Herbal Tinctures

Traditionally teas are the most common way to utilize herbs which is using water as a the solvent to extract the medicinal components of the herbs.  We also can use honey, oil, vinegar or alcohol to extract these beneficial components.  Alcohol is an extremely effective liquid to use and has the added benefit of storing for much longer periods of time than a tea, which will only stay fresh for several days (refrigerated).  We like to use teas to address chronic imbalances or seasonal requirements.  We use tinctures (alcohol based extractions) when more rapid and strong action is required, an onset of a cold for example.  Our tinctures are made mostly from plants we grow, shown above, and are all useful for basic ailments such as colds, sore throat, coughs and so on.

We emphasize over and over again the need for us, as Tainos, as Paleros, as Indigenous People to recover our Roots.  This is a central principle for us because this is the Essence of our Tradition.  Our Ancestors and the Ancestors of our Traditions were Curanderas, Curanderos, Root Doctors, Herbalists, Midwives, and knew how to work with Mother Earth to bring about Balance and Healing in both individuals and also in Families and Communities!  Our Ancestors had a direct relationship with the Herbs through Cohoba, through Ayahuasca, through various Plant Teachers.  We have been disoriented through the use of brutal tactics, violence, rape, genocide, biological warfare, and the kidnapping of generations of children (residential schools).  However, the voices of the Ancestors are calling us back to our Roots in louder and louder ways.  Many of us remember our Grandmothers giving us home remedies as children, but too many of us turn to chemicals to deal with minor ailments, forgetting those basic, simple and effective remedies.  

For us growing as many of the medicinal herbs as possible in the garden is very important.  It is an opportunity to see the plant, feel the spirit of the plant, observe its growth and seasonal changes, its smell, its flowers.  It is also important for the children to grow up with that relationship with Mother Earth and her Plants intact, more important because of those residential schools, those educational policies that stole so much of our Culture to begin with.  It is essential within the process of transforming from "Surviving to Thriving!"  Essential within the process of recovering and retrieving our "stolen legacy", our rightful Ancestral Inheritance!