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Full Description
A guide to folk herbal healing and reconnecting with ancestral traditions
• Details the healing techniques and folk wisdom the author learned from her Italian grandparents and from healers in Southern Italy, including plant preparation methods, medicines, rituals, recipes, kitchen magic, and protective magic
• Provides a materia medica of plants important in this tradition, sharing each plant's history, mythology, and both practical and magical uses
• Reveals how working with traditional plant medicines can help us connect to and revitalize our own ancestral traditions for deep inner healing
Building upon the in-depth folk wisdom she learned from her immigrant grandparents as well as from local healers in Southern Italy, second-generation Italian-American and experienced herbalist Lisa Fazio shares herbal traditions and practices from the Italian diaspora and reveals how working with traditional plant medicines can help us connect to ancestral traditions for deep inner healing.
She explains how the herbal healing practices of her Italian ancestors were simply a part of everyday life, what they called Benedicaria, which literally means "the Blessing Way" but is more often translated as "the things we do." Examining how plants are not only food and medicine but a vital yet invisible part of traditional communities, she details the techniques of Benedicaria, folk Catholicism, and the animistic traditions of her ancestors, including plant dialects, preparation methods, rituals, and recipes, as well as provides a materia medica. Discussing the relationship between Italian folk medicine and Italian witchcraft, she explores kitchen magic and protective magic, including practices for warding off the adverse effects of the evil eye.
Sharing valuable and nearly forgotten teachings from the Southern Italian herbal tradition, the author also shows how her journey to reconnect with her family's healing practices offers guidance for anyone seeking to reconnect with their ancestors.
Contents
Foreword by MaryBeth Bonfiglio
PREFACE
Finding Myself in Plants
INTRODUCTION
Wild-Foraged and Garden-Grown
Remembrances
PART I
ORIGINS OF SOUTHERN ITALIAN FOLK MEDICINE
1 La Medicina Contadina
From Ancient Mediterraneans to Italian Americans
2 A Fusion of Knowledge
Western Herbalism and Italian Folk Medicine
3 Animism, Totemism, Oracles, and
Chthonic Gods
Healing as a Divinatory and Spiritual Art
4 Mothers of Grain
The History and Cycles of Farming and
Parthenogenesis
5 Birth-Life-Death
Household Representations of the Cycle of Life
PART I I
MODERN ADAPTATIONS OF FOLK WISDOM
6 Renaissance Medicine
A Bridge to Modern Herbalism
7 Stregoneria and Benedicaria
A Synthesis and Reclaiming of Italian
Witchcraft and Magic
8 Segnatura
The History and Practices of the
Language of the Soul
9 Grazia and the Holy Wonderworkers
The Magic of Grace and the Saints
PART I I I
PRACTICAL SKILLS AND TECNIQUES
10 Preparations and Treatments
Basic Herbal Medicine and Kitchen Magic
11 Protezione
Tools, Charms, and Practices for Averting Harm
12 Portafortuna
Divinatory Arts for Good Fortune
13 Dream Incubation
Healing through Communal and
Individual Practices
PART I V
MATERIA MEDICA
Introduction to the Materia Medica
Basilico (Basil)
Alloro (Bay Laurel)
Belladonna (Belladonna)
Canapa (Cannabis)
Sambuco (Elder)
Finocchio (Fennel)
Aglio (Garlic)
Altea or Malva (Mallow)
Artemisia (Mugwort)
Verbasco or Tasso Barbasso (Mullein)
Oliva (Olive)
Prezzemolo (Parsley)
Rosa (Rose)
Rosmarino (Rosemary)
Ruta (Rue)
Iperico (Saint John's Wort)
Noce (Walnut)
Resources and Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
