Knowledge Share Description
In the Indigenous language of the seafaring Taíno people, the word Kiskeya, or Quisqueya, means “mother of all lands” or “mother of the earth.” Throughout this knowledge share, guided by Suhaly Bautista-Carolina of Moon Mother Apothecary, we invite participants on a virtual journey through the bountiful, lush, and sacred Caribbean island of Kiskeya or Ayiti-Kiskeya-Bohio, present day Dominican Republic and Haiti. Our emphasis will be on the eastern region of this Antillian island (the Dominican Republic) as together, we explore indigenous and contemporary plant medicines, practices, and traditions that have resisted on the island and in the Dominican Diaspora across time. We will dive into the socio-political histories, folklore, mythologies, uses, and plant profiles of Anamú, Bayahibe Rose, Tobacco, and Oregano while engaging in the larger conversation of the effects of environmental injustice, deforestation, colonization, tourism, and other factors on our continued relationship and access to these wise and generous Kiskeyan plants and their medicine.
Knowledge Share Includes
Brief background of the Dominican Republic’s diverse range of ecosystems
Deep dive into the “Materia Medica,” folklore, mythology, and socio-political histories of some medicinal plants prominent in Dominican plantwork & the ways they are used across various Dominican communities and in the Dominican Diaspora (with a particular focus on how Dominicans in New York City work with these plants).
Study of indigenous plants to the island as well as an investigation into factors impacting native plant endangerment and extinction.
Discuss how these medicinal plants have persevered, traveled, and adapted or evolved throughout time and across lands. *Sometimes by their own volition & the elements of the earth, other times by the hands of perpetrators of violence.
Cost
$35 - BIPOC or low income
$75 - standard or reparations (If you have financial abundance, this is our pay-it-forward option to fund our full tuition scholarships)
The zoom link will be sent 1-2 days prior to the knowledge share. Recording will be available for 30 days.
For scholarships please email herbancura@gmail.com with subject Mother of all Lands
Accessibility Information
*ASR (automated) captioning provided
*Live captioning & ASL interpretation may be available with advance notice
*Spanish interpretation may be available with advance notice (Si requiere interpretacion por favor mande un email a herbancura@gmail.com)
Virtual Gathering
Zoom link will be sent out via email 1-2 days before knowledge share
1:00pm - 4:00pm Eastern Standard Time
Class will be recorded and available for 30 days.
Facilitator
Suhaly Bautista-Carolina (she/they), aka Moon Mother aka The Earth Warrior, is an AfroKiskeyan herbalist, artist, arts administrator, educator, mother, daughter, wife, and community organizer. Her practice lives intentionally at the intersection of plant power and people power and centers the collective wisdom of her community and the ancestral legacy of her people, while creating spaces of agency for folks to enter into their own healing. She is a 2018 graduate of the Sacred Vibes Apothecary spiritual herbalism apprenticeship, and carries out her purpose through small batch, moon-powered plant medicine offerings, justice-forward collaborations, workshops, knowledge-shares, and beyond. She has hosted plant medicine-making workshops with spaces including New York Botanical Garden, Gossamer, The Wing, The Museum of the City of New York, Ethel’s Club, Fotografiska, The Highline and several others. She has also guided workshops at the 2nd and 3rd Annual NYC Spiritual Herbalism Conferences. Her ongoing research is centered on Kiskeyan plant medicine in the Dominican Republic and across the Dominican Diaspora in NYC.
The Moon Mother is a proud member of United Plant Savers, Queer Healers, and Herbalists Without Borders. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, and People en Español among others.
The Moon Mother is living + loving in Brooklyn, on Lenape and Canarsee land, with her wife and their baby girl, Luna.