Holly Bellebuono - Women Healers of the World: The Traditions, History, and Geography of Herbal Medicine

Other Books by the Author

The Essential Herbal for Natural Health:

How to Transform Easy-to-Find Herbs into Healing Remedies for the Whole Family

The Authentic Herbal Healer:

The Complete Guide to Herbal Formulary & Plant-Inspired Medicine for Every Body System

How to Use Herbs for Natural Health Audio CD Series

The recipes, stories, and information included here are for educational purposes only; they reflect the authors experience and are not intended as a substitute for professional care. If you are sick or injured, please seek the advice of a trusted health care professional.

Copyright 2014 by Holly Bellebuono

Foreword copyright 2014 by Rosemary Gladstar

Watercolors copyright 2014 by Tracy Thorpe

Photographs copyright 2014 by Holly Bellebuono unless otherwise indicated

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Helios Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Helios Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Helios Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Helios and Helios Press are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

www.skyhorsepublishing.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Cover photographs provided by Holly Bellebuono, Harry Beach, Ian White, and Lillian Chang

Map and timeline designed by Nicholas Grant

Print ISBN: 978-1-62914-589-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-194-2

Printed in China

Dedication

This book is lovingly dedicated to my mom, Carla S. Horton, RN, who set the bar high as a nurse for forty-four years and continues to be a source of strength, generosity, and creativity

... and to the following women who participated in the creation of this book but passed away before its completion; I am honored to introduce these women who shared their transcendent passion and inspiring talent with us all. Because of their perseverance and work, we have an incredible world heritage of healing.

Because of the people in this book, we have herbalism.

For

Raylene Haalelea Kawaiaea

Mary Beith

Cascade Anderson Geller

Mama Kia Ingenlath

Juliette de Bairacli Levy

Table of Contents

Foreword

While herbalism can lend itself to encyclopedic lists of herbs and their actions, its also rich in heritage and the stories of people. Herbalism can be the launching pad from which great people create themselves.

Holly Bellebuono, from The Authentic Healer

When Holly first shared her vision with me to create a documentary on our herbal heritage by interviewing and recording the stories of women healers from around the world, I was intrigued and supportive from the start. The project sounded exciting and grandto travel the world, interviewing, recording, and photographing the remarkable stories of women herbalists and to create a slide documentation to preserve these stories for future generations. If anyone could do this project welland with flairHolly could! And, of course, she did; she not only created a memorable slide presentation that has been highlighted at numerous gatherings throughout the country, but also created this beautiful and brilliant book that documents and preserves the lively stories of women healers and the rich feminine her-story of herbalism (or, her-balism).

And what a treasure this book is! Visually stunning, Women Healers of the World is filled with colorful photographs of herbs and the lovely, wild-hearted women who favored them; it also contains beautiful paintings, renditions of influential women healers who lived long before the advent of tape recorders or cameras. But more than just another lovely coffee table book to be displayed for its appealing layout, this book invites us to delve deeply into the mystery and power of herbal healing and its importance in our global history, both past and present. Holly thoughtfully includes enriching insights about the countries and geography in which each healer lives, interesting and unusual facts about the plants, herbal healing, and global herbalism.

There is much to learn here.

But at the core of this book, its essence and heartbeat, are the remarkable stories of women healers. As diverse as the pioneering spirits of Tulsi La Brun and Inez White from outback Australia to Zoubida Charrouf, the celebrated expert on Argan oil and champion of womens rights in Morocco, to the wise, gentle Polynesian elder, Auntie Velma DelaPena, who carries on the traditions of the ancient Kahunas on the island of Hawaii, each story is inspiring, each woman empowering; the herbs weave the stories together as Holly navigates us on a journey around the world, through time, to the present.

As different and unique as each womans story is, the central themes are similar; each womans desire to serve humanity, to heal, their love of plants, their sense of purpose. But Holly captures something else unique, but similar, thats core to each of the storytellers and brings it to light: the value of mentoring and confidence in healing . These two principles are, I feel, the essential messages Holly brings forth through these women healers and their stories.

We need to take seriously our long-term influence on the children in our lives and understand that we have the power to change the future and The captainthe herbalist, the wise womancharts the course, tests the waters, stands at the helm with confidence. Like adages to be remembered, she plants these thoughts firmly as though they are seeds in our hearts to be nourished, and then moves on to the next chapter... her next project, a new vision, navigating onward.

Holly was the perfect visionary for creating such a profoundly moving work. A dedicated and impassioned herbalist, she is well known in the herbal community for her generous teaching style, informative books, and her popular online course. For more than eighteen years, Holly has practiced her herbal craft in the small village of Marthas Vineyard, but her teachings are wide spread. A well-known presenter at herb events across the country, Hollys slide presentation, Our Healing Heritage: Celebrating World Medicine and Women Healers has been featured at several conferences and events. Back home in her apothecary garden on Marthas Vineyard, Holly grows, gathers, and makes herbal medicine for her communityand beyond. Like many of the woman healers she interviews, Holly was mentored by several older herbalists and is now passing her knowledge and love of plants to her own children and the children of her community. In fact, Holly is one of the wise women healers she writes about in this book... one of those who knows the value of mentoring and has attained confidence in healing . One day, someone else, perhaps one of those young herbalists shes been mentoring, will be writing Hollys personal herbal story, preserving it so that the long continuum of our herbal traditions and the stories that give them spark and bring them alive will continue on for future generations of plant lovers, healers, and green enthusiasts.