about me www.rachelmaree.com.au
I live with my little family, growing plants, making herbal extracts, and reimagining culture. My work is rooted in reciprocity — I believe that to receive value in this world, we must give value. I bring my full presence, heart, and capacity to the work that I offer. I am a Western Herbal Medicine therapist, bodyworker, rites of passage facilitator, forager, medicine maker, and musician. I support people in healing and transformation, using nature, relationship, and ritual as tools for reconnection.
Everything I create is grown from the ground up — medicine, music, ceremony, and education, all interwoven through my own healing journey with plants and the Earth.
I have a very personal relationship with many of the world’s most mystical plant teachers. Having grown and prepared many of them from seed to medicine over the last 13 years, I have been learning not just from books, but from direct relationship: sitting with medicinal plants alone, in silence and listening. I am ready to share the body of work that has been cultivating over this time.
I’ve been initiated into the Bwiti sect Mabanji, a living feminine lineage from Gabon that works with the plant teacher Iboga as a sacrament of transition and embodiment. This plant informs a lot of my work as a strong ally. My path in ethnobotany has taken me to Indigenous communities around the world, learning how they use plant spirits, music, and trance states as guides for healing and integration. In the jungles of Gabon I rooted in deeply with the guidance of a Pygmean lineage of Iboga. In the Andean highlands I met San Pedro and Peru’s jungle medicine Mama Ayahuasca and Kambocito. In the Himalayas I encountered the wild spirit of Cannabis. In the Sierra Mazateca I learned from the El Niño mushrooms, Salvia Divinorum, Peyotl, and the spirit of Mezcal. In the Swiss Alps I met with Artemisia and Absinthium. And in the vast Australian bush I’ve journeyed with the wisdom of the Acacias.
These are not simply plants — they are intelligent, relational beings. Much of what they offer can’t be written, and the deepest teachings are often meant to be kept quietly within. But from this depth my work is informed— to help rehabilitate our culture’s relationship with medicine, with the land, and with ourselves. To remember the sacred kinship between the human and the more-than-human world.
I live and work on Gumbaynggirr Country (Bellingen, Mid North Coast NSW) and online. My offerings are anchored in my formal training in Western Herbal Medicine and ZenThai Shiatsu, supported by a dispensary of rare and sacred plants.
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entheobotanica
Our name is derived from Latin, meaning to 'discover the sacred within plants'
This is part of the ethos of our herbal dispensary. All of the extracts are prepared very intentionally, and we focus on world plants that have a rich history of use within culture for expression of our Spirit, and communion with the Great Spirit.
en- |ɛn| from Greek
prefix
1. within; inside
theo- |ˈθiːəʊ | from Greek theos 'god'
combining form
1. relating to God or deities
botánica |bəˈtɑnɪkə| from Spanish botánico ‘botanical.’
noun
1. a small shop specialising in herbs and traditional remedies
2. relating to botany
the root
earth, connection, essence of who you are
The root represents connection to the inner world. It is first principle medicine of 'I am'. Do you even know what you are? The roots do. They are positioned deep in the Earth, bringing stability and balance. Roots are thoroughly involved in their placement, their connection, and alliances with community.
the leaf
wood, power, strength
The leaf represents power. Growing up and reaching out into the world. There is great power here in the land of leaf and Wood. The leadership of a leaf takes risks as it moves into uncharted space, seeking that which it desires to serve the self at large. Remember that growth for the sake of growth, is the mentality of a cancer cell. So align the yearning of the Wood’s expansion to the earth beat.
the bark
metal, protection, poison
The bark of a plant is responsible for keeping a separation between the inner and outer worlds. In the body of a human this correlates to the skin, microbiome layer of the lungs & gut (inner skin) and immune system. Whilst the bark’s edges are sharp and defined, its function reaches out into the space around itself transceiving information so it is highly attunes and sensitive to anything toxic, threatening or poisonous.
the flower
flower, heart, enchantment
A flower is a self contained collection of reproductive material able to seed the future. It’s role is to attract. Its function combines with the function of a seed, together attracting and creating. It does this from an ancient primal place where the origins of beauty live. The dance of creation is an expression of Fire, where life is sparked from within, and birth created out of an incantation.
the sap
water, wisdom, intuition
The sap or resin of a plant are the water ways and canals that run through the entire organism. Water is a force deep within the body that permeates all things. We are at least 90% water, and so are plants. These solid feeling structures that make up our bodies are animated by the power of water, as if inflated by it. Without it, we become small, dry, and lifeless.
ABOUT OUR SERVICES
Herbalism is the oldest form of medicine used by mankind. It is an ongoing relationship with our Earthly flora & fungi that, as a practice, has been growing & moving with us for tens of thousands of years. Today, this ancient wisdom is kept alive in our in relationships with plants; our gardens, our foraging, and our herbal medicine practice.
The plant path; where the wyldeorness meets our wyld hearts.
At EntheoBotanica we respect the traditional use of medicine as laid out by our ancestors. We also consider new scientific approaches to the use of herbs for healing especially when it comes to making extracts. Ultimately we support a holistic approach to healing rather than reductionist, which means the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and we try to use whole plants for whole people. Using a traditional lens we have crafted a holistic herbal dispensary that can promote healing on many levels.
We treat you and your medicine as an intelligent & integrated whole.
Healing is largely about right relationship. Right relationship with one another, ourselves, and the plants and animals and all the living and unseen folk around us. So taking herbs is only one part of the process. That's why we also focus on compassionate inquiry into yourself using plants as teachers and guides. We share events that promote reconnecting with your body, and the Body at large; that is Earth.
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ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS
We stock only the highest quality plants and natural preparations available. After all, a medicine can only be as powerful as the starting material. A plant or fungi is best utilised as fresh, alive and as untouched by the hand of man or machine as possible. This helps to capture and preserve the life force from the living organism; the spirit of the plant. It is through this life force that the healing wisdom is transmitted.
We focus on community-minded projects, to cultivate sustainable relating.
Some of our products are wild foraged or locally grown. When we source herbs from overseas we make sure they are coming from Indigenous communities directly, supporting community based projects, and are organic, seasonal and sustainable. We use whole & fresh plant extractions where-ever possible as there are often many beneficial components to a plant that are compromised when standardised & isolated.
The spirit of the plant is more accessible in a digestible, yet raw form. This is the ethos of our products. A balance between removing any interference between plant & person, and delivering a potent supportive medicine.
Healing is our journey, and nature is our guide.
This dispensary is an Earth Medicine treasure trove. We are so grateful to work with these plants, and trust that these medicines will help your spirit to come alive so that you may live a life on purpose.