Newsletter: 11/9/25 How Loss Lead Me Back Home
Hello dear friend,
It’s Mary, Creator and owner of From Earth and Eden, formerly known as Hippie Butter. If you are receiving this email, you have been on my past email list or are a beloved customer. I appreciate you so much for being here and look forward to your continued support of my small business as it becomes something new. I’d love to share with you a bit about my journey over the past 5 months that has led me to this moment announcing, “From Earth and Eden” Grab a cup of tea ;)
This summer I went through some deep transitions and transformations in my life. I went through a very abrupt divorce in July and lost everything that felt like home very quickly. I had been pouring my heart and soul into our life together, community, land, etc. When this happened, I had no other choice but to shut down my business for a while. This came with much grief and fear of how I would ever recover let alone begin sharing beloved remedies with you all again. Working with my hands and these sacred plants is something that is deeply important to me, I knew I would find my way back.
It became clearer when I closed my business that I had been feeling the pull to Reimagine, Rebrand, and Realign my apothecary for some time now. Though it didn’t feel like it at the moment, this was the exact opportunity I had been searching for all along. The next few months would hold time and space for me to shed and rediscover many parts of myself, inevitably leading to realignment in my business.
After the separation, I wandered about for a while. I visited friends in California, letting myself be held and tumbled by the sea. I wandered through the deserts of southern Utah, letting my heart crack open like the red earth. I cleansed my soul in the crystal waters of Idaho and bathed in the dense forest of northern Colorado.
My heart was heavy and legs shaky along the way. But never had I felt so deeply held by the women in my life, my family, and the lands I visited. I can only describe this experience as divinely guided. Each time I found myself worried about what was next, the path slowly appeared one trusted step at a time.
The calling quickly came to go to Boulder, UT, a town of only 200 people. I had been visiting each month, apprenticing a wise herbalist and the desert plants. "Medicine At Your Feet." All the pieces fell in place for me to land there. I packed up my car and my beloved dog, Luna, and headed south. This is a short bit I wrote about my time there:
“When I look back at this short time on this land, I will hold it in my heart as some of my most tender moments. Arriving in between the desert and the forest after everything I knew vanished in a moment. I land at the threshold between familiar terrain and a new beginning.
No warning, no time to prepare.
My body weighs so heavy with grief, I feel I might collapse. So I do, I lay on the cracked earth and weep until I'm still enough to listen.
The desert sings a familiar song, illuminating the path forward step by step. The plants hold me daily, as this river bends into a new shape.
I learn from wise teachers, herbalists, woodsmen, gardeners, all holding torches on the path that is yet to be paved.
I hold a flicker as their heart beats one last time. A familiar life dissolves in the same moment.
I’ll let grief move through me, for I know that grief is born of love, and love will be born from this grief.
What a tender thing it is to love, and love again, and again, and again.
I’ll walk the path through the desert and the woods, following the waters to a new home. I’ll leave this land with an open, aching heart and hope in my eyes. The cold months are calling, trees urging me to lose my leaves for a while. We were never meant to bloom all year long after all. I’ll piece her back together day by day, as the leaves fall, then the snow, then the rain, all things will bloom again, even this aching tender heart.’
"If you're lucky enough to lose it all, you may just find out who you really are, and why you're really here.”
Someone had told me that the desert is where one goes when they have lost their way and are searching for a new direction. This rang very true for me. The spaciousness there held a frequency that allowed for discovery that wouldn’t be possible in a denser environment. I will always explore many landscapes for this reason.
When I arrived in Boulder, I had no idea what was to come next. I only had 6 weeks as the woman I was living with was moving soon to a small town in southwestern Colorado. Interestingly enough, Durango (a small town in southwestern Colorado) had been on my radar all year. Through a series of intuitive hits and synchronicities from the environment around me, I began to look for housing and jobs there. Once again divinely guided, everything lined up. I knew without a doubt that I was to move there next.
I will always hold my time in Boulder so close to my heart, the connections I made, the plants I got to sit with, the land that held me so gently. It feels like a home I will always come back to. Saying goodbye was difficult, but I had hope for what was to come.
Now here we are, just about 4 weeks ago I landed in Durango, in a funky farmhouse surrounded by trees on 40 acres of land, with a perfect space to call my own. A job quickly lined up that barely feels like work, and I finally got to start setting up my business once more.
Along my journey, I have been sitting in the void of inspiration, allowing the blockages to fizzle out and the creations to come through. I have sat and pondered in many different landscapes, a few modest cabins, and a little yellow cottage where a lot of love lives. Reimagining what this apothecary would be when I reopened it. The name “From Earth and Eden” continued to come through. I wasn’t sure why until recently.
The name is up to your own interpretation, but I will share mine. In the way that I have come to understand things, Eden is the representation of wholeness, Eden is the spirit, and the spirit can never be broken. Earth is where we come to merge body and spirit, the body and mind can fracture here. We experience traumas and pains that feel like they will break us. But we are from Earth AND Eden, therefore we can never truly be broken. As I have been moving through this experience, it has felt as if versions of myself have been cracked into thousands of pieces, shattering and falling away, shattering and falling away over and over again, like some form of death. The desert taught me that this is merely a natural process of life.
"From Earth and Eden" to me is the merging of body and spirit, human and divine, if you will. We cannot have one without the other, and to exist in this duality is a gift. In the moments where I felt completely broken, the plants held me, reminding me that my spirit was never to break. Motherwort held me in the depths of grief; she eased my heart and brought me back into my own innate rhythms. Yarrow cleansed my womb, making space for creation. Calendula's essence stuck to my fingers as I harvested these bright orange flowers for some of our remedies. She reminded me of brighter days ahead. Chamomile and willow eased my aching head, often spinning in confusion. Mugwort held me in the dream realm, sending messages and holding a lantern on the path forward. I could speak to many more.
I want to emphasize that the plants held me and tended to the physical ailments that have come with this season. But they also supported my spirit. See, when we work with plants intentionally, we can open to their medicine in more ways than just ingesting them and expecting them to solve a problem. I have been learning of this through my apprenticeship in Boulder. Simply sitting near a plant in a moment of presence can lift our spirit, heal our pain, and offer inspiration. If you open yourself to the plants, they will begin to weave in and out of your life in a mysterious way. Something that can only be experienced.
I bring this way of relating forth when crafting these Medicinals. All of our remedies are now crafted with whole herbs, infused over time and with deep intention, into organic oils and butters. Working with the whole plant versus essential oils has become important to me because I am preserving the spirit along with the medicine, rather than only extracting on the most potent constituents.
You will notice that many of our remedies are still here: Magnesium Butter, Skin Healing Butter, Inner Glow Face Oil, and Womb Oil, etc. They have been changed slightly, as I mentioned above. Soon I will be offering some other oils as well as yoni steaming blends that have deeply transformed my womb health, and relationship to my feminine rhythms.
My intention with this apothecary is to offer remedies and rituals that have deeply transformed my life. To work with herbs is a collaboration with the natural world and the elements. I have a deep respect for this process. I will never claim that these remedies will fix all your problems or offer “anti-aging properties” I don't value that kind of language. But what I will promise you is that if you sit with these herbs and remedies, and open yourself to receiving the medicine they carry, you will be changed, maybe in ways you didn't expect.
As a thank you for your continued support of me and these creations, I want to offer you a generous discount as I reopen our shop: 20% off your entire first order. Code: EDEN20
I would also deeply appreciate it if you have worked with these remedies before, leaving a review would be so meaningful.
I will be sending out letters from my heart bi-monthly, as well as discounts and other goods. Please feel free to reply anytime, I’d love to connect further with you.
Lastly, I would like to leave you with this, the world is shifting many are experiencing deep transformation and pain. Look out for those around you. Notice in what ways you can give to your community. The way we move forward is together, in the micro movements that inevitably affect the macrocosm. When you face a moment of fear or doubt, place your hands upon the earth and let her in.
Be well dear ones,
With love and blessings,
Mary From Earth and Eden
