An Understanding of Rootwork (African-American Herbal Medicine)

What is Herbal Medicine?

            “Herbal Medicine is the art and science of using plants to support health and wellness.” – “Herbal Medicine FAQs” American Herbalists Guild,   https://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/herbal-medicine-fundamentals.

What is African American Herbalism?

            “We [African American] herbalists belong to a culture in which we followed the ways taught to our ancestors of Africa and the Caribbean, and we used what we learned from the Native people of this land. We weave these practices together her in the United States and created our own folk traditions from those passed down to us by our grandmothers’ grandmothers through oral traditions.” VanDyke, African-American Herbalism, p. 2

            In essence, African American herbalism has been the tools and tactics labeled as “old wives tales” and such across our 400+ year history in this hemisphere. These traditions and tools were often utilized in secret by necessity and downplayed in the dominant culture as ‘witch magic’. These practices evolved under duress and explicit attempts to disconnect Black people from the land and mechanisms of their own liberation.

How does African Diaspora Spiritualism and my spiritual and scholarly leanings play a role in my understanding of Herbalism?

            I attune myself to spirit and power using research. I recognize that all that is forgotten is not lost, and that much that is lost is able to be recovered in new ways. In this way, I adhere to the distinctly African American traditions of weaving ancestral knowledge, communal knowledge (via conversations and research), spirit knowledge (long-standing spiritual connections), and western scholarship to craft tools and practices for the modern day.

            My spirit gifts have been around since childhood. I had a clear vision of myself training as a professional athlete when I was 9 years old – a vision that revealed itself in action 7 years later. I have experienced visions of future partners, years before we had met. I directly manifested the spirit of the person I married – and spoke to my ancestors in shock while they continued to check every box I’d demanded for a life partner. I grew up in the Black Church, until I one day no longer believed in European Christianity. I now recognize the Black Church as being my Americanized entrance into Spirit, conjuring, manifestation, offering, and – yes – herbalism. From ash to palm leaves to iron nails. We are steeped in hoodoo traditions there too, for Christianity was first a front for our traditional spiritual beliefs. The tools of the Black Church are tools of my spirituality today.  

            As far as the voices of Spirit I convene with now, I call Great Spirit – God. It’s the name I learned first. My first ‘loud’ spirit conversation was with my late grandfather Charles H. Parris. He gifted me his handwriting and penchant for language. He cracked the Western Science extremism I’d carried (in spite of the earlier visions) and unlocked the gate into my birthright and legacy. I began seeking and calling the divinations of spirit by other names. The names of the Orisha of West Africa. The names of the Lwa and Ezili from the Caribbean. The names of the Egyptian Pantheon. I have had discussions with Anubis, Anansi, and Shango so far. It is said that prayer, divination, and metaphysical inspiration are means of tapping into our own subconscious leanings and desires. I believe that just as trauma and good-living can settle into our bones/be passed down to our children, so can our spiritual strengths, hopes, and dreams be passed down. The Spirits are a part of me just as much as the Ancestral Struggles. They shape me, teach me, and when something I haven’t personally encountered feels like home – I know I’ve latched on to an herb, tool, or process that is mine by birthright to use, redefine, and share as I feel is true.

How has my family history shaped my herbalism?

            My herbalist roots are shrouded in secrecy. It is found in the practices that survived both external and internalized colonization. I am still seeking my family history, but I am aware that my Caribbean roots involve both enslavers and the enslaved. (Free Black enslavers were somewhat prominent across the Caribbean). I am aware that my southern roots involve Black people making undesirable and difficult choices – such as fighting for the confederate army – to obtain security by any means available for the ensuing generations. Ancestrally, we slowly lost touch with spirituality outside of Christianity – while retaining a dependence on herbalist practices to ensure our survival. My existence is the hope and byproduct of those decisions. With the freedoms I now possess, I believe I am tasked with the African promise to “Go back and get it”. To sweep my hand across the surface of the dirt, dig into my roots, find the points of connection and spirit and pull them – finally – into the light of day. I believe near every Black American has had some encounter with Black Herbalism (read more in a future course/post).

            There is an old African saying: “When an elder dies, a library is burnt to the ground”. I consider myself lucky that I have come of age when those slightly older than I have made it their life’s missions to use the bonds they have and go into the communities to seek answers and document practices. Books, websites, research, discussions, all these means of seeking are accessible to me and form the foundation of my own practice. Through this journey I have been given points of access to my own ancestors and elders. I continue to discover paths of concurrent contact. I still believe written word as conversation and direct contact, a conversation between yourself and someone else. I look forward to using these new avenues of conversations where the response to my questions can occur in real time. Between the spirits who have always guided me and the drive to go out and get what I need (i.e. research) I believe I have formed a practice that is true to the essence of Black Hoodoo and Rootwork. My goal with my products, writings, and practice is to honor the sacrifice of my ancestors, the needs of my present people, and the struggle we are still in with re-new’d tools of the trade. For sustenance, for sustainability, and for liberation.

Modern Rootworker in the woods in WA State