In this episode we hear from Angelique Sobande Greer who is a world traveled speaker, herbalist, teacher, consultant, author & spiritual life coach delivering high energy presentations delivered with inspiration, humor, and a down to earth style.

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Since 1992, Natural Choices Botanica has stood at the forefront teaching students the art of herbalism & holistic health. What began as an herb catalog business quickly blossomed into a successful retail store. By 1999, the store was devastated by a tornado and she was forced to reshape the vision. Sobande began teaching classes and workshops at colleges & conferences. The founder’s living room and backyard became the hub for retreats & holistic studies while her kitchen quickly blossomed into an amazing herbal apothecary.

The NCB School of Herbalism & Holistic Health is the oldest African American School of Herbalism & Natural Health in the United States that teaches the art of healing the old fashion way. Sobande is also the visionary founder of Sacred Waters Herbal Retreat for Women Color & the Annual Afro Botany Immersion Conference in Costa Rica.

In this Episode:

Herbalism and Ancestors

African Roots of Herbalism

Granny Medicine, Sitting at the Feet of Our Elders

Oral Transmission & African Styles of Learning

Divine Contracts

Reflecting Our Goodness as African People

Being Honest About Who We Are

Sankofa

Relearning Survival Basics & How To Sustain Ourselves

Thinking & Operating With Longevity

Afro Botany Conference and Immersion

Sacred Waters Women of Color Retreat

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Featured Plant Ally: Cotton (Gossypium)

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Resources and Links:

www.naturalchoicesbotanica.com

www.sacredwatersretreat.com

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Music:

Rain, David K

Rain, Sunday Service Choir

Love Is The Message, Yussef Dayes & Alfa Mist

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Shout Outs:

Angelique Sobande Greer

Kalliopeia Foundation

George Peterson Jr.

Maneesh Madahar

Welcome to Season 2 of Medicine Cypher with your hosts Maya Blow and Bae laurel!

Join us for this season as we explore what it means to grow into the wildest, brightest dreams of our ancestors. Over the course of 13 episodes, we bring together interviews with herbalists, farmers, artists, change makers, and teachers of African descent who are shining, vibing, and sharing their light and gifts in powerful ways.

Season 2 is a weaving across time and space with recordings from before the pandemic as well as new interviews fresh of the press! This season is a gathering of wisdom to help us manifest the dreams that have been planted by generations of our ancestors before and to honor the new growth that is blooming right now for all of us!

The show is grown locally in the SF Bay Area and taps into the larger network of African diaspora across the U.S. and world.

Join us as we sit down with the one and only Yeye Luisah Teish. Not only a teacher, dancer, storyteller, and high priestess, Yeye Teish is also a prolific author, most notably of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, her father was an African Methodist Episcopal  and her mother was a Catholic, of Haitian, French, and Choctaw heritage. Yeye Teish is an Iyanifa and Oshun chief in Yoruba tradition. Yeye Teish is one of the most well known Yoruba priestesses worldwide, who is celebrated internationally in Goddess circles as a writer and ritual-maker. She quite literally a legendary woman of great character and exceeding positive impact for this generation and all time.

In this Episode:

Cutting open the path for our work

Marie Laveau and spiritualism

Growing up with psychic experiences

War with Exxon and Monsanto

Coming up as a young, black woman in the civil rights and black power era

Repressed energy & memories coming out through dance 

Healing women survivors of childhood sexual abuse, incest, sexual enslavement, battery, domestic abuse and surgical alteration

Providing a safe space for people to have their memories

Listening deeply

Creating a cavalry of women dedicated to healing other women

Taking back power

Following the ancestors, New Orleans, Haiti, West Africa

The journey to Iyanifa and priesthood

Initiation to Oshun

The stories of orishas are spiritual physics codified

Indigenous traditions on the rise 

Responisbilities and the delicate dance of elderhood

Supplimenting the discoveries of the younger generations

Rituals for the everyday sacred

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Featured Plant Ally: Rue (Ruta graveolens)

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Resources and Links:

Yeyeluisahteish.com

Marie Laveau

Katherine Dunham

Sacredwatersretreat.com

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Music:

Sister in Yellow by Omar Sosa, El Houssaine Kili, Gustavo Ovalles · Martha Galarraga, Sub-Z, Yassir Chadly

Bullerengue para un Angel by Orita Cantora

Water Drumming by Baka women of Cameroon

Pour me Water by Mr. Eazi

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Shout Outs:

Yeye Luisah Teish

Sacred Waters Retreat

George Peterson Jr.

Welcome to Episode 4 of Medicine Cypher where we interview our incredible friend and mentor Michele Elizabeth Lee, author of "Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African-American Healing". A native of Oakland, Michele was raised in a family of traditional healers from the South. She's worked for over 30 years in the integrated arts field as an artist, curator, administrator, educator, and writer. She currently lives and works in Oakland, where she teaches art in a public school.

In this episode

Black Folk Medicine

Being on your hustle

Preventative healthcare

Oral traditions, treasures of stories

Chalk & clay as medicinal detox

Herbs for survival

Cod liver oil as a superfood

Growing up in the art world

Artist residencies in indigenous communities

Pushing the visual dialogue

Queen Quet, Gullah nation

Earth systems update

We are immortal

1750- connections of pre industrial period when CO2 began rising

Bearing witness to change

Global warming & environmental degradation

Adaptogenic herbs and plants for daily flushing, detox, fortification and resilient health

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Featured Plant Ally: Castor (Rinicus Communis)

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Resources and Links:

workingtheroots.blogspot.com

hannahmayree.com

blackbanjoreclamationproject.org

queenquet.com

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Music:

all music in this episode by Hannah Mayree

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Shout Outs:

Michele E. Lee

George Peterson Jr.

In this episode of Medicine Cypher, we sit down with Jada Imani, a dynamic MC and teaching artist from the Bay by way of East St. Louis. ... Jada encourages people to dig into their truths, celebrate their authentic selves and experiences. Her work is mirrored in community through music showcases, artist talks, and workshops.  She intends to assist the cultural and structural evolution of groups and individuals who are seeking healthier ways of (co)existing. Jada builds coalitions with communities of poets, Hip-Hop heads and entrepreneurs alike.

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In this Episode: 

Self Image Psychology

Pushing the Boundaries of What We Think is Possible

Patterns & Personal Power

Using Our Limbs in the Spiritual World

Accessing the Home Within You

Everything Exists in Everything

Angels, Guides, We Choose Our Parents...

Feeding Your Ancestors

Trust- You'll Fall Exactly Where You Need To Be

Living in Fear is Deep Suffering

Courage is Necessary

Living With Intention

Trust in Your POWER

Five Element Astrology

Childlike Insistence

Fox Energy: Adaptability, Becoming Like the Wind

Art of Oneness 

Featured Plant Ally: Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)

Resources and Links: 

Tatuvision.com

Psycho Cybernetics, Maxwell Maltz & Dan Kennedy

Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield

Holographic Universe, Michael Talbot

The Quietest Revolution, Amber Khan

Tom Kenyon

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Music: 

Family Over Everything by Jada Imani prod. Jaleel Carter

Drip by Jada Imani prod. MejiWahn

Who Else by Jada Imani prod. Baghead

Though U Knew by Jada Imani prod. Mcstravick

Some Breathe Smooth by Jada Imani prod. Baghead

Sometimes I Feel Like by Jada Imani prod. Baghead

Freestyle, Jada Imani

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Shout Outs: 

Jada Imani

George Peterson Jr.

Join us as we sit down with Afia Walking Tree, M.Ed. Percussionist, Educator, Ritualist is a world-class cultural drummer, ambassador, spiritual activist, leadership development advocate and trainer. She founded Spirit Drumz in 1994 in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Walking Tree’s drum-songs are prayers of gratitude for the generosity of spirit. Her lyrics are evolutionary teachings, addressing present day issues of social justice, wellness, and self-love resiliency rooted in liberation of the global Family. Afia Walking Tree's destiny prioritizes Expressive and Healing Arts modalities: African Diasporic Drum and Dance, Permaculture, Holistic Nutrition, and Environmental Justice to activate collective responsibility and transform injustices facing our peoples. 

In this Episode:

The Power Returns

Reactivating, Rejuvenating, Restoring

Drumming for Women & Girls of Color

The Most Potent Way to Bring the Medicine

Connecting with Our African Ancestors

Women's Retreats in Jamaica

Personal Soul Journeys

Staying Young, Healthy & Supple

Water As A Healer

Water Fasting

Super foods, High Vibration Nutrition

Permission to Use Our Voices

Ending Violence And Healing Sexual Trauma for Women & Girls

Healing Is A Fire Burning Through Our Veins

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Featured Plant Ally: Moringa (Moringa Oleifera), drumstick tree

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Resources And Links:

Afiawalkingtree.com

Reverbnation.com/afiawalkingtree 

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Music:

All music and drumming by Afia Walking Tree and Spirit Drumz from her album

Soul Affirmationz

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Shout Outs:

Afia Walking Tree

George Peterson Jr

In episode one we hear from Bae Laurel and Maya Blow as they share their paths and talk about their work, as well as, the conception and intentions of this podcast. Guided by the teachings of mullein, this episode is an activation on the path of fire and love.

In This Episode:

Introductions

Sustainable Living, Farming, Herbal Medicine

Gridwork

Sharing our unique medicine & owning our magical gifts

Being in the flow of our dharma

Sacred land connection

Being a Beacon of Light

Activation

Waking each other up over & over again

Trust in the perfection of the moment

Recording healing stories & wisdom

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Featured Plant Ally: Mullein (verbascus thapsus)

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Resources & Links:

soulflowerfarm.com

starrootmedicine.com

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Music:

We Welcome You, Damba Primary School, Zimbabwe

Koffee, Gratitude

Oakland, Naru Kwina

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Book Recommendations:

Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy

After the First Full Moon in April (Ethnobotany), Beverly Ortiz & Josephine Peters

Island Beneath the Sea, Isabel Allende

Wild Seed, Octavia Butler

Jambalaya, Luisah Teish

Sastun, Rosita Arvigo

Traveler's Joy, Julliette de Bairacli Levy

Song of Increase, Jaqueline Freeman

Being a Green Mother, Piers Anthony

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Shout Outs:

Yasir Cross, Mom & the Cross Boys

Bae's Family & Friends

Abi Huff- The Stinging Nettle

Marc Robbi & Corrina Cohen- Fruitwood Nursery

Teri Chanturai & Grant Gilkison

Forest Cypher Friends- Jasmin Rendon, Amelia Azul, Tamu Mosley, Tadayuki Furui, Jennifer Navarro Flores