MariposaBotanicals

02/02/2022

Words of wisdom.

We have a culture of over-restriction.

There, we said it.

A part of the reason of this is because, in the weird world of wellness, we have equated restriction with virtue - as though the more restricted one’s diet is, the more evolved. This is performative wellness.

This not only creates a culture where people feel shame, guilt and not-good-enough because of their (very normal and natural!) food choices, but subtly perpetuates weight-shaming and crash dieting, under the guise of health (seriously there’s a new diet trend every week, right?!)

We would venture to say that, in some cases (not all!), the tension, mental battle and anxiety around ‘eating healthy’ is MORE damaging than the foods we have labelled ‘unhealthy’ in the first place.

Sure, if you are diagnosed celiac or gluten intolerant then don’t eat gluten. If you have a high risk of cardiovascular disease we need to take a look at your cholesterol intake.

But there are SO MANY stories about food that are simply untrue, and used as a marketing tool rather than based on actual evidence.

We don’t have time to mention them all here, but the big picture message is this:

Take it easy on the restrictions, and eat for joy. This is what food is all about!

Also, no one - NO ONE - can tell you what healthy is for you. Only you get to define that.

And often, it is less about WHAT we eat, and more about the context in which that food appears. Do you have community? Are you having fun? Do you feel nurtured and nourished by life?

These are the larger things that really define health - not super foods, wheatgrass shots or paleo cookies.

We’re not dissing any of those things, if that’s what you’re into 😉

We ARE dissing a wellness culture that makes you feel bad, unworthy and immoral if you eat a pack of Tim Tams, have a beer or smash some hot chips every now and then.

Wellness culture upholds restriction as virtue, and downplays the all important, VERY healing power of joy and pleasure.

Let’s turn that ship around ey?

Gather your kin, set a long table, cook your favourite meal and eat, drink and be merry.

This is the best medicine we have.

❤️🌿

11/29/2021

Dry skin? ☑️ Aching back? ☑️ Sore muscles? ☑️ Bruises and scrapes?☑️ Arthritis? ☑️ Anxiety or Insomnia? ☑️ Skin breaking out? ☑️ I’m (mostly) restocked and ready for the gift giving season. AND the whole shop is 20% off thru Dec 1!

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11/22/2021

One of my favorite herbalists posting about one of my favorite herbs.

H E R B A L ~ M O N O G R A P H

{ Calendula ~ Calendula officinalis }

Taste // Slightly bitter, sweet and pungent

Temperature // Neutral to cooling

Effective Qualities // Drying, calming, decongesting, stimulating and dissolving


Most of us would consider Calendula when it comes to topical imbalances like wounds or skin rashes - but did you know Calendula is an incredible internal remedy?

Calendula is primarily bitter, although there are definite sweet and pungent notes in its taste too. This means Calendula works through the liver, but also has tonic (sweet) and stimulating (pungent) properties.

One of Calendula’s most wonderful actions is as an ‘alterative’ - which means it cleans the blood by gently opening up the channels of elimination (bowels, skin, liver, lungs and kidneys).

It’s alterative action also makes it a fantastic internal remedy for skin conditions caused by a build up of toxicity in the blood - acne is a great example of this!

Of course, Calendula’s claim to fame must be mentioned - it really is one of the best topical healing remedies in Wester herbal medicine.

Its astringency means it binds wounds, helping them to heal faster.

Because it cleans the blood and lymph means it heals wounds “from the inside out” - Calendula’s cleansing action working deeply to prevent infection and combat inflammation.

Speaking of inflammation, whilst externally Calendula is a supreme wound healer, it has the same effect on the tissue internally, especially when it comes to the gastro-intestinal tract. As within, so without!

Calendula is what you want if you have gut inflammation - which can manifest as anything from gas and bloating, to joint pain, to autoimmunity! This is because gut inflammation often leads to systemic inflammation elsewhere in the body.

Fun fact: The genus name ‘Calendula’ means ‘little calendar’, or ‘little clock’ - a reflection of the fact that this wondrous plant grows all through out the year!

We have dried organic calendula flowers and tincture available at the apothecary if you need.

Calendula - the gift that keeps on giving!

❤️🌿

09/14/2021

Reposting because it’s so true.

{{ Herbs are NOT the cure! }}

The paradigm that we have set up for health and healing is somewhat flawed.

In our industrialised approach to health, fuelled by a capitalist culture that does not allow space for slow-healing - we expect our herbs to work the same way as pharmaceuticals.

But here is the secret to herbal medicine: It requires your participation.

Now, let’s be clear. This is DEFINITELY not a New-Age ‘you are the medicine’ rant. To place the onus on the individual is not appropriate in every case.

We do however, need to begin to tell a different story. Because the dominant narrative is that the herb is THE CURE. This is an unfortunate side effect of the commercialisation and modernisation of herbal and naturopathic medicine. As it strays from its roots, the art that is herbal medicine has been silently co-opted by the values of mainstream medicine.

This is dangerous because herbal medicine risks becoming a form of ‘green allopathy’ - simply substituting plants for pharmaceuticals, yet operating by the same principles.

Withania alone will not cure your adrenal fatigue. It can support you whilst you re-assess your relationship to success, self-worth and stillness.

Nor will Garlic cure your chronic candida, unless you ALSO look at your relationship to sugar, and figure out another way to supplement ‘sweetness’ in your life.

This is the magic of the plant path. By asking us to meet them half-way, herbs are teaching us how to resource ourselves. The best kind of teacher is one that teaches you how not to need them anymore.

This paradigm is Medicine with a capital ‘M’, because we transform in the process.

The next time you think your herbs are "not working", perhaps ask whether you are relating to them in a way that you are expecting them to do ALL the heavy lifting.

The last thing any of us want to do is change. Yet this is exactly what the plants ask us to do, if we use them correctly - as allies, rather than as proxies for pharmaceuticals.

For this is what true health is – change. A willingness to shed your old skin, so that the new can emerge.

❤️🌿

08/25/2021

In summary, addiction is an attempt to solve a problem. - and the problem is trauma.

Addiction - Part One


There are still a lot of unhealthy narratives around addiction and we felt to share some of the things that have helped shift and deepen our own understanding.

A good place to begin is the famous ‘Rat Park’ experiments conducted in the 1970s by American psychologist Dr Bruce Alexander.

Dr Alexander placed a solitary rat in a cage with a bottle of water, and another that was laced with co***ne and he**in.

In addition, he created a ‘rat park’ - a cage with a community of rats that were free to roam, play and socialise with each other. Inside the ‘rat park’, he also placed the above mentioned bottles of water.

Guess what he found?

The solitary rat compulsively reached for the co***ne or he**ine water, whilst the rats in community overwhelmingly preferred the plain water.

This dramatically shifted the narrative around addiction by understanding the massive impact of social cohesion and connection in the context of addictive behaviour.

Dr Gabor Maté, one of the world’s leading experts on addiction, also helps us to understand addiction in a totally different light.

After working 12 years with some of Canada’s most extreme addicts, he observed that every single person had come from a background of severe childhood trauma.

Rather than judging and reducing addiction as a simple “bad choice”, Dr Maté teaches us that the addiction is not THE problem.

The addiction is, in fact, an attempt to SOLVE a problem, the problem being deep emotional pain in the absence of internal resources and access to less damaging tools.

Both these narratives emphasise environment, as opposed to blaming the addict.

It means we start to ask questions like “why are you in so much pain?”, “why did you not have access to resources and tools to help you solve that pain?”.

This paves the way not only for transformation of those suffering from addictions, but for our selves and society as well.

❤️🌿

To learn more:

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/what-does-rat-park-teach-us-about-addiction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys6TCO_olOc&ab_channel=FightMediocrity

07/09/2021

New batch in stock! ACHES AND PAINS Salve - I make this warming salve with organic and wild-crafted ingredients to relieve your pain naturally. https://etsy.me/2TTgeRy , ,

Aches & Pains salve provides serious relief for pain including backaches, sprains, strains, arthritis, and muscle soreness due to overexertion. Made with menthol, arnica* cayenne*, ginger root*, turmeric root*, rosemary*, camphorweed, jojoba*, coconut oil*, beeswax*, Vitamin E, and eucalyptus

06/08/2021

Shop is open again after my vacation. Thx, Vanessa, for the glowing review! ★★★★★ "the butter is so relaxing & is helping very much I even tried it on my lower back and it relieved my pain . . . ✨✨" vanessa https://etsy.me/3w7nO8S

05/06/2021

There's still time to order a gift for mom and take advantage of my mother's day sale: 20% off when you spend $25. https://etsy.me/3h7OUbt

04/30/2021

Mother's Day is next Sunday! I have something for every mother: stress-relieving Passionflower Elixir, deep-moisturizing Whipped Shea butter, Aches and Pains salve, Healing Salve, massage butters and more. AND, I'm running a sale on my whole shop thru Friday, May 7th to celebrate all the fabulous mothers out there: 20% off your whole order when you spend $25 or more. Local pickup available in Central Austin, TX. www.MariposaBotanicals.etsy.com

04/26/2021

Healing salve is back in stock! My daughter calls it "boo boo balm," and that's exactly what it is, soothing bug bites, minor scrapes, strains, sprains, bruises, burns and more. But don't take my word for it, check out this recent review:

★★★★★ "this product is Amazing! I've used salves similar, but this blows all others out of the water. my daughter had a few bites she has been scratching, i put it on and no joke the next morning they were pretty much gone! the redness had disappeared. also once i applied my daughter said they didn't itch at all anymore. i would recommend this to everyone. plus she literally makes this all by hand, her work amazes me, she harvests' all of the ingredients in her backyard! which is really cool. if i could give 10 stars i would! buy buy buy!, also her other products rock just as much!" nicolepayne13np https://etsy.me/3u6LzgF

Works like magic on bruises, bug bites, bumps, sprains, minor scrapes, and burns. Comfrey contains allantoin, a cell-proliferative that helps the body heal more quickly than it might have otherwise. I created this salve for my young daughter who would scratch her bug bites till they became bleeding

03/29/2021

The weather is changing, and the sun is getting stronger. Last week my daughter went out on a canoe with her dad and got a pretty bad . (He forgot the sunscreen 🙃). I put some of this healing infused oil on her and the was gone the next day. I thought some of you might get a sunburn too, so I’m running a sale on my Revitalize and Heal calendula skin oil - 20% off thru the end of April.

It’s also great for , , , bug-bites, moisturizing, , , , and my favorite - as a soothing bath oil. I grow the calendula in my garden with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and the is certified . It’s the good stuff! www.MariposaBotanicals.etsy.com

03/24/2021

The flowers are starting to bloom here in the Hill Country and the bees are happy. Here are a few I found last weekend, with a couple mysteries that I need your help to identify. I'm too behind to dig in and figure it out myself, so how about a contest? First one to correctly identify the last two pics gets 20% off their next order at www.MariposaBotanicals.etsy.com