & Self Knowledge - Asia Suler
Asia Suler talks about how being in relationship with the aliveness of the earth brings us deeper into ourselves, healing within the complexities of chronic health conditions, working with the story medicine of flowers, and so much more… IN THE INTRO: Finding a plant ally Reishi: Medicine of the Ages IN THE INTERVIEW: How plants bring us deeper into ourselves, and the kind of second sight that only comes when we tune into the aliveness of the earth The cultural fallacy that spirituality and rationalism can't coexist The chronic health issues that revealed to Asia her intuitive self and brought her to the plant path We don't have to do it alone When it comes to healing, the body works on its own timeline One willow to rule them all: how one (ever-evolving) plant relationship can transform a life But literally on an actual physical, biological level, you are your own healer Your pain, symptoms, ailments- everything is happening for you The daily routine that keeps Asia's past chronic health issues at bay The interplay between stress, the nervous system, and health Being truly seen, and the difference between being seen by nature v being seen by humans When you're given a book on a subject you've never heard of before and the truth it contains makes you cry Finding the core flower essence for your multidimensional self Bringing story medicine into your healing LINKS: Medicine Stories Patreon (Meet a Plant Ally guided meditation) Mythic Medicinals Reishi Elixir - Triple Extraction Asia's article Reishi: A Psychedelic of the Unseen My interview on the Free Birth Society Podcast- the stories of my one unassisted birth and one midwife assisted birth Medicine Stories Facebook Group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes) and here's Asia's FREE Opening Earth Intuition online course!

Mar 7, 2019 • 1h 10min
The Dreaming Channel & Remembering Ourselves Home - Toko-pa Turner
We are entitled to a (re)membership with the holy, the never-ending and ever-evolving wisdom of dreams, and guidance on the path of remembering ourselves home. I forgot to mention this episode's Patreon offering in the intro, but check out the Links section below to access Toko-pa's Dream Recovery Kit ebook, designed for the individual who is feeling estranged from their dreams, this guide will help you cultivate a rich dream life. This kit contains guidance for dream recall, tips for overcoming blocks, exercises for deepening your practice, and ideas for ritual and dream incubation. IN THE INTRO: Ancestral Voices, Women's Weariness, & the Illusion of Linear Time Chronic pain Dreamwalking IN THE INTERVIEW: A childhood in exile, a lost community, and finding belonging again Being grabbed by the hair and dragged into the bottomless underworld An incredible story about physical pain, a powerful dream, the grandfather who jumped from a train on the way to Auschwitz, and ancestral healing Healing is open ended When a family must keep their stories secret in order to survive, and how that silence affects the lineage- "Nothing influences children more than the silent facts in the background" -C.G. Jung The dreaming channel is always open- being in reciprocity with the world behind the world We are literally made of story, and dreams are the original stories Why we should not be down with OPI- Other People's Information Dreams are nature pulsing through us, and incline us toward our unique medicine The multiplicity of our coherence Not all dreams carry equal weight, but there is no such thing as a throwaway dream either Approaching a dream as if it were a wild animal in a forest Heirlooms, the storying of objects, and what we reclaim when we make things by hand To feed the holy that sustains us, give in a way that doesn't require any more taking The meaning of Toko-pa's name (which was given to her at birth) LINKS: Toko-pa's website Dreamwalking Online Course My piece Ancestral Voices, Women's Weariness, and the Illusion of Linear Time My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (Dream Recovery Kit) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Feb 28, 2019 • 1h 50min
Ancient Medicine & the Love of the Ancestors - Atava Garcia Swiecicki
We each carry our own unique ancestral medicine, and can (and should!) spend a lifetime uncovering it. A teacher of herbal, folk, and indigenous medicine, Atava is deeply grounded in and a powerful guide through this sacred work. IN THE INTRO: Synchronicity, mushroom medicine, and the deer dress Herbal Medicine Giveaway Ancestral Apothecary's Student of Color Scholarship Fund- investing in herbal education is investing in the health of your community The Ancestor Song IN THE INTERVIEW: Invocation When an ancestor becomes an ally from the other side How to know when it's really a message from spirit and not just our own projection Food as the one surviving cultural tradition within a family Remembering your indigenous mind How giving time and attention to our roots can heal relationships among the living Ancestral connection and reverence work never ends Healing is in our bones, our blood, our DNA Being witnessed in our stories Remembering that the plants are (literally) our ancestors Using plants to ground deeply when talking about and facing ancestral issues like colonization and slavery- we're never alone as long as we have our plant allies Making space for people of color to explore and reclaim their ancestral medicine Teaching healing skills so that people can treat those within their own communities and not need saving from elsewhere Herbalists are the grassroots community healers You're going to be a better herbalist and healer if you're rooted in your own ancestral traditions We all come from people who work with plants Love is the basic fundamental vibration that keeps the universe moving- how love and community saw Atava through uterine cancer & remembering to reweave the energy of love back into the healing arts A beautiful death: how the love we give and receive in this life carries us into the realm of the ancestors LINKS: Ancestral Apothecary School Ancestral Apothecary Ancestral Apothecary on Instagram Weaving Earth Immersion Lead To Life Ancestral Medicine My website Mythic Medicine Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)

Feb 14, 2019 • 1h 14min
Kitchen Herbalism: The Body Remembers - Kami McBride
Herbalist Kami McBride is back to dive even deeper into the uses of plant medicine for long term vitality and well being. This time we focus on home & kitchen herbalism, which is both super easy/accessible to everyone and the most important way to utilize herbs for daily health. Win win! INTRO: Home herbalism is the best kind of herbalism Put this spice (already in your kitchen!) on a cut to stop bleeding quick Kami's fabulous book, The Herbal Kitchen, has a new 10th anniversary edition! Pre-Order now and get these bonuses: The Turmeric Sessions Video Class Pesto for All Seasons eBook Kitchen Medicine Workshop Herbal Kitchen Recipe Cards Pre-order access to Herbal Kitchen chapter on Herbal Honey INTERVIEW: How simple kitchen herbalism bypasses the overwhelm many new herbalists feel (IT'S SO EASY Y'ALL) Culture begins in the kitchen Empowering yourself to take care of everyday illnesses and ailments at home The magic that happens when women gather to make food and medicine together (with our uniques lineage of women standing behind us) How Kami has her kitchen set up so that incorporating healing herbs into every meal takes no thought Herbal sprinkles alone can change the whole food culture in a home No one eats perfectly healthy at every meal, but adding herbal salts, vinegars, oils, honeys, etc. to each dish automatically and dramatically boosts the nutritional- and flavor!- content Kitchen herbalism returns a vast diversity of missing micronutrients to the Standard American Diet Digestion is literally the foundation of health, and an herbally oriented kitchen supports the flow of blood, energy, and oxygen to your digestive track at every meal Evolving our medical care to the next level begins at home Pesto is as sacred as the elements and is incredible for fighting colds & flu (and has endless possibilities beyond basil!) Reawakening our senses & activating ancestral taste and scent perception Why you need the bitter flavor in your life Alchemy Oil, Chai Honey, and mind blowing Herbal Cordials The best herbal food gifts to give for every occasion Mega next level meal planning- taking 15 minutes to ask yourself what's going on with your/your living mates lives and health this week, and then planning meals and herbal condiments around that LINKS: Pre-Order The Herbal Kitchen now to get the bonuses! My website MythicMedicine.love Medicine Stories Patreon (podcast bonuses) The Medicine Stories Facebook group Take our fun quiz Which Healing Herb Matches Your Energy? Mythic Medicine on Instagram Music by Mariee Siou (from her beautiful song Wild Eyes)