The Healing Tree : Botanicals, Remedies, and Rituals from African Folk Traditions
INFORMATION
“A beautiful blend of folklore, botanical science, acquired wisdom, and spiritual guidance.”
—from the foreword by Luisah Teish
“If you want to learn about the reciprocal spiritual connection between humans and trees, you’re going to love this beautiful book.”
—Tess Whitehurst, author of The Magic of Trees
Reclaiming traditional botanical and herbal practices has never been more important than it is today. So much of our future depends on our ability to use ancient earth knowledge. In this crucially important book, author Stephanie Rose Bird recounts the story of the sacred wood: how to live in it, learn from it, and derive spiritual enrichment from it, as well as how to preserve and protect it. The Healing Tree offers functional, accessible recipes, remedies, and rituals derived from a variety of African and African American traditions to serve mind, body, soul, and spirit.
The Healing Tree celebrates the forest: its powers, spirits, magic, medicine, and mysteries. Bird shares how trees have provided her with personal healing, then allows us to share in that process for our own benefit. Bird’s book follows her own personal journey, but Africa is always her touchstone—the persistent and tenacious ancestral mother wisdom and spiritual foundation that refuses to fade away. The Healing Tree preserves this knowledge, presenting it as relevant and viable and demonstrating in intimate detail how vestiges of that knowledge took root in the Western Hemisphere, in African American culture, and more broadly in American culture in general.
Previously published as A Healing Grove, this updated edition includes a new preface by the author and a source guide for the botanicals discussed within.
“From the rooter to the tooter! An old idiomatic Southern term that means “to waste little” and “to use all available resources.” It is in this sense that I use the term to imply that in the writing of The Healing Tree, Stephanie Rose Bird has created a much-needed literary work that assists the reader with the understanding of the history, culture, and practical uses and applications of the natural healing properties contained within trees, barks, roots, leaves, herbs, flowers, berries, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc., as a source for healing our minds, bodies, and souls from Africa to America and abroad. One of the most significant take away statements from the book for me is, ‘Wherever you live, you can still be an African-inspired herbalist!’ Thank you, Priestess Stephanie. Ashé!”
—Awonifa A. Ifayomi Stanton, Yoruba priestess, wholistic health practitioner, and healer
About the Author
Stephanie Rose Bird Stephanie Rose Bird holds a BFA cum laude from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University, and an MFA from the University of California at San Diego, where she was a San Diego Opportunity Fellow. She was a professor of fine art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for many years. She has also taught at the Illinois Institute of Art, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and Garfield Park Conservatory. Bird works as an artist, herbalist, aromatherapist, and sole proprietor of Almost Edible Natural Products. As a Fulbright senior scholar, Bird studied the art, rituals, and ceremonies of Australian Aborigines in the outback of the Northern Territory. Bird’s fine art is held in several national and international art collections, and she has exhibited in numerous galleries, museums, universities, and public spaces.Choose options