Returning To Gaia: Interview With The Founder of Plants + Pleasure Apothecary

This interview is for the earth seekers. The ones who hug trees. Who play in the streams. Who roll in the grasses hearing the whispers of the wind. The ones who feel the change in the tides as the Moon waxes and wanes. The ones who know our relationship to nature is one of forgotten wisdom and sacred knowledge. Waiting to be held once again.

Ella, the founder of Plants + Pleasure Apothecary, is what I can only describe as a real life forest fairy. She's one of those rare humans connecting with this existence from a place of deep curiosity and creation. She sees the world as a canvas and chooses her own colors to blend upon it. While all the while, holding hands with Gaia. Her relationship to the earth is moving. A dance of two, working together to heal.

Below she shares her story of her steadfast connection to earth's wisdom. The journey she took to arrive back to her feet rooted in the soil. Grab a cup of your favorite tea and read this interview during a quiet time in your day to reflect and transmute all the beauty in her words.

TO BEGIN, WHAT’S ONE PLANT YOU FEEL EMBODIES YOUR SPIRIT AND WHY? 

Haha! Every cell in my being wants to rebel and say there isn't just one! 

Lately, I’ve been deepening my relationship with Blue lotus—a sacred and ancient ally that has been used in ritual for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years. The essence of this plant is so beautifully represented in what herbalists call the “doctrine of signatures.’ Meaning, a plant shows us how they work in the emotional, physical, spiritual and mental bodies by how they grow, reproduce, protect themselves, etc. 

Blue lotus begins at the root in the murkiest mud, in deep and dark soils at the bottom of gently flowing river bays and lakes. They slowly grow up through the darkness with a long and slender stem, through brackish waters, rising until piercing the surface, opening into a magnificent bloom of fairy-like blues and a bright yellow golden center as if the sun itself were born from the blossom. 

“They slowly grow up through the darkness with a long and slender stem, through brackish waters, rising until piercing the surface, opening into a magnificent bloom of fairy-like blues and a bright yellow golden center as if the sun itself were born from the blossom. ”

Once this entrancing flower has bloomed it closes its petals each evening and opens to the rising sun. Only blooming once a year for several days. There is a profound connection to the spiritual themes of resurrection and illumination. Even believed to be the spirit that called those who’d passed into the light of the next life. 

This incredibly special and magical spirit has been reminding me and integrating into my cells; the truth that the darkness is necessary, the muck and mess and not knowing which way is up. These are the beautiful places from which our light is able to grow. It’s not all love and light, because if it were we wouldn’t be able to have the awareness that light and love exist. 

I feel this is a part of myself and my shadow that I have been integrating the past few years and Blue Lotus’ spirit is the epitome of this truth. I am quite bubbly and extroverted when you first meet me, vibrant just as blue lotus flowers greeting you among their blanket of green floating on the water. But what people often miss is my depth upon first glance, the truth of me that lies deep beneath the surface, rooted in the strength of darkness and shadow and the “muck.” My luminosity radiates because of my relationship to the darkness, not in isolation from it. 

If shadow work, darkness and other themes surrounding the “dark” feel intimidating or scary and have become a place you avoid, blue lotus is a beautiful plant to commune with for support in this work, to create safety and trust. 

It feels important to also speak to the sacredness of this plant and ways in which we can work with the spirit ethically and in reciprocity. Blue lotus has become quite endangered in its native lands in and around the Nile delta in Egypt. Most blue lotus is now cultivated in Southeast Asia and distributed across the globe. Unless you are in the most rare of circumstances it’s important to not work with any blue lotus that’s been harvested from the wild.

Working with only cultivated blue lotus is a way we can honor this endangered plant spirit. Also working with the plant sparingly and in ceremony or ritual. This can look like making your infusion and lighting a few candles, drinking the tea in meditation or with your awareness focused on the energy of blue lotus moving through your body. It’s so easy to feel such a powerful connection to a spirit and want to imbibe all the time, but once you begin this relationship blue lotus will always be there when you need them. 

WE ALL HAVE A UNIQUE JOURNEY THAT BROUGHT US TO THE PRESENT. CAN YOU SHARE YOUR STORY OF ARRIVING ON THE PATH OF EARTH WISDOM AND HOW IT LED YOU TO CREATE PLANTS + PLEASURE APOTHECARY? 

In the woods of upstate New York I was handed a twig, freshly snapped from a nearby tree. A curious child, I followed the instructions to chew as my mouth flooded with vibrant flavors of a forbidden fruit - the vibrant flavors of root beer from the sassafras tree. As my brother and I left the house each morning our mother snapped us a handful of mint leaves to chew as she always did. We ate raw vegan wraps, filled with caramelized onions and veggies, that my parents had been making for decades. 

I was distraught and upset by my friend's mom who declared the greenish-grey sticks from a can were in fact green beans. My parents raised me in a quiet way. Fresh vegetables and fruits were always a priority, we ate wild and raw foods, my mom making our baby food in the Cuisinart food processor that she still uses to this day. Though these things were never said to us, it was a humble way of being, not showy or judgemental of others. Simply just how we were. We made mud pies and played with our pet ants in the backyard, Mother Earth was our playground and we relished every detail she revealed. 

At 22 I packed up a suitcase and shipped a small box of belongings out to Los Angeles. I was headed out on a 6-month adventure with all intentions of returning to Atlanta when time was up. It was hard to find myself there. Alone, isolated and confused I spent my days running along the beach and wandering the streets searching for a friend.

Through what can only be described as the universe intervening in a big way I found myself working in a small and local wine bar filled with the unique cast of characters I had been dreaming of. This is where I was first introduced to a place that would change my life as I knew it— the farmers market. My world exploded open as I began to weave into a world of magic I never knew existed yet had still been the source of how I was raised.

I spent the next decade building relationships with farmers, ranchers, mycologists, bakers and fellow chefs. I read every book I could get my hands on, tried every gut healing diet you could imagine. I made bone broth for days, ate raw dairy smuggled on a truck from Pennsylvania and drank fermented hibiscus - immersing myself in food medicine and discovering the wild edges of my body. I added raw eggs into my smoothies, chewed on carob pods for dessert and even once tried chicken ceviche.

“I made bone broth for days, ate raw dairy smuggled on a truck from Pennsylvania and drank fermented hibiscus - immersing myself in food medicine and discovering the wild edges of my body. I added raw eggs into my smoothies, chewed on carob pods for dessert and even once tried chicken ceviche.”

I stopped worrying about what I ate and started to eat what felt alive, what made me feel alive! Fat became my best friend as I added mountains of butter, olive oil and coconut cream to nearly everything I ate. Not only did my body begin to change but my mind began to change as well. I felt more and more. More joy, more sadness, more anger, more grief, more ecstasy. Everything became more when I surrendered to the true nutritional wisdom within. 

Somewhere in the middle I started my own catering company. I began small with sweet dinner parties for birthdays filled with little cakes frosted in whipped coconut cream and platters full of veggies, all inspired by the hands that grew them. I started doing little experimental pop-ups with friends and the company expanded while I remained somewhat clueless of what was happening and what would be required of me.

In just a few years, I was catering events for hundreds of people. Working with fashion houses, fancy LA department stores and high-end clients. Tiny twice baked potatoes topped with creme fraiche and caviar made from Peruvian potatoes brought back by a farmer from Peru. Mini pavlovas topped with candied rhubarb and fresh strawberries and dripping in flower petals and sparkling with tulsi and fennel pollen. Precious and tiny things that barely anyone ate yet everyone took pictures of. I was constantly inspired by creating and yet there was still something missing. 

In the height, this company I had created seemed to be ruling my life and I was introduced to an embodiment practice that, like the farmers market, began the next leg of my journey. Each passing class, week and month I began to feel what my teachers meant by their patient invitations to move—s l o w e r. My dance mimicked how I moved through life - fast paced and barely tasting the moments of delicious tenderness.

As I began to slow in this dark room surrounded by the pulsing breath of other women my life began to shift. I was no longer moving at breakneck speed, able to ignore every feeling pulsing through. I began to see and feel how out of alignment I was with my surroundings. How I was turning my attention towards what I THOUGHT I should be doing, not what my heart truly desired. The layers began to shed. The relationships, the words I spoke, the way I cared for myself, the complete presence I began to feel when listening, the clarity I began to speak from.

Pleasure became my beacon of truth. In pleasure I found courage, bravery, softness, infinite flexibility. The desires I had suppressed began to bubble to the surface, being dredged like sand to shore.

Pleasure became my beacon of truth. In pleasure I found courage, bravery, softness, infinite flexibility. The desires I had suppressed began to bubble to the surface, being dredged like sand to shore. There was no longer space for denial. The truth of my childhood began to rise, my desire to be with the flowers, playing with fairies and making friends with the ants that lived under our deck.

As our world came to a standstill at the beginning of 2020 I felt a call, the same call I had felt before. I was working on finishing my first cookbook and wanted space to focus on this creation I was birthing. I decided to close my business and make space for what lay ahead. 

I had begun to feel more deeply into our relationship with fruits, vegetables and all the plants we eat. Most of the plants we consume are in fact the sexual organs of a plant. I began to wonder about pleasure and food. Daydreaming of how consuming the sex organs of a plant affects us on a deeper level than simply nutrition. I began to study herbalism and spent the early months of isolation deep in meditation with plants, shamanic realms, wandering the forest and seeking the plants in their natural form. I was in a living daydream and felt I had finally found the collaboration I've been longing for. My teacher guided us through embodiment practices to learn from the plants that had flavors reminiscent of the pleasure movement I had been diving into for years. 

The more I developed a relationship with pleasure the further the feeling moved from sex. It is deeply personal and a connection and awareness I continue to care for and nurture. 

It is the sun on my face after days of rain, the texture of my favorite pair of jeans, the tone of my lover's voice when she first wakes, the sound of pages turning in my journal. Pleasure is not only the narrow visions of sexuality and sensuality we have been fed. It is an essential experience to be human. A tool for healing and remembering ourselves. This is why I gave birth to Plants + Pleasure, my little corner of the internet that’s filled with potions for reconnecting with pleasure in your experience of life. 

I also want to offer that this is not just love + light and ease. What I offer is not a shortcut to pleasure. Do not let the rainbows deceive you, for rainbows are not in their truth without every hue of light we can see. It is all necessary for our pleasure to be found. The heartbreaks, betrayals, our own manipulative or innocent tendencies that color the truth of our experiences. Pleasure is pure presence with all that is you. Pleasure is a place where all truths are essential.

BEING IN DEEP COMMUNION WITH THE EARTH IS ONE WE’RE ALL LEARNING TO ACCESS. WHAT'S YOUR PROCESS FOR ACCESSING THIS WISDOM? 

It’s my belief that to truly build a relationship with the earth, one that is deep and full, we must be in reciprocity. Not a one-for-one kind of tally but in an ever growing and shifting relationship with Gaia. Think of one of your closest friends, how do you think that person would feel if you're constantly coming to them with what you need and you never allow space or invite them to share what they are experiencing? 

“Reciprocity is gently wiping the leaves of your house plants with a damp cloth to clean off dust. Sitting at the roots of a tree and sharing what lays heavy on your heart, allowing tears to fall as prayers. Taking a moment before you eat to really think about where your food came from. It’s stopping and truly taking a moment to be present with a beautiful flower instead of plucking it from the earth.”

Reciprocity is gently wiping the leaves of your house plants with a damp cloth to clean off dust. Sitting at the roots of a tree and sharing what lays heavy on your heart, allowing tears to fall as prayers. Taking a moment before you eat to really think about where your food came from. It’s stopping and truly taking a moment to be present with a beautiful flower instead of plucking it from the earth. 

One of my beautiful teachers, Marysia Mierinowska, shares a beautiful practice that’s been a potent experience for my relationship with the earth. She calls the practice “Earth Whispering” where you dig a small hole in the ground, just big enough for your face to fit in with your forehead resting on the earth and you speak everything you wish to say to the earth. The truth of your heart break, of your dreams, of what causes you great pain and what brings you vibrant joy. It’s magic.

To feel the earth receiving all that you feel as compost, as nourishment for her to continue to create life. Death is necessary for life and much like the archetype of the crone, the earth accepts it all as nourishment, she does not discern that same way as we do between “good” and “bad.” She longs to receive that which has died in order to create new life. 

Another way of building a relationship with the earth is through devotion. Find a place in nature, close enough so that it is easy to visit often and simply begin going there weekly. Noticing the changes as spring slowly begins to sprout, awakening the seeds that’ve been dreaming all winter. Bring a journal and draw what you see, take notes. Observe. Take photos, paint. Be present with this place in nature. Presence is all that’s required to access the wisdom of the earth and her magic. 

WHERE DO YOU SOURCE YOUR HERBS AND HOW DO YOU TURN THEM INTO HEALING MODALITIES? THE PROCESS FROM SEED-BOTTLE. 

Each potion and medicine comes to life through its own unique journey. This path is woven into the medicine and part of the healing and support each creation offers. Each medicine seems to find me in my dreams, meditations, and spontaneous thoughts. A vision of plants and how they weave together. I don’t want to make it sound so ethereal and disembodied (I’m a double air sign after all).

“Being greeted by the dreaming mugwort under a full moon and bringing home a few leaves to slip under my pillow. Foraging is empowerment in all bodies; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Foraging is an essential ingredient in my creations.”

Foraging excites every damn cell in body! I have experienced few moments as sexy and enlivening as wandering the land (often barefoot). Finding a sassafras tree to snap a twig to inhale and nibble on the sweet root beer nectar or coming upon a wild patch of cloudberries and snacking on the peach-y sweet bursts enticing my tongue. Being greeted by the dreaming mugwort under a full moon and bringing home a few leaves to slip under my pillow. Foraging is empowerment in all bodies; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Foraging is an essential ingredient in my creations.

I wander the forests of the Pacific Northwest for pine, hawthorn, stinging nettle, blackberry, cedar, St. John’s work, Oregon grape, yarrow, lions mane, camellia, rose, elder, mugwort, chickweed and many other allies that grow abundantly and wildly. 

“I feel so fortunate to live near many biodynamic and regenerative farms that grow and wild harvest from their own land, many medicinal plants. If there is a medicine asking to be brought to life that I have not come across foraging/ don’t feel as confident in identifying in the wild or the plants have given me a clear no to harvesting, then I will start here.”

I feel so fortunate to live near many biodynamic and regenerative farms that grow and wild harvest from their own land, many medicinal plants. If there is a medicine asking to be brought to life that I have not come across foraging/ don’t feel as confident in identifying in the wild or the plants have given me a clear no to harvesting, then I will start here.

There is even a self-pick herbal farm that’s a resource I tap into during the spring and summer when the land here is buzzing with plants that grow wildly and those that are cultivated. Some plants may be endangered or harder to access and cultivated is more in alignment with my personal beliefs around harvesting certain plants.

And then there are the plants that simply do not grow near me and yet have become my closest allies and often ask to be included in medicines. Those times when I feel the pulse of a medicine so strongly that there is seemingly no choice other than to seek it out. Blue lotus is one of these plants in my personal journey that I simply can’t access in the wild or from someone locally. I’m so grateful to have access to resources from my teachers and other herbalists of trustworthy sources that cultivate these plants with integrity as they are endangered in their wildest forms. 

The Plants show up when you need them and whether or not you are able to connect with their medicine all comes down to presence. Are you able to notice that within a few days time a friend mentioned a passion vine growing on their fence and then the person next to you at dinner had a passion flower tattoo and the next morning there is a passion fruit spritzer special at your local coffee shop. The spirit of the plant is woven through all ways in which we can interact in this realm. It is my personal experience that we do not need a physical plant to experience the healing and wisdom of the spirit.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLANT FOR CONNECTING TO YOUR OWN PLEASURE? 

There are so many textures to pleasure. So it’s hard to say there is a favorite, as each plant's personality brings a different feeling and connection to that we are all meant to feel. 

I love making a blend of passion vine and mullein for connecting with my pleasure, especially in the form of movement. The mullein offers grounding— a very embodied spirit that works in the lungs and spinal column. In meditation with mullein, I can often feel the plant creating more physical space between each vertebrae, bringing in more openness and flexibility and opening the capacity of the lungs for bringing in more oxygen.

The passion vine feels like a wild jungle where there is a goddess gently draped in spiraling vines. Deep greens, sounds of jungle creatures, black panther, passionate, sacral, sensual and wild. Even the way I describe her has a less linear way about the expression. These two plants in an infusion bring me into such a state of presence, touching the wild woman I am, touching the earth and being able to roam into the wild places while also feeling very much in my body. 

FOR THOSE NEW TO USING EARTH MEDICINE, CAN YOU SHARE WHICH OF YOUR OILS, ESSENCES, OR SMOKES YOU’D RECOMMEND SOMEONE BEGIN WITH? 

My suggestion is to always begin working with potions that easily incorporate into your routines and patterns. Habit stacking is a term I’ve seen floating around lately: adding new habits into patterns that already exist so that you more easily form a new habit that supports you. I quit drinking coffee nearly 2 years ago by adding in a stinging nettle infusion and relatively quickly my body craved the nourishment of the nettle and no longer had a desire for caffeine. 

Do you already use lotions or oils after showering or in a bath? The infused oils are perfect for using on their own, diluting with other oils to slather on your body or mixing a few drops into your favorite lotion. The Aphrodites Touch oil is meant for the presence and care of the yoni but I also love to add a few drops into my palm with coconut oil and rub it all over my body for a gentle buzz and awakening in the mornings. 

If you make a coffee or tea each morning then the tinctures and flower essences are a great place to start because you can just add a couple of droppers into a drink you're already creating. For people that drink coffee, I especially love adding lilac flower essence (a vibration that is all about flexibility and embracing impermanence) to balance the hyperactive and hyper focused energies of the coffee plant. If you tend towards anxiety the dream weaver tincture is beautiful in a cup of tea at the end of the day.

Add the flower essences into your water bottle in the morning so that you carry it with you all day. I even do this with the tinctures when I feel that I’m needing support through a stressful or busy day. The Inner Beauty Tincture is magic to sip on with water all day (add 2-3 droppers into your water bottle), clearing the systems of elimination and bringing radiance into your inner world. The immunity blast is divine this time of year as the temperatures are fluctuating and seasonal allergies are nearing. 

The herbal smokes are a sexy replacement for a cocktail or gummy at the end of the day. Slipping you into a more liminal space and allowing the mind to unwind from the day with ease and comfort. 

“Earth medicine, plant medicine, these are all about feeling into what CALLS to you”

Earth medicine, plant medicine, these are all about feeling into what CALLS to you, not just what plant scientifically will benefit you. Of course that information is important, especially if you are dealing with acute symptoms. Another perspective I see clearly is that there is always a deeper root to the symptoms we call the “issue” or “ailment.” Listen to your gut, that voice in your heart, the emotions that come up when reading about a certain potion that tell you it's the one for you to begin working with. There may be another cause that is just presenting differently, as if it is wearing a disguise.

We are all one-of-a-kind as are the plants and we come together in beautiful and mystical ways. The way a peony flower essence supports you may look very different from the way it supports another. Of course there are overarching archetypes that often show up for large groups of people but don't let that get in the way of listening to where YOU want to begin. 

WHAT FUTURE PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR PLANTS + PLEASURE APOTHECARY? 

At the moment there are no plans and yet there are infinite dreams! 

I would love to be sharing these potions in person, teaching classes, writing more books and creating in clay, paint and plant dyes. Collaborating with others on the spiral path and bringing the simple practices of nourishment with wild weeds back into our experience as humans. 

Shop Ella’s full range of healing potions and stay in the know for her offerings on Plants + Pleasure Apothecary.