Using PLANT MEDICINE as Spirit Food to Reclaim the Mysterious Parts of You

"When you take something away from its ceremonial use and  spiritual significance, it can no longer feed your soul and it turns into something that is harmful for you... The plants can actually tell you 'how do you use me and when do you use me and how much'. Those instructions actually exist when you open yourself enough into deeper listening."
~ Aysen Adelle Farag

During one of my trips to South Africa I spoke with a sangoma (traditional healer) and told her about "the call" I felt toward certain spiritual work. I lamented that, sadly, most of the Black traditional healers that had been a dominant part of Black culture only 50 - 60 years ago had been (at best) villainized or pushed underground, and (at worst) outlawed completely in the U.S. I asked her where I, a Diasporic African disconnected from many healing traditions, should begin. 
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Her response? "You need to learn about plants."

At the time, that seemed overwhelming and it was not an answer that I expected. Over the past few years, I have begun to see the connections between plant medicine, ancestral practices and traditional modes of healing.

It was my conversation with Aysen Adelle Farag that filled in the missing pieces to my fundamental understanding of plant medicine. Aysen is a "medicine woman" and her journey to reclaim her African ancestral roots from northern Africa will inspire you and offer a path for you to follow if you desire to do the same.  The unassuming manner in which Aysen presents plants as our medicine and part of our ancestral relationships will make it easy to see connections to plants in your own journey to RECLAIM.

Like the sangoma told me a few years ago, connecting to plants is essential to understand oneself as a traditional healer. Equally important is becoming acquainted with how our ancestors traversed and navigated through the world when they depended on their connection to plants and the environment to sustain themselves.

Enjoy this very thoughtful conversation with Aysen.

Topics discussed:
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• Underlying indigenous practices in cultures & religion
• Indirect transference of traumas
• Remembering who you are no matter where you are
• Being connected enough to culture to feel ownership
• Having pride in who you are and choosing not to assimilate
• Experiencing healing through energy healing
• Learning from "other" teachers
• Tobacco as medicine
• When "the medicine speaks"
• Plants as elders/older siblings in healing the human body & spirit
• Fertility, sacred sexuality and healing the womb space
• Yoni steaming and "Hofra" (whole body smoke)
• Using the herbs available to you
• Making plant medicine a part of your daily life 
• Plants imprinting on the body
• Remembering and re-establishing relationships with plants
• Listening to your intuition and dreams with faith and trust
• Observing the life and death cycles of people & plants
• Healing from not trusting your own intuition
• How water works with plants to connect us to our ancestors

Aysen offers gratitude to her grandmothers, and her friend, Shireen.

Listen to the podcast:

Connect with Aysen about the sacred work she does with plant medicine:

Email: DreamingRootsMedicine@gmail.com
Website: http://dreamingroots.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aysendreamingroots/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lady_of_the_green/