The Grandmother of
Herbal Medicine
“One must tread delicately on those lands, its palace is built on shifting sands; And so fragile,
one cruel, look or word -Would utterly smash that porcelain world.” Juliette de Bairacli Levy
The grandmother of herbal medicine, Juliette de Bairacli Levy, has three new books hot off the press: Summer in Galilee, A Gypsy in New York, and Spanish Mountain Life. Her colorful life is portrayed in the revival of these books being released this month by Ash Publishing, that give the reader a glimpse into the daily lives of the people she lived amongst in New York, Sierra Nevada Mountains of Spain and Israel. Juliette is known as the pioneer of holistic animal care and the author of classic books on herbal medicine for animals, people and natural child rearing. These books are still read today for their wisdom of the healing arts that she learned from her travels and living with the Gypsies, nomads and peasants around the world.
Juliette was in the forefront of the natural living, natural eating, and natural healing lifestyle. Living simply, and independently, through her keen eye of observing life through the senses – sounds, sights, and smells – along with nature and even the weather, we are offered a unique window into the lives of the people who surrounded her, particularly the Gypsies, who she loved. She found life more fun living among the “ragged Bohemians.”
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“I get to know the Gypsies of every town that I visit, because I am sure of finding among them loyal friendship and interesting companionship and true amusement, song, music, dance, magic, all of these and more; love, sometimes.”
When Juliette and her children arrived in New York, the children questioned where were the trees and rocks that they were so used to climbing. Juliette informed them they would forego the elevators and climb the stairs of the many buildings as they had the legs to do so. No matter that it was winter when they arrived, they would spend much of their time outdoors exploring life in the city.
You learn from Gypsies in New York that snow is nature’s great fertilizer, rich in phosphates and nitrates. She learned to eat snow with jam from the Turkish Gypsies, and the early American settlers poured hot molasses onto snow and twisted the mixture into
June/July 2011
thin sticks – just make sure it’s clean snow! A remedy she shares will help you with headaches and sleep:
Queen of Hungary’s Water 2 pounds of flowering shoots of fresh rosemary 3 pints of alcohol Place together in a closed vessel in a warm place (in the sunlight or by a hot stove) for 50 hours, adding to these hours day by day until the fifty are completed. Then strain
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