Hey, hey Medicine Makers!

In just under a month we'll be starting our only POC Herbal Freedom School/BIPOC Communiversity session for 2019. I’m excited to say that 19 people have applied and 14 have asked for scholarships or seats in the community-funded communiversity. The majority of these medicine makers of color are chronically ill, disabled and/or living below the poverty line.

I'm happy to say that almost 4 seats have been donated by accomplices and we need your help to raise enough to get another 6 or more amazing BIPOC a seat in the communiversity.

Those who donate $20 or more will get a copy of my new zine Medicina Liberadora (translated to Liberatory Medicine) which comes in a Spanish, English and Spanglish version. If you want a peek into what we do at the Herbal Freedom School…here’s your chance and you’ll get the zine before it’s released at the end of the year. (Be sure to send your email address after donating so you can get your copy).

Donate and give amazing BIPOC medicine makers the opportunity to be a part of the 6 month Herbal Freedom School/BIPOC Communiversity healing journey, where we’ll be exploring our medicine and rediscovering our power.

White folks, BIPOC- everyone has the opportunity to contribute!

Support the BIPOC Communiversity’s healing efforts and be an accomplice to our indigenous black and brown communities, and our two spirit, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming communities because you really ARE supporting us in our healing and liberation. You really ARE making a difference by contributing to the co-creation of this sacred, healing space for indigenous black and brown medicine makers.

Send funds at gofundme.com/bipoc-communiversity-2019 or join us for the long haul, supporting us more long-term at patreon.com/liberationhealing

Go here to listen to new audio about the 2019 BIPOC Communiversity:
https://soundcloud.com/u…/bipoc-communiversity-campaign-2019

Email herbalfreedomschool@gmail.com for a transcript.

Love and liberation,

Toi

POC Herbal Freedom School/ BIPOC Communiversity 2019

BIPOC Medicine Makers, join us for our only POC Herbal Freedom School in 2019:

Apply here: https://goo.gl/forms/fcsy5sAUNX2v2I7p1

Limited seats and limited partial scholarships available. Priority goes to those who are chronically ill/disabled and/or below the poverty line.

Accomplices and Fam, Support Us by helping us fund 10 seats:

POC Herbal Freedom School - Liberatory Medicine

[Image of two beautiful children of African descent walking amongst and under a gigantic bright green canopy of plants]



BIPOC Medicine Makers!


We're dividing the POC Herbal Freedom School program into a 6-part series that you can take month by month. Join us for Lesson 1 on Liberatory Medicine, June 4th-July 8th.


You can apply here:

https://goo.gl/forms/kzaEFkAJ3fPUe1xQ2

Love and Liberation,

Toi

Spring POC Herbal Freedom School/BIPOC Communiversity 2018

Hello, Hello Medicine Makers,


I'm writing from Borikén/ Puerto Rico where there's not a whole lot of connectivity and some spotty electricity but here I am with an announcement! Spring has arrived and there's exciting news about the Herbal Freedom School this season. We'll be having a 6 month POC Herbal Freedom School/BIPOC Communiversity and we're raising funds for seats. This will be the 3rd iteration of the communiversity and the 6 month online program will give us more time to go even further IN, with 1 month for each of the 6 lessons.



If you're BIPOC and would like to rock with us, apply here **before Sunday 4/8:

https://goo.gl/forms/zvrMeifia1CKOzNy2



There will be a lottery-style drawing for the number of seats that are funded.

Our goal is to raise $3,000 which will cover 10 community- funded seats.



Please support us by making a contribution to our liberation here:

https://www.youcaring.com/2018bipoccommuniversity



If you’d like to purchase a guaranteed seat, please apply and email herbalfreedomschool@gmail.com for the registration link by 4/8. There will only be 10 seats in our 6 month program so don't sleep on this if this is what you've been waiting for! The next full 6 month program will be in 2019.



2 partial scholarships will be available for Spring 2018.

*Priority goes to those who have limited ability/ disabilities, those who are chronically ill and/or those who are living at or below the poverty line. If you’re interested in a partial scholarship, email herbalfreedomschool@gmail.com.



Join us and get Free this Spring!


Toi

Buy a zine, support an island

Hey folks,

Want to help out communities over in Borikén/PR and get some dope zines to read, too? Well, guess what- if you purchase (e)zines over at the AfroGenderqueer etsy store, the proceeds will go to relief efforts in PR. I know a number of organizers there helping out some reputable organizations + I want to donate to some QTPOC fam out there who are desperately in need of resources.

So, I've discounted the Philosophactivism zines to 4.99 and Philosophactivism 3 (the missing years) just came out this weekend.

Also, if you purchase the Ultimate Afro-Genderqueer Collection, you can get the majority of the Afro-genderqueer/Philosophactivist writings (minus Philosophactivism 3). We're talkin' the latest editions of the vintage Notes from an Afro-Genderqueer 1&2, Philosophactivism 1&2 AND Queering Herbalism (yup, gift it to that BIPOC queerdo healer in your life).

You can even find some of my latest zines like Liberatory Sustainability, Partnering with Plants, Liberatory Medicine Making 1&2 and the special edition volumes of the unreleased Queering Herbalism Encyclopedia.

Soooo, stop on by etsy.com/shop/afrogenderqueer and take a looksee and buy some rad zines written by yours truly and support my folks across the charco in Borikén in rebuilding their lives after Irma and María.

Support the Herbal Freedom School's BIPOC Communiversity

Help us raise $3,000 by Oct. 1 to fund 10 seats for the 3-month Fall session! And help us raise a total of $6,000 for a second session in the Winter.

Learn more here:

Support BIPOC healing and liberation by clicking HERE.

Thoughts on the Master's House OR Rumination on BIPOC Liberation from/within(?) the "Modern Western Herbalism" Movement

So, I just read an interesting article called Herbalism as a Tool for Social Justice.

And I started to think about how I'm glad it was written but how I felt something was lacking. I sat in reflection and came to the conclusion that I think where I stand right now, personally, is---

how can marginalized indigenous black and brown communities reconnect with our healing traditions (which all involve plant medicine) to work toward our liberation. And without the paternalism of our white allies who have been socialized in many ways to believe that they know what is better for us than us or that they can do it better than us. Also that their knowledge and ways of learning and understanding are superior.

How can we (BIPOC) be centered in the healing histories we are constantly exposed. How do we address that the majority of written/documented histories and research are written by those who value this written method over oral tradition? And I don't mean BIPOC didn't have written traditions, because we did. There's certain information that we don't write about because we have a responsibility as healers and medicine keepers to our communities and the medicine. And let's talk about the intentional killing of our knowledge keepers by colonizers and how once, we didn't have to worry about this sacred information being "lost" or stolen and watered down.

Anyway- good questions to think about answering are: how can our white allies work toward our liberation without

• having us educate them
• telling us how they think we should go about liberating ourselves or furthering their movement(s)
• telling us we should be nicer to them or more appreciative that they are "at least trying" and that we should be giving them some kind of special recognition for going out of their way to learn about the ways in which BIPOC are oppressed.

And even when "anti-oppressive/anti-racist" white allies stop doing these things, how can we talk to them candidly about how they are still perpetuating racism, prejudice and discrimination by continuing to consciously and unconsciously uphold white supremacy, centering their colonized history, teachings and beliefs while using them as a model and standard for comparison while expecting kudos for including a few phrases about our traditions even as our knowledge is packaged as coming from a monolithic community (The Native Americans used this plant for....)

And sometimes the knowledge gained is thrown back at BIPOC and held over our head, becoming a weapon because we don't have the resources to travel to the places we're from, to study our traditions. We have to filter what is given to us from the white folks who can afford to learn from our people...our healers...our medicine makers. We have to sift through racist, white supremacist, discriminative views. We have to listen to the dominant narrative about how Europeans might not have invented plant medicine, but they perfected it. We have to listen to white folks- scholars and travelers- who put their nose in the air because they know more about our people than we do, know more about our medicine than we do. And some of us are broken open by this. Brought to our knees and we defect from your movements. Modern western herbalism and western holistic healing movements.


Anyway-
Anti-oppressive white medicine makers, here are my questions for you:


What good is liberation from chains when you're/we're still in prison? What good are the master's tools in our (BIPOC) hands when wanting to dismantle this peculiar house that's been built?