A search for a cure to what ails us in the Anthropocene by the
award-winning author of Border
In Elixir, in a wild river valley and amid the three mountains that
define it, Kapka Kassabova seeks out the deep connection between people,
plants, and place. The Mesta is one of the oldest rivers in Europe and
the surrounding forests and mountains of the southern Balkans are an
extraordinarily rich nexus for plant gatherers.
Over several seasons, Kassabova spends time with the people of this
magical region. She meets women and men who work in a long lineage of
foragers, healers, and mystics. She learns about wild plants and the
ancient practice of herbalism that makes use of them, and she
experiences a symbiotic system where nature and culture have blended for
thousands of years. Through her captivating encounters we come to feel
the devastating weight of the ecological and cultural disinheritance
that the people of this valley have suffered. And Kassabova reflects on
what being disconnected from place can do to our souls and our bodies.
Yet, in her search for elixir, she also finds reasons for hope. The
people of the valley are keepers of a rare knowledge, not only of
mountain plants and their properties, but also of how to transform
collective suffering into healing.
Immersive and enthralling, Elixir is an urgent and unforgettable call
to rethink how we live--in relation to one another, to Earth, and to the
cosmos.
