Healing Runs Deep: Shereel Washington on Herbs, the Body, and the Legacy of Black North American Herbalism

Shereel Washington, Clinical Herbalist

There is a thread of healing wisdom that runs through the African diaspora — carried in the hands of midwives, root workers, grandmothers, and medicine keepers — that has too often been unnamed, uncredited, and overlooked. In Episode 33 of Love Letters to Our Bodies, we trace that thread with one of its living embodiments: Shereel Washington, clinical herbalist and founder of Ixalted Natural Body Care & Botanicals.

Shereel has spent years studying the healing properties of plants — completing over 1,200 hours of training in herbal craft-making and earning her clinical herbalist certification from the California School of Herbal Studies. But beyond credentials, what drives her is something older and more personal: a deep love for the wisdom Black communities in North America have carried through generations, and a commitment to making sure that wisdom is honored, preserved, and passed on.

In our conversation, Shereel shares what it really means to practice "bespoke" herbalism — crafting personalized formulations for each person's unique constitution rather than offering one-size-fits-all remedies. She speaks candidly about how she works with women navigating serious health challenges, including the side effects of cancer treatment: the fatigue, the inflammation, the disrupted digestion, the disconnection from the body. And she explains why plant medicine, when approached with reverence and skill, can offer something that conventional medicine often cannot — a return to relationship with the living world.

Gwendolyn Mitchell in conversation with Shereel Washington

What moved me most in this conversation was Shereel's insistence on naming Black North American herbalism as its own distinct tradition — not as a footnote to European herbal history, but as a rich, rooted, and resilient body of knowledge in its own right. She is a Cultivator of Celebration, recognized by Cornell University Botanical Garden's "Seeds of Survival and Celebration" exhibit, and a Community Leader named by People Science. Her work with Traditional Medicinals has amplified this history to wider audiences. And her teaching — at institutions like the Berkeley Herbal Center, the Northern California Women's Herbal Symposium, and Buckeye Gathering — is ensuring that the next generation of herbalists knows where they come from.

At Moyo Institute, we believe that healing is not just physical. It is cultural, ancestral, and spiritual. Shereel's work lives at that intersection, and this episode is a gift for any woman who has ever felt called back to the earth — to the plants, to her body, to the wisdom that has always been there.

Listen to Episode 33 of Love Letters to Our Bodies here or wherever you get your podcasts. And visit Shereel at ixaltednaturalbody.com to explore herbal consultations, her Herbalist Journey mentorship circle, and her growing curriculum.