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Interview on Broowaha 3/23/2010 7:08:20 AM
An interview featuring a recipe and ritual preparation for the website broowaha.com Thank you so much for this interview, Stephanie. Can we begin by having you tell us what your new book, The Big Book of Soul, is about?
Stephanie: You’re quite welcome! “The Big Book of Soul: the Ultimate Guide to the African American Spirit: Legend & Lore, Music & Mysticism, Recipes & Rituals” is a book that explores the phenomenon of soul and the rise of soulful practices in the African diaspora with particular interest paid to earth-based religion, the arts and herbal healing.
In your book, you explore the healing, magic and divination traditions of ancient African earth-based spirituality. Can you give us an example?
Stephanie: The ancient earth-based spirituality is largely drawn from ancient Egypt’s Khemetian practices. From that tradition I discuss elemental healing, that is, using the elements in an effort to heal.
How have these practices evolved in contemporary African American culture?
Stephanie: Well for one thing, there is a love of the fire element with special scented, creatively named incenses—this began in ancient Egyptian times and has continued in practice to the current day. There is also a love of water in healing with bath salts, Epsom salts, minerals combined with certain herbs and also herbal/spiritual floor washes. These solutions combine the earth element with the water element. Water-earth healing is a prominent practice in the Americas and Caribbean in the practices of Hoodoo and Quimbois among others.
You also offer recipes that you can heal our lives. Can you give us an example of one?
Stephanie: This is an excerpt from Chapter 9, Elemental Rituals: Ancient Egyptian Therapies for the Sacred and Mundane:
Pain Relieving Salt Soak
3 cups Epsom salt
2 cups coarse Dead Sea salt
1 cup baking soda
½ cup sea kelp
1 teaspoon each: Tamanu oil and lavender essential oil
Large glass or metal screw-top container
Combine first four ingredients in bowl. Sprinkle with essential oils. Stir. Pour into the container. Shake. Let rest 48 hours. Use two cups per bath. Soak for 20 minutes or more.
You also offer rituals that can heal our lives. Can you give us an example of one? continues here: www.broowaha.com
