The Good Witches of Pennsylvania

Braucherei, a form of healing used in Amish and Mennonite communities, might seem like an appropriately antiquated practice for a traditional culture. But the writer Rachel Yoder returned to her Mennonite roots to investigate the practice’s modern uses. Embodying all the contradictions and complexities of the much-discussed Amish community overall, Braucherei might be most significant because of its commitment to an ancient practice: someone honoring your pain. “What could be more valuable?”

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• “In the Glimmer,” Rachel Yoder’s essay in the July issue of Harper’s

• The Long Lost Friend: A Collection of Mysterious and Invaluable Arts and Remedies

• 1:36: The origins of Braucherei

• 4:25: The “flattening” of Amish and Mennonite communities in media

• 14:20: An alternative solution to chronic pain: “pain itself can be so mysterious to modern medicine”

• 19:33: The power of it: “Being two bodies together in a place and caring for each other.”

• 26:59: The “evolution” of these communities

• 33:40: Being interested in “the mysterious” as a direct link to being a writer

• 35:52: Writers as a “secular clergy”

• 37:17: Goop-mystics on the Upper West Side and the Amish healer

• 43:04: Returning home