an herbal card deck
to help you study and learn about plants from Traditional Mexican Medicine for reproductive & family wellness featuring beautiful artwork by Denise Silva @pearmama and insightful herbal descriptions & story-telling by Montse Olmos @mujer_dela_tierra that make up this unique educational tool to help you learn Mexican traditional herbalism in a fun way!
Re-Indigenize your herbalism practice by learning how to name plants in two Indigenous languages from Mexico, how to work with them traditionally & how to create a reciprocal relationship with the natural world that will propell our collective healing forward!
decolonize herbalism
The Rising Matriarchs Herbarium is composed of 40 pre-colonial Mesoamerican yerbas still used today in Traditional Mexican Medicine, along with some favorite plant allies that migrated to us after colonization. This herbal card deck will help you learn about plants & their traditional uses, as well as their energetic qualities and histories. The Rising Matriarchs Herbarium is suitable for all ages and learning contexts: for the home, the classroom and any community space. It is the perfect educational tool for those who are investigating about their family’s herbal traditions, for those wanting to learn about plant medicine from an Indigenous perspective and for those who want to instill curiosity and wonder about the natural world in children.
Choose your cover art
The Child, The Mother and The GrandMother, along with the herbs featured in each image, is our way of paying homage to women’s cycles and life stages.
*Make sure to select your cover art at check-out, otherwise we will choose for you
The Child is holding manzanilla (chamomile | matricaria recutita), as she is oftentimes used for babies and children, for her gentle and calming qualities. Her essence feels like a benevolent spirit that helps welcome babies, as they are usually given their first bath with manzanilla in many Indigenous and rural communities of México. Drops of té de manzanilla are also given to babies for cólico & digestive issues. She is a great ally for children to begin learning about herbalism.
The Mother has tlaliztahyac or tlalquequetzal (yarrow | achillea millefolium) in her hand, which is a popular ally for reproductive & postpartum care and anything in regards to bleeding. It is precisely because of her affinity to blood, that Tlaliztahyac is wonderful for any mama or parent to have inside their herbal first aid kit, in case there’s a skinned knee, a scraped elbow or a superficial cut that needs healing.
Cihuapahtli (montanoa tomentosa) can be found in a woven basket at the feet of The GrandMother, as she is a powerful and wise plantcestor well-known by traditional midwives who call on her for support when needing to induce labour or augment uterine contractions. Just like cihuapahtli can help bring babies earthside at full term, she can also help release a pregnancy. Cihuapahtli requires a lot of experience and reverence in order to work with her.
at mujer de la tierra, we are remembering, preserving & disseminating ancestral saberes in support of our collective healing & liberation
Meet the team
denise silva
artist
Denise Silva [Hopi | Mescalero Apache | Chicanx] is an indigenous femme artist, birthkeeper + storyteller. She embodies the creative as a painter, illustrator, writer, mural artist, OG blogger and curator. Since the early 2000’s, the artist was weaving together a body of life’s work as a stay at home, work at home, homeschooling, homebirthing mama of six.
Denise’s art fuses together bold figurative shapes, our plant relatives + dream-like color stories that bring to remembrance innerspaces we have visited in other realms. Organic shapes often overlap and create unique abstract dimensions within dimensions in what the artist describes as: conversations with her spirits. The spirits of the plants called in a gentle way, asking to be remembered.
The artist’s work is intentionally woman-centered + Earth-centered, rich with sacred Mesoamerican symbols, ancestral veneration, often delving into Divine Feminine mysticism. Denise works from her home studio in Southern California, on Tongva + Cahuilla land, with three of her children. The artist makes art to uplift the feminine energy’s protective influence on Mother Earth + to remind us of our cosmic roots.
To discover more art offerings, find Denise at pearmama.com + @pearmama on Instagram
I was born in Mexico City and grew up with my abuelas, in the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. I come from a mixed lineage and I have migrated multiple times across national and international colonial borders. I proudly identify as Totonaca, Nahuatl & Chichimeca, these are the lineages that inform my sacred work and path.
I began my formal doula studies at Ancient Song Doula Services in Brooklyn, NY, but by ancestral inheritance, I am a full spectrum birth companion and the granddaughter of traditional midwives & healers.
Over the years I have supported hundreds of women and families both in the U.S. and Mexico as their birth and abortion companion and have taught over 2K+ students through my virtual courses on childbirth, abortion care, herbalism and the rebozo. To me, this work is much more than a business, but rather a deep calling from within and how I honor my ancestors every day.
My years as a ceremonial dancer in Danza Conchera Chichimeca and other rituals, have also been a very important element in my formation as birth companion, mother and community organizer. They have served as my escuela de la vida in many ways and it is thanks to the teachings I’ve received in this spiritual path that I can now show up in all the sacred roles and responsibilities that I carry.
When I am not investing my time as a birth worker and educator, my family and I cultivate corn, beans, squash and medicinal herbs in our agroecological farm in the south of Puebla. We are creating the first Indigenous permaculture project in our region, which involves the healing of our local soil and water sources, the reforestation of our land, and the revival of traditional building practices, among other commitments.