Threshold

I love to make things, and share them. Essentially, this is what I’m doing with Botanica. I have been doing this for years in a gift and trade “economy”. Things have grown and shifted and this energetic exchange in commerce is new. I’m not sure if I chose it, or if it chose me. It feels like a bit of both. I thank my yoga teacher for throwing money at me one day for a needed comfrey salve. That’s when it started, and that opened a door. I’ve been encouraged by my loyal clients to offer this website into the world I love, to expand beyond my comfort zone into this realm that reaches out and touches many more people. I am so happy for this part, for it is this growing community that is so inspiring to me.

I have considered the ethics around this platform for healing products. It has been a journey of the heart to arrive here. Medicinal plants are sacred to traditional cultures, and like-hearted souls. This sacredness I carefully take to heart and mind in creating this public space. How can I sell the plants? They don’t belong to me. This ethical question is posed by my conscience, with a nudge from Native American writer, Robin Wall Kimmerer, who says in Braiding Sweetgrass,

“I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass, as thick and shining as the plait that hung down my grandmother’s back. But it is not mine to give, nor yours to take. Wiingaashk belongs to herself.”

I feel the truth of this. I really get it. I also feel that the plants want to give to us, share with us, maybe even stand in mutual service with us. This feeling inspires deep respect for these beings among us who translate the messages from spirit into medicine.

So what does belong to me? What am I really exchanging with you here? The practice of herbalism is my ever-growing inspiration. This is what belongs to me to offer to you through these products which are made with the expertise of this craft. The integrity of quality and potency is energetically expanding with this new threshold, holding to the truth. It’s a beautiful exercise to keep me awake in the process. My heart, I share with you.

If I could inspire one thing in my clients it would be self-care, the empowering health practice of our own initiation. What does self care look like? It looks like a place beautifully dedicated to hold the space for it, with nourishing oils, tinctures, books and tools. A place your dear ones can feel the love in. It looks like a time set aside once a week for something that helps to balance and harmonize your being. Maybe it’s a walk, a bath, a cleansing salt scrub, applying an anointing oil at the same time each day, or a time to garden. What does it look like to you? For me, it is a cleansing salt scrub each week, a cabinet for the things that I trust to support me, time outside with my garden, and much more, The gateway to self-care for me was inviting the herbal remedies in to help, and more so, making them myself. In this practice, I find that people really want to heal themselves and they become excited as they learn how to access the medicine growing all around them. My hope is that Botanica encourages this in every way.  

This is the trunk of the magnificent Elder tree I visit on the American River.  In the long hot days of July the Elder ripens and offers her fruit.  In alignment with this event, Botanica is "ripening" and offering this new space. I'm happy and honored to be here.