About

Based in New Orleans, LA, [antidote] is a line of botanical wellness and crystal healing offerings to support physical, emotional, and spiritual health. 

 

My journey with plant medicine began because I was living with chronic pain. Growing up in Black religious and spiritual spaces, I was introduced to plants as comfort through food and tea. After learning more about plant medicine in the Candomblé in Bahia, Brazil, I began making teas and infused oils for myself and my family members with more focused intention. As I continued my studies of herbalism and human physiology, I found comfort, relief, and perspective in the companionship of plants themselves. I came to see the natural world as full of meaningful, interdependent relationships. The comfort I found through plant energetics has been as significant as the relief from physical pain, and has become a central part of my personal spiritual practice.

Eventually, no one could enter my home without receiving a cup of tea that I made especially for them and what they were feeling in that moment. After awhile, my friends (and their friends) were coming over specifically for the teas — and the smoke blends, and the foot soaks. I started offering each item for sale or exchange in order to make larger and larger batches, with new plant friends each season. I expanded my practice when I started developing relationships with natural crystals. I was introduced to crystal healing by a close friend, and I felt a similar comfort from the energy of natural crystals as I had felt with plants. I immediately started to research the science behind crystal structure and energetics. 

I’ve gotten to know plants and crystals through my personal interactions with them, and through learning about how they grow and survive. I have found so many lessons in each small ecosystem, and I turned my focus to the history of my own people and the land I live on. My work came full-circle through my commitment to bioregional herbalism, since I have always learned through direct relationship to plants and minerals. As a Black American, I have also been able to deepen my understanding of my people’s relationship to a land they were not from, and the many ways Black ancestors have related to the earth through our own cosmologies, cultural practices, and agricultural genius. Opening myself to the abundance of the natural world has changed me I ways I want to share. 

This work has allowed me to expand my relationships to the natural world and my relationships to other people. I spent years developing [antidote] as a line of natural offerings for physical and energetic benefits. In order to source crystals, I spent time learning the market and developing relationships with distributors who source from mines with labor practices that are as ethical as possible. One of my goals has been to foster new connections between people and the land around them. The focus of [antidote] offerings is emotional. Our spiritual experiences happen in our bodies, and our emotions can remind us of the truths we hold. I don’t believe in suppressing or even managing emotion — I believe in healthy relationship with emotion. Plants and crystal energetics offer a way to speak to spirit through our bodies. When we honor our emotions, we are respecting the language of spirit. By understanding what our emotions can teach us, we can shed light on the paths to our healing.

My own journey with plants and crystals has given me tools to support others on their own healing journeys. I invite you to find the [antidote] offerings that speak to your spirit. Please reach out to me directly with any questions, or to request personalized formulations. My intention is that these offerings provide a way to deepen your relationship with yourself, through the support of the natural world.

 

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