My friend Mike McPuff just released his new project, Sporeprint Vol. 1. My contribution was an article on the significance and medicine of Fire Cider. Check it outtt.
“Learning to Love Criticism,” by Tara Mohr from The New York Times.
Appreciating these words as I launch my own business and build my clinical practice. At the end of the day, I know that my self-esteem is my most inexhaustible resource. When I the ‘other’ voices tell me I’m an imposter, I say, “No, I was born this way.”
This Samhain I was inspired to craft a drink that would warm the spirit, ground and root our energy, and bring an air of relaxed euphoria to the evening. Samhain is typically graced with the potions and brews of the harvest season that are so familiar to us of European ancestry: cider, mulled wine, and mead. However, in Mexico it is customary to consume drinking chocolate for Dia de los Muertos, another co-occuring holiday of honoring our ancestors past.
Chocolate as Medicine
Rich and sensual, cacao has a long history as a ceremonial drink of Central America by ancient and indigenous peoples.
Beyond being a nervous-system stimulant, cacao raises vitality with nourishment. It contains protein, calcium, carotene, B vitamins, magnesium, flavonoids, essential fatty acids, and is dense in antioxidant magic. These nutrients further fuel our liver’s to help us release what is no longer needed from our bodies.
Theobromine, loosely translated to ‘god-food,’ is a primary phytochemical constituent of cacao and known for it’s ability to intensify the effects of the neurotransmitter Dopamine. Dopamine is partly responsible for ‘excitatory moods,’ creating feelings of arousal. Theobromine also binds to the same cell receptors as caffeine, but it does not signal for as strong of a response making for a more temperate experience. Chocolate’s ability to create these feelings of pleasure and euphoria is what enables us to connect with the energy of our hearts.
As the spirit world greets ours, the Day of the Dead signals for us to reckon with any transformational shifts we are moving towards, whether we are looking to deepen our understanding of who we are and where we come from or if we are wanting to release old patterns and traumas. Connecting with our heart, and by extension our ancestors, gives us the courage to feel safe to do deep work that is often difficult and necessary. Chocolate just makes that process a little bit sweeter.
Preparing Your Drinking Chocolate
Our Mexican-style drinking chocolate came from a local bean-to-bar company, Dead Dog Chocolate, while perusing the WitchCraft Mercantile at The Mercury Cafe in Denver. As suggested by the makers, hot water will potentiate the nuance and flavors of your chosen drinking chocolate; however, I chose coconut milk as my base.
Stimulating constituents, like theobromine and caffeine, are absorbed at a slower, more consistent rate when paired with fatty creams and oils. The fat pairing makes for an even, gentle rise in energy that produces less of a ‘crash’ as the effects dissipate. Coconut oil, too, with all of it’s wide-ranging benefits, is a great source of energy on its own. It is made of of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which can even more readily be used by the brain as a more substantial form of energy than glucose, our body’s typical resource for fuel. Stable energy that heightens my sense of pleasure? Yes, please.
Before melting my chocolate and coconut milk together, I selected a handful of spicy and sweet herbs to infuse with my milk. My chosen plants have an affinity for relaxing and tonifying the nervous system, reducing stress, warming our circulation, and creating space for energy to release and flow. These herbs have the reputation, too, as aphrodisiacs and longevity tonics. While such descriptions are often generalizations, It is hard to not feel sensual when the body feels warm, nourished, and deeply relaxed.
This drinking chocolate is great for sharing with large groups after feasting and supports the continuation of a festive evening. The portions below are intended for large gatherings, but feel free to adapt this recipe to your own needs. This recipe is great for relaxing evenings at home when you want to do some intentional self-care. I have found that the infused coconut milk, with or without chocolate, also makes for a delicious coffee creamer alternative for a stress-free morning. I promise, your day will feel luxurious and lovely from the start.
Samahin Herbal Drinking Chocolate :
Serving Size: 2 cups, Serves 25
1oz Ashwagandha
1oz Damiana
.5oz Rose
.5oz Muira puama
.25oz Ginger
.25oz Cinnamon
.25 Cardamom
2.5gal coconut milk
.5gal filtered water
minimum 1/3 cup coconut oil
2 cups chopped organic dark chocolate (chili-infused chocolate is best)
Begin by combining your liquids together in one large stock pot. Warm the contents on med-high heat until reaching a rolling simmer.
Add your herbs and stir. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover the pot with a lid. Allow your herbs to infuse, or steep, for approx. three hours.
Once the herbs are done steeping, strain plant material from milk using a colander. Redistribute the infused milk into the stock pot and add your chopped dark chocolate. Stir the chocolate in as it melts, taking care to keep it from burning at the bottom of the pot.
Once your chocolate is melted, enjoy your drinking chocolate well into the evening as debauchery and devilish merry-making follow...
Q: Have you ever felt shamed by the person person who was meant to care for you?
I believe it is my responsibility as a healthworker to challenge the cultural bias of ‘obesity.’ For my fellow caretakers, medical herbalist Paul Bergner, offers these five insights for us to consider:
Release your minds conditioning towards ‘fat shaming’ and ‘weight stigmatization’
Weight stigmatizaiton is a form of oppression that justifies the mental, verbal, emotional, and even physical abuse of ‘the Other.’ Understand that each person is an individual, unique and different from yourself.
Educate yourself on the social underpinnings of ‘obesity,’ including agribusiness and academic elitism.
The metabolic nature of obesity
Dismantle one’s personal insecurities around weight and body image.
Samhain is a holiday, or sabbat, during which we celebrate the harvest and honor the dead who have passed on. We lay the earth to rest and with it our loved ones, who have also returned to the fertile soil that continues to give us life.
A fitting season in which to celebrate the dead, Scorpio as a water sign rules the most intimate and alchemical of human experiences. Obsession, horror, and ecstacy... these emotions reside in the transformative and magnetic dominion of Scorpio. We are plunged into the chaos and revelation of sex, death, and rebirth.
A new moon in Scorpio asks us to take pause and sit with the pain and discomfort of our deepest woundings. This is not to relive them, but to live through them. We carry the psychic wounds of our ancestors as well as our own. This genetic memory can cause us to wonder at hurts that feel so familiar and for which we have no memory of. Our ancestor’s blood flows through us, and so do their scars.
As Samhain passes and we remember our ancestors, I ask to better understand those wounds born inside me. I pray that my heart can reach beyond, though this bloodline, and find the strength and peace necessary to release past hurts, mine and my ancestors.
This fall, I humble myself to the wise women, priestesses, oracles, witches, and wand-wielders. I weep for the demise of these holy ones. I weep for a time I can’t remember; of memories born from bodies that escaped being burned and hung, who learned to betray their loved ones for survival, who watched their sacred groves cut down, and the elements of their worship discarded all for their love of living in accordance with Nature. We must remember our sacred duty to our earth, and know that we were born into a time that needs our magic, our love and protection. We must release fear and stand in solidarity with our earth guardians. While I weep for our water protectors, the imminent threat of greed, and for the interruption of prayer and ceremony with violence, I also remember that there is work to be done.
At the new moon, we are invited to break spells and begin a new cycle with clear intentions. At this moon, I pray to live with compassion and the knowledge that grace is granted to us all. I pray to love those who fear me. I pray for water. I pray for nourishment and warmth. I pray for the end of colonialism. I pray for the end of consumerism. I pray for shared power and resources. I pray to be a living ancestor.
I commit to reviving the old ways by teaching others the pleasure in simple and ancient wonders. I keep these traditions alive by acknowledging the labor necessary for their manifestation.I hold sacred what is essential to life.
I will not abandon praise for the harvest and I will honor death.
Late capitalism is like your love life: it looks a lot less bleak through an Instagram filter. The slow collapse of the social contract is the backdrop for a modern mania for clean eating, healthy... Read More »
On negotiating the false idols of neoliberal self-care.
“There is immense power in the integrity of my fertility whether or not I desire to create a baby. Being aware of the nuanced phases of my cycle not only helps me avoid or achieve the conception of human life in my womb, it connects me to the rhythmic nature of divine creative energy and the opportunity to thrive in harmony with it.
I experience and respect my cycle as a micro of the macrocosm of all Creation.”
There is so much to say about boundaries and how foundational they are for our sense of self. In this post, I'll focus mainly on the relationship between our self-worth and our ability to set healt...
By: Bethany Webster
“You are your own treasure. You belong to You.
Having healthy boundaries involves being connected to your worth, being anchored to your own center of truth, and being willing to communicate with those around you authentically. It's a skill that can be learned, practiced and refined over time. When starting out it may seem scary but each time it gets easier and more empowering. Over time, we start attracting more and more people that that are willing to respect our new, healthy boundaries. The ones who are unwilling to do so will pass out of your life.
When we have healthy boundaries, we feel increasingly safe and supported within ourselves and we also become more effective at everything we do.”
Your wild body knows how to give birth. There is an animal in you that cannot be tamed; an indomitable spirit that is ever connected to Source. The necessity of this connection also brings us the grace to heal ourselves and others. The journey from and to source is destructive and implicit of growth. Our pain is natural, good, and needed to know ourselves.
The British medical system says healthy women with normal pregnancies should give birth at home or in a midwife-led facility. But 99 percent of babies in the U.S. are born in hospitals.
A recent recommendation from doctors in the United Kingdom raised eyebrows in the United States: The British National Health Service says healthy women with straightforward pregnancies are better off staying out of the hospital to deliver their babies.
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