Branch & Bone Medicine Show

Vadi is a bioregional herbalist and ethnobotanist badass currently inhabiting the liminal space between diaspora and homeland. They uprooted their life in Tucson, AZ to embark on an ancestral remembrance journey in Anatolia—exploring mixed Kurdish/Cypriot/Turkish roots, learning about cultural traditions, landscapes, histories, plant and people connections, and dancing in the medicine between worlds; past and present, inshallah, to form bridges in the years to come. Their core ethos is engaging food as medicine; something they have found brings people together around the table no matter where they end up in the world. Currently, they are in Southern California, awaiting their next exploration.In this episode:How labels may alienate us from connectionsHow desert life reveals more about ourselvesGrieving loss of a familiar bioregionOcotillo medicine and magik, reparenting, intuition, boundariesEngaging with the environment you’re in to feel rootedHow eating bioregionally can help you adapt to placeHow stories of SWANA peoples’ thriving and joy is often overlooked(Note: When speaking of Boojum/cirio tree Vadi realized they mistakenly said South Africa, intending to say Baja Mexico) Connect with Vadi: @noddingthistleandrosemilk, linktr.ee/noddingthistleandrosemilkTale of Two Roses PDF recipesAlso mentioned: swanaancestralhub.org, riverroseremembrance.com, yerbanomadica.com, diasporaco.com, navigillwellness.comHost + Producer Lola Venado: lolavenado.com, @lolavenadoPodcast: xanticohouse.simplecast.com, @xantico.houseYou can support the production of this community offering by sharing, rating, or donating. Thank you!

Alisha Sommer is a California Bay Area freelance writer, photographer, visionary. She has a gift for holding sacred space, deep listening, and seeing the ordinary in extraordinary ways. Alisha has founded and edited a print literary journal (Blackberry: a magazine), published personal essays, creative nonfiction, and poetry for a variety of online and print publications, ghostwritten, and taught at Squam Art Workshops. Oh. She also slings wine.

Guest J. Allen Cross is a practicing witch of Indigenous Mexican and European descent. Born into a family of the mystically inclined, Joshua has been doing spiritual work all his life. Living in his home state of Oregon, he works as Psychic Medium/Occult Specialist for a well known Paranormal Investigation team. He writes articles for esoteric blogs such as Fire and Lux, and provides spiritual healing services to his local and Instagram community under his persona “The Silver Falls Witch”.

Sanyu Estelle is a pigmented (78%), womoonist (as constant and faithful as the tides), cissy (femme but hetero-ish), multisexual (it's a spectrum, seems unwise to call it), travel-apt (Earth is a country) and fashion forward (Funk Flag Flyage) SSJW (Sarcastic Social Justice Warrior).  Sanyu says, “I’m your forebearers attainable unreality.”

Asha Frost is an Anishinaabe woman from Neyaashiinigmiing, the Cape Croker First Nation community in Ontario, Canada. She is a Medicine Woman, Mentor, and Visionary who believes that we heal when we awaken to the beautiful medicine that we carry within. She facilitates healing in her practice through the use of Shamanic Healing, Homeopathy, and Indigenous Based Ceremony. Her purpose is to help people connect to the magic of Spirit within their lives. Her intention is to help awaken the authentic self, so that we may remember who we truly are.

Sen Elias of Crescent City Conjure in New Orleans. From a very young age, Sen could feel the tug of magic calling him to practice the occult. During his journeys, he has studied European Witchcraft, Southern Folk Magic, and Western Hermeticism; he is an initiate of the Alexandrian tradition. Sen is the owner of Crescent City Conjure, a magical business that maintains its reputation for authentic spiritual tools to be used in Witchcraft and Southern Conjure. Sen has dedicated his life to the pursuit of magical truths, and he endeavors to continue teaching the mysteries of his craft and learning from the wise.

Aysen Farag of Earth Dreams Totems in Toronto, Canada. Aysen, whose name means “Moonlight Reflected on the Water”, is an Egyptian-Sudanese medicine woman, an herbalist, plant spirit worker, and ceremony leader. She was born into a long lineage of indigenous African healers, and has been initiated as a wisdom keeper in the lineage of the Q’ero people from the Andes. She passionately shares her gifts in energy healing, sacred plant medicine, ceremony, and intuitive readings while working with the wisdom gained from various elders and the medicines that have been passed down thru the generations in her family.

Pilar Mejia of I Heal Myself to Heal the World, a space where she writes to share about her healing journey as a mestiza woman from the lands we call Mexico. Her space is not about enlightenment or sharing fake spirituality. She says, "I don’t do “spiritual work”. Spirit knows what we need and who we are." Pilar is a Slayer of Domestications, focusing on finding our authentic selves and healing our ancestral trauma, speaking up about white supremacy and racism. She is a cannabis advocate, a no-bullshit writer, intuitive healing mentor, racial justice activist, and a badass woman who is here to shake things up!

Renée Lopez, of Miss Lopez Media, is a photographer and lifestyle bruja. A brown woman of color, originally from Yakima in Central Washington, Renée moved to Portland in 2006 for a fresh start, but after a few years she began recognizing the long-standing racial divide within the city. In 2015, she became involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, becoming good friends with Portland rapper Glenn Waco. This marked a shift from taking photographs as a hobby to using her camera as a tool of resistance, documenting injustices, the Black Lives Matter movement, and Portland’s hip hop scene.

Alexis J. Cunningfolk, of Worts + Cunning Apothecary, is an intersectional herbalist, witch, and weaver of remedies. As a queer non-binary womxn of mix-d heritage, she revels in the powerful intersections of ancestral wisdom, social justice, and plant healing. She helps folks radically re-enchant their lives with herbal medicine and magickal arts through her online and in-person classes, currently based in Sacramento, CA.

Teren Nicole is a mixed-race woman living in San Francisco. She is a hairstylist by trade, and a writer, artist and energy guide by divine blueprint. Teren is able to feel, see, move, channel and transmute energy for the earth, other people and herself for art. She seeks to blend her gifts together to push the boundaries of what we think certain art forms are, asking such questions as: "Can an image or a poem transmit energy? Can energy transmit art?". She thinks so, and says we are about to find out.

Navi Gill is a Holistic Wellness educator, Ayurvedic Therapist, bodyworker, Lifestyle Consultant, and a Certified Yoga Teacher and Life Skills Coach. Her journey began as a child when she found herself immersed in books on healing, travel, astronomy, and nature, and began creating herbal remedies in her mother’s kitchen. Her curiosity to regain her family's indigenous healing practices took her back to India, allowing her to find her spiritual path and Ayurveda. It has become her dharma to explore the efforts of generations before her and offer the teachings authentically to those in search of light. When she is not in Vancouver, BC teaching, consulting, and manifesting light, she is globe trekking. Most likely in India with a spicy cup of chai, where she finds the flowers of her soul to grow most beautiful.

Gregory Dorado is a dancer, choreographer, actor, writer and director of new original performance works and films. He is a graduate of The California Institute of the Arts and founder of SHIFT, a performance collective. His performance and film work include non-traditional immersive theatrical experiences that blur the line between dance, film, theatre and performance art. His work investigates universal human experience, community engagement, and his own identity as a queer artist of color. Originally from Sacramento, Gregory is currently living in New Orleans.

Naomi Doe Moody is a multi-racial mystic living off grid with her family in a yurt at a small herbal school in Vermont. She is humbly grateful to incorporate the wisdom and guidance she receives from her teachers, mentors, allies & ancestors. It is to these spirits, living and otherwise, human and non-human, and with deep love and great respect, that Naomi dedicates all that she offers to help others heal themselves.

Welcome to the introductory episode of the Branch & Bone Medicine Show podcast with Lola Venado. In this short episode I offer an outline of what my focus is with this podcast, and share a bit of a background story, and a little bit about me.