“Don’t overlook the simple act of introducing yourself and asking for blessings... the spirits and ancestors are always ready to hear us.. We just have to speak.” ~ Lola Venado
We’re speaking with Lola Venado, The Botanical Bruja™, a folk herbalist, energy worker, kitchen witch, writer, speaker, and community gatherer. Lola’s work and creation as The Botanical Bruja™ and her business Xantico House inspire us to live more fully in the present moment, remember our own medicine, and to take respite in the little things.. Remember that these connections to the mundane are just as magical and special as the grander things in life.
In this conversation, Lola shares what led her to the creation of The Botanical Bruja™ and Xantico House, and why reclaiming this term bruja (“witch”) is an important part of honoring her lineage and medicine path.
She shares how a health crisis 5 years ago snapped her back into her plant path & magic roots, how Lola navigated a large Mexican family dynamic as a highly sensitive person, and the remarkable journey she is taking, stepping deep into trust and relationship with a plant ally and new land... and it all started from a dream she had one night.
Lola offers recommendations for people making big moves and feeling ungrounded in doing so, and how to establish connection with the land and cultivate a relationship with Magic in the mundane. Lola naturally demonstrates the power of plática - or creating space for discussion and connection around our daily lives so that we can share our stories... because when we can share and listen to stories, not only can healing occur, but it provides inspiration to pursue one’s own medicine path and sacred journey in life.
Show Notes
In this episode, we discuss:
How time in the kitchen was a time of love connection and peace growing up, and how it was a sanctuary within her tumultuous relationship between Lola and her mother
How Lola’s mom’s DIY preference for potions, products, and remedios over store-bought items had an impact on Lola’s creation of The Botanical Bruja and Xantico House
Why Lola hates making the distinction between food and medicine
How plants have always been in Lola’s life, why bruja is still not an acceptable term in her abuela’s eyes, and how she is honoring and reclaiming her mother’s legacy and lineage of this path and bloodline
How chemical sensitivities and a health crisis led Lola to her plant medicine path, magical roots, and business
How Lola navigated a large Mexican family dynamic as a highly sensitive person
How the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place as you start to walk your path
Lola’s take on the Energy of The Fool in the tarot - starting at zero, naive but open to possibility
How this energy brought Lola to her most recent big move - which started with a dream and a connection to a plant
Something that is really important to Lola in her work is preaching personal sovereignty, reconnecting us back to our innate wisdom
Lola’s view on relationships, and how she sees beauty within all her relationships, even the shitty ones
Takes us on a journey of her dream with ocotillo in the closet and the messages she followed
Lola’s surprising discoveries about ocotillo and the connections to her main ancestral lands/ origin of her own maternal lineage in the desserts of Mexico as well as southern Arizona
How the yaqui/yoeme tribe is the ancestral line of her ancestral maternal lineage located in Tucson where she now lives
How following her curiosity and connection to plants has been answering the call
Lola offers recommendations for people making big moves and feeling ungrounded
Establishing connection with the land, creating ritual around introducing oneself to land, asking for blessings, getting intimate with the land and soil
How to cultivate a relationship with Magic in the mundane based on reverence and connection
The power of a plática and how you can expect a plática along with your remedy when working with Lola
Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify and never miss an episode!
Connect With Lola Venado
Lola’s Podcast: http://www.branchandbonemedicine.show/
Resources + Links Mentioned
The Flower in the Skull by Kathleen Alcalá
Note: Links marked with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links. Making a purchase through these links won’t cost you anything but we will receive a small commission. This is an easy, free way of supporting the podcast and production costs. Thank you!
Wildly Rooted Resources
Get Wildly UNSTUCK: Mastering the Mindset of Health
Get access to this 6-module audio program for free!
You’ll learn the top 5 things sabotaging your health goals and what to do about them (hint: it doesn't have to do with your willpower...)
Your support means the world...
If the show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it would mean the world to me if you show your support through a small financial contribution. Each FYW episode is a labor of love that takes me about three days to produce... From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. I love you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.
If you would like to make a one-time contribution, you may use our personal PayPal Link here and offer any dollar amount you'd like : https://paypal.me/wildlyrooted
Thank you as every penny counts toward supporting this work! xo
Share this episode by clicking the SHARE button below!
