Plant Cunning Podcast

Rosita Arvigo is an herbalist, ethnobotanist, Doctor of naprapathy, author and teacher living in Belize. You can find her website at RositaArvigo.com. In this episode we speak about her grandmothers taking her foraging for wild plants in Chicago as a young child, about moving to Mexico in the early 70s to resist the Vietnam war, about moving to Belize and meeting the traditional Mayan healer Don Elijio Panti, who she studied with for 17 years until his death at age 103. We talk about spiritual bathing, the essence of spiritual healing, some of her favorite plants, and her technique of abdominal massage that has helped many people all over the world transform their health. Also, we are starting to release some videos on Youtube, and you can support the podcast at Patreon.com/plantcunning

In this episode we speak with Emma Farrell, who is a plant spirit healer, geomancer and author of the new book Journeys with Plant Spirits: Plant Consciousness Healing and Natural Magic Practices and in this episode we speak with her about plants as spiritual teachers and allies, the importance of psychic hygiene, how our energy bodies get blocked and damaged, and how to repair them. We also talk about some of her favorite plant allies like elder and mugwort. You can find her at PlantConsciousness.com and find part two of this interview at Patreon.com/PlantCunning

This is such a great chat with a grower, seed saver, author, and generally great person, Joseph Lofhouse. If you are interested in gardening, homesteading, farming and seed saving at all you're absolutely going to love this episode. We talk about biodiversity, promiscuous planting, food security, plant varieties he loves and how he works with the weeds, insects, and animals in harmonious ways in his gardens. This is the first half of the episode, available here for free. The second half is available as a bonus to our Patrons over at https://www.patreon.com/plantcunning for $9/month. You can sign up for just this month if you'd like to listen in. http://lofthouse.com/ is where to find Josephs' self published book, "Landrace Gardening: Food Security Through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination" and learn more about his work. If you're interested in supporting AC's community herbalism work by purchasing herbal remedies like skin salve, muscle rub, tinctures, and gift kits go to https://www.travelingherbfarmer.com/  and use the discount code "PlantCunning21" to receive free shipping on up to 5 orders for the whole month of December.

Sara is a witch for hire, teacher and author living in Pittsburgh, PA. She just came out with The Big Book of Magical Incense from Red Wheel/Weiser, and will be presenting at the Sacred Space Conference in Baltimore this January. We have a wonderful chat about magic, incense, and some of her favorite plants, including White Pine, Rose, Tobacco, and Mugwort.  You can support the podcast at Patreon.com/PlantCunning

In this episode we are thrilled to speak with the fairy godmother of American herbalism herself, Rosemary Gladstar! The topics include her herbal elders, her favorite herbal allies including common plants like plantain and yarrow, and plants like schisandra, spilanthes and rhodiola. We talk about what makes an herbalist, and her long time mission to help bring back herbalism to the people as a people's medicine. We also go into how to be of service to others and taking care of yourself, and much else besides! She has courses at thescienceandartofherbalism.com You can help support the podcast by becoming a patron at Patreon.com/PlantCunning

In part one of this episode we explore astro-herbalism in it's simple practicality as well as the depth of it's complexity, and touch on medical astrology, planetary correspondences, history, temperaments, energetics, and cultivating relationships with plants and planets by understanding their shared connections.  You can find part two at Patreon.com/plantcunning for patrons of $9 and up. Sarah Corbett is a clinical herbalist, nutritionist, and medical astrologer who is passionate about helping others come into relationship with the natural world. She is the founder of Rowan + Sage, where she shares handcrafted astrologically-infused herbal products, works with clients in her clinical practice, and guides others on their plant path through educational programs and mentorship. Sarah’s work weaves together the old ways with the new to create powerful, evidence-based offerings that bring forth ancestral herbal wisdom with a touch of magic and mysticism. Connect with Sarah and learn more about her work via her website www.rowanandsage.com or on Instagram @rowanandsage. To learn more about her school on astroherbalism with Diana Rose Harper you can check out Caeleste Natura

In this duo cast we share what it is like at our Central NY homestead as we prepare for our third winter on this land, shout out our Patrons, talk about media fasting and elimination diets and discuss the upcoming online class with Botanicwise we are excited to share. Learn more about the program Food for Optimal Health with Paul Bergner using our affiliate link: https://www.botanicwise.com/food-for-optimal-health-with-paul-bergner/?ref=32 The program starts next Tuesday, November 9th so be sure to sign up today if you're interested.  AC will be in Brooklyn, NY this weekend vending her Traveling Herb Farmer herbal products at the FAD Early Bird Holiday Market if you're in NYC come say hello. 

Stephen Pollington is an accomplished author and historian with a focus on the Anglo-Saxon period and the Old English language. He's written many books on these subjects and today's episode is about, "Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plant Lore and Healing." We learned how difficult it is to translate these old texts with discrepancies among the various copies and missing sections, it's like you have to be part detective as well to figure out what plant they were actually talking about. Stephen gave us some insights on Medieval understandings of the origins of disease and some of the main types of healing modalities they used such as spell healing, knife healing, and herb healing. We discuss animist ideas (as we do) regarding how folks would chant directly to the plants themselves rather than pray or chant to a divinity or god in the 9 Herbs Charm. We highlighted a bit about runes, chants, plants and the thundergod Thor or Thunar. Stephen is a joy to listen to and we hope you learn as much from this episode as we did. 

We welcome widely respected author, occultist, druid and blogger John Michael Greer back to the Plant Cunning Podcast to talk about the new edition of his book The Wealth of Nations: Economics as if Survival Mattered, what wealth is, how the whole economy is very much dependent on nature, how to invest in a declining economy, and why moving to the country to start a commune from scratch doesn't work out most of the time. For those of you who wish to hear more, we have a bonus episode in which JMG discusses biochemic cell salts, homeopathy, 19th and early 20th century occultism and the energy body at Patreon.com/plantcunning for our $9 and up patrons.  You can buy JMG's book at Foundershousepublishing.com and read his blog at Ecosophia.net

Bevin is an herbalist, educator, homesteader and author of several books, including The Artisan Herbalist, which is a really good manual for making teas, tinctures, salves, oils, and start an herbal products business. He also has a book called Saving Our Seeds about seed saving. We talk about both of these books, about how to balance getting stuff done with not burning out, and paying the bills with making inexpensive, but high quality locals products. We also talk about how he and his partner press their own oils from seeds, and we have a great time. His website is https://www.smallhousefarm.com/  And our Patreon is Patreon.com/PlantCunning