pixie bars, mutual aid, and quitting what ails us. 𓇢𓆸
avraveda newsletter - mid-march 2025
Saturation. That feels like a word that best describes where I’ve been at lately. Saturated, like a spongy square of galaktoboureko, a Greek custard that's set in a crispy, buttery phyllo pastry shell, drizzled with hot golden syrup until it is soaked. One of my favorite desserts, and in essence, how I’ve been DESIRING to feel in my life lately.
Sometimes the saturation I have felt in life is more like a dirty towel that needs to get wrung out a handful of times, and then rinsed, thoroughly, under hot water, to finish cleaning up the mess spilled everywhere on the counter. To then immediately be tossed in the washer, with several laundering sheets, to truly get it clean again, saturated with soap, releasing the dingy dirt. Why would I feel saturated with this sorta sh*t? See: the news, incompetency in my day jobs, and other unpleasurable things.
Today, we will reject those sorts of saturations.
Today, I want to focus on the things that leave me feeling saturated like my favorite Greek dessert, or like the calendula petals that open wide and broad and expansive when they are saturated with sunlight on my darling patio. They are updates that make my soul sing, and perhaps, will leave you feeling a bit brighter, and full of the good stuff, as well.
from pixie dust to potions 𓇢𓆸
Last June, I was frustrated and “over it” and broke up with my live-in romantic partner Zac, whom I road tripped across the country to move to LA with, and had a dear and true friendship with for the better half of a decade before we got together. We spent the summer separated, the fall as well. There were many emotions and realizations that came from this separation - deep confusion, melded with feelings of freedom in the great mystery, mixed with a sensation that “this isn’t right, my heart isn’t fully in this, I am not certain this is the move”.
My deeply autonomous Gemini spirit enjoys the energy of being a single woman, while my double-Libran lover-girl loves to have someone to love.
Sparing you all the details, my relationship survived that major rupture, and while we are learning how to properly love one another still (as we all are, aren’t we?) we found one thing that truly unifies us is to create together. I highly recommend creating, always, whether you are partnered or not. And the art of creating SOMETHING NEW with someone you love, is gratifying, and shines light on your individual and collective strengths (and provides talking grounds for your collective weaknesses).
Anyways, he has been a craft cocktail bartender for many years, enjoying an elevated, academic take on cocktails. A true nerd, studying the historical implications of the most-well known cocktails, and fractals of where all of those came from. He is also a garnishing genius, to pull astrology into it, he’s got a Virgo stellium, with such precise attention to detail it actually hurts sometimes.
And I, Sophia, have been the happy, loving herbalist that you have all come to know over the years (or if you’re new here - welcome, I’ve been studying the art and science of herbalism, running an online shop of handmade remedies, popping up at markets and festivals and teaching workshops and courses over the past decade).
Naturally, it felt fitting to combine forces - lovers of beverages, lovers of magical potions that altar our state of being for the better, lovers of natures gifts and flowers, lovers of sweet, sour, salty, umami flavors, everything in between, and, lovers… because that’s what we are.
So thus… we launched The Herbal Pixie. An herbal elixir and botanical cocktail bar created for the pleasure of your intimate parties, lovely picnics in the park, or even for private tastings where we serve up flights of our favorite libations in a meticulous way - telling the story with an arch that brings euphoria.
Yes - we’ve been curating and creating for many moons, and this project has been beloved by all that have tried our beverages thus far. A wholesome, honeyed thing to be saturated with for sure. While we are currently based in Los Angeles, and are focusing on events here, we do have the capacity and capabilities to wander… if you’re interested in collaborating with us, book a discovery flight with us.
herbal mutual aid chronicles -
stories from the field
Back in January, fresh on the tail of the devastating Palisades and Altadena fires, I sent out a smoke flare and battle call to all of you out there to help support an herbal mission I was being called to. And y’all showed the f*ck up.
We received hundreds and hundreds of dollars of donations to buy supplies, and boxes upon boxes of your lovingly made and prepared herbal formulas, alongside pounds and pounds of loose-leaf herbs and botanicals.
These were all utilized to create 200 herbal care kits, which were distributed outwards to folks who were displaced by the fires, who were first responders, and who generally needed immune and nervous system support.
From our LA Herbal Mutual Aid landing page:
To date, Our community has co-created ~
200 Kits Made
2,400 Items Distributed
10 Hand Made Products
2 Waves of Kits
125 Individual Donations
$1,500 Raised
30 Cash Donors
25 Herbal Donors
7 Organizations Distributed
15 Volunteers
20 Hours of Work Group Time
50 Hours Spent Administrating by our Coalition Members
2 Days of Workspace donated by Tea at Shiloh
Innumerable packages received on our behalf by mud/wtr cafe
This project was eye-opening, as it was my first true experience in the world of herbal mutual aid to this scale. It consumed majority of my January, and many days of February, as we received, organized, formulated, created and distributed. I have gotten a direct taste of the flavors of project management, a bite of it’s sweetness, it’s light tangy sourness, and at times it’s outright saltiness and hot spiciness.
Numerous personalities collaborating for a greater mission - sometimes quite challenging to work with folks who all have an “idea”. This project has brought me closer to some of my favorite friends and colleagues, and also shown me exactly what it takes to be a quality collaborator.
And more than anything, this project has opened my eyes to the realm of community care, much broader and more expansive than what I had ever achieved with my darling online apothecary shop. An emphasis on education, on nervous system support, and on reverence to once again be supported by the Earth when we ourselves are what seems to be tearing her down.
We will be making and distributing 100 more packages in the upcoming weeks for our final round of LA Wildfire care (for now).
root & reverie — updates from my path
I was directly challenged by friends to see if I could “quit” coffee, and to prove a point, I did. What I did not expect is how much I would love it. Coffee is no longer part of my routine upon rising. I haven’t had a proper latte or cup of coffee since January 18, and the daily anxiety that I realized was my baseline has shrunk down to close to nothing. Alongside that, I find my ADHD symptoms to actually have improved, which is converse to much research I had previously read on the topic, but is my experience nonetheless.
As someone who had a devout morning ritual of pouring myself one shot of espresso, alongside a compilation of homemade simple syrup (obviously infused with rose or lavender or citrus or cinnamon, or whatever) or honey (also, of course, infused with botanicals) and a decadent steamed milk with mushroom powders and cacao… THAT part was a tough nut to crack. However, it has been replaced by a strong morning infusion of whatever herbal allies work with the planetary frequency, and my general mood, of the day. And the occassional matcha latte or bone broth. Feels GOOD to not be deeply reliant on something to warm my brain up every day.
I’ll eventually return to coffee as I do love that potent little fruit, but it’ll be done intentionally, when I am in Europe, enjoying an espresso after a large lunchtime meal, with a coastal breeze and warm scents of pastries flooding the air. No worries in sight, no need to check a million tiny things off a to-do list, no, just me, a hot espresso, good company, and a paper and pen.Want to learn herbalism from me firsthand? Ancestral Arts is in the process of enrollment for the next Semillas cohort. This is for all of you herbalism sprouts that want to dive head first into an all-inclusive program. About the Semillas program:
Semillas is the first step in our clinical training path. Appropriate for the beginner, curious budding herbalist who seeks to support the health of themselves and their family - it is the perfect program for those who simply want to deepen their understanding of the body and build a relationship with the plants. Designed as a foundation for individuals who are curious or intend to advance towards a clinical practice, students will learn to craft personalized remedies that support individual wellness, a foundation in body systems physiology, and introduction to plan uses, common ailments, and practitioner philosophy.
And exciting news - you may use code "AVRAVEDA" for $50 off of your application to the apprenticeship program. Learn more here.
Leaving you with a little of what I’ve been sitting with lately. Everything unfolds in perfect time, I know, I know, an old cliche. And truly… it does. As much as I love creating the perfect outline for how my day will look, what projects I’ll accomplish, what creations will be borne are decided by the spirit of the feminine that lives within us and throughout the realm we are in. I am learning to not control my wild feminine, and instead, learning how to better listen to her, and her little pings and her little whims of magic. What does she want to create? What WANTS to be birthed from you? What is actually supported at this time, rather than what you think you should be accomplishing? I will leave that here, as a reminder for you, and also for myself, chronically impatient thinking I can write the book, create multiple new apothecary lines, open a brick and mortar and become a singer-songwriter who slays all at once. And maybe, I can, in the grand scheme of this timeline being a tiny little dot in all of existence. It will all happen, give it up to the goddess, and let her do her thang.
With warmth, wildness, and whimsy ~
Yours always,
Sophia
