Join Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts from 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, as they kick off this year’s Arkansas Folklife Web Series with Ozark folk healer Brandon Weston. All sessions in the series are free and open to the public.
Brandon is spiritual healer, folklorist and writer who owns and operates Ozark Healing Traditions, an online collective of articles, lectures and workshops focusing on the Ozark Mountain region. As a practicing folk healer, his work with clients includes everything from spiritual cleanses to house blessings. He comes from a long line of Ozark hillfolk and is also a folk herbalist, yarb doctor and power doctor. Brandon has published multiple articles and two books: Ozark Folk Magic: Plants, Prayers, and Healing and Ozark Mountain Spell Book: Folk Magic and Healing.
Brandon will present a general overview of folk magic rites, rituals and spells, from an Ozark point of view. On the Ozark Healing Traditions webpage, Brandon notes, “My work is a living tradition. It’s the work that Ozark healers have been doing for hundreds of years. You can see many different cultures and traditions represented in Ozark folkways. These beliefs and practices, much like the Ozark people who created them, are a mixture of many places, beliefs, and ways of life.”
Brandon continues to be inspired to do this work because, in his words, “Healing traditions were and still are at the heart of life in the Ozark Mountains. My practice aims at keeping alive what has been passed down through generations of practitioners as well as what has been modernized by healers today.”
This year’s sessions will include folk magic, old-time music, glasswork, and more.
2023 SCHEDULE
- Feb. 15 — Brandon Weston, Healer – Ozark Healing Traditions
- March 15 — Jared Phillips, Professor and Farmer – Arkansas Back-to-the-Landers
- April 19 — Allison Williams, Musician – Intersection of Folk and Punk Music
- May 17 — Ed Pennebaker, Glass Artist – Showcase, History with Art form
- June 21 — Freda Cruse Hardison, Author – Cherokee Nation History and Culture
- July 19 — TBA
- Sept. 20 — Janis Kearney, Celebrate! Maya Project – Community Activism
- Oct. 18 — Eric Maynard – TBA
- Nov. 18 — TBA
Questions about the 2023 Arkansas Folklife Web Series may be directed to Lauren Willette at willette@uark.edu. Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts is a statewide program of the University of Arkansas Libraries dedicated to building cross-cultural understanding by documenting, presenting and sustaining Arkansas’ living traditional arts and cultural heritage.