Queen Afua Interview, Part 1

On October 11, 2010, Queen Afua was kind enough to do a phone interview with me. The delay in getting this interview posted is solely on me. The interview was extensive. It will be broken into several posts.

For those of you who don't know her, here is a part of her biography:

Queen Afua is an internationally renowned best selling author, holistic wellness entrepreneur, and highly sought after natural health practitioner. She is committed to informing and inspiring global wellness through practice, products, and teaching. With a surplus of 35 years experience, Queen Afua has built a wellness empire that includes The Queen Afua Wellness Institute, The City of Wellness Society, and her signature Heal Thyself and Sacred Spirit product lines. She has published four critically acclaimed books: Heal Thyself, Sacred Woman, City of Wellness, Man Heal Thyself, and Overcoming An Angry Vagina. www.queenafua.com.

Can you share some of your story with my readers?

Absolutely. I was age 7 when I started on my journey. And I was a very sick child from age 7 to 17 and by the time I reached age 17  I had chronic asthma and the doctors really didn’t have any more potent form of medication for me, so the next step would have been for me to get a respirator. I also had eczema from head to toe and allergies and sneezing and I was allergic to so many things in nature. So with that, I had chronic PMS and arthritis and headaches that sometimes would last for hours and sometimes days. So I was truly in need, as Fannie Lou Hamer says I was really sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was seeking another way. And so I did – I was invited to go on a healing retreat and I met other people on the path that I didn’t know even existed and they talked about herbs and using plants to heal and internal hygiene and food is medicine and exercise to heal.

Well, when I got off that bus to come into this retreat to change my life, nature was all about me and the hay fever kicked in and the asthma kicked in and the allergies and the scratching – it all kicked in and I went into a moment of panic. And at that very moment I heard an inner voice give me instruction and that was to eat grapefruits, lemons and oranges. It was my first time really hearing the voice from within speak to me. And that rest of the day I drank water and I did that throughout the day. I sat in front of a fireplace and the fireplace (I considered that) was my first sweat lodge. 

And that day of all my juices and my water – that was my first fast. I wasn’t aware of it, I was just being guided. And that morning when I woke up, mucous came out of my body for about an hour – my nose, my mouth, my eyes – and I realized later on, that was my first detox. And that day I listened to all of these practitioners talk about all of the different alternatives – holistically how to heal the body. I remember meeting Dr. Johnny Moore – master herbalist for over 50 years – we really adopted each other, he became my spiritual grandfather and we journeyed together as I learned more about healing. He was a great inspiration to me and I carry him in all of my books – I call out his name in all of the last 3 books – he’s now an ancestor. 

And so from that point on, I took one book back home with me that I remember and that was Dick Gregory’s “Cooking with Mother Nature”. And his book was my Bible to my wellness and I met Dr. Alvina Fulton from his book and that was his mentor – she got him into wellness. And then later on as I started to study, I went to Chicago and I met with her. And just having a vision of this woman working with plants and herbs and natural medicine, she inspired me to do what she did. She’s an ancestor now and so I give thanks to have met her. 

And so on this journey I opened up a wellness center – I studied as a holistic health practitioner, became certified as a holistic health practitioner, a Pilates practitioner, a lay herbalist through Dr. Johnny Moore’s tutelage, a lay midwife and a Hopi yoga instructor because I always was into movement – I was a dancer, I was a artist as a teenager and it translated to wellness and so I’ve been on the journey. Ever since healing myself, I heal myself daily – I work on myself a bit every day and every day I help others to get on the path of wellness so they may have recovery as I did.

Wow that’s awesome. And all of this stuff I kinda know already because I read all your books, but I want to introduce you to the people who might not know you so they can buy your books.

Thank you for that.

Absolutely - thank you! So you answered actually my 3^rd question which was who were your primary teachers and you already said who they were so I’ll definitely get that in the interview and give them thanks. So can you tell me a little bit about how you – I know you eventually transitioned to vegetarianism then to vegan, I think you’ve gone raw vegan somewhat – but where are you with that? And how did you transition?

That weekend, I became a vegetarian. 

And how old were you then?

About 17 years old.  I just went straight into the vegetarian lifestyle. I let the chicken go, I let the beef go, I let the fried food, the sugar, the fast food, the processed foods and I made everything from scratch. I grew my own sprouts and I grew my own wheatgrass and I made my own bread and my own cookies – everything I did from scratch. That was then. So where I am now – I sent my son Supernova Slom  he loved the book – his book came out called The Remedy this April (2010).

All 3 of my children were raised as vegetarians. I sent him away to get him off of New York City streets so the streets would not take his life. I saw danger. So he went away for a year and he went to school there in South Carolina and he would hang around at the college campuses in that area. And a lot of young/older people would come and ask him for spiritual counseling because he’s my son so I was always teaching my children whatever they would listen to. So everything I ever taught him he started to activate it, more then when he separated from me, than we were together – he was more rebellious then. And so we became really great friends on this journey during that year.

When he came back, to New York, he was carrying around this giant gallon of green juice and I said “What’s that all about?” And he says “I’m a chlorophyllion” and I said, “Chlorophyllion? So what’s a chlorophyllion?” He said (and this came from his own spirit), “It’s someone who takes 90% chlorophyll foods which are green foods, sun foods, vegetables, and 10% fruits and nuts and seeds and whole grains and all of that. And that really hit me because I raised my children off a lot of green food and green juice and no matter what would happen, I would give them a green drink every single day so they would have spiritual protection and their psyche would be as charged as possible and their immune systems would be protected. So it resonated, this chlorophyllion life, and I began to walk it. 

So I consider myself now a chlorophyllion, that’s what I am. And I live mostly on that, I vibrate on that. And I heal – I heal from grass, be around the trees, but I really ingest it and that protects my immune system and it keeps me with extraordinary energy, my thinking is quick, my reflexes are quick. I can change and shift my energy very quickly without stressing about it when its needed. So it has really fortified me, this chlorophyllion life, so that’s what I’m living. 

Coming Up: Part 2: Sacred Woman ◦

Queen Afua Interview, Part 1