Ritual Saved My Life: Ancestral Healing & Renewal for Black Women with Amber Holmes [REPLAY]

This episode is a replay of Ancestral Wisdom, Ritual & Transformation with Amber Holmes, Founder of I.Soul Naturals | Ep. 68, originally published on 2.24.25, with an updated intro.

Watch the original episode on YouTube!

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Amber Holmes, the visionary founder of I.Soul Naturals, takes us on the transformative journey of her work as an herbalist, entrepreneur, and energy healer. Discover how Amber's connection to the earth and the ancestral wisdom passed down from her grandmother and mother have shaped her holistic approach to healing and business. This episode highlights the role of introspection and the creation of personalized rituals in guiding others on their journeys of transformation, encouraging listeners to embrace stillness and authenticity. Follow Amber & I.Soul Naturals on IG: @isoulnaturals

Related Episodes:

• Daily Rituals to Honor Your Creativity | Ep. 74
• Rituals That Make Life Feel Rich | Ep. 95

Theme Music:
She No Dull Beat by Nana Kwabena
Festivities in Belize by RAGE Productions

Transcript

Host Intro And Replay Context

Aliya Cheyanne 0:00

Hey friend, welcome back to Muse and Mastery. Thank you so much for tuning in. Today's episode will be audio only, and it's actually a replay of an episode that aired a year ago. Episode 68, featuring Amber Holmes, Ancestral Wisdom, Ritual, and Transformation. This episode feels really aligned to replay for those of us who are looking to feel more grounded this time of year as we continue to navigate through winter and slowly start to make the transition into spring. This episode also feels aligned because on the previous episode I talked a lot about rituals that make us feel rich and that rich girls have rituals. So I wanted to re-up this conversation because it felt timely and needed and soothing. So if you didn't receive the medicine a year ago, you have an opportunity to receive it now. It's also Black History Month, and despite how quiet this Black History Month has been under this administration, we will always honor it. We know that Black history is American history. Black history is global history. Black history is the history of humanity. And this month, as we honor Black History Month, I've been thinking about the lineage of Black women who have carried wellness, ritual, and ancestral wisdom forward in

Honoring Black History And Lineage

Aliya Cheyanne 1:39

quiet and powerful ways. Now many of the OGs will remember, and if you're newer to the show and haven't gone back through the archive, this might be new. But early in the podcast life, when it was under a different name, my former co-host and I intentionally highlighted black women-owned businesses that we loved. Some of those businesses have evolved, some have since closed, and some continue to thrive. But the spirit of supporting black women builders remains. And so I thought re-upping this episode with Amber and ISO Naturals was very aligned. Since then, I've added new black-owned businesses to my world. I recently started taking black girl vitamins, the daily gummy vitamin, and also they have a vitamin for PCOS relief, which helps with balancing your hormones and relieving and alleviating some PCOS symptoms. Those vitamins are new to my regimen, so we'll see how they go, but so far, so good. The gummies are tasty, and I'm really hoping to notice a difference in the coming months. So I will come back and let you know. I've also added another black woman-owned business to my world. Many of you are likely familiar with the podcast Black Girls Texting. They are OGs in the podcasting space, and they also have a business called Blue Water Girls. I am currently testing out the Private Island Glow and the Private Island Body Oil. I love the oil, it is so luxurious. I feel just so glisteny and divine and like a goddess when I have that on. I use it on vacations. It's great. It's made with sweet almond oil, shea oil.

Celebrating Black Women-Owned Brands

Aliya Cheyanne 3:40

It has collagen peptides and some other ingredients that are really fantastic. It just feels really luxurious and delicious on my skin, and I really enjoy it. And I'm also trying out the Private Island Glow. The Private Island Glow really is the truth. It is a tanning enhancer amongst other things. Like it helps to hydrate your skin, gives you a nice glow, and it helps to like deepen your natural tan. And I took this with me on a trip to Mexico last November for my best friend Michaela's birthday. I used it on one of our beach days. And when I tell you, that is the darkest, deepest, juiciest tan I've ever had in my life. It lasted an insanely long time. And I cannot wait to use it again on my next vacation. So those are some black woman-owned businesses that I've added to my collection and I will continue to use and support. Now, getting back to this replay. Today I'm replaying a conversation with Amber Holmes, who is the founder of Isle Naturals, because it captures that spirit beautifully, the spirit of the lineage of black women, the power of black women-owned businesses, and the need for black women to continue to bring forth, to manifest, to give life to, to birth, to seed, to plant, to unearth our brilliant ideas and talents and business ideas. With that being said, let's jump into

Why This Conversation With Amber Matters

Aliya Cheyanne 5:18

the replay and be sure to meet me back here next week for an all-new episode and the continuation of our season. I'll catch you at the end. This conversation is rich in so many ways. So without further ado, let's jump right in. Hi everyone. Welcome back. I'm so happy that you're here and I'm so excited today because we have Amber Holmes on the show. Hi, Amber. Hello, hello. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to have you, and I'm so excited that you're here. And we're gonna talk a little bit more about your journey and ISOL Naturals and all of the incredible work that you're doing through your company. So with that, I would love to kick it over to you to share a little bit more about who you are in the world today. Okay.

Amber Holmes 6:36

All right. So as Aaliyah said, I'm Amber. I am the, what do I call

Meet Amber Holmes And ISoul Naturals

Amber Holmes 6:41

myself? It has changed over the years because ISoul Naturals has been a brand since I'll say I had my first official sale in 2016. Um, yeah, yeah, but it is morphed. I have, you know what? I'm not even going to say morphed. I've grown into um a specific entrepreneur. And in that, I've grown to who I am today. And who I am today is an herbalist, a ritual guide, an empath, a Reiki master teacher, all the things that are connected to energy and spirituality and just feel-good stuff. You know, the space that I take up in this world today is really about healing, just healing self through self-nurturing, right? Tapping into our energy, tapping into the bounty that earth provides us, you know, and just using those things to create ritual around feeling good and being good to ourselves. Because the reality is when we are good to ourselves, we're able to be good to others and give to others and pour from that overflow.

Aliya Cheyanne 7:50

Yes. I love that. That's so beautiful. Um, I really love how you speak about our connection to Earth. Connection to ourselves. I think that's so important. And it's my kind of conversation because I love it. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would love to talk a little bit more about your journey. As you mentioned, ISO Naturals has evolved from how it started in 2016. Um, something that you've also referred to yourself as in the past, or maybe still currently is an alchemist. And I think that's beautiful too. I would love to talk a little bit more about your journey with ISO Naturals and herbalism and how that's sort of evolved and grown. Well, first let me pause a little. So I also want to say that

From Soap Maker To Healer

Aliya Cheyanne 8:45

I was introduced to you through your friend Jen Roberts, who's also been a guest on the show. Most recently, my interaction with you was at a skip day retreat from the Color Girls Liberation Lab um at Bali and Springs. And you led us through the most beautiful workshop that I've experienced wild. Thank you. Um like a guided meditation and visualization practice, like imagining just light and energy traveling through us that I really set stage for the workshop and helped to really ground us in what we were about to do. And then we had an opportunity to make our own essential oils and um and name them and describe each other what we were calling in, why we chose those names, why we chose the herbs and the scents and and the stones and everything that we wanted to use. And it was such a lovely workshop. So that was like a reintroduction to you because I had met you before, like at the previous retreat that Jen and Ashante Renee had done together. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So I wanted to share that now. In being experiencing that workshop and how you sort of pivoted the work that you do over the last several years, I would love to walk through that journey a little bit more with you, how you've kind of set out and started in 2016 and what led you to evolve to the place you're in now. Okay. All right.

Amber Holmes 10:27

Um, hold on. Because it's it's it's a windy road. So I've always been out, I've been what I would call a serial entrepreneur, right? And so I've dipped and dabbled in all things creative because that is just deeply innate in me, creativity, right? And I came about like, so I'd say, I'll just go back to when I had my daughter. So my daughter was born in 2011. I was a makeup artist at that time. So it took me outside of the home, right? Being outside of the home, it's hard to do when you have a baby and you have a baby and you have a spouse that travels for work and things like that. So it became more and more difficult to continue with the makeup. And it was just like, huh, okay. Well, I'm just gonna kind of sit back from that, right? And my son, I don't know if you if I've ever shared this. I think I may have. I have two only children, and I call them two only children because they're 20 years apart. So my son is 33, my daughter is 13, right? And so when he was a baby, he had eczema. And with my grandmother, I still had my grandmother at that time. That's where the herbalism piece comes in because my grandmother had her relationship with the earth. She had her relationship with medicine, and I learned from her, but it was in my mother. Like my mother is who spoon-fed me this information, right? She's she, this knowledge comes legacy from my mother and my grandmother. I sat at their feet, right? But as I got older, I stepped away. You know, I stepped away from it. You we move far away from what we're raised with. We move far away from what we learn. You couple that with just how I thought, you know, I wanted to be my own person. I wanted to be my own person. I didn't want to be vegetarian, and that's what we were growing up. So I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to have, you know, grow all the herbs, have all the plants and all this stuff. But you see, now I'm back to we return home. We get back to what we know. So fast

Readings, Ancestors, And Purpose

Amber Holmes 12:36

forward to my daughter being born, she also had eczema, right? So I was using the remedies that I knew at home that I learned from my mother and my grandmother. And I was still trying to figure out, okay, what am I going to do as a side hustle? Right. And as I started making things to relieve my daughter and I would send it to the daycare, her daycare providers were like, What is this? Can we get some? We have other people who need these, you know, who needs this. And I started gifting stuff to people. And then one day it was just like, huh, maybe this can be your business. And I did eventually start making soap and body care, but I still wasn't into the herbalism. I still wasn't into the natural remedies. It was looking and like, oh, well, what sells is what smells good and what looks good, you know. So I went about making what smelled good and what looked good, all the colors and all the all the fluffy clouds, everything that, you know, was aesthetically pleasing. That's what I studied, and that's what I went about doing. And as the years went on, it was like, why am I not feeling fulfilled? Why am I not able to really get behind this? And as time went on, and I started turning more within and trying to understand me and understand where I am and what my purpose is. Um, I had a reading. I had a reading in 20, because I made my first sale in 2016, and that was pretty soap, pretty pink. Soap, you know, um, so from 2016, 2018, 19, I still I was in business, but it was kind of ebb and flow, you know, like I would have these bursts of great sales, and then it was just like, uh, not doing so well. When I had this reading, the woman said, You are a healer. Um, but you're hiding behind your products. And I'm like, well, what does that mean?

Aliya Cheyanne 14:40

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 14:41

What exactly does that mean? Um, I just went about the work of really sitting and really hearing, trying to trying to hear from my ancestors, trying to hear from spirit, trying to understand what exactly does that mean? And she said, as a healer, your work can look like massage therapy. Really, the work is about you. You are the healer, not your products. You can use the products as a catalyst, however, it's not your products. And so um I went about trying to figure out again, reading after reading, reading with different people. Like I'm looking for readings everywhere. Somebody help me, somebody helped me figure out what this means. What am I supposed to be doing? But I had to get quiet. Yes. I had to sit and get quiet so that I could hear and stop searching and really get into feeling, right? And understanding. And at that point, things started showing up in dreams. You know, I'm starting to dream about chamomile and and different herbs. And then I had a dream where my grandmother came to me and said, You know what to do. And it's like, what to do, what to do. And then as we sat deep into the pandemic, it was like, okay.

Aliya Cheyanne 16:07

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 16:08

You know what's going on. Like the way that people were calling, and it's like, oh, I have COVID and I don't want to take the shot, or I took the shot and I want to do this and I want to do that, or I want to get in touch with myself. I'm just rattling off stuff. Oh, you need to take this, um, you need to take this eucalyptus oil and put it in the shower with you and rub your back with this and rub your chest and drink ginger. We need to be drinking ginger every day. And it was like, huh, this stuff is just pouring out of you.

Aliya Cheyanne 16:40

Yes.

Amber Holmes 16:41

This stuff is pouring out of you. Um and it was like, this is your work. Like you are to be back in touch. You're returning home to what you know. You're to be back in touch with the herbs, you know. This is the stuff you know. And then I don't know if you remember, like at the height of quarantine, clubhouse was popping. Everybody was on clubhouse. And I remember entering

Pandemic Calls And Herbal Calling

Amber Holmes 17:08

these different herbalism rooms because it was just like, huh, okay, let's see. And um, I would have conversations around the herbs, and then there was this one woman where she had said, Yeah, this is your work. And I said, Yeah, but I, you know, I need to figure out where to get my certification. And she was like, What? She said, What are you talking about? You received your certification sitting at the feet of your mother and your grandmother. Talk about it. Talk about it. Yeah. She was like, People will have you believe that you have to be certified. People will have you believe that you have to know everything about every herb that grows. And that's just not the case. What comes is you understand what people need. You understand your people, you understand your community. So when somebody comes and says, I need, I need help with my blood sugar, you know, then it's like, yeah, you know what to tell them to do because that's your people, that's your community. And that's what you need to know. You don't need a certification. You don't need somebody to send you a bunch of slides to study, and then you pass some little test, you know. And the other thing that a lot of people don't realize is that there's no regulatory agency for herbalism here in this country. There's nothing to regulate. So who's to tell me? I could not know one damn thing about herbs and still walk outside and say I'm an herbalist, you know. But I sat at the feet of my mother and my grandmother. So that's where my certification comes from. And that is what brought me to today is really understanding that that is my work. You know, the intention oil workshop that you participated in. I could do that all day without compensation. Because it's from here. Yes. You know? So, yeah, I I I think that's the long answer to how I got here.

Aliya Cheyanne 19:17

That's a beautiful answer, first of all. Like, thank you so much for just sharing your story and your testimony. Like, so many things hit home for me while you were talking. I love the phrase you use, uh returning home, returning to home, returning home. Like, that is such a powerful phrase. And I love the way you also said, like, I sat at my grandmother and my mother's feet. That's my certification. But even when you say that, that I feel something too. When I hear that, it reminds me of I had had Ebony Janice Moore on the show too, and she talked about authority in her work. And she talked about that too. Like, who are some of these people in these institutions to tell me

Certification Versus Ancestral Authority

Aliya Cheyanne 20:05

what I know? You can't tell me what I don't know from my grandmother, my mother, my my great grand. You can't, you know, and I feel like what you just said reaffirms that in so many ways, and it's the lived experience of so many incredible black women in particular. Exactly. Wisdom ancestrally, or because it was passed down from our grandmothers and our mothers, and we live in a world that would try to discredit us and tell tell us otherwise because we don't have a document or paperwork. Exactly. To say that we know what we know.

Amber Holmes 20:37

Exactly. And all they did was when I say they, you know, westernized, all they did was appropriate the information, package it, put it in some PDFs, and sell it to you and say, okay, you can pass because you answered the right, you you you selected the right dial next to the answer, you know. So yeah.

Aliya Cheyanne 20:57

Yeah. I am getting the sense or the feeling that through the evolution of your own journey and ISO Naturals, you've really stepped more into yourself and become more of yourself. And like you said, return home. And I feel like that's such a profound journey for you. But also, I would love to know how you see transformation and alchemy happening for the people who work with you, the people you support. I how I felt after that workshop, but I'm one person, so I would love to know more about what you see as you're working with folks day to day.

Amber Holmes 21:37

So, what I see is really people the same, returning home, returning home to self, because I am a firm believer in so some moments of vulnerability. At the beginning of that of the workshop that we did, I was saying that I came out of a very, very dark period. Yeah. Um mids from summer 2023 until I'll say uh when we had the workshop, a little before when we had the workshop, um, I had to, I had no choice but then to really just turn and completely focus on myself because if I didn't, I was going to lose it. Because I had spent the majority of my adulthood um self-sacrificing and pouring into others. And and I don't blame anyone. It's it's how I was socialized. It's how it's what, you know, how we talk about how we grow up and some of the traumas that that happened and how that how that creates the adults that we are. And with that, I had to get to a place where it was like it's amber for amber. And when amber is for amber, that means amber being her most authentic self so that she can operate in her purpose. Because in the person that I was, I wasn't operating in my purpose. As I shared that about not having the fulfillment, that was because I wasn't operating in my purpose. And you know, when you are here, when you're here and you're moving about on earth in this body, if you're not fulfilling your purpose, you are going to constantly and consistently get dragged. Yes. And so there's a point where you get tired of the dragging, right? And so it's like, okay, God, universe, spirit, everybody, please just work with me and let me know I'm open.

Aliya Cheyanne 23:36

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 23:37

And use me so that I can fulfill my purpose, right? And for that, ritual is saved my life. And I think that's what I said during that workshop. Ritual saved my life. I created, I created my first intention oil based on having to be out in the world and have something to bring me back to myself, bring me back centered to ground me, right? The aura water. All of these things became ritual. The baths, like I lived in a bathtub. I still do, just because

Transformation Through Ritual

Amber Holmes 24:10

water grounds me. And then I amplify the water by the herbs and all of those things, right? Herbs and crystals and everything. So with that, um, it's it really is just using ritual. Like I had to heavily lean into ritual to save me. And so working with others is about helping them save themselves through ritual, through herbalism and ritual. And so um wonder, did I answer your question or did I answer it? You literally just did. Okay.

Aliya Cheyanne 24:49

Yeah, thank you for your vulnerability and your transparency. I I I love to hear how you were able to put rituals and herbalism and systems in place for yourself to bring you home to yourself and how doing that work you are then able to help others do the same thing. Yeah. And it brings me back to something you were saying earlier, even before that, about how you were searching, searching, searching. I feel like there are a lot of us who can relate to that. I definitely can. I love a reader, I love an astrologer, I love I love a modality, I love all the things. And uh, I can read everything and listen to every interpretation, whatever, and still not feel a hundred percent clear or satisfied because that also requires sitting still and going inward, just like you said, and really being in tune with yourself and in tune with whatever you believe in God, spirit, you whatever, you know, like really just being still and listening and turning inward. So I think that's really powerful and profound, too. And that's a that's a great example for anyone else who might be searching, trying to figure it out. Be still. Yeah, go in. Be still create ritual for yourself that helps you to feel good because then your light will help to pour into other people, your light will help to spark something in others, your example will help to show others the way. So I think that's really beautiful. Thank you. I would love to know just again. So you've evolved a lot with the business, and I would love to know have there been any like hiccups with that evolution? Maybe some people who were used to you presenting a certain way with products and not pivoted over the years, maybe they they're kind of looking for the old thing, or what has that transition kind of looked like for you?

Amber Holmes 26:45

Actually, the transition was is not been as hard as I thought it was going to be. I thought that I was going to, I thought I was going to have to like scrap and start from ground zero, right? But the interesting thing is while the products look different, I have always been who I am.

Aliya Cheyanne 27:03

Yes.

Amber Holmes 27:04

And when they say that your customer comes for you, yeah, that is so true. And I've come to realize that it doesn't matter. And I'm not going to say that it doesn't matter at all what the product is, right? Um, but I'll give an example. One of um one of my top-selling soaps is a soap I call no Nola Darling, right? And

Evolving The Business Without Losing Self

Amber Holmes 27:28

with Nola, she's pink. And she's pink, and I was using a mica, a pink color, right? But now that I'm leaning more into plants and herbs, I highlight the oils that go into the product, but I'm also not using micas anymore, or I'm not using them as much. So I'm using rose clay mixed with something else to create that pink, right? And people are like, I still love it. It's still Nola. It's still Nola. And now with the pivot, it's more about highlighting the natural products, the plant aspects of the item, and the energetics. So some of the items haven't actually changed, you know. And with that, I'm grateful because I've always been at the core, the business has been, the business is still what it's been. Yeah. You know, so I didn't have to go through major hoops to change.

Aliya Cheyanne 28:27

Yeah. You know? Yeah. I love that. Um, it's kind of random, but I don't know if you do, but I kind of wanted to ask. Like, with different products, like how you mentioned the Nolotope is pink, like a shade of pink for that pink color. Do you apply any sort of like, I don't think color therapy is the right word, but like, you know, like there are some intentions behind certain colors. Do you apply that with some of your products? Yes.

Amber Holmes 28:53

There's certain, there's certain, uh, there's certain intentions. There's there's intention behind every product, right? There's certain intentions behind every product. Yeah. Erlene's lavender dream. That's my Erlen is my mother. Erlen is my muse. That has purple. And that is really about the royalty. That really is about her and just her being my muse. You know, people may think that it's about the fact that it's a lavender soap, but no, it's it's an ode to her. Yeah. You know, with our deuces, our detox soap, right? It's a charcoal soap. It's all black because we're really detoxing and protecting, you know? So that black is about the protection.

Aliya Cheyanne 29:43

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 29:43

You know, so every product has an intention. And so I think you were um you were asking about the color and the intention. And I think what people call what what what society calls that is color theory. If there's any color theory. Right. Is there um color theory? I didn't seek out to um, I didn't seek out to use color theor um color theory or

Color, Intention, And Energetics In Products

Amber Holmes 30:12

color therapy. But it just so happened to be in alignment because again, it we are who we are in our core. And so these things come into play as I'm um creating and designing. Yeah.

Aliya Cheyanne 30:26

Yeah. Yeah, that's beautiful. It makes me think about too how like so much of these practices are just they're really just innate in us and ancestral, but we do live in a world that likes to slap a label on everything and like repackage ancestral wisdom or something. So sometimes I'm just like, okay. But many of us just just know this stuff innately. Like, even if that wasn't the intention, you know it. That's why you were led to do it that way. I only brought that up and asked because I recently did like a New Year's manifestation workshop thing online and nice. But one of the things that you have to do with it is like a little workbook to write your vision for yourself, write your intention for yourself, all the things. And I think that person was also using color theory because they had us writing on pink paper with red pen. And the pink was supposed to symbolize the intention or the vision being wrapped in love. And the red ink was supposed to help us feel more grounded, like to start from the base of our from the root. And like, you know, so that when our dreams and stuff are coming in, we feel grounded in them. It it doesn't like smack us in the face and we feel overwhelmed. We feel like rooted in. Exactly. And I was like, I never heard that before. And let me make sure I'm writing everything on ping, paper, red and pen down.

Amber Holmes 31:55

Yeah, yeah. And and and so I'm just thinking of like how some people, and this is random, but not when you talk about the red, red, how common it is for some women to go and grab red underwear. It's it's grounding. It's grounding. Society will tell you that it's sexy, yeah. But it's grounding.

Aliya Cheyanne 32:20

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 32:21

You know what I mean? That's our our root chakra, is all in our root chakra is at our hips. Yeah. You know?

Aliya Cheyanne 32:27

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 32:28

So, yeah. That's that that's really random, but that's what I thought about when you said that. And I'm like, we're feeding off with each other.

Aliya Cheyanne 32:37

But I I even went down that road because of the pink soap, and I was thinking, yeah, you were able to take it a step further and explain that. Thank you for that. I think we're living in a time that's very interesting too. Um, not to get deep into like political stuff, but our country is moving further and further a certain way. And more and more people who unfortunately are losing open-mindedness about a lot of things um and demonize it in a lot of ways, honestly. So I think fortunately, you and I are in spaces where that's not our reality. Exactly. But even in that, I I would love to hear your thoughts or your perspective on any sort of maybe in trying to expand or in trying to like get more people on board to support your work or garner new customers. Have you faced any sort of like backlash or any aspects of like herbal healing that have kind of like made you pause a second to like reevaluate partnership or reevaluate like customer or anything like that?

Amber Holmes 33:48

Honestly, no. Okay. My intention, my prayer, my meditation is always about aligning me with my people. Yes, attracting my people.

Aliya Cheyanne 34:01

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 34:02

I will honestly say that there were times

Navigating Skeptics And Finding Your People

Amber Holmes 34:05

when in marketing or even in showing up in in public spaces or social media, I would kind of temper what I'm saying. But I'm I'm I'm just now it's just like this is me, this is my work. Yeah. I'm going to attract who needs my work.

Aliya Cheyanne 34:25

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 34:26

I'm going to attract. And in order for me to attract who needs my work, my people, I actually need to be okay with being front and center with what it is. And I wasn't, I I can honestly honestly say that I was not always that way. I wasn't always comfortable with that. But, you know, like I said, I'd have morphed it to it, I I've arrived at who I am. I've experienced a bit of a rebirth, so to speak, you know, and now it's this is my purpose, this is what you get, yeah, and where are my people? And they're coming, you know, and people do fall off, yeah. Um and some people just don't understand, and that's okay, because I believe that um I believe that everybody gets to a point in life where they will understand.

Aliya Cheyanne 35:18

Yes.

Amber Holmes 35:19

Whether they understand at a time where our paths will cross, that's left to be in question.

Aliya Cheyanne 35:25

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 35:27

Yeah, I I that is that is my meditation and my prayer each day. Just have my people be open to me and me open to my people.

Aliya Cheyanne 35:36

Yeah. I love the way that you set the intention and you pray about it and you know, call that alignment in. And it also makes me think about something you said earlier about how you had gotten that reading previously, the person had told you you were hiding behind your products. Yeah. And now you've stepped into a space where you're no longer hiding because you have returned home. So I think that's like a beautiful way to approach your the way you show up online and the way you're marketing yourself and your services and your products and all of that. I think that's really beautiful. Something else that I kind of thought about that you said earlier too, was that when you were kind of conjuring up this idea and this business and returning to yourself, you were dreaming about certain things. Your grandmother visited you, you were dreaming about different herbs. How much does dreaming still impact your work now? Like, are you still sort of connected in that way? And are you still like inspired by your dreams? And yeah.

Amber Holmes 36:41

Absolutely. Absolutely. I keep because I'm of a bigger age, I don't always remember all of what's happening. So I travel, I have little notebooks everywhere. So I have um notebook beside my bed because I gotta I gotta get it out if I wake up. Because I honestly I don't always have dream recall, right?

Dreams, Downloads, And Mugwort

Amber Holmes 37:03

So when I do, and it's specifically something that you know we would consider a download. I gotta write it down. Gotta write it down. So yeah, being in touch with not just sleep dreaming, but daydreaming. Yeah. You know, day visioning.

Aliya Cheyanne 37:18

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 37:18

Write it down. So yeah, I am very connected and still very much. Sometimes I even ask, especially my mother and my grandmother. It's and it both are deceased, right? I'm like, come to me, please. Let's talk. Give me some information. Let me know if I'm on the right path here.

Aliya Cheyanne 37:37

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 37:37

You know? So yeah, very still connected.

Aliya Cheyanne 37:40

Yeah, that's beautiful. I I love when I connect with and meet people who are also like very in touch with their dreams because I am two. I'm like, I need to get better. I need to do what you're doing and keep the notebook by my bed. I used to, and then I stopped doing it. Okay. A lot of times I do have dream recall, like I can, but then there are some days where it's just like on the tip of my tongue. Yeah. I need to get like you and make sure I have the notebook by my bed.

Amber Holmes 38:06

Yeah. And then when you want to be intentional about your dreaming, like you wanna you want to bring in lucid dreaming and be able to have the recall, have some mugwort before you go to bed.

Aliya Cheyanne 38:19

Right. Wait, there's plenty of that in my neighborhood. I like oh foraging group. Yes. Yeah, a couple of years ago. And like once I actually learned how to identify mugwort, I was like, oh, this is everywhere in my neighborhood. It's everywhere in my neighborhood.

Amber Holmes 38:38

Yeah, take it up, take it up, thank the mu thank the earth for it. Yeah, absolutely. Dry it in your oven and and ground it up for some tea. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And the fact that it grows rapidly in your neighborhood means that it's there for you. Yeah. That's what, that's the belief. That is that is my understanding. That is the belief. That is what I learned and gathered from my um my mom, my grandmother. The most herbalists will say, you know, if it's growing, if it's growing freely and rapidly in your area, then it's for you. It's for you and whoever your community is. Yeah. There's a lot of dandelion that grows in my neighborhood. And so a lot of dadelion and a lot of um uh a lot of goldenrod during the spring. And so these are things that this community needs.

Aliya Cheyanne 39:35

Yeah, I think that's so beautiful. It's making me think about my grandmother, who is still very much here. Beautiful. But she loves gardening and very much into her gardening and not just flowers, but also herbs and you know, food. Like she's very much into growing. And some years back, I think even pre-pandemic, she had gotten a bunch of like free dandelion scenes. So she she and a friend went around like the neighborhood just like putting it everywhere.

Amber Holmes 40:05

So now every year when they pop up, I'm just like, okay, grandma, look, and you know, you know, people with dandelion growing in yards, people think that it's so it that it's weed, and they're like, cut all this weed, and I'm like, wait, let me grab that before you cut your crab.

Aliya Cheyanne 40:26

It's good for it's good for a lot of people with heart health and all kinds of all kinds. Yeah, heart health, kidney health.

Amber Holmes 40:33

Yeah.

Aliya Cheyanne 40:34

Yep. I had seen something once, I don't remember what medication it is, but there's a specific heart medication. They actually use dandelion in it, but of course they make people pharmaceutical industry, they make people go buy the medication instead of being like, hey, you can forage this and exactly do it on your own.

Amber Holmes 40:53

Listen, low work. Yeah, that's my biggest gripe with the pharmaceutical industry because it's all really based on on on you know plant medicine.

Aliya Cheyanne 41:01

Yes, yes, that's why your work and the work of everyone who's doing

Foraging, Dandelion, And Plant Medicine

Aliya Cheyanne 41:06

plant medicine and herbalism is so important. And um, I'm just really grateful to be chatting today. Um, but I would also love to know, I feel like you probably draw inspiration from so many different places. And I would love to know what sort of inspires your creativity still, like in this current season of your life, where are you drawing your inspiration from?

Amber Holmes 41:30

Honestly, my inspiration is drawn from from Mother Nature.

Aliya Cheyanne 41:37

Yes.

Amber Holmes 41:38

Um, and then the people, just people, people around me. I'm inspired by so much. I'm inspired by people like you, Jen. Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, because like I said, shared earlier, I was not always in a space where I felt free to be me and do my work. So to witness people, specifically women, doing, you know, what they're called to do, what they feel led to do, it's beautiful and it's inspiring. I've been inspired by my work. My work inspires me.

Aliya Cheyanne 42:15

Yes.

Amber Holmes 42:15

I find appreciation and it's inspiration in almost everything.

Aliya Cheyanne 42:20

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 42:21

I will cry at the drop of a hat because something just moves me, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

Aliya Cheyanne 42:27

So that's really beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I would love to ask you, especially as someone who is in the wellness space and you have all of these rituals and systems in place for yourself to take care of you. Um, you have customers, you do like workshops like you've done with Color Girls Liberation Lab. What does, I feel like I could uh get an understanding of what self-care looks like for you, but what does community care look like for you in your personal life, whether that be through your work or if that's just you directly? Like could look like friendships, it could look like anything. What does community care look like for you?

Amber Holmes 43:03

Community care looks like exactly what you said, you know, friendships, being able to connect with women like you, Jen, being able to go and have a skip day and ballying and facilitate a workshop, but then play and be able to just sit and be with women, be with my peers. Community care looks like somebody calling and saying, Hey, I'm not feeling well, you know, and we just have a conversation, and then it's like, okay, what's your address? And I send a care package.

Aliya Cheyanne 43:39

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 43:39

And the same happening for me. You know, community care. So we grow up having friends, right? And friends and family, and sometimes our family are our closest friends. At this point in my life, I realized just how important. Community is. Because like I said, going through that period, and I'm still in it, but I'm in the I'm on the light side, right? I'm on the I'm on the side where I got through the darkest days. I've experienced the dark night of the soul, right? And community got me through those days.

Aliya Cheyanne 44:20

Yes.

Amber Holmes 44:20

The women who supported me, the women who just held me up, the women who said, Girl, we

Sources Of Inspiration And Creative Fuel

Amber Holmes 44:28

got you. And they not only said it, but they showed me. Yeah. They held me. And then as I started to come out and experience my transformation and experience my rebirth, and I'm questioning whether I could do this work, whether people wanted this work and could feel this work, because I'm very much a feeler. I'm feeling away about this work, but will others feel the same.

Aliya Cheyanne 44:52

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 44:53

Community, my people, that's who were like, girl, this is you. I've always been waiting to see her. So in seeing myself through those eyes, I wouldn't have been able to without community.

Aliya Cheyanne 45:08

Yes.

Amber Holmes 45:09

Yeah. Community care. Yeah, community care. Community care is necessary.

Aliya Cheyanne 45:15

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 45:16

But we cannot cannot traverse this earth by ourselves. Yeah. And be successful. And success is relative.

Aliya Cheyanne 45:24

Yes. Yeah. But we can't do it alone. I I love what you said about the women in your life who held you up when you when you couldn't hold yourself up. Like that's so powerful. And yeah, it just makes me think about the the time we're in. Like a lot of people, especially on the other side of lockdown, basically. Yeah. I won't say COVID because COVID still exists. But on the other side of lockdown, so many people, their relationships have transformed, their sense of community has transformed.

Amber Holmes 45:55

Absolutely.

Aliya Cheyanne 45:56

We were experiencing loneliness before, like the percentages of people only feel more lonely now. Like there's just a lot going on. And in every opportunity I get, I try to remind people that you know, community is important. And one thing I was intentional about the last couple of years, and I still am now, is like finding my community. Yeah. Showing my friendships, meeting new people. And I did intentional things to do that. And one place that that's led me is one of my new friends, Amon. If she's listening, she has an effort that she's working on to have more community care sessions, and that's look like women getting together and talking and connecting and playing. Beautiful. You know, it matters so much. It does. I love what you shared about that in your experience. Um I would love to know if you feel comfortable sharing. What are you dreaming up next for ISO naturals?

Amber Holmes 46:54

I am very comfortable sharing because it's a work that is very near and dear. And I was trying to figure out, like in my introduction, you know, I said, okay, I'm an herbalist, I'm a

Community Care And The Dark Night

Amber Holmes 47:06

Reiki practitioner, I'm a ritual guide. So how do we marry all of these things? Right. And um as I said, ritual saved my life. So did um Reiki. Yeah, you know, because in my darkest period, one of my good friends was like, Well, aren't you a Reiki practitioner? You know, you need to use those tools. You need to use those tools on yourself. Like, don't forget that you had this ability. And I had forgotten because I was just so down in the muck that I forgot, you know? And um turning to that was transformational.

Aliya Cheyanne 47:48

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 47:49

It was transformational. And so the work that I'm doing now, or one of the things that I will be rolling out now, there's two things specifically. Well, three things specifically. No, the more the merrier. Um, so prior to the holiday season, there was lots of chatter amongst me and some friends about like I take baths, you know, I'm a spiritual bath person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my girlfriend was just like, you know, you really need to bottle, sell the spiritual baths, you know, sell it as a ritual. And I'm just like, oh, well, I don't know what that's gonna look like, you know, because I can send you a whole bunch of herbs and I can send you, you know, the guide on what to do. Um, and she said, no, actually brew the bath, brew it with all of what you do, the intention, the crystals, the woods, the resins, all of that. Do that, bottle it with instruction and basically make it a concentrated bath. You pour it in your bath because people don't want to have to clean their bath with a whole bunch of herbs and all of that stuff. So that's one thing because I gifted the spiritual bath to this girlfriend. She wanted one custom for the new year.

Aliya Cheyanne 49:09

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 49:09

So I gifted that to her. And she's like, Yeah, this is this is a thing. You need to be doing this. She was like, This is a thing. This has to be a thing. Yeah. So that's coming. Yes. The other thing is just the realization that people don't know seasonally what what herbs they may need seasonally. So I'm creating a seasonal herbal medicine cabinet, which is I'm just gonna send a box.

Aliya Cheyanne 49:37

Yes.

Amber Holmes 49:37

You know, it can be a subscription or you can order for whatever season you want, but I'm gonna send a box of some herbs that you need to have in your home for that season. Yeah. Right. And it will be for you to use medicinally and with ritual. So that's um, that's coming as well. And the big one, which is really close to my heart, it's a program where we sit and we have a conversation, right? Reflect, we have a reflection upon whatever what comes out of that reflection. I do a Reiki session to clear, clear whatever blockages or amplify whatever energy is there, right? And then we create remedy around what you need and ritual around what you need. So that's a four-hour process.

Aliya Cheyanne 50:29

Yeah.

Amber Holmes 50:30

A reflection, Reiki, remedy, and ritual. So we're just trying to figure how to package that right now.

Aliya Cheyanne 50:36

Yeah. That's what's coming. All of those sound amazing. Sign me up for everything. That sounds so good, especially I'm thinking about the spiritual baths, because when I started getting into those, I was really trying to find someone that I trusted to help me with that. And I got guidance from someone that I trusted, and I did a series with them, and I felt like that made a difference for me at the time. And that's just, you know, still kind of curious and trying to trying to figure out who to go with. And

What’s Next: Baths, Seasonal Boxes, And Reiki

Aliya Cheyanne 51:14

admit I've in the past I've gone with a few different people trying to figure out what to do. And I and I personally don't like mixing all of that. So the idea of someone that I know that I trust like doing that, it sounds very nice to me. And I'm I'm just excited. I love the idea of like some sort of subscription to like help people have the right herbs in their home. Like that's beautiful too. I I love the program, however, you package it. It already sounds nice to me. So I'm like, okay.

Amber Holmes 51:42

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Aliya Cheyanne 51:44

That is so exciting and so beautiful. So thank you for sharing that.

Amber Holmes 51:48

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited.

Aliya Cheyanne 51:51

Yes, very exciting. In addition to those things that are coming down the line, I know, I know there's plenty of things you already have. So where can folks um find you to get products, to get services, to support you anywhere?

Amber Holmes 52:05

So the website is isonaturals.com and I am isonaturals on all platforms. Yeah. ISO Naturals on IG, Twitter, because I'm not going to call it X. Most of them I'm going to call it that. Yeah, exactly. I'm not that active on the um, what are they the tickety talk? I'm not active on TikTok. I love TikTok. You love TikTok? See, I did I no, I I had a couple experiences where I was going to upload something on TikTok and I look up and it's two hours later, and I have been down the rabbit hole and didn't still didn't upload what I was going to upload. And I was like, no, I can't mess with I can't mess with TikTok. TikTok is gonna steal my time. They call it TikTok for a reason. They call it TikTok for a reason. Absolutely.

Aliya Cheyanne 52:57

Yeah, no, that struggle. Okay. That's great. I will make sure that I link all of those in this episode description so that folks can find you easily and work. And thank you, thank you. This has just been so wonderful, Amber. I'm so glad to have had this time to chat with you and thank you, Aaliyah. More and being so vulnerable. This has been really beautiful.

Amber Holmes 53:19

I appreciate you and this opportunity. Yes. I love your work. I love the podcast. So I truly appreciate you inviting me to be a guest.

Aliya Cheyanne 53:28

Thank you. What an incredible conversation with Amber. Amber, thank you so much for showing up so vulnerably, so authentically, so in your power and in your purpose in our conversation. I really enjoyed chatting with you, and I know everyone listening will enjoy our conversation too. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to share it with a friend. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts and you haven't rated or reviewed the show yet, what are you doing, friend? Please, please, please leave us a five-star rating and a positive written review. It goes a long way. It's free to do, and it's really meaningful and helpful for me and for the show. If you're listening on Spotify, you can leave us a comment there and also hit that fifth star. Leave us a five-star rating on Spotify as well, or any other podcast platform that you're listening on. If you're watching this on YouTube, leave us a comment, follow the channel, and share this video with a friend. All right. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Thank you for lending me your time, your energy, and your ears. And I will catch you on the next episode. Bye.