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Black History Month: Black Herbalists and Their Legacies through Books

2/16/2023

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Black History Month: Black Herbalists and Their Legacies through Books
By Carolyn Jones

Black herbalism has a rich history that is rooted in the Motherland. Although enslaved Africans were forced to survive under extremely inhumane conditions, they continued their traditions of using teas, powders, and salves made from plants and animals-- also incorporated into their spiritual lives with charms, prayers, and conjurations. Their sociopolitical perspectives were shaped according to where their captors docked their ships. 

The treasure trove of books by Black herbalists is exhaustive, offering a scholarship that weaves the traumatic history of a people together with the botanical medicine that sustained them.

In Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors , author Carolyn Finney acknowledges that Africans believed in “good use” of the land and the connection between the health of the land and their community. 

Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing by Michelle Elizabeth Lee offers a walk down memory lane with interviews of African American healers, illustrating how Black people survived the tests of time by merging their knowledge of healing and medicinal practices with Europeans and Native Americans.

In Secret Doctors: Ethnomedicine of African Americans, author Wonda Fontenut links traditional African beliefs and practices with current African American traditions. 

Certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide, Kimberly Ruffin, explores a theory of “ecological burden and beauty” in her book,  Black on Earth: African American Ecoliterary Traditions. She chronicles ecological insights from the antebellum era to the 21st century, documented by novels, essays, celebrated artists, and the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) slave narratives. 

Clara Adams, a woman who was enslaved in Alabama, is resurrected in this passage:

“…I wants to see de dawn break over de black ridge and de twilight settle…spreadin’ a sort of orange hue over de place. I wants to walk de path th’ew de woods…an’ see de rabbits an’ watch de birds an’ listen to frogs at night.”

Sticks, Stones, Roots, and Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo, and Conjuring With Herbs by Stephanie Rose Bird brings it all home by introducing the reader to jiridon, the science of the trees. Masters of jiridon are herbalists and adept ecologists, tree whisperers who understand, live with and study a single tree and soul.


Bookshop is an affiliate link and purchasing a book from Bookshop.org not only supports small, independent bookstores, but a small % comes to HWB. Thank you for your support. 

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Carolyn Jones
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Carolyn Jones is a Holistic Health Educator and Chaplain who teaches the art of self-care and practices a ministry of presence. She is licensed by the New York State Chaplain Task Force and serves the community as an herbalist, a certified aromatherapist and reflexologist. Respected by her peers, she embraces and is supported by a strong community of traditional and non-traditional healers who follow uniquely different paths that merge at the crossroads of community health. Carolyn is the Coordinator of The Healing Project, a Project under HWB: The Healing Project and is on the HWB Board of Directors as Secretary. 

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Summer 2021 Newsletter

6/22/2021

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Our Summer 2021 newsletter is live. It is another great issue with articles, photos, recipes, and more. 
READ THE LATEST NEWSLETTER

Newsletter Editor

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About Miriah: Adventure seeker, snowboarder, mountain climber, river rat, yogi, surfer wannabe, outdoor enthusiast. Writer, artist, activist, green medicine craftswoman, wondering explorer.

I became a member and volunteer of Herbalists Without Borders in 2012 as the Healing Arts Project Coordinator, while living in Denver, Colorado.  In 2014, I began constructing the quarterly newsletters and have served as the editor since and love it. The early newsletters were constructed while I lived remotely from Northern California; off-the-grid, on the move, and usually without internet access! I currently reside in Telluride, Colorado.

pinterest hwb newsletter summer 2021
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Late Winter Newsletter Live!

2/19/2021

 
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Our late winter/February 2021 newsletter is now live! Click on the newsletter to view the PDF. 

About our Newsletter Editor

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About Miriah: Adventure seeker, snowboarder, mountain climber, river rat, yogi, surfer wannabe, outdoor enthusiast. Writer, artist, activist, green medicine craftswoman, wondering explorer.

I became a member and volunteer of Herbalists Without Borders in 2012 as the Healing Arts Project Coordinator, while living in Denver, Colorado.  In 2014, I began constructing the quarterly newsletters and have served as the editor since and love it. The early newsletters were constructed while I lived remotely from Northern California; off-the-grid, on the move, and usually without internet access! I currently reside in Telluride, Colorado.

I’m striving to connect more with other Herbalists Without Borders globally on my travels and be an advocate writer on behalf of our non-profit, and freelance writer for other common causes. I truly support the humanitarian work of Herbalists Without Borders. I believe in humanity, and the moon and the stars. I’m passionate about protecting the Earth’s medicine and the rights to have access to it.

pinterest winter newsletter 2021

La Curandera Quest.

1/8/2021

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Shaela Noella, in the jungle on Abuelo Antonios property.
An Interview by Shari Shepard

Speaking with Shaela Noella makes you want to slow down and catch your breath, nothing seems to betray her calm. 

After spending nine months fundraising and gaining community support from Herbalists without Borders, Shaela journeyed through Mexico to learn about the concept of curanderismo (the art of curing); from Tijuana, to Mexico City, Oaxaca, to the Yucatan Peninsula, with the help of friends and translators along the way, Shaela sought out elders to share their medicinal wisdom with her.

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A ceremony on a mountaintop in Mexico City with many people on this spiritual path.

​Before and during her trip, “things just fell into place. I had so much support from HWB and from my community.” Shaela mentioned. The impetus for her quest was a question posed by the name of her new musical group: Las Curanderas, (women healers), when a member of her band raised the issue of cultural appropriation in the naming of her group. From this Shaela was inspired to do some deeper soul searching.

“It sounds funny now, but I wanted to ask Curanderos what they think about Las Curanderas.” That’s how the Curandera Project was born. However, her reasons for going to Mexico were also more personal - “My father is Spanish, Pueblo and Apache,” she says reflectively. “It’s also about self-discovery. It put me on an introspective path.”
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Altar in front of the Temezcal.
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Rita, a Curandera Shaela studied with in Mexico City.

​Curanderismo is a mixture of healing traditions practiced by Spanish Catholics, practitioners of Santeria, and the indigenous healing ways of North, Central, and South America reaching back to the prominence of the Inca, Aztec, Maya, and indigenous people of the Southwest. In regard to western traditions, the influence of Catholicism on curanderismo can be seen in the observance of a duality between good and evil, of black magic and white magic, that wasn’t there before. “But there are a lot of curanderos that don’t believe in that aspect,” Shaela says. Shaela’s goal is to pave the way for others to learn from the Curanderas and to establish a connection so others can go back and continue learning. “I’m inspired by connecting wisdom and cultures across the border. There are no borders for music, education, wisdom. I want to honor that we’re more connected than disconnected.“

Shaela makes note that there is  a sense of urgency to learn as much as possible before the knowledge of the Curanderos dies out. “All of the curanderas I learned from were in their 60’s, 70s, or 80s. The sense from them was ‘God-willing, if I’m still alive. Then yes, come back to learn.’”
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Vendor at an herb market.
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Temezal at Rita's home, for healing and purifying.

​Shaela’s visit was only meant to last a few weeks, but when the Coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a halt, she and her companion found themselves stranded in Mexico indefinitely.  “We were stuck down there but it was an opportunity to learn even more. I was learning but not as intensively until the quarantine.” When asked what she carries with her from her experience, she pauses, before stating several things without hesitation:

“All the different ways people live. Trusting more in the elements as power tools for healing. Trusting more in myself and my journey. Faith in humanity - community is pretty powerful.”

There’s that calm lightness again. Is it any wonder that over hundreds of miles navigating new and familiar territory with friends and strangers alike, that her journey was anything but powerful? 

While the Curandera Project is currently on hold, Shaela still hopes to share her experience with the wider community as a documentary.

To other herbalists and questers she says “Believe in your dream and that you’re completely worthy of it. Then follow it.”
​
Maybe at the root of that calm is a solid faith in others and in life to connect us across borders that don’t really exist, and across generations with arms open wide.
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The hut where Shaela learned Maya Abdominal Massage with Doña Rafaela.

​For more information on Shaela Noella or La Curandera Quest, please enjoy this video post.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=3064209730284782&ref=watch_permalink

You can also follow her at:
https://www.facebook.com/LasCuranderasBand/

​

Blog Contributor: 

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Shari Shepard has had a love for wild things since her first summer spent in her grandmother's garden in Alabama. She is a writer, wanderer, teacher, ritualist, and musician. She comes from the sea spray and redwoods of the Ohlone lands, now widely known as the San Francisco Bay Area by way of the Chattahoochee River Valley once stewarded by the Muscogee. Her herbal learning is influenced by the Wise Womxn tradition, western herbalism, the root workers of the southeastern United States, andsh West African traditional medicine. She credits the plant world for opening up a doorway to deeper understanding about her ancestral lineage and for helping her step on the hard yet rewarding path of healing the traumatic loss of cultural identity caused by the colonization and captivity of her ancestors.
​
Her favorite medicine food is ginger, her favorite tea is Tulsi, and her favorite tree is the Sweet Gum.

Pinterest Curanderas Project
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Autumn Newsletter, 2020

10/8/2020

 
The HWB quarterly newsletter is where we share more about our work, chapters, clinics, members, projects, and activities around the globe. It is also how we update members and Coordinators on what others do. So many people are doing amazing work in their communities - we love to share. And, while we each focus on the needs of our communities, we do not live in a bubble, and by sharing our stories, being aware of others, and communicating, we are all stronger as a part of our global network that unites under a vision, mission, and shares a belief in health justice for all.  By sharing support, knowledge, experience, and connecting as allies, we all have a greater awareness of our place on this planet, and see all that we have in common as herbalists around the world. 

Together, we are stronger.
 
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READ AUTUMN 2020 NEWSLETTER
READ BACK ISSUES

HWB Newsletter Editor

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About Miriah: Adventure seeker, snowboarder, mountain climber, river rat, yogi, surfer wannabe, outdoor enthusiast. Writer, artist, activist, green medicine cratswoman, wondering explorer.

I became a member and volunteer of Herbalists Without Borders in 2012 as the Healing Arts Project Coordinator, while living in Denver, Colorado.  In 2014, I began constructing the quarterly newsletters and have served as the editor since and love it. The early newsletters were constructed while I lived remotely from Northern California; off-the-grid, on the move, and usually without internet access! I currently reside in Telluride, Colorado.

I’m striving to connect more with other Herbalists Without Borders globally on my travels and be an advocate writer on behalf of our non-profit, and freelance writer for other common causes. I truly support the humanitarian work of Herbalists Without Borders. I believe in humanity, and the moon and the stars. I’m passionate about protecting the Earth’s medicine and the rights to have access to it.

Pinterest Autumn Newsletter HWB

Rhodiola rosea

10/7/2020

0 Comments

 
We are excited to share a series of monographs on the HWB blog. Each monograph is one double-sided page that can be saved or printed as a PDF. They were designed to be a quick reference, so not every action, dosing strategy, etc. could be covered. The back-side of each monograph lists references that were used and includes sources from respected herbal texts and websites, as well as peer-reviewed journal articles. 
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DOWNLOAD MONOGRAPH (PDF)

More Printable Resources for Herbalists
​

These monograph references were designed by HWB’s Handouts Coordinator, Janelle Farkas. Janelle is also Chapter Coordinator for HWB NEPA. Becoming a member of Herbalists Without Borders is a great way to connect with or start an Herbalists Without Borders chapter of your own! 

Our chapter members support health justice and community resiliency with herbalism through a variety of unique projects and activities. HWB members also receive access to over 900 printables and eGuides on a wide range of herbalism and community wellness topics. Learn more about member benefits and join today! We look forward to growing together.   

https://www.hwbglobal.org/member-benefits.html

Janelle Farkas
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Hi, all! Starting with the fun stuff in introductions is, well, more fun! You'll find me outdoors whenever possible - biking, hiking, camping, music festivals…the list goes on. I also enjoy yoga, cooking, cuddling my cats, and learning. Managing the number of herbal courses and webinars I take at one time is an exercise in discipline! My road to herbs started, as it does for many people, during a time of personal struggle. I tried to address it at a physical level through yoga, which led me to acupuncture, and then herbs. Somewhere along the way I found the courage to face the fact that the root cause was emotional; though yoga/acupuncture/herbs could help, I would have to do the work to move forward. I came away from the experience stronger, happier, and with a deep appreciation for plants. The rest is history.

Find the HWB NEPA Chapter on Facebook. ​

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