By Joyous De Asis Miralle
For Soul Food Shack/Word On The Curb
One of the very first moments that I wanted to learn and understand our plant community, and that we are surrounded by medicine was when I was about 6 years old.
As a baby, I was born with blocked tear ducts. My mother works with plant medicine, and used eyebright and chamomile in washes and warm compresses to clear my tear ducts. But when I turned 6, I developed a huge stye in my eye for almost a year. It was so big it blocked my vision. My mom used her treatments on me, but the stye only went away temporarily and eventually those medicines stopped working at all and the stye continued to grow.
So she took me to several western doctors and they could not figure it out either.
One day, as we were leaving yet another western doctor, we were stopped on the street by an old Rasta who gave my mom instructions on how to use aloe vera to rid me of the stye forever. We found some aloe vera on our walk home, cut a bit of the leaf and went home and followed the Rasta’s instructions. Within minutes the stye was permanently gone. In 20 years old now and it has never come back
From then on i have been feeding my love, interest, and curiosity for plant medicine.
We are surrounded by medicine from the plant community. Even many of the plants classified as “weeds” are some of the most powerful medicines we can find. The modern day pharmaceutical industry literally mimics the plants that give us medicine. The problem with that is that the artificial drugs made by pharmaceuticals are not as powerful as the plants they are trying to copy cat, and they also come with side effects – many of them dangerous- that the plant medicines do not have. Especially if you know how much dosage your supposed to take
Once these pharmaceutical companies study and experiment on a medicinal plant, and figure out how to replicate it, they get a patent on the plant so that indigenous healers who have used the plants for centuries or healers who are trying to keep ancient medicines alive can no longer use the plants. When you really think about it, it’s wrong on so many levels. When you think about the timme before collinaation and if you wanna go there christianity. There were empyeres far beyond the spiritual and economice sence. Like the most famous population the egiptans. But it wamt just them, our ancestors were in a time of balance were they knew who they were and were they stood. And beuse of this they new there surrounding the medicane of the earth and the knowledge of the stars. If you compare there time and ours we have back peddled. I am from america so i only see what has been bullet on top of othher fammilys, and the remmnice of there descendants. But i believe that the only way to get ourself and surrounding is to reteach our self the balance of life. Only than can we truly understand what magik we have infornt of us and be able to use it. Not thru western medicane not fam not money not how much is yours. But thru compassion and understanding. Witch is hard to do in a society who wants to have something based off the movies purge.
Creator gave us these plants, and no one should be able to keep them from us. And using these plants are part of people’s cultures. No one should be denied their ancient ways. Western medicine is driven by money, and keeping people sick keeps the money coming in. Plant medicine is based on a deep relationship to keep wellness, health and balance not just in humans but in the plant world.
I have learned so much on the first steps on my journey. Down the line when I have more knowledge I would love to write a small book. I think everyone should know how to be there own doctor and take care of them self – physically, spiritually, mentally and everything in between. There is no time better than the present to embrace mother Earth and her wanders
I am still new on my journey but feel like i have learned so much already. I have been able to watch the seed I plant sprout. Making my own medicine to share with the people who are most impacted I feel a sense of hope and purpose, if I am doing something I know there has to be a group of people who feel the same. And its a honor to help the community get to learn about our plant family who have been here for more generations than us. And possibly thru my medicine and sharing of knowledge they to want to help their neighbors. Each one, teach one. We want (health & wellness) justice? We got Just Us