The Healing Tree
Botanicals, Remedies, and Rituals from African Folk Traditions

The Healing Tree celebrates the forest: its powers, spirits, magic, medicine, and mysteries. Author Stephanie Rose Bird shares how trees have provided her with personal healing, then allows us to share in that process for our own benefit and, by extension, provide healing for Earth's beleaguered forests. 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. Although many botanicals and herbals have been published, they tend to focus on Europe and the Americas. For many, the word "rainforest" is synonymous with the endangered Amazon Basin, as if that were Earth's only endangered patch of healing green. Africa, the Mother Continent and reputedly the birthplace of the entire human race, remains largely ignored. Yet African wild lands are as endangered as the Amazon. Equally endangered are the traditional indigenous cultures of Africa, caretakers of sophisticated botanical medicinal systems whose roots stretch back to the proverbial dawn of time. The book offers functional, accessible recipes, remedies, and rituals derived from a variety of African and African American traditions to serve mind, body, soul, and spirit.