Made for you.
Today, I’m an herbalist.
Welcome to Shakti Herbalism, my journey of reconnection and rediscovery of the world of nature’s healing bounty.
My name is Kelly, and I have been a student of nature for as long as I can remember. My mom would tell you that I started young… by eating snails and dirt! My early memories of the outdoors are making friends with the snapdragons and pansies, and making “forts” for them out of grass, twigs, and rocks.
Naturally, life being what it is, I’ve made a few detours. My first career was as a social worker, helping children and families, and writing very long and boring reports about the time I spent doing it. I believe wholeheartedly that the choices I made had a positive impact on others. Also, though, the work was often thankless and always hard, and it took its toll on me. I was called to that work, and I know it. I developed my intuition during my first career. A skill which helps me now, as an herbalist.
The entire time I worked, I took refuge in nature to refuel my soul. I took long walks by the ocean, spent time in my garden and travelled to many countries just to visit their botanical gardens and see all of the different flowers, plants and trees. Now that I am retired, I have taken up my true love in earnest! Learning about plants and their healing properties and sharing that knowledge with anyone who will listen.
In 2018 I decided to get serious about taking my love of plants to the next level. I enrolled in a virtual herbalism course and began to study Vitalist Herbalism. The Vitalist tradition is a holistic herbal practice that looks at the person as a whole, looking beyond the presenting symptoms and making efforts to understand the root cause of the issue the person presents with. Once I made a commitment to this path, I devoured books, took more courses and studied as much as I could. Of course, none of this is possible without having a relationship with the plants. Much of my time is spent outdoors in my garden, in nature and learning how to make remedies from the gifts that nature has been providing to us since the beginning of time. I am now and forever will be a student of nature.
lemon balm harvest from my garden
In my free time my husband and I love to travel. I have been fortunate enough to visit many of my “bucket list” places in the Far East and Europe. I always manage to find and visit the Botanical Gardens wherever I go. To me there is little more exciting than learning about the indigenous plants and seeing how they grow in their natural habitat. However, my favorite place is far and away the forest ashram of my meditation teacher in the foothills outside Pune, Maharastra.
When I’m not travelling and not outside in nature or in my garden, I spend time making products with the plants and herbs I grow or source. I have always been creative, and having the opportunity to do this work in my free time is my way to give back to nature and my fellow travellers on earth.
This is my second life.
I hope that you enjoy my products
as much as I enjoy dreaming them up and creating them.