Wednesday, May 29th, 2024 from 12:00-1:30pm PST

Join us for an in-depth discussion as we explore the importance of cultivating deeper connections with plant medicines beyond psychedelics. Explore the significance of traditional protocols, the importance of building relationships with all plants, and the integral role of local ecosystems. Discover how embracing various plant relationships, from culinary herbs to gardening, enhances and complements psychedelic experiences. Examine the significance of language and culture in plant medicine practices. Our guest speakers are Angela Angel, a multifaceted healing practitioner, gardener, artist, medium/channeler, and ceremonialist, and Atava Garcia Swiecicki, MA, RH (AHG), a renowned herbalist, author, and educator.

Angela is a healing practitioner, gardener, artist, medium/channeler and ceremonialist. She has continued her indigenous lineage as a young traditional healing practitioner (Bontoc and Ibaloi tribes- Igorot, Philippines). Angela received a vision directing her to explore how ritual and our innate psychic abilities can translate in the “modern world” as a step to bridge our ancestral knowledge and to begin healing historical trauma. She has since worked to integrate this directly with her social justice work. In 2013 she began coordinating free holistic and traditional healing clinics with the Bay Area’s Healing Clinic Collective. She loves tending to her garden and facilitating the connection of plants with people. She is a certified clinical herbalist and integrates indigenous ancestral medicine in her classes. Angela runs regular classes in healing and plants including Ninunong Gamot, Philippine Folk and Ancestral Medicine and Decolonizing Wellness.

Atava Garcia Swiecicki, MA, RH (AHG) (she/her/ella) is an herbalist, author and educator who is guided by her dreams and her ancestors. She is dedicated to remembering the healing traditions of her ancestors and supporting others to reconnect with their own ancestral medicine. Atava has studied healing arts extensively for over thirty years and was the founder of Ancestral Apothecary School of Herbal, Folk & Indigenous Medicine in Oakland, CA. During the pandemic, Atava gave birth to her first book, The Curanderx Toolkit: Reclaiming Ancestral Latinx Plant Medicine and Rituals for Healing. She is passionate about plants, ancestral medicine practices, and healing justice. After living for over three decades in the Bay Area, Atava moved to New Mexico where she is learning how to grow food and medicine in the high desert, continuing to teach, see clients, and dreaming up her next book.

Creating relations with plant medicines beyond psychedelics