Healing begins with nature: Tom Wright interviews traditional herbal healer Rosita Arvigo.

Rosita Arvigo was born in Chicago where she was "trained as a doctor of naprapathy. In Belize, she Ltrained with legendary don Elijio whose skill at herbal healing was renowned throughout the area. It is this Mayan herbal tradition that Rosita has faithfully preserved with her Rainforest Remedies. Look for other interviews with Rosita in upcoming issues of NL Journal.

Q: Given the importance of the work that you do, is there anything you would like to start our readers off with?

A: I think that when we consider herbal remedies, we need to keep in mind that plants, trees, root systems, and vines have evolved with humanity from time immemorial. We are all made up of the same biological material. It makes sense that a person who is feeling out of sorts, or unwell, at any level or in any system within the body, should first try nature's remedies. We all evolved together; nature knows what our needs are. It makes sense that we should try something that is natural, non-toxic, and has many less side effects first. If that doesn't work, then perhaps we have to go on to other forms of medicine, like allopathic. But like don Elijio always said, it only makes sense that you try God's remedies first.

Q: Is there a certain percentage of effectiveness with herbal remedies that you see in your clients?

A: That would be hard to determine, but my guess has always been that about eighty-five percent of human illness is treatable and curable through herbal remedies, while ten percent belong to drugs, medicine, and surgery. Five percent nobody can heal Either the patient doesn't really want to get well, they have an emotional investment in being sick, or there is a process that is biologically irreversible.

Q: What can people begin to do with herbal healing immediately to not only familiarize themselves with your work, but to help themselves in healing?

A: I have a wonderful book called Rainforest Home Remedies. I wrote this book specifically to meet that need. After working with traditional herbal healers in Mexico and Belize for over thirty years, I wanted to write a book that would allow people to use herbs found in their household. To use plants they might find in their kitchen cabinets, growing in their yard, or at the grocery store. I always think that good healthy food is the first place you have to start, because that's something you have to do three times a day. That's the best way to prevent illness, so that you may not even have to go looking for herbal remedies. But if you do, you are likely to find them in your backyard, in wild plants, in garden plants, or at the grocery store.

Q: Are there American grown herbs you have found similar to the ones in Belize that could be used for healing?

A: Absolutely. We call them Pan American plants. They would be things like Ginger, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Roses, or Marigold. There are lots of healing plants, even ones that don't necessarily grow in the rainforests of Central America, but are universally known remedies such as Cinnamon.

Q: The herbs that you use, are they all organic?

A: Yes, most definitely they are. Some are wild crafted, some I grow at home in my garden. About ninety-percent of the herbs that I use in my Rainforest Remedies are from areas of the rainforest that are slated for destruction. That was the idea that don Elijio and I hit upon one morning, when after a long hike into the mountains to gather herbs, we passed by a field that we had seen earlier that was now in flames. There was a tree there that Don Elijio had used in his practice, and it was the last stand of them that had fallen that day. So that's when we hit upon the idea of trying to get the plants out of the areas where the bulldozers and flamethrowers were going to come in. We have been collecting from a 1400 acre piece of old growth forest that's been going down for about ten years to make way for a new community. Little by little we're ahead of the bulldozers. We call it salvage botany. I think that spiritually it's important because those plants were placed here by our creator to be co-creative with us, to heal us, to protect us, and to house and feed us. That to me is their karmic destiny. For an entire forest to be destroyed without those plants achieving their karmic destiny felt like a crime to me. This is why we're doing this work.

Q: After a person uses an herbal remedy, what kind of herbal support system do you recommend for the continuance of their well being?

A: I think nutritional herbs are very important, plants that are rich in minerals and iron, such as red clover and alfalfa. I think that when a person is recovering from illness their liver really needs extra support. So there are some herbs like yellow dock, burdock, and dandelions for that. Milk thistle can be taken for a short period of time, post illness. With severely toxic livers it can be taken for three months, with a day off each week in that time period to give the liver a rest. The others are more tonics that can be taken for longer periods. As an herbalist I have never been a proponent of constant continual dosages. It always requires liver enzymes, which, with over usage can debilitate the liver. So everything needs to be done in moderation. Breaks and regeneration times are important to any treatment.

Q: In the Rainforest Remedies book, these times and dosages are available?

A: Yes, I tried to make it as succinctly clear as possible with preparations and administration of dosages. I have had great feedback from young mothers in particular, who are reluctant to turn to allopathic medicine for remedies. It has very clear instructions.

Q: In introducing your work to American clients, have you had to present your work in some way to make it more palatable, or even understandable to them?

A: Actually, it's the other way around. I think I have had to modify things to make them more understandable and palatable for Central Americans. North Americans are sophisticated and eager to learn. This is the seedbed for most of the movement in the direction of turning to natural remedies and natural healing. It began in the late sixties and early seventies, and we are seeing the effects of this interest now. In Central America, unfortunately, a lot of people are caught in the mindset of the eighties where all things new are good, and all things old are questionable. Based on working in the small country of Belize, that was the contribution I was able to make there. To re-inject a shot in the arm to the traditional herbal healing methods before they fell off the cliff so to speak.

Q: That's something as Americans we can actually be proud of. Bridging the gap between indigenous cultures and our own.

A: I think America has come a tremendous way in reinvigorating the natural therapies. We have herbalists all over the country that are very successful. Many of them are very young people. In this country, the Native American herbal remedies and what the Europeans brought over are now inexorably mixed, so that this wonderful blending has taken place. These young people are interested in all of it.

Q: Your work with don Elijio has inspired people in our culture to get closer to their roots and connections with the past. What can we do right now to strengthen this connection?

A: You know the easiest thing is to talk to elders. I find that our Grandmothers and Grandfathers, the aunties and elders, who are wasting away in nursing homes are our last living depository of our own ethonobotany of the U.S. This is really the last generation who will be able to capture it. It is truly astounding the amount of information that comes out of this. One time I volunteered at a local church to take the group of retired citizens on a herbal walk. They ended up teaching me more than I could ever teach them! That was where I found out that yellow dock seed can be used to extend flour. I used that to make bread, about half the ground up seed with half flour, and it was like eating silken bread. It was so delicious, dark and tasty. I know that it must have been very high in amino acids as well. That would be my recommendation. Talk to the eiders. Keep notes, talk to each other, and maybe even start a monthly club.

Q: You mentioned something interesting with regard to the discovery of how herbal remedies were found to work.

A: In the rainforest, watching animals and what they do when they're sick is valuable. A monkey will seek out astringents and anti-microbials when necessary. It isn't hard to follow them. Then there's the doctrine of signatures. Many plants give us clues. We have learned over the years that blue flowering plants are good for the nervous system and sleeplessness, white flowering plants often indicate danger or toxicity, and red flowering plants usually mean they are good for building the blood, or red rashes. In this doctrine for instance, dandelions have a bright yellow root system and a bright yellow flower which are both good for urinary tract problems. Liver bile is also yellow, and dandelion is also good for the liver. Then there's dream visioning. Dreams at nighttime for herbalists are valuable to connect with the spirit lineage attached to that particular healer. I myself have had many spirit dreams based on information being transmitted from the spirit world on particular plants.

Q: Are your American practitioners receptive to that kind of transmission?

A: Yes, extremely. I think that that's also a function of our times. We definitely seemed to have passed through a gateway, and people's minds are expanding naturally into these ideas without a whole lot of pushing. Right now nurses and doctors are open to what works more than ever before.

Q: That's a good thing. You can be busy doing your work, not fighting the political climate. You also mentioned one more fascinating thing about dosages.

A: Yes, I said that I have found with dosages, when treating female artists, the dosages I use with them are forty percent lower than when I would treat a male client, and this formula is very effective. Female artists seem to be the most sensitive of anyone to herbal remedies, so I have had to modify the dosages to reflect this. I found this out when treating clients nears a large artistic community in Chicago. Male clients who are very creative are also sensitive to dosages, and I modify them in this case too.

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Herbal Bath

For itchy skin, or infected bites, or sores that children scratch, the very best thing to use is Oregano. It could be also Thyme, or Basil. They all have essential oils that are anti-microbial, or anti-infective. They help with itching, bring down infection, and soothe the skin. A one ounce bottle would be sufficient for a bath. You could use that to make a half a gallon of tea, which would be plenty for bathing purposes. By the way, this also works for both cat and dog skin conditions as well.

For nervousness or insomnia try Marigold, which can be used for babies who won't sleep. A Marigold tea is great for babies with colic. A little bit of tea made from the flowers. Then follow with a warm Marigold bath made with the tea. The mother scoops up the water and washes it over the baby. It works wonders. You can get fresh Marigold flowers right out of the garden as long as you know that the flowers are not sprayed.

Tom Wright lives in Asheville with his daughter Alyssa, and son, Nicolas. He is the author Of Acronyming POWER! and TheOnePennyMillionaire! web based seminar series.

RESOURCES: RAINFOREST REMEDIES: 100 Healing Plants of Belize; with Michael Balick (Lotus Press, 1994). RAINFOREST HOME REMEDIES: The Maya Way to Heal Your Body and Replenish Your Soul; with Nadine Epstein (Harper Collins, 2001)