The conversation surrounding reproductive health is often treated as taboo and shrouded in an air of shame. Angelica Merritt, an Ohio University alumna, knows this feeling well but is determined to change the way we go about these discussions, step by step and herbal remedy by herbal remedy.
As an herbalist and pregnancy loss doula, Merritt is dedicated to teaching people how to approach learning about their bodies with curiosity and care. Her upcoming book, “Womb Witch: Herbal Magick for Reproductive Health,” will be released March 18, 2025. It will combine spirituality, science and self-care to promote body literacy.
“Knowing what’s going on with your body is something no one can take away,” she said. “So it doesn’t matter what laws come into power – if you have that knowledge, no one can strip that from you.”
The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 is part of Merritt’s inspiration to write her book.
“I had experienced an ectopic pregnancy,” she said. “And ectopic pregnancies are lethal if they're not treated.”
Ectopic pregnancies occur when the fertilized egg grows outside the uterus. They cannot be carried to term. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, many grew concerned that people experiencing ectopic pregnancies would not be able to get the emergency medical care they needed.
“I was reading a lot of things in the news and hearing things from other practitioners where people's lives were at risk because doctors didn't know what the guidelines were to treat (them),” Merritt said. “And so I was really angry, and I was like, ‘I need to transmute this into something.’ So I just started writing.”
Having grown up in Canton, Ohio, Merritt is familiar with the kind of place where the land stretches for miles and a deep connection to nature is almost innate. The wisdom held within the plants of the earth is a well-kept secret – one Merritt wishes to share with the world.
“I grew up in the woods,” Merritt said. “I was always in the dirt. My dad was a landscaper, so I was always either growing something or watering flowers. (I was) very into being outside.”
Merritt transferred to OU from the University of Akron in 2010, spending the remaining 2.5 years of her college career here. Living among the rolling hills and green landscapes of Athens was transformative for her, and she garnered a lot of inspiration from that time.
“When I was living in Athens, I used to always go to Strouds Run and go kayaking,” she said. “That kind of opened me up as an adult to getting into more natural things. It was a pipeline to shoot me into figuring out that I could find plants that were growing around me to create herbal medicine.”
According to Merritt, herbalism is all around us. It is something everyone engages in subconsciously.
“If you’re drinking coffee in the morning, that's herbalism,” she said. “Because coffee is an herb … And in my book, I like to show people herbalism is really easy to incorporate into your life.”
“Womb Witch” addresses a broad audience, from young people experiencing puberty to those going through menopause. According to Merritt, there are many similarities between these vastly different groups, and many herbal remedies coincide with one another. The book can be preordered for $19.95.
Merritt believes body literacy is of utmost importance, and it is a skill everyone deserves to have. With the release of her book, she hopes to teach people how to listen to and understand their bodies.
“I hope (readers) will gain an understanding that you can really fuse spirituality and science, and that is a truly holistic approach,” she said. “I hope people see how empowering it is to learn about their bodies, and (I hope) they will want to share that with other people, as well.”
