The Root Circle

10/26/2023

Registration will be opening soon!
If you’d like to receive an email as soon as it does, plus get first chance at scholarships and early bird pricing, join the waitlist!
This course starts in March 2024. Space is limited!

Find out more:
https://therootcircle.com/della-medicina-plants

10/16/2023

Who's interested in in-person, not recorded, astrology classes at The Root Circle (Newport, NY)? The old fashioned way! With myself and Caren Diamond. Starting mid-November for 5 weeks. And if you're interested is 3pm, during daylight hours, possible for you? Comment here or Dm me!

10/02/2023

I learned these many years ago in a class with Paul Bergner and they just came up again recently. These are some words of wisdom that landed in me and never left. You know when that happens? When you learn something that becomes part of your own code of conduct? These are just 3 of the principles that are included in this text that included 13 simple, basic ethics of low intervention, non-heroic medicine. Always start with allowing the body to heal itself (unless, of course, it’s an acute emergency).

The full list of principles and commentary can be found in the article “Physician’s Commandments at Abu Nasr Sa`ed Al-Baghdadi” by Ayman Yasin Atat.
https://www.academia.edu/10098033/Physician_s_Commandments_at_Abu_Nasr_Saed_Al_Baghdadi_Died_624_H_

09/30/2023

09/27/2023

09/26/2023

“Red Admiral, Red Admiral,
I’m glad to see you here,
Alighting on my daisies one by one!
I hope you like their flavour
and although the Autumn’s near,
Are happy as you sit there in the sun?”

“I thank you very kindly, Sir!
Your daisies are so nice,
So pretty and so plentiful are they;
The flavour of their honey, Sir,
it really does entice;
I’d like to bring my brothers, if I may!”

“Friend butterfly, friend butterfly,
go fetch them one and all!
I’m waiting here to welcome every guest;
And tell them it is Michaelmas,
and soon the leaves will fall,
But I think Autumn sunshine is the best!”

~From “The Flower Fairies” book

Michaelmas Daisy flower essence available in our shop!
https://therootcircle.com/flower-essences-1

09/25/2023

New Essay just posted and FREE to read for anyone over on my Patreon!

“Our ancestral and cultural reclamation will not become embodied and fruitful beyond the individual and personal without experiential knowledge. It will not become a collective tradition or system that can have a positive impact on the present and the future, without relational and somatic practice situated in our immediate environment which includes the full matrix of beings; human, flora, fauna, and the spirits. For our work to bring us into presence with the context of our current surroundings it must offer us the needed practices and skills required for us to be in active engagement with where we are and who we are now that includes how we got here and what that means and has meant for others; past, present, and future.”

No membership required:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/culture-is-89817930

09/22/2023

MICHAELMAS DAISY/NEW ENGLAND PURPLE ASTER
Flower Essence
🌿🌿🌿
Welcome to Libra Season! And the equinox and the season of the dead! Witch season!
My absolute favorite time of year. And to celebrate we’re having a 15% off sale on all our single flower essences (does not include Italian essences)
Just use the discount code:
LIBRASUN23 at check out.

Also the asters are blooming just in time for Michaelmas, the celebration of San Michele, the archangel Michael.

This essence provides support for us during this “season of the dead” when the veils are thin.

Grief can become more noticeable during this time and this essence supports our relaxation into it that will enable us to move forward on the path of the living after we lose a loved one or have to let go of something or a situation that we are deeply attached to.

It does so by loosening our armor where it’s been tightened and twisted from pain, sorrow, and a sense of separation, so much that we have been inhibited in our growth.

It softens areas of body, mind, and psyche we wall or harden up when overwhelmed with sorrow or grief and increases our capacity to be with those feelings in a receptive, responsive, and transmutational way.

to order:
https://therootcircle.com/flower-essences-1

09/22/2023

Hi Everyone,
It's been awhile here! I hoping to revitalize this page a bit. As you can see we have a new logo thanks to Magia Agreste, my friend Victoria in Calabria!
My intention is to post more regularly here. You can also find me at my personal page: https://www.facebook.com/LisaFazioHerbalist
And instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therootcircle/

Thank you for being here!

11/23/2022

Watch for this upcoming course with Milk & Honey Herbs! Anyone looking for practical but powerful herbal knowledge I recommend this!

Hi everyone! I wanted to do a little intro post for you since it's been a while 💕🌾✨

I'm a community and clinical herbalist with a huge passion for our weedy, resilient, and abundant bioregional herbs and also hold a deep love of kitchen medicine, bc it's so accessible. Just this week I was in touch with a family member with c*vid and was like ok so you have Bay leaves? Lemons? Honey? Ok then you can make some medicine! All with common pantry and kitchen items. And they're doing fine now🥰

I've always been SO inspired by the idea of herbal medicine being the people's medicine bc it so is! Humans are only here today because of the plants and our deep interrelations and when I really take a step back and think about all that the plants provide for us- food, shelter, medicine, and so much more- I'm just truly in awe and ultimately in service to these amazing beings.

I've woven this ethos into my work as an herbalist from day one- which was over 15 years ago at this point!- and one of my goals is to connect people with plants and re-weave these connections.

In just a little over a week I'll be opening registration for my yearly winter online series on all things kitchen herbalism, Spice Rack Medicine🧄✨🧄✨

If you're wanting to deepen your connection to plants, especially common, household culinary herbs, and learn ways you can support you and your community's health and well-being with safe, powerfully medicinal, and accessible herbs, then this course may be for you!

Details coming soon✨❤️🧄🥘🌶️

09/15/2022

THE DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES
September 22, 2022
@ 6:30 PM Eastern Via Zoom

The Doctrine of Signatures has been called the “language of the plants.” It is an ancient method of pattern recognition that notices, listens, and reflects about how the appearance of a plant describes its character including its medicinal properties. It is based on the principle that everything in the cosmos corresponds on some level because all life emerges from the same place and is shaped into diverse, archetypal, and iterative forms. Yet it is very practical, sensorial, and only requires some observational skills, practice, and a bit of imagination.

Not because it’s imaginary but because our imagination is what connects intuitive sensory and extrasensory inputs into recognizable arrangements of characteristics that convey meaning and can be “read”.

In this circle we discuss the history of the Doctrine of Signatures and some basic ways to read the language of plants using the Doctrine. We will learn how plants and trees express their nature and qualities in the way that they are formed, their gesture, their movement and:
Color
Leaf patterns
Petals
Texture
Plant family patterns
Shape
Energetic characteristics
Felt sense

During this circle we will practice looking at images of plants together and sharing what we notice based on some of the traditional ideas about what specific physical features indicate. We will also be open to what emerges that is not traditional or otherwise known as our conversations with plants are relational and unpredictable. By doing this you will be able to apply this practice to other systems and data sets with plants and beyond.

This workshop is available for free to our patrons at the “Vines” level and up. Join for $5 per month. Link to join:
https://www.patreon.com/therootcircle?fan_landing=true&view_as=public

08/21/2022

Fi*****io (fennel) is one of my favorite but overlooked herbal medicines. It doubles as food which makes it that much more likable yet no less potent.
I grow it in my garden every year, but even off season fennel is one of my weekly grocery staples. It’s a major ally for me with some of my digestive issues.
This year I am blessed with a bumper crop (fennel likes our sandy loam, limestone soil) and was able to make several jars of a traditional Italian digestivo called Finocchietto or Fennelcello. It’s so easy to make and, as I mentioned, you can get fennel at the grocery store if you don’t grow it.
I’ve posted the recipe with some herbal and cultural info about fennel over at our Patreon and it’s available at all levels.
Hope you enjoy!

05/17/2022

WITCH: A FIVE PART POEM
Inspired by our live circle topic this month “Angels, Sirens, Witches” I’m sharing this poem from a yet to be published collection of mine.
You can read it on my Patreon at all levels of subscription.
Yes I said the word that is supposed to make the evil Algol-rhythm hide my post but I don’t care! Who finds me, finds me!

Here are the subtitles of each part of the poem:
I. Cave
II. Snake
III.Cauldron
IV. Wortcunner
V. Anti-fascist

•••••••••••••••••••••
To join and read the full poem :
https://www.patreon.com/therootcircle?fan_landing=true

~Much gratitude for patron support as it’s helping me to devote the time and energy to my forthcoming book about plants and Italian American folk medicine (forthcoming Inner Traditions 2023). 🌸🌿🍃🤘🏼

Second image: Witch going to the Sabbath by Remedios Varo, 1957

05/14/2022

Della Medicina I and II Now Open for Registration
In both courses we study the practice and use of plants in Italian folk medicine, both in Southern Italy and the Italian American diaspora, as allies in ancestral connection.

Each week will meet to share our experiences with the plants remedies and go over the herbal and cultural info about each plant. I am keeping these classes small so that they can be as interactive and personal as possible.

EACH PARTICIPANT IN BOTH CLASSES WILL RECEIVE A PLANT MEDICINE PACKAGE TO WORK WITH DURING OUR TIME TOGETHER.

The live meetings will be recorded but your live participation is encouraged.

New cohorts of Della Medicina 1 and 2 will begin starting August 17, 2022.

Della Medicina I is the pre-requisite for Della Medicina II

==========

DELLA MEDICINA I

5 Weekly Live Meetings (via zoom) + Wednesdays at 6:30pm EST

August 17-September 14, 2022

BASIC OUTLINE

**subject to change as I want to leave room for the class to flow into places where we might be called as group

Week 1/August 17 : Basic preparations in Italian Folk Medicine + Rosemary Plant Study

Week 2/August 24: Using Taste:Smell with plants for ancestral remembrance + Basil Plant Study + Taking a plant journey

Week 3/ August 31: St. Johnswort Plant Study +The Cycle of the Seasons:Seeds:Generations+ The Vegetation Goddess + The Four Humors

Week 4/September 7 Rue Plant Study + Dream Temples:Incubation + Plants for Dreamtime + Dream interpretation techniques

Week 5/September 14 Mugwort Plant Study + Dream share + Making Amulet Protection bags

For full details and to register:

https://therootcircle.com/della-medicina-italian-plants

============

DELLA MEDICINA II

October 4, 2022-January 24, 2023

Live Meetings on Tuesdays @ 6:30pm Eastern

8 Live sessions plus two bonus classes

We will meet twice per month for a plant share and study plus two bonus classes on making preparations.

Plants and Topics we’ll be covering (subject to change)

Meeting 1: October 4 || Mallow, the four humors, the four elements

Meeting 2: October 25 || Cannabis with guest teacher Kara Wood; divine oracles, Pythias, sybils, and hypnotic substances

Meeting 3: November 8 || Garlic, San Michele, apotropaic plants, protection magic

Meeting 4: November 22 || Rose, Benedicaria and plants of the blessed mother

Meeting 5: December 6 || Parsley, food as medicine, cures in the kitchen

Meeting 6: December 20 || Mullein, astroherbology, plants and planets

Meeting 7: January 10 || Belladonna, poison plants, witchcraft

Meeting 8: January 24 || Fennel/Finnochio, Amaro making, bitters and the digestive system

****Bonus class dates will be announced

For full details and to register:
https://therootcircle.com/della-medicina-part-ii

04/28/2022

BECOMG-WITH PLANTS ::
LIVE WORKSHOP
Tomorrow @ 1pm Est. It will be recorded.

Making medicine with plants starts with relationship. From an animistic perspective plants are people, not humans, but persons, presences that respond to our presence and us to them.

The relationships we make with plants are emergent which means that it is something that becomes, that comes into being out of the synergy and interaction between ourselves and them.

The relationship itself has its own presence and being-ness.

In this live circle we will talk about some ways to become-with plants and especially ways to listen and respond mutually.

This live workshop is available to members at the vines level and up on our p a t r e 0 n. It’s only $5 to join at this level.

Link in comments!

Pictured here is an Angelica root from a wild patch I cultivated on my land. By cultivated I mean that I transplanted one plant from a wild location and put them in similar conditions on my land and then invited them to spread wherever they wanted they wanted and they did!

04/18/2022

+Nationalism and Folk Herbalism+

Nationalism has several expressions and purposes and it does come into play when we are doing ancestor work because it’s not possible to extricate ourselves from the nation-states we’re from and currently living in. Many of us are where we are right now because of the impact nationalism had on our people.

Nationalism is particularly important to notice because it is used by political regimes to enact elite agendas by gaining support from the masses.This support is gathered by invoking the power of symbols.

Many examples of this exist throughout history such as how Mussolini employed regional folk and ancient Roman symbols in his propaganda to instill a renewed sense of Italian cultural identity.

There is nothing inherently wrong with holding a national identity and it may in fact be beneficial in some instances, but when we see culture being extracted from the common people and promoted by the government or the state it ceases to be DEMOAITRIC.

“Demoaitria” begins with demo- coming from the word demotic which means “of or belonging to the people.”

When regional symbols, religious figures, ritual practices or other techniques of common culture become institutionalized they may look the same but have a different function.

A national or centralized system will not and cannot function the same way as a localized emergent one.

A culture that is born out of the struggles, joys, and daily immersion in the needs of survival by peasants, poor people, and other marginalized groups will not function the same way if the very system they are struggling against is using it to gain power and collective consent.

One of the major discussions around herbal medicine right now is about licensure and legitimacy for herbalists. Perhaps this seems like the natural trajectory given the way our health care system operates and in the paradigm of the medical industrial complex it is.

But if our intention is to make herbal medicine accessible to common people and preserve the ancestral traditions of folk herbalists it has to remain demoaitric or it will not function as folk herbalism.

This post is part of an excerpt from my forthcoming book about Italian American Folk Medicine (Inner Traditions 2023). The full draft/excerpt will be posted on my Patreon page this week and available to those at the “Vessels” level and up.
Link in comments

Image from the cover of “Rivista Lares” magazine September- December issue 2019

04/13/2022

+ RESURRECTION +
It’s Easter week; Pasqua in Italian. A word that comes from the ancient name of “Pascha” which is Greek for “Passover” and derived from the Hebrew word “Pesach.”

It is a seasonal, lunar celebration of the resurrection, the return, the rising Eros, desire, longing, and death from the fertilized darkness.

It’s not merely a Christian theme, but an old symbolic one that Spring festivals and rituals have been associated with in cultures throughout history. From Greek and Roman culture we have the myth of Persephone’s resurrection from the Underworld. This myth probably emerged from the neolithic farming rituals of the people of Old Europe who revered the pregnant vegetation goddess.

All of the symbols associated with Easter have way back roots yet potent significance in the present and always.

Pictured here is a batch of red eggs I made with onion skins. The first painted eggs were painted red.

“The Ancient Romans were among the first to paint red freshly hatched eggs to hand out as gifts at lavish banquets to both adults and children to wish them well and chase away illness and jinx. ‘The colour red, recalling that of blood, stood as a symbol of potency and regeneration.’”

The red egg is also associated with the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.

I have made a post on our Patreon about the significance of several Easter symbols and a recipe for making red egg dye with onion skins. It’s super easy!

This is available at all levels of membership starting with $3.
Link in comments