A few years ago, I took part in a spiritual gathering with a few people I didn’t know. There was this pleasant, slightly mysterious young woman I exchanged only a few words with — she told me I was a “Medicine Woman.” I got chills, but back then, the term felt just too big for me. In my mind, “Medicine Women” were shamans, wise elders, indigenous grandmothers who lived in harmony with nature and all that is and who always knew the right answers. I couldn’t fully acknowledge that part within me, even though I knew it was there.

Over time I discovered that all is medicine, really… You only have to be curious and receptive to recognize its healing powers. If you open up to the idea that medicine is far more than taking pills or supplements against certain ailments, a whole new world full of wonders and magic awaits you.

If only you’re ready and willing to open that space within you, you will discover your very unique “Soul Medicine” as time goes by… It’s not something you’ll have ready in 2 weeks or so — it rather is a life long journey as you keep walking attentively and gathering new medicine whenever something is ready to reveal its healing powers to you.

At some point, my own remedies began to find their way to me, and I have been lovingly gathering them through creative expression ever since.

On one of my shelves, you can find a pink little jar with heartwarming “compliments I’d love to receive some day”. I didn’t look inside for quite a while, but when I do much later in time, I hope I’d have received some of them. ♥

There’s a tiny heart-shaped bottle that closes with a cork and that contains a wisp of hair of a cat I loved very much. She’s no longer with me, but I literally feel the love between us warming my heart space every time I take that tiny bottle into my hands.

There’s one glass jar with “Fleckel” – small diamond-shaped noodles which my grandma used to make for me many years ago, following an old family recipe (and yes, magically enough they’re still intact after all this time!). This jar is representing her love and childhood memories. My grandma is not walking this earthly plane any longer – but her Fleckel are still here, reminding me of who she was and how much she had to give.

There’s an emerald green bottle, containing a “message in a bottle” from an encounter with a friend a few years back – we were sitting in a lovely, quiet and wild place near the ocean and writing ourselves a letter from the version we hope we’ll be five years later from now. Of course the letter will unfold its real magic if I don’t open the bottle until that day arrives… However my life will look then, it’s a beautiful thing to be reminded of what was important in the moment the letter came into being.

Another jar contains fragrant dried birch leaves from one of my favourite sauna rituals in Germany – the “Wenik-Aufguss”. It originates from the ancient Russian banya tradition, where fragrant birch bundles are gently waved through the steamy air, releasing their fresh, healing scent. This graceful ritual blends herbal steam and aromatic breezes to cleanse the body and soothe the soul. Every winter, I’m looking forward to this ritual, but I don’t have access to it here on the ocean side of life, so I collected some dried leaves after the ritual the last time and keep them on my medicine shelf. They still smell heavenly and remind me of the deep relaxation and soul pleasure this ritual regularly gives me…

My “Soul Medicine” journey became truly magical when Cambra Skadé (a German artist and writer) and her unique, deeply creative and healing books and art came into my life! As I started discovering her world, something inside of me was almost crying for joy and recognition. She has one book called “Medizin für diese Zeiten” (Medicine for these times), and it contains pictures and stories around all kinds of pots and jars with remedies like “Herzkraftverstärker” (Heartforce Booster), “Glückselixier” (Bliss Elixir), “Lebenswürze” (Zest for Life), “Möglichkeitssamen” (Seeds of Possibility) or an “Ahnenhaus” (House of Ancestors). A “Narrenkastl” (Fool’s Chest) and “Heimatschachtel” (Homestead Box) aren’t missing either. My soul has found a true companion by finding her, and I keep on discovering her world — one that inspires me deeply!

If you feel the calling, maybe the time has come for you to start gathering your very own remedy collection for these precarious times we’re living in. You can begin with something very simple, something that makes you feel just a tiny bit better when you need some extra love and care. It can literally be a song or a small playlist that touches you deeply. It can be an image, an old picture of awesome good times, a letter from someone dear to your heart, or the first own drawing a child gifted you… It can be a “jar of dreams” or a “garland of encouragement” with uplifting messages to yourself. Let your imagination fly… Open the invisible door to what heals beyond pills and all-time remedies. There’s so much more to discover!!!

I might keep sharing some more inspiration that kept flowing into my journal pages over time — if that’s something you’re curious about and want to explore, just let me know in the comments!

If your soul had its own healing sanctuary, what medicines would you find inside?