At the Threshold

Starting this blog feels a bit like opening a door I’ve been standing in front of for years. I’m new to blogging, so in many ways this space will serve as a kind of public diary. A place where I can share, reflect, ask questions, and document the journey I find myself on.

I am a biracial woman raised by my white family in a predominantly white city. I am grateful for my family who did the best they could, and I am lucky to feel deeply connected to my Caucasian heritage. My mother’s father was a first-generation immigrant from Denmark, and Danish culture has played a significant role in shaping my life. 

At the same time, the circumstances of my upbringing led me to try to be someone I wasn’t in order to fit into the white community around me. When you try to act like someone you’re not, you never truly find where you belong.

Because of that, much of myself has remained unknown to me.

As my Saturn return comes due, I turned 28 this January, I feel a deep pull to meet myself again. And I've realized that I cannot truly do that without reconnecting with my black lineage.

Realizations like this rarely come from thin air. I was lucky enough to have been brought to herbal medicine and dedicated enough to search out a school that spoke to a deep part of myself.

I began studying with the Well of Indigenous Wisdom school of herbal medicine three years ago. WOIW trains and supports clinical herbalists with a focus on the decolonization of herbal medicine. 

What does it mean to decolonize herbal medicine? Herbalism does not exist apart from the Indigenous communities who have lived in relationship with the plants many people now seek for healing and connection. Honoring this heritage, through acknowledgment, respect, and amplification of these communities, allows for a deeper appreciation of both the plants and the world around us. When we decolonize a practice, we also begin to decolonize ourselves.

Through this work, I came to realize that in order to find peace within myself and the connections I truly longed for, I needed to rediscover the part of me that had been lost to time.

So I planned a road trip.

A trip that would take me closer to the people, places, and traditions I am determined to reconnect with. Since herbalism brought me to this place, and because plant medicine is deeply woven into the heritage of Black Americans, it is only fitting that I view this journey through the lens of plant medicine.

This blog will follow me on my journey toward self-discovery through the decolonization and reintegration of Southern American folk herbalism, and I hope you will join me. Together, we will walk in the footsteps of those who came before us and learn from the elders who still live among us. My hope is that this blog can inspire those who, like myself, have drifted from their Black or Indigenous heritage, while also inviting those who may not initially see themselves within these communities to cultivate a deeper appreciation (or at least a greater understanding) of the cultures that remain an essential part of our shared, globalized world.