In this episode Lisa, Gina, and Marybeth discuss their personal critique and opinions about the movie "Cabrini" just out by Angel Studios. The movie is a biographical drama about the Italian nun Francesca Cabrini who was sent by the Vatican to New York City in the late 1800's to aid the Italian immigrants who were living there. Madre Cabrini was the first American saint and is known for her many miracles as well the orphanages and hospitals she founded. Dr. Gina Miele is a professor of Italian literature, culture, and folklore at Montclair State University. She is a second generation Italian American and a fluent Italian language speaker. Marybeth Bonfiglio is a writer, ancestralist, and works with people of all lineages to help them reconnect and remember who they may have been before the plague of whiteness, colonization, and assimilation. She holds ancestral pilgrimages on the beloved island of Sicily for those longing to go deeper with land, culture and people through her organization, Radici Siciliane.

In this episode I’m joined by Jordan Reed who tells us about her journey with ancestral reclamation as an adoptee. Being adopted or otherwise estranged from the knowledge of one’s ancestral lineage presents unique challenges when seeking to reconnect to our ancestral roots. Jordan shares with us an amazing circumstance that occurred between her and her ancestors during a recent event along with some of her process and practices of reclamation. Jordan resides in Mi’kma’ki, the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Mi’kmaq people, also known as Nova Scotia, found on Canada’s east coast. Alongside travelling the world for volunteerism, language learning, patriarchy smashing, work, or fun, Jordan has been in strong relation with plants, magic, and healing arts from around the world for over 15 years. She hold a B.A in both International Development Studies and Comparative Religious Studies, and an M.Ed in Curriculum Studies, TESOL. She currently works as a CEO/Executive Director in international education, helping people reach their language goals, while creating opportunities for them to do local community development work amid centering social justice issues within the curriculum and workplace at large. She is also a mother, spouse, animal lover, freebirth champion and supporter, and anti-oppression advocate. As an adopted person, who only recently discovered her Sicilian ancestral lineage (with the help of dream journeying, plant magic, ancestry.com, Della Medicina, and deep trust), Jordan shares with us how you can do it too!

In this episode I’m joined by cultural revivalist Diana Lempel. Diana creates narrative interventions in space, community, and collections. I invited her onto the podcast to discuss her comments on a recent instagram post I made where I asked the question, “Can you appropriate your own ancestral culture?” This post generated many revelatory conversations as well as generated even more questions. Diana’s comments were some of the most revelatory around our ideas of identity, the reclamation of cultural symbolism and how those are different from the embodiment of cultural traditions outside of both ethnic enclaves and nostalgia. Together we discuss how to pick up the remnants of cultural traditions amidst generations of assimilation and reweave them as a form of healthy revivalism without bypassing or denying the more difficult to integrate aspects of knowing “who we are.”

In this episode we share our experience and perspectives on Italian American protection magic as an ancestral practice and how that relates to living in the world today. My guests for this episode are Marybeth Bonfiglio and Kara Wood.

My guest this episode is Jonel Beauvais, a Wolf Clan Mohawk who is the proud mother of three children and chosen auntie, sister and friend to many. She works diligently to empower and induce healing within all Native/Indigenous communities in order to prosper in the Haudenosaunee teachings of good medicine and good minds.

In this episode I am joined by my friend, colleague, and teacher Marybeth Bonfiglio. Listen in as we discuss some of the most pressing questions facing the Italian diaspora, as well as other Euro-descended ethnic groups, at this time when there is an emergent collective surge towards ancestral reclamation and remembrance. We share some of our experiences about growing up in Italian American communities, how we have both been impacted by the pressures of assimilation, and our concerns and questions about the ethical and appropriate transmission of cultural traditions and magic. MaryBeth is a writer, mentor and ancestral catalyst. She believes storytelling heals, connects and can shift worlds, especially when we learn to tell and re-tell the stories of our ancestors and the stories of ourselves as future ancestors. She believes our bodies hold history and our cell memory holds magical multitudes. She received her MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles and guides writers closer to all their voices. She is currently holding a container for ancestral storytelling, magic, ritual, oracle and fortification through Blood + Belonging; an ancestral wisdom school. She also runs Radici Siciliane which is a community pilgrimage effort, bringing the Sicilian diaspora back to Sicily to learn ancestral arts from elders. She has three daughters and a long time partner. She's originally from the land of the Eries People in upstate/western NY but now lives on the land of the Multnomah people in Portland, OR. Her italian nonne come from Sicily, Salerno, and Venaus. And her maternal grandmother comes from Poland. 

In this episode I am joined by Utica, NY community activist Cassandra Harris Lockwood. Cassandra is an herbalist, a mother, a homeopath, an equestrian, an artist, and a musician. Her work in the community has generated several regional projects that support the underserved, the marginalized, the poor, and the Black community. She is the first woman to build her own radio station from the ground up in NYS. This station is Phoenix Radio or 95.5 fm and for which i have been a guest on her show the hot seat. Also originating from the Phoenix media outlet is the Utica Phoenix a Mohawk Valley independent newspaper. She is the founder of the non-profit organization For The Good Inc. For The Good provides low-income residents and their neighborhoods with programs to overcome poverty through their own means. One of these projects is the community gardens; one on Linwood Place and the other on Jay St., both in Utica, NY.In its first year FTG organized intervention and neutralization of violence in African-American girl gangs and provided numerous alternative activities to violence. Development of the Study Buddy Club, in conjunction with Hamilton College, was in direct response to gang activity. Over the years the Study Buddy Club has demonstrated impressive academic improvement and social development for multi-cultural, at-risk, inner city youths and it continues on today.

In this episode I am joined by Adriana Magaña from The Center for Bioregional Living in Ellenville, NY. She is a drummer, permaculture designer, visionary, opinion haver, and life long student of the natural world. She makes her life in the Hudson Valley with her partner, daughter, and many plants, animals waters, microbes, and fungi. Adriana recently ran for Ulster County Legislator and is socially and politically active in her community. The tools and methods of permaculture are an absolute necessity right now when the state of our global ecological, economic, and political conditions are impacting our daily lives, access to resources, and our ability to secure even the most basic of human rights and needs. During our discussion Adriana and I explore her understanding of the 3 ethics of permaculture; Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share as well as how the current Covid-19 pandemic has brought specific aspects of permaculture into focus including seed saving, securing clean and accessible water, and localized food sovereignty. We also discuss social permaculture and how important it is to the success of other aspects of creating sustainable systems while practicing the skills needed to survive and thrive in a world of uncertainty and socio-economic reconstruction.

Welcome to our shapeshifting episode about how this podcast is adapting to the current global pandemic, how consensus works in conflict resolution, and what’s up with our current planetary transits. Consensus decision making is not what many people think and involves a deep process and commitment, but its results are often full of revelation. In this episode we share our experience with it and how it can help communities adapt during times of need as part of the infrastructure of being in relationship with others. We will also discuss how the astrological transits play into this and similar cultural and social structures as we live amidst the uncertainties all around us right now.

In this episode we are joined by Lauren Eadline, FNP and Herbalist, and we discuss herbal and nutritional considerations for addressing viruses, the immune system, and to support the respiratory system in light of the current Covid-19 pandemic. Lauren shares her perspective, knowledge, and experience from a comprehensive spectrum that ranges from her folk herbalism roots to her work in the conventional medical field. Lauren is a nurse practitioner and community herbalist in the Syracuse, NY area. As an NP, she currently practices in women's health with a medical background in endocrinology. Previous to that, she was a critical care nurse in the cardiopulmonary ICU of Upstate University Hospital, specializing in open heart surgery and cardiac arrest. She completed her Master’s in Nursing at SUNY Upstate Medical University, and her Bachelor’s in Nursing at Utica College. She has also had formal training in functional and integrated medicine at the Institute for Functional Medicine in Washington, DC. Lauren started her journey with plant medicine at the Olympia Free Herbal Clinic in Olympia, WA in 2009. She has studied under 7Song in Ithaca, NY and completed certificates in Advanced Western Herbalism and Western Clinical Herbalism through Paul Bergner at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism. Most of her training was completed at The Root Circle with herbalist Lisa Fazio in Newport, NY, having completed a 5 year apprenticeship with continuing mentorship. She helped organize and teach the Utica Herbal Study Group in Utica, NY and most recently has founded the Syracuse Herbal Study Group with the mission of bringing plant knowledge and skills to the public to help carry our Western herbal traditions into the future. She is also proud to currently serve as a practicing clinical herbalist in the Syracuse area, specializing in chronic disease management, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, nutritional counseling and weight loss. Lauren believes strongly in preventative health and living well, and works to be of service in these areas. In both her practitioner and educator capacities, she utilizes nutritional interventions, lifestyle changes, herbal therapies and Western medicine to help her community along the path of healing and to promote health empowerment. Lauren’s website: https://www.earthstrongcenter.com/about +Topics discussed include+ +The path of being an herbal apprentice and how Lauren found her unique style +The Elderberry controversy +What is “adaptive” immunity +The functions of the immune system and the inflammatory response +Cytokine storms +Herbs for the immune system +Herbs for Lung support +Anti-viral Herbs +The importance of nutrition and lifestyle when supporting our immune system +Using herbs that are accessible +The use of Garlic as and anti-viral +The energetics of mints

 For Episode 2 we are joined by Henna artist and eco-activist Christine Shahin, author of “Natural Hair Coloring” on “how to use henna and other pure herbal pigments for chemical-free beauty,” a step-by-step guide which has been translated into Finish, French, German, Norwegian and Polish.

Welcome to the first episode of the Wild Under Root Podcast. We are your hosts, Lisa Fazio and Pete Bianco and we are here to facilitate these discussion about what it means to engage with plants, place, and magic in the modern world. During this episode we will introduce ourselves and share a bit about why we wanted to start this podcast. We each have our ideas about the 3 main subjects we plan to explore. We both have a deep passion for plants and plant medicine and believe it to be a fundamental component of human community as well as a relationship that connects with the greater network of associations and beings that make up our world.