House of Roots and Bones: Healing Department

IX. HEALING — REMEDIES, BATHS & SPIRITUAL CARE
HORB TRT 421 — The Healer in Black Southern Communities
Studies the role of healers, granny women, root doctors, midwives, praying people, and community caretakers within Black Southern life. Examines the overlap and distinctions among spiritual care, household medicine, and formal medical treatment. Provides historical context and emphasizes responsible, culturally grounded healing practice.
HORB TRT 422 — Spiritual Baths & Washing
Develops advanced skill in spiritual bathing, washing, rinsing, and condition-specific preparation. Covers cleansing, protection, drawing, healing, and restoration using safe and traditional methods. Students learn to construct complete bathing protocols, including preparation, timing, disposal, and follow-up care.
HORB TRT 423 — Home Remedies & Household Healing Traditions
Surveys historical Black Southern household remedies for common ailments and everyday care. Examines teas, foods, rubs, poultices, steams, and other traditional practices within their cultural context. Emphasizes safety, proper use, and the distinction between traditional knowledge and modern medical treatment.
HORB TRT 424 — Herbal Teas, Washes, Poultices & Traditional Preparations
Examines the preparation and use of teas, decoctions, infusions, washes, poultices, compresses, steams, and topical applications. Teaches safe identification, measurement, sanitation, storage, and labeling while discussing traditional uses and contraindications. Builds practical skill in preparing remedies for spiritual and household care.
HORB TRT 425 — Prayer, Laying on Hands & Spiritual Comfort
Examines prayer, touch, laying on of hands, Scripture, song, testimony, and spiritual reassurance in Black healing traditions. Focuses on providing spiritual care during illness, grief, recovery, and family crisis. Emphasizes consent, boundaries, and the importance of spiritual care alongside appropriate medical treatment.
HORB TRT 426 — Midwives, Grannies & Black Southern Healing Women
Studies Black midwives, granny women, and healing caretakers whose knowledge sustained families across generations. Examines birth, postpartum care, children’s remedies, foodways, and community trust within the historical context of segregation and medical exclusion. Honors their contributions while recognizing the differences between healing knowledge and conjure practice.
HORB TRT 427 — Healing After Grief, Death & Loss
Examines spiritual care after bereavement, traumatic loss, and major life transitions. Studies prayer, memorial practice, food, family gathering, cleansing, and community support as forms of healing. Teaches discernment between ordinary grief, spiritual intervention, and situations requiring professional mental-health support.
HORB TRT 428 — Healing the Home After Trouble
Focuses on restoring a household after death, conflict, illness, displacement, or other disruptive events. Examines cleaning, rearranging, washing, repairing, prayer, protection, food, and reestablishing household routine. Teaches students to address both the spiritual and physical condition of the home to create lasting restoration.
HORB TRT 429 — Spiritual Care During Illness
Teaches appropriate spiritual support for people receiving medical care or living with illness. Covers prayer, bedside presence, food support, anointing, and community care. Emphasizes working alongside medical treatment, respecting clinical boundaries, and supporting the whole person.
HORB TRT 430 — The Limits of the Rootworker: Spiritual Care and Medical Care
Establishes the boundaries between spiritual practice, folk healing, and professional medical, mental-health, legal, and social services. Teaches when to refer, when not to work, and how to recognize situations requiring emergency or specialized care. Completion is required before advancing into professional root doctoring.