Life in Ritual: Sasha Emoniee
I can’t remember exactly when I started following Sasha on Instagram: all I know is that it was truly love at first sight. She has one of those accounts I like to make space for, sit down with a cup of tea and really carefully look at her stories and posts. One of my favourite accounts on Instagram for sure. In the most recent class in The Studio I spoke about how Sasha has inspired me to celebrate the month of february as a season of romance, particularly through foods and herbs. I’m so excited to share her wisdom and perspective here in this space, and highly recommend following her for a daily dose of beauty, colourful food and herbal wisdom.
Cosmic Profile:
Generator. Virgo Sun, Scorpio Moon, Libra Rising, Scorpio Venus
Can you share a little about your background, how you came to be living in the way you are today?
I've always been on this path, I was born a very sensitive human to other sensitive humans, even my digestion growing up demanded that i use discernment and slow practices in order to function. I was born + raised in Northern California, an enclave of immigrants, hippies, artists, and farmers so it makes sense that I was attuned to the importance of high quality foods, herbal healing, and mindfulness- not that I was always informed of these things- just that I think my environment made it easy for me to be led to where I am. Growing up, I was on a deep pursuit to heal the digestive issues that I had, after a lot of trial and error I was able to heal myself (with the guidance and wisdom of many resources) and that opened up an entirely new world of possibilities to me and offered me fresh perspective and allowed me the space to dive into the magic and mysteries of BEING
When did you begin working with plants? Is it something you studied formally, or self led, taught to you by people you know or a combination?
I started intentionally working with plant medicine/herbs in 2016, through self study and then started learning through courses, apprenticeships, and under other herbal healers. My connection with plants feels much older than that and I think that's true of so many wise women, before we even consciously begin a relationship with healing plants they feel like they've been pursuing us in small and quiet ways. Even reflecting on my relationship with the plants around me growing up: redwood trees, California poppies, blackberry brambles, big cypress trees that I would climb into and stay for hours, I was aware of their presence + power.
What does it actually look like, in practice, for you to live a gentle, devoted, creative life?
I think there can be the perception that when you choose to live this way life is less messy or challenging. It's about choice and priority, making time for the quiet moments, making the choice to move slower, accepting the ebb + flow of the creative process, being really honest about who you are, releasing guilt around productivity, being realistic about your needs. For me a gentle, devoted, creative life looks different all of the time, it looks like rolling out of bed and into the garden, drinking hot herbal teas all day, extending myself a lot of grace and forgiving myself, throwing together dinners with whatever odds + ends I have and sometimes it looks like spending 3 weeks planning out a beautiful feast, checking my own ego and biases, it looks like making medicines for my friends, crying for no reason other than needing to release stagnant energy, viewing my weirdness as strength, a willingness to explore and get dirty, finding the awe and romance in everyday things, unlearning values + beliefs that are not my own, getting inspired by every type of medium from film to galleries to a flower to a lover, choosing rest, and a challenging one: it means reminding myself to see the divine in all.
What do you suggest to someone who feels totally overwhelmed or even unworthy of working with and growing plants?
The plants want to be in relationship with us, they call to us. I love that thought experiment that talks about if humans disappeared or if we fully stopped landscaping and breaking down the plants that within 5 years places like NYC would become a forest, the point being plants want to be here and they will find a way to be present no matter what. You don't have to live out in the pristine countryside or coastal forests in order to work with plants, you can do it anywhere. I do it in LA, 5 minutes from downtown. The plants are all around and always reaching out to us. Even if you walk around the busy streets of LA or NYC, you can find so many medicinal plants. Chickweed growing in little wet patches, dandelion through the cracks in the sidewalk, mugwort in the waysides. Anyone can work with plants and it's our right as beings on this planet to foster these relationships. For growing plants: be patient, plants exist on a different timeline than modern humans and they open the invitation for us to slow down and join them, they will grow when they are ready. For working with plants: start with one plant that intuitively feels right, get to know this plant, sit with it, inhale it, touch it, make it into tea, meditate and ask for it to reveal its wisdom to you, drink it in and reflect on how it interacts with your body, how does it taste? What does it feel like when you drink it? What thoughts come to mind? Make it a full sensory experience, a little ritual.
Any words of encouragement to those who wish to begin exploring ancestral foods but have no idea where to begin or no connection to elders in their lineage?
A large part of the reason that ancestral foods + practices are so important to me is because I don't have that connection to elders that I can learn from. Being multiracial, of the African diaspora, and having a non-traditional family has meant that I've had a lot of gaps to fill in when it comes to culture + heritage and have had to build my knowledge from the ground up. I feel that it's important to remember that most of our elders and ancestors survived because they saw the magic in the foods they had around them, in the grains, wild weeds, and roots. Research native foods of the lands your known ancestral people were living on and tending to and how those food practices evolved over time. Ancestral food can sound like the foods will be complicated but it's really the opposite, these are usually simple foods + meals: broths, soups, fermented foods, unleavened breads, things that can be made by hand.
What is one (or three!) super simple things anyone can do to extend a little more love to the earth?
~Plant native flowers. I like getting the seeds and tossing them everywhere around my home + neighborhood and just seeing where they decide to sprout up.
~Spend time outside every day. Even if it's just 10 minutes, even if its as small as a walk before sunset, a few minutes in a park, or as large as a camping trip. The more time we spend outside the more we can build genuine connections with the world around us.
~When you take something from Earth, give something back. Live in reciprocity. Easy example of this: when I forage, I will leave ground up herbs or flowers, light a smoke bundle, leave water, or even just say a little prayer of gratitude in return.
Your food is art. Is creating beauty in this way something you’ve always done, or a part of yourself you worked to really appreciate, cultivate and own over time?
I love creation and I love beautiful things: anything and everything that evokes wonder. I was born with a deep driving magnetism towards art and i've tried so many mediums: painting, photography, endless film classes and festivals, but cooking is the one thing that has always come to me and that I always come back to (and one of the only art forms i feel like i have something interesting to offer in). I've always cooked both out of necessity and out of love, I started experimenting with it when I was probably 8 years old and then years later I realized, this is a real medium, this is art, this is expression and I now just try to take it further and further. I find myself continually reinspired by all of the little themes that I find myself in.
Do you have any favourite resources or practice suggestions for those starting to work with garden and/or kitchen magic?
For gardening: if there is a plant you are wanting to grow or work with, if possible, try to witness it in native or naturalized setting, especially for herbs. This will offer so much perspective of how this plant likes to be treated and the types of subtleties it responds to. Whenever I see a plant in its native setting something unlocks in my brain and I am able to understand the plant and its needs in a deeper and more genuine way. Also go to your local plant nursery, not the big hardware stores where they have plants or a home + garden store, a true local nursery. They are wonderlands and honestly so fun to just walk around but also purchasing seeds + transplants from places that truly nurture their plants and care about the origin of their seeds can make such a huge difference in the success of your garden. Also mulch + compost are your best friends!!!
In the kitchen: I feel like the best resource I've had is trial and error and an openness to try new things and releasing the need for everything I make to be perfect. I feel that cookbooks are wonderful resources but I have learned the most through trusting my intuition and being unafraid to make something that is messy. Humans have been cooking for thousands of years, we are here because our ancestors through trial and error + intuition were able to make what they had work for them. We have that same DNA and that same intuition, it's just a matter of strengthening it.
What are you super excited about at the moment?
Reading about ancient priestess + goddess temples, right now I'm making an extensive global list of all of the sacred places wise woman have created as holy sanctuaries throughout time; I want to visit them all and breathe in the history.
Romance as a general theme of the season. Making romantic foods, dates, drinking romantic herbs, wearing my dreamiest clothing, watching romantic films, just finding the romance in it all. I feel like romance is very underrated + undervalued right now and the only way to experience it is to cultivate it! Its not even about romance with another person, it's about self-romance and allowing yourself to experience it whenever possible.
Creating my herbal apothecary, Commune Apothecary. This dream has been brewing for years now and I've been actively working on creating it for almost two years with lots of obstacles along the way but I'm in the final stages and am so excited to offer it to the world. Commune Apothecary is focused on handground herb + salt blends, herbal teas, tinctures, and seasonal guidance. Of course there will be lots of recipes and kitchen magic happening as well. But the intention behind everything is to connect you to the Earth around you and to foster physical and energetic healing. The apothecary was born out of a time of grief, growth, and a need for deeper connection and that grief has been used as compost to create something fertile and beautiful.
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THE LIST
Drink:
Sparkling water with some nourishing tinctures
At night: Peppermint + lavender tea
On cold days: Ginger, sage, thyme tea with a touch of honey
On most days lately: Rose, hawthorn, damiana, red clover, licorice hot tea
Recipe: pictured above
Bucatini with creamy herb sauce: I made this up on a whim a few weeks ago and have been eating it whenever I need something that doesn't take too much effort to make.
Ingredients:
Bucatini Pasta (or any pasta of choice, cooked)
1 zucchini, chopped into a few large pieces
5 cloves garlic
½ onion, chopped
½ fennel bulb, chopped
Handful of thyme, sage, oregano or any other aromatic herbs you have on hand
1 cup of fresh basil
½ cup fresh parsley (I also love adding fresh lemon balm + nettles but use what you have!)
⅓ cup seeds, I used pumpkin seeds + pine nuts
Butter/olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Juice from ½ lemon
Directions:
In a pan with butter or olive oil, saute onion, garlic, fennel bulb, the aromatic herbs (thyme, sage, oregano, etc) for 3-5 minutes.
Place all sauteed ingredients (onion, garlic, herbs, fennel) in a blender along with zucchini, basil, parsley, seeds, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a few tablespoons of butter or olive oil, and ½ cup of water. Blend on high until completely smooth + creamy, adding more water if needed. Taste and adjust seasonings + consistency as needed.
Place sauce in a pot and gently heat over low heat, add in already cooked pasta, top with pine nuts, lemon zest, a drizzle of olive oil, and black pepper.
Meditative practice:
Self guided breathwork + mindfulness meditations facing towards the sun (eyes closed of course hehe), I also recently started doing Tai Chi again which was the first meditation practice I was introduced to, I kept a regular Tai Chi practice from ages 13-17 and then began yoga but it is so nice to get back to it.
Beauty rituals:
Drinking beautifying teas: blue butterfly pea, schisandra, red clover are some wonderful beauty allies. Hydrosols all day everyday, my favorite is Venus Rose from Poppy + Someday. Getting time in the sunshine every single day.
Reading material:
Book of Goddesses by Nancy Blair and Complete Book of Herbs by Lesley Bremness
Listening material:
Caprisongs - FKA Twigs
Untourable Album - Men I Trust
Herb or plant you are working with:
Heart centered herbs like damiana + hawthorn have really been speaking to me. As well as sage, I've found myself drinking or eating sage almost everyday this month.
Scent:
Nick Perfume Roller by Laro, Maison Louis Marie No.04 Bois de Balincourt candle, Palo Santo incense from Incausa…clearly I love woodsy smells!
