Botanicas mix spirituality and nature to provide remedies for various emotional and physical ailments.
At Original Products Botanica in the Bronx, shelves are stocked with thousands of medicinal herbs, fast-luck bath salts and even so-called “Bring Back My Man” candles. To those unfamiliar with the culture, these products may seem more like gag gifts rather than actual treatments. But to Botanica patrons, they’re real solutions to emotional trauma and physical pain.
Chris Ochun is the Head Santero Priest at Original Products. He uses divination rituals to help customers understand what’s troubling their bodies and spirits.
“We try to help them out with whatever is going on in their lives, and utilize whatever spiritual means we have to try and give them balance,” Ochun said.
Ochun says medical and spiritual needs often intertwine. He recalls one woman who recently claimed she felt a spirit crawling all over her body.
“Personally I freak out when I hear that,so im thinking bugs or something like that,” Ochun said. “For some reason she was having some skin rash that was going on in her body. So we gave her some selected herbs, like there’s this Spanish one called Prodigiosa and Aloe Vera, which is pretty known. And it’s actually helping her out.”
Ochun says his products can be very beneficial. But he says when people come in with serious illnesses, he recommends they see medical professionals. But Ina Vandebroek with the New York Botanical Garden, says many immigrants hesitate to do so. She’s studied the use of medicinal plants in New York’s Caribbean and Hispanic communities.
“Well it’s a common complaint that pharmaceuticals cure one organ but then they hurt another, like you take something to help your liver but then you get a stomachache,” Vandebroek said. “That reason was even more important than the fact that medicinal plants may be cheaper than pharmaceuticals.”
Vandebroek recommends physicians have open dialogues with patients who use herbal and spiritual remedies in order to provide the best all-around care.
– See more at: http://www.wfuv.org/content/alternative-treatments-botanicas