Traditional Medicine & Knowledge
Herbal Medicine for Hypoglycemia and Type 2 Diabetes
August 28, 2025
Traditional practices, such as drinking cinnamon tea, once helped protect against diabetes in Mexico; however, modern diets have shifted these traditions. Managing blood sugar is essential for well-being, and herbs such as ginseng, bitter melon, fenugreek, and neem continue to offer support, reflecting the wisdom of ancestral plant medicine.
Artemisia ludoviciana (Estafiate) in Indigenous and Modern Medicine
August 28, 2025
Estafiate has long been central to Indigenous medicine in Mexico, valued for treating digestive and respiratory ailments, while also playing a key role in ceremony and cosmology. Documented in early codices and still widely used today, estafiate reflects the resilience of Indigenous knowledge and its ongoing dialogue with modern science.
Cacao and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerican Culture
August 28, 2025
Cacao holds deep cultural, spiritual, and ecological significance for Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Once central to creation stories, rituals, and local economies, it was later transformed into a global commodity under colonization. Today, communities are revitalizing cacao’s sacred and ecological role, honoring ancestral knowledge.
Beyond PTSD: Intergenerational Trauma and the Legacy of Colonization
August 28, 2025
Trauma is not only about events, but also about how they are understood within a culture. For Indigenous peoples, ancestral stories and communal practices can buffer the effects of disaster, while disruptions fracture lifeways and deepen loss. These contrasts reveal how meaning-making, kinship, and resilience shape the legacy of trauma.
Indigenous Knowledge & Nutritional Value of Amaranthus
August 22, 2025
For centuries, Amaranthus has nourished Indigenous peoples of the Americas as both food and a sacred plant. Once called the “grain of the gods,” it symbolizes resilience, cultural continuity, and nutritional abundance. Today, its revival bridges ancestral knowledge with modern science, offering pathways toward sustainable food and health.
On Storytelling
Since I began this lifelong project of learning and preserving Indigenous knowlege about plant foods and medicines, story telling has played a central role in the process.
About the history of oral tradition…..
This is the idea behind sharing these stories now…
Thank You to Our Donors
Elina Vesara
Ostern Fund
