Stephanie's Studio

                                                                          (Billy Holiday) I have known many people in my family to be addicted to different substances and activities, as well, as artist and writer friends. These addictions include gambling, shopping, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sugar and food. Sad to say, the two dearest people, who were related to me, that were addicted to drugs, fell into IV drug use and died from the complications of AIDS. Alcohol is an ugly disease that consumes many creative, sensitive and emotional people. It is a nervous system depressant and people with that affliction often also suffer from depression. Right along with alcohol comes sugar which also effects the emotions and can lead to sudden blood sugar level drops, that verge on making one depressed. And then,...

So, here we are, back to Friday and the Natural Healing Corner. Today, I invite you to focus on your everyday rituals. What do you do every day without fail? What makes your day a go, right from the start? I like to share and be with my family. More specifically, I enjoy waking up and sharing a drink with my son and husband. It doesn’t matter what type it is, green tea, hot cocoa, chamomile, rooibos or even coffee, it’s the shared activity of drinking that is the ritual. As we sip our drink, we mentally and spiritually prepare for the day ahead. Recently, my husband’s friend, shared a gorgeous bag of dried hibiscus flowers with us and advised us to make tea. Though it originated in the Motherland, in Angola, it is popular in his native Mexico, and this friend feels that hibiscus is an elixir for a good, strong life. Our shared drink, at least between my husband and me, over the past week has been hibiscus tea. Blood red, hibiscus has strong red, healing medicine in the for...

If you know anything about my books ( A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies for Body and Spirit ), you will know that I spend a lot of time and thought writing about herbs. As a magical herbalist, I write about the magic, mythology, folklore, and healing properties of herbs. In "A Healing Grove" I dedicated the book to trees so a tree is our point of departure today.  I have decided that on Friday’s I will turn this blog into my Natural Healing Corner. Here I will talk about all the qualities of herbs I love as well as nature’s healers like stones, crystals, water and fire. I am partial to Fridays. Not in a TGIF sort of way but for its connection to the goddesses, particularly Venus.  I call it the Natural Healing Corner because in a conversation with an octogenarian African American woman from the south, she mentioned that they (meaning Black folk) didn’t have doctors when she was growing up; just Natural Healers. Today, I want to focus in on Linden Flower, ...