Botanicals — Holly Bynoe

BOTANICALS

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To a large extent, I use this space to reconnect to Source, to plants and to the natural world and honour the divinity within it. By connecting to the natural elements, I walk along the path of my ancestors acknowledging the monumental shift that has pulled us away from nature and humanity’s slow and humble crawl back to it. These journeys connect us back to the spiral of life, back to the energetic centre of balance where we can draw on new technologies to become allies in the resistance against the great slumber (the great death).

Plant knowledge is revolutionary in the Caribbean and to indigenous peoples around the world. It is the connection to Source. Plants carry medicine, ease, cure, swift death, memory and the customs of a people wrapped up in magick and ritual. We are trapped in the great forgetting. This journaling is a way to come into alignment with their transmissions, to redefine my creative energy and to remember.

“Bush Medicine: Stories that Remember the Land”

“Bush Medicine: Stories that Remember the Land”

“Bush Medicine: Stories that Remember the Land” focuses on traditional knowledge and the power of intergenerational exchange, two aspects of recovery and remembering that are important for Vincentian consciousness. The documentary dives into stories of elders and younger practitioners across Bequia and St. Vincent, and engages in their memories of the land, the importance of bush medicine in daily living, subsistence agriculture and traditions that were once important in our communities.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeNovember 11, 2024Bush Medicine, Stories that Remember the LandComment

Traditional Cocoa Tea Recipe

Traditional Cocoa Tea Recipe

This recipe is a co-creative endeavor between Annalee Davis and myself which was made for the permacultural residency at Stiftung Künstlerdorf in Schöppingen, Germany. It draws inspiration from traditional wake food and meals prepared for family members as they mourn, grieve and celebrate the recent dead.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeFebruary 2, 2024cocoa tea, vincentian cocoa, wake foodComment

Sea Island Cotton - Gossypium barbadense

Sea Island Cotton - Gossypium barbadense

Sea Island Cotton has been grown in the Caribbean since the 15th century, before the arrival of Europeans to the ‘New World.’ Sea Island Cotton’s origins can be traced back to being cultivated on the coasts of southwest Ecuador and northwest Peru over 6,000 years ago.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeFebruary 2, 2024Gossypium barbadense, sea island cotton, benefitsComment

Roucou, powerful Indigenous skin medicine

Roucou, powerful Indigenous skin medicine

The unassuming roucou gives color to food, clothing and art. It enriches the skin with beta-carotene.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeJanuary 29, 2024Spiritualist, roucou, annatto, skincareComment

Castor and Castor Oil Pack Preparation

Castor and Castor Oil Pack Preparation

Castor oil increases the circulation of blood and lymph, decreases pain and improves the conditions of uterine illnesses. Many women have found castor oil compresses very helpful for conditions related to PCOS, infertility, endometriosis, fibroids and cysts along with inflammation and pain management. Castor oil packs and rubs can also be used throughout the cycle see the recipe here!

BotanicalsHolly BynoeJanuary 29, 2024Spiritualist, bush medicine, castor, castor oil packComment

Corilla, Cerasee, Carila, a bitter medicine

Corilla, Cerasee, Carila, a bitter medicine

Corilla or carila - tie it around your neck to ward of stiffness. Macerate or pound the leaves in a bush bath to sap away stagnant energy. Revitalizing and cooling.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeJanuary 29, 2024Spiritualist, Medicine Woman, bush medicine, corilla, cerasee, carilaComment

Holy Basil, an adaptogen

Holy Basil, an adaptogen

Tulsi, comprising several species in the basil family, is more commonly known as holy basil or tea basil across our island archipelago. It has a wide range of applications for spiritual, religious and traditional medicine purposes, and is commonly found in home gardens and growing wild across our island archipelago.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeJanuary 29, 2024Spiritualist, Medicine Woman, holy basil, tulsiComment

Blue Vervain, a nervine tonic

Blue Vervain, a nervine tonic

A way in which we are learning to decolonise our landscape and reclaim ownership of our stories and space is by reclaiming the knowledge that these plants have to offer. Our ancestors used these medicines in times of great need and their wisdom continues to permeate today as we bring forward these healing technologies aided by bush medicine.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeJanuary 29, 2024Spiritualist, Medicine Woman, blue vervain, verbena, vervine, bush medicineComment

The Trumpet Tree or Congo Palm

The Trumpet Tree or Congo Palm

Before rainfall, the leaves of the tree turn up towards the sky as if in anticipation of the moisture and aqueous downpour. The dried leaves remind me of my chest cavity; perhaps this is a lingering message, and the signature of how the medicine is used in our culture for respiratory illnesses such as asthma and to tone the lungs. It is widely viewed as a panacea, a cure-all in the Caribbean bush remedy arsenal.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeFebruary 23, 2021Trumpet Tree, Spiritualist, Medicine WomanComment

Healing System of Sage Garden Barbados

Healing System of Sage Garden Barbados

View the National Cultural Foundation episode on “Healing System of Sage Garden.” In episode 3 which continues the rich storytelling around the importance of Bush Tea: Herbs, Plants and Barbadian Botanical Stories.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeFebruary 23, 2021sage garden, bush medicineComment

The Chaste Berry Tree

The Chaste Berry Tree

Sitting in communication with chaste berry blooms is a humbling and sensory experience. Harvested from my Bajan surrogate mother—shout out Mama Olton—she often lets me come by to wildcraft various medicinal herbs including bloodroot, black sage and other materials.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeAugust 24, 2020Vitex agnus-castus, Spiritualist, Medicine Woman Comment

Coralita

Coralita

You are the chain of love
The love vine
The connector, a creeper
Hanging yourself around our necks
As you rise

BotanicalsHolly BynoeMay 8, 2020Artist Comment

Passion Flower

Passion Flower

The passion flower’s corona or crown which is akin to the deck of a ship (the helm) comes in several colours but the one most common to me was the violet filaments. Passion flowers are erotic, the true stereotype of exotic (tying with the bird of paradise) and otherworldly. They are symmetrical radial delights like little mandalas hiding under the heavy growth of leaves peaking out of their green habitats.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeMay 8, 2020Spiritualist, Passion Flower Comment

Calabash

Calabash

I abolish the calendar,
so that I can bleed with the cycle of the cosmos.
I abolish hours, minutes, seconds, days and years
so that I can feed the great mother under this bush
soaked with my blood.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeMay 8, 2020Calabash, ArtistComment

Tips on Wildcrafting

Tips on Wildcrafting

As I develop my foraging skills here are some questions I ask myself about privilege, access and ethics in the wake of the climate crisis.

BotanicalsHolly BynoeMay 8, 2020Wildcrafting, Cerasee, Medicine WomanComment