KAREMA MCGHEE
The Healers Purse
20 Years of remedies that work
First published by Luxinous 2020 Copyright 2020 by Karema McGhee
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
To my son, Kamau Asad Bright. I love you with my entire being. Thank you for choosing me.
A million moons and many galaxies away, you beamed light like a supernova into my womb.
Im eternally grateful. This ones for you.
Table of Contents
The GUT is The Answer
The GUT is The Answer
The art of healing is extremely important to me. Its more than a passion for meits my entire life. In my 20 years of experience, Ive encountered some of the most amazing thinkers, healers, shamans. Ive met those who call themselves wizard, psychics, empaths, clairvoyants, mediums, angel guides, spiritualist, pastors, ministers, bishops with healing hands, those who believe they're on assignment from God, and even a musician who believed he could heal people with the sound of music.
Out of all of the amazing people Ive encountered while studying or traveling on this twenty-year journey, no one, no thing, no weird concept, no herb, have out mystified me more than the universal idea across people, across religious beliefs, across socioeconomic positioning, nothing out amazed me more than the concept that healing was indeed a universal language shared by all people.
It seems to be a human thing to know on a DNA level that healing is possible. The beliefs may vary with whom or how the healing can be obtained, but people generally believe that if they are sick, they can be healed. Some look to God, doctors, prayers from the ministers, pastors, or the entire church, mosque or synagogue. However, people generally believe that if they are ill, they can again be well.
This thought alone has made for an interesting twenty-year experience for me in the field of wellness, because not only do people share this common belief, its also equally true that people are so used to being ill that being well is a luxury people dont cherish. Especially here in the Western world where our lifestyles are less likely to support overall wellbeing, so much so that we take for granted just how powerful being well is. Well, of course, until we find ourselves looking for a supposed cure, treatment or relief of some sort.
Its no secret that Americans are highly intoxicated, indoctrinated and overly prescribe prescription pills. The number of prescribed pills per average American has tripled over the last few decades. According to the Lown Institute, four out of ten Americans are on an average prescribed over five prescription medications they take daily. According to the Lown Institute, this is reaching epidemic proportions. If we are, to be honest with ourselves, it appears that people are seeking wellness either due to illness, leading one to believe that many are ill or polypharmacy is the act of missing the mark as it relates to wellness.
To give you a deep dive, lets look at polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is the use of multiple medications at the same time. Meaning, if youre taking multiple medications daily, this is the act of polypharmacy. It is said that this is more common in the elderly, but my research shows that this trend is changing rapidly over the last five years, especially in cases of anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression is the most common form of mental illness in the U.S. and affects more than forty million Americans. Keep in mind that there is a multitude of anxiety disorders, which can include PTSD, OCD, and others. This should give you a better understanding of the difference in the age gap between what we now know as polypharmacy said to impact more so the elderly versus today's rapidly changing world.
To put things into perspective, Psy. D, Sana Hafeez, of Columbia University of New York says, Anxiety is the bodys response to worry and fear. However, anxiety is not that simple as there is a wide range of how deeply anxiety affects people and to what extent it interferes with their quality of life.
With so many Americans suffering from some sort of mental illness along with anxiety and depression being a part of this, it appears we have a
wellness battle not many people are honest about. People are seeking relief from one thing or another, and the battle lies in the fact that until we are facing our own mortality, we are less likely to think prevention. Until we are honest with the fact that prescription overrides prevention in the western world, well forever be in a state of medicating.
Twenty-two plus years ago, an older healer told me that the money was in the illness and not the cure, and to not bother myself with worrying about healing or finding herbs that will heal all of America and its issues of anxiety. She went on to say that I was nave to believe that the people themselves wanted the healing and that I had no right to want for them that which they didnt want for themselves. This was the biggest punch to my spirit because I just couldnt understand why people would want to be ill. I also really did believe that most people wanted wellness. Because my purpose on this planet was to help navigate people to herbs and healing modalities that could assist in overall wellness, I believe healing for everyone to be possible. It wasnt until 2002, at a round table discussion in Woodstock, New York, surrounded by herbalist, that I finally saw her concerns, but became clear about my objective in the healing arts.
A fellow herbalist whose name I cant recall had just finished a training with a healer named Susan Weed. She was pumped up and began speaking about the state of wellness, starting her sentence with, Everyone is sick in some capacity. We are all over medicated. Some people love the attention of being ill. Shocker. She went on to say, These people will leave you dry, exhausted and praying for wellness, when in fact they actually like being ill. Americans like being ill. Were all doped up, and we love it. Were all addicted, and we love it. Who are you to take our drugs by giving us flowers, herbs, tree bark and such? Big Pharma is our friend. We love the drugs, the extra treatment and the plenty of medications we take daily. Who are you to take that away? It was at that moment that I started to question everything. I really didnt understand how being a healer worked, if we, in fact, believe this to be true about most people, nor did I understand why the overall consensus around the table was in line with what she had put out there. How could this thought be the determining factor on whether or not someone got access to the power of natural medicine. Was this what we believe about most people? However concerned I was, I wrote plenty of notes and really wanted to understand the state of our country as it related to overall wellness. Not from her perspective nor the other healers at the table, but from my own.