ROSEMARY (Salvia rosmarinus) Origin: Mediterranean region Active ingredients: Essential oils, phenolic acids, and flavonoids Uses: Medicinal, ritual, and culinary Used as a postpartum tonic and menstrual regulator, in infusions, baths, and smudging rituals, it was employed to alleviate melancholy and ward off “evil spirits,” it was associated with witches in medieval Europe due to its use in love potions and rituals […]
MAGIC MUSHROOMS PSILOCYBE CUBENSIS Origin: CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, AND TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL REGIONS Active ingredients: PSILOCYBIN, PSILOCIN Uses: MEDICINAL, RITUAL, PSYCHOACTIVE Used by Aztec, Maya, Zapotec, and Mazatec women in rituals for physical and spiritual healing, to support women in labor, and to treat menstrual pain. Called Teonanácatl (“flesh of the gods”) by the Aztecs, they were consumed in rituals […]
Cola acuminata Origin: TROPICAL WEST AFRICA Active ingredient: Caffeine Uses: Stimulant, social, and ritualistic. Used as a postpartum tonic and aphrodisiac in West Africa, the kola nut is shared during various social and religious activities. In Brazil, as an obí in Afro-Brazilian religions, it serves as a tool for divination and as food for the orixás. It was associated by colonizers with libido, with […]
In the Amazon of the 18th century, Índia Sabina gained renown by combining indigenous knowledge and elements of Christianity to break spells and make predictions. In her rituals, she used crosses, holy water, and prayers to the Virgin Mary, but also pipes, local herbs, cinnamon-flavored rum, and incense. She conducted intense ceremonies, inducing patients to purifying vomiting, in which, it was said, lizards, wasps, and fantastic creatures, such as fish-headed centipedes, were expelled.
(Angola ≈1700 - Portugal, date of death unknown) Luzia Pinta was enslaved as a child and lived in Minas Gerais. She bought her freedom from her brothers João Pinto Dias and Manoel Pinto Dias, her masters, and a small plot of land in Sabará, where she lived. She took part in calundus, collective rituals of possession and trance, with divinatory and therapeutic functions, [...]
Trotula of Salerno, from the 10th century, a pioneer in women's health, wrote On the Diseases of Women. Her work was silenced and attributed to men for centuries.
Maria Sibylla Merian, a pioneering naturalist, revolutionized the study of metamorphosis with works such as Metamorphosis Insectorum. Rediscovered, she is a symbol of resistance
Maria Graham, a writer and naturalist, stood out for her botanical collections in Brazil, criticism of slavery and works that marked the science and art of the 19th century.
Mary Banning, author of The Fungi of Maryland (1888), revolutionized the study of mushrooms in the USA, but died in 1903 without recognition, isolated and forgotten.
Marianne North defied convention with her vibrant aesthetic. She created a gallery at Kew Gardens and has the Nepenthes northiana in her honor.
Constança Paca, a botanical illustrator and companion of Barbosa Rodrigues, inspired the Constantia orchid genus and contributed to pioneering scientific works.
Maria Bandeira, a pioneer in the Botanical Garden and a specialist in bryophytes, had her career marked by discoveries and mysteries, and ended her life in seclusion.
The Mayans used the white lotus for ulcers and considered it sacred. In the Amazon, the lapuna has greater symbolic value.
Traditional pre-Columbian cultures used Trumpet in shamanic rituals, linked to healing practices and spiritual experiences of expanding consciousness.
The use of tobacco in indigenous practices integrates spirituality, medicine and culture, with women guardians of ancestral knowledge.
Chili peppers, seen as "primitive" by European elites, were transgressive when used by women, associated with lack of control and excessive sexuality.
Orchids aroused intense passion during the European "orchidomania" of the 19th century. But they also inspired horror stories associated with evil women.
Basil has medicinal properties. A symbol of fertility and prosperity, it was associated with witchcraft in medieval Europe,
Manioc is fundamental to the subsistence and identity of many indigenous peoples. Women play a central role in its preparation...
The manacá-de-cheiro has medicinal properties and is part of purification rituals in candomblé and umbanda.
Jurema is used by the indigenous peoples of north-eastern Brazil to treat physical and mental ailments, as well as being an aphrodisiac and an element of love magic.
Linked to female shamans, jaborandi reflects the role of female spiritual and medicinal leadership in indigenous traditions.
Guinea, used by enslaved people in Brazil, combined bodily and spiritual healing. Its sedative effect made it known as "amansa-senhor".
Guaraná is sacred to the Sateré-Mawé (Amazon). It symbolizes vitality and renewal. Its origin is linked to the eyes of a child who died prematurely.
Mayan women used morning glory seeds in healing rituals and to induce childbirth, and the Aztecs considered them divine
The arrival of Jesuit priests in South America in the 16th century brought mistrust of yerba mate, a sacred plant for the indigenous Guarani, associated with spiritual connection.
Cat grass (nepeta) is used in initiation ceremonies to induce altered states of consciousness among peoples of the present-day USA, Canada and Mexico.
Coca has been used for more than 4,500 years. Pre-Columbian societies considered it a gift from the Sun God.
The fascination with carnivorous plants began in the 18th century and from the beginning linked them to female sexuality and stereotypes.
In ancient traditions, such as Egypt, cannabis was used to treat menstrual pain and women's health problems.