Botanical Birthways

This course is a culmination of the teachings I received while sitting with griots, midwives, and healers around the world. It is a letter of gratitude to the African Matriarchs who came before and teach through me. Welcome. You belong here.

I am ready

Everything is Cyclical

Everyone deserves to have their traditions preserved. How would your birth practice change if you remembered your ancestral traditions? How could you better support yourself and others to birth with grace instead of resistance? Join Botanical Birthways if you are ready to find out.

  • Inner Wisdom

    You begin by honoring the wisdom in your lineages. You know more than you realize. Your interest in herbalism is not a coincidence. There is always a reason. We begin this course by exploring your ancestral connection to the elements, what do mean by "intuition," how to notice which emotions are yours or passed down through your lineage, and more.

  • Supporting the Stages of Birth

    During these lessons, you will learn about herbs used by continental Africans and diasporans during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. We also cover which herbs to avoid, the use of the calabash, and fermentation being the oldest method for food preservation and wellness. Learn how to build your medicine cabinet!

  • Echoes of God

    Throughout the course, you will learn about sacred psychoactive plant medicine, ceremonies, elemental wisdom, and rituals used in indigenous African cultures. Not everything has been lost. There are ways to tap back into the wisdom of old. Please do not inquire about acquisition.

Come, reconnect to African herbal mysteries

Imagine embracing African ancestral knowledge, herbs, and practices to support a better birth outcome. We have tools that work. They are just waiting for us to return to them.

Enroll Now!

What's Inside

    1. Introduction

    2. Self-Assessment

    1. Honoring Your Inner Medicine Woman

    2. Week One Slide Deck

    1. Build Your Medicine Cabinet Part I: Flowers & Herbs for Pregnancy

    2. Week Two Slide Deck

    1. Build Your Medicine Cabinet Part II: Flowers & Herbs for Pregnancy

    2. Week Three Slide Deck

    1. Fermentation and the Calabash

    2. Week Four Slide Deck

    1. Replenishing the Birthkeeper

    2. Week Five Slide Deck

Our Flow of Topics:

  • Elemental Wisdom - every birthkeeper has a garden; African creation stories; connection to the land
  • African Medicine Cabinet Essentials - herbs, flowers, roots, vinegars, oils, salts, and tools
  • Birthkeeping with Integrity and Practice - the community will choose; psychedelics in African birth traditions

What Can You Expect?

Botanical Birthways is a carefully curated learning space for anyone pregnant or planning to be pregnant, all birthkeepers, their family, and friends. By enrolling today, you have lifetime access to the course and all future materials.

  • Lifetime Access & All Future Materials Updates

  • 6 Pre-Recorded Classes

  • 6 Slide Decks

  • 5 Assignments

  • Self-Assessment Prompts

  • Bonus Materials

  • A Curated Playlist

  • Discounts on Future Offerings

Investment

One-time payment for lifetime access

Meet Your Teacher

Joyell Arvella, JD

Birthkeeper | Teacher | Writer

Joyell Arvella, JD (she/her) has been a traditional birthkeeper who provides womb-to-tomb care for 20 years. She also supports communities as a medicine woman, teacher, and writer. While Joyell no longer works in international human rights law full time, her background in law, plus racial and gender equity strategy, informs her approach to reproductive autonomy. For 13 years, she has worked with nonprofits, organizers, and government agencies to address the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, criminal justice, and reproductive care for the Global Majority. After sitting with griots and elders to learn the overlaps of midwifery, plant wisdom, and ancestral African practices on 5 continents, Joyell created the first birth worker residency in Senegal, Wombs of Wata.  When she is not supporting wombs, you can find her soaking in a bathtub somewhere in the world, writing as Writer in the Tub, in her garden, or learning another language. Joyell is currently learning isiXhosa and Hindi, and is proficient in French and Spanish.