Rooted Again, Discover 68 Powerful Jamaican Herbs
When I returned to Jamaica after being turned back from Mexico, alone, broke, and nearly blind, I wasn’t searching for meaning. I wasn’t looking to write a book called Rooted Again. Nor was I trying to start a new business, or uncover ancient wisdom. I was simply trying to get through each day without breaking.
With most of my belongings lost and my future uncertain, I moved slowly and quietly through those early days. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t sew. I couldn’t see properly. I was living off faith and the kindness of others, unsure what would come next.
But it was the little things that got to me.
Things like not being able to afford the hair products I used to rely on. My scalp was constantly irritated. My curls looked lifeless. I didn’t feel like myself, not outside, and certainly not within. In those quiet, uncomfortable moments, I started thinking about what I could do. What I had around me. What I remembered from years gone by.
That’s when the idea came to try something natural. Something simple. Something I could make myself. At first, it was just about hair, but what I found was Jamaican bush remedies, and what they brought me was healing I never expected.
That innocent search opened a door that changed my life.
Discovering the Healing Power of Jamaican Herbs
For most of my adult life, I used store-bought gels like Eco Styler and those old-school Jheri curl gels. They gave me sheen, held my curls in place, and helped me feel put-together, especially when life felt anything but. But after returning to Jamaica during one of the hardest seasons of my life, I realized I couldn’t keep up with the cost. Worse, my scalp had started to itch terribly every time I used them.
So I decided to try something different.
I boiled flax seeds and made my own natural gel. It was slimy, sure, but it worked. That small experiment sparked something in me. I started researching other affordable, natural options that could help maintain my hair without the irritation. That’s when I stumbled onto Chia seeds, and then rediscovered Tuna, the prickly cactus leaf I used to see on fences growing up. I remembered how people used it for wounds and burns, but now I was turning it into a scalp treatment.
Next came Aloe Vera, fresh and soothing. Then I found Rosemary, which I’d heard could help stimulate hair growth. One herb led to another. Neem entered the picture, bitter, yes, but powerful.
And before I knew it… I wasn’t just making hair gel. I was making teas. I was blending herbs. I was writing down remedies. I was asking elders questions I’d never dared to ask before.
That’s how the journey truly began, not as some big business plan, but from an itchy scalp, a tight budget, and a deep desire to feel like myself again. What I discovered wasn’t just natural hair care, it was natural healing. And it led me straight back to the very roots I didn’t even know I was missing.
Rooted Again: The Book That Grew from the Bush
The book “Rooted Again, How I Found Strength, Healing and Heritage in Jamaica’s bush remedies” came as a result of my journey, from brokenness to bush, from survival to self-reclamation. It wasn’t planned. I didn’t sit down to become an author. But as the knowledge came, as the healing came, as the memories returned, I felt a responsibility to preserve what I was learning, and to pass it on.
The book is part memoir, part bush medicine guide, and part cultural reminder for those of us who grew up hearing about “cerasee” but never truly knew its power. It holds over 60 herbs used in traditional Jamaican bush remedies, each with preparation methods, benefits, warnings, scientific findings, and stories woven from my life and the voices of those who taught me.
This book is for anyone who’s tired of starting over, and still finds the strength to do it anyway. It’s for the woman or man, whether in their twenties or their seventies, who’s been through enough to know they just want to feel grounded, healthy, and whole. It’s for those who remember their grandmother’s pot bubbling on the coal stove, and for those who never got to taste it but are searching to reconnect. It’s for everyone carrying a love for Jamaica in their blood or in their heart, near or far.
Whether you’re seeking better sleep, stronger immunity, hormonal balance, or emotional peace, this book holds keys to holistic wellness that go far beyond medicine. It’s a return to knowledge. A return to self. A return to the land.
And like the herbs themselves, this book was never meant to impress. It was meant to serve.
Why Jamaican Bush Remedies Matter More Than Ever
In a world addicted to quick fixes, convenience, and pill bottles, the wisdom of the bush often gets pushed aside, dismissed as backward or unscientific. But our natural healing traditions were not built on myths or guesswork. They were born out of survival. They were carved out of struggle. They were passed down, not in books, but in the hands and voices of those who had no choice but to remember.
The enslaved Africans brought to Jamaica had no access to formal doctors. The Maroons, fighting for their freedom in the hills, relied on the plants that surrounded them, bark, root, leaf, and flower. And the grandmothers, bless them, turned their kitchens into clinics. Their yards into medicine cabinets. Their memories into healing maps.
They healed fevers with Bissy, worms with Wormgrass, and spiritual attack with Cerasee or Guinea Hen Weed. They bathed the sick in bush water, laid cool leaves on warm foreheads, and whispered prayers into every pot that boiled. These were women who knew how to treat bellyaches, heartbreaks, and curses, all without ever walking into a clinic.
But somewhere along the way, we were taught to forget.
We were told that herbs were “bush,” and that bush meant poor. We were told that tablets were better, that chemicals were smarter, that healing only came in a bottle with a label we couldn’t pronounce. We were disconnected, not just from the land, but from the power of our own people’s knowledge.
Now, in an age of processed food, lifestyle disease, and chronic burnout, many of us are trying to find our way back. There’s a quiet movement rising, not out of rebellion, but remembrance. People are waking up and realizing that healing didn’t start in the hospital. It started in the yard. In the forest. In the little tin pot on Granny’s fire.
That’s why I wrote the book. And that’s why I created Claudette’s Jamaican Herbs, to offer a path back home. Whether you’re living right here in Jamaica or far across the ocean, the wisdom of the bush is still waiting for you. Still whispering. Still working. Still willing to meet you where you are.
The Healing Power of Jamaican Herbs Is for Everyone
This isn’t just a Jamaican story, it’s a human one. Yes, it was shaped in our hills and passed down through our grandmothers, but the core truth it carries belongs to everyone: healing is your birthright.
You don’t have to grow up around bush. You don’t have to know the name of every leaf. You don’t need to speak Patois or understand the difference between steeping and boiling. You just have to be open. Open to remembering what your own ancestors once knew. Open to trusting the gentle, layered power of the earth. Open to listening when the body speaks, not to silence it, but to soothe it.
The healing power of Jamaican herbs is not magic, though it may feel magical. It’s not about miracles, though it has worked wonders. It’s about rhythm. Consistency. Intuition. It’s about recognizing that wellness is not always loud or flashy. Sometimes it’s as simple as a hot cup of Cerasee on a tired morning. Sometimes it’s rubbing Rosemary on your temples. Sometimes it’s knowing when to lie down, breathe, and let the bush do its quiet work.
Whether you’re dealing with high blood pressure, menopause, anxiety, fatigue, or a longing for reconnection, herbs like Soursop Leaf, Spirit Weed, Chaney Root, and Guinea Hen Weed offer more than medicine. They offer grounding. They offer remembrance. They offer a way back to yourself.
And for many of us, especially those of us starting over in our20s,30s,40, 50s, 60s, and beyond, that’s what we really need. Not just something to fix us, but something to root us.
Rooted, Not Just Surviving,But Blooming
At 60-something, I never imagined I’d be starting over, not with a plan, but with bush. It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t easy. But it was enough.
Rooted Again isn’t just a title, it’s a testimony. It’s about remembering who you are after everything else is stripped away. It’s about returning to what still works, what still heals, and what still carries the wisdom of those who came before us.
If you’re in a season of rebuilding, of re-centering, or simply searching, maybe you don’t need to start over. Maybe you just need to be rooted again.
A Message to My Sisters Starting Over
If you’re reading this and you’re tired of starting over I see you.
I know what it’s like to feel like life has passed you by. To lose everything you worked so hard for. To start over when your bones ache, your confidence wavers, and the world tells you it’s too late.
Let me tell you something. It’s not too late.
You can be rooted again. Not in the way you used to be, but in a deeper, more powerful way. You can stand tall, firm in who you are, what you’ve been through, and what you’re called to do.
I found strength in Cerasee, healing in Soursop leaf, and heritage in every herb I once dismissed as “just bush.”
I invite you to come home to yourself, one herb, one story, one sip at a time.
Where to Get Rooted Again
Rooted Again – How I Found Strength, Healing & Heritage in Jamaica’s Bush Remedies is available in three formats on Amazon:
📗 Color Paperback – for those who want vibrant, full-color pages
👉🏽 Order Here
📓 Black & White Paperback – a more affordable option with the same content
👉🏽 Order Here
📱 Kindle eBook – read instantly from any device
👉🏽 Order Here
Now you can order herbs directly from the online store where we currently feature 26 herbs. If you don’t see what you want you can place a custom order and we’ll do our best to source it for you.
Stay Connected
Follow me for more Jamaican wisdom, bush medicine stories, and life-after-50 encouragement:
- Instagram: @fiftyplusrebirth
- YouTube: Jamaican Gypsy Granny
- TikTok: @jamaicangypsygranny
- Pinterest: Claudette’s Jamaican Herbs
