39. Appalachian Folk Magic, Foraging & Witchcraft with Rebecca Beyer

How do we navigate the spiritual landscape of our unique bioregions while honoring both our own ancestry and the history of the land and its people?

This is a line of questioning that seems to unite all of the passions of Becky Beyer, a teacher and practitioner of foraging, folk magic, and witchcraft outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

Becky is equally knowledgeable about the spiritual practices of her European ancestors and of her predecessors in that backwoods melting-pot we know as Appalachia.

She teaches about folk traditions and ethnobotany through her blog, Blood and Spicebush, and through the classes and workshops she offers in person. She's also a foraging instructor for No Taste Like Home.

We had a great conversation about the intersections of paganism, animism and witchcraft; the indescribable magic of the Appalachian region; how ethnobotany is living, breathing body of knowledge that we can contribute to as foragers; and how we settlers can honor both our European ancestry and the original peoples of our continent and bioregions, without falling into the traps of nationalism, colonialism or appropriation.