A herbalist’s journey through Ecuador
Sarah Shepherd and her bees at last year’s Farmers Market.
An Island favorite, Sarah Shepherd, will discuss her experience and adventures with herbalists, healers and shamans of the Ecuador rainforests at Friday Night Dialogues at 7 p.m. on August 21 at the Shelter Island Library.
Through the use of aromatic plants, herbalists and healers can treat the most diverse diseases as well as prevent them.
She’ll talk about some of the healing ceremonies she witnessed in her travels, still practiced by the people of Ecuador in the regions of the Amazon, coastal or Andes areas.
She will also share personal stories and techniques used by the shamans during healing ceremonies such as bathing with herbs and partaking from “sacred plants” such as ayahuasca.
One of the most important cleansing ceremonies, “La Limpia,” offers many benefits including improving the quality of health using plants; cleansing the physical, emotional and spiritual body; and preventing diseases such as depression and emotional sickness.
Sarah will demonstrate “La Limpia” during her talk and believes that it is an honor to share the ancestral practices of Ecuador with the Shelter Island community.
Using simple garden plants, we can embrace some of the ancient practices of indigenous and folk medicine traditions.
Sarah has studied plant medicine, its art and traditions and has traveled extensively visiting, collecting and learning. Her most important teacher, Rosemary Gladstar, founded the California School of Herbal Studies, one of North America’s oldest centers for herbal education, as well as the Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center and Botanical Sanctuary in Vermont.
Come share her stories and learn about herbs and healing in the library’s Community Room on the lower level on August 21.
Admission is free although donations are greatly appreciated. For more information, call the library at 749-0042.
Coming up: On August 28, Talia Carner will talk about her novel, “Hotel Moscow.”
BY DAVID ROGGIE | CONTRIBUTOR
