Serum Archives - the Numinous

SHAMANIC BEAUTY SESSIONS FROM CEREMONIE MIX SKINCARE WITH SPIRITUALITY

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Ruby Warrington

With her Shamanic Beauty Sessions, Ceremonie founder Mimi Young is taking holistic skincare to a whole new level. Ruby Warrington journeys with her into the spirit realm…

The arrival of the Spring Equinox is a time of rebirth, for making soul promises to be delivered through the subsequent seasons. For Vancouver-based shamanic practitioner and spiritual beauty queen, Mimi Young, it felt like the perfect time to re-introduce her shamanic skincare line, Ceremonie.

As she announces the addition of remote Shamanic consultations, a.k.a. what she calls The Shamanic Beauty Sessions, to her offerings, we sat down to chat skincare as ritual…and quickly got into plant spirit allies, power animals, and how joy is the best beauty ingredient out there. You know, all the good stuff! (Oh, and before we get started, you may want to check out Mimi’s amazing Instagram feed!)

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Ruby Warrington: Mimi! The last time we chatted, we focused more on your product offerings of skin and aura care. Can you remind us of the ethos of Ceremonie?
Mimi Young: Indeed! Last time I was featured on The Numinous, Ceremonie (then called Trimaran Botanicals) was more product-centric in her offerings. (Yes, the company is female). I felt it was important to honor both body and spirit in our daily beauty regimen, and created a line to bridge what is so often compartmentalized. In many ancient healing modalities, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine, wellness is linked to the understanding that we are spirit beings residing in physical bodies. Our skin, being the largest organ of the body, reveals much about our emotions, psychology, and beliefs.

RW: So it’s kind of like our skin and external beauty is a hologram of our innermost world…
MY: Exactly. Ceremonie seeks to honor the internal self with products that care for both the inner and outer bodies, resulting in a more supported and holistic way to approach beauty.

RW: How is this reflected in the products you offer?
MY: I formulate with herbs, flowers, barks, and other plant matter known in Earth-based spirituality and shamanic circles as supportive of chakra balancing, clearing and shielding energy, creating sacred space, divination, and other forms of ritual work. The selection of various plant ingredients is rooted in Earth spirituality and modern science. I love how my work is both historically informed and futuristic, and merges the spiritual with that which is conventionally seen as not—physical beauty.

RW: How does your work as a shamanic practitioner inform the process?
MY: All Ceremonie products are hand made (without machines) and in shamanic ritual! I follow several shamanic and Earth-based spiritual practices of clearing energy, inviting spirit allies, noting special cycles/dates, and being open to their messages.

Whatever messages are being imprinted is private (between the spirit allies and the customer), and is special because it is so customized, meaning ALL products are made to order. I merely facilitate this very beautiful, uplifting, and healing process. The power animals / plant spirit allies of my customers sometimes share with me brief messages so I can add that piece of information when I send off the orders with an accompanying handwritten note.

RW: What do you mean when you say these messages are “imprinted” on the products?
MY: It means blessing and creating a vibrational frequency (quantum physics recognizes that everything holds a specific vibration— from matter, to sound, to even emotions) that is then passed onto the products themselves. Careful attention is paid to every aspect: from the mood I’m in when I am fulfilling orders (I don’t work when I frustrated, drained, etc), to the music selected when working (solfeggio music is my favorite), and even how I ship (all parcels are anointed with sage oil and I send protective plant and animal spirits to accompany them).

This is essentially applying the discoveries made by Dr Emoto, who made breakthroughs in understanding how consciousness and intention can shape matter, to both my process and the products themselves.

RW: I find it so special that even the shipping process is honored this way. Can you speak a little to the concept of “intention” and how it relates to spirituality and even magic?
MY: Intention is everything in healing, magic, joy, and love. Consider this: we all know how to make soup. You take some onions, leeks, spices, and add some bones for flavor. Then you add beans, vegetables, and maybe even some olive oil for drizzle. These are standard ingredients. A restaurant can make it. You can buy it pre-made at the market. Or…you could have the soup that is lovingly made by your grandmother.

She makes it with the same ingredients as the restaurant or market, but why does hers taste better? This is what I mean by imprinting and intention. It may be invisible, but it is what makes Ceremonie products so loved by our customers. It’s why many say they experience a heightened sense of self-acceptance, self-love, liberation, and an appreciation for their place in the world. Experiencing yourself this way will naturally bring a glow to your face that no amount of “scientifically proven” skincare ingredients can, because you now have the greatest beauty ingredient of all—joy.

RW: Goosebumps! And it sounds like this goes even deeper with the new Shamanic Beauty Sessions. How is this offered? Why would someone be drawn to this?
MY: I began offering Shamanic journeying to local clients. The word spread, and the demand grew organically to nearby communities and beyond. Shamanic journeying is a sacred ritual using a rattle and drum to enter an altered state of consciousness and travel between the unseen worlds. In a shamanic and hedgewitch hybrid tradition, I travel to those realms on the client’s behalf, embarking on a sacred journey to meet plant spirit allies, power animals, mineral spirits and other benevolent spirits, ancestors, and even the elements.

I also provide a detailed written summary of my findings via email. At the time of booking the reading (before the journey), the client is welcome to present a question or concern, or I can simply intuitively explore and discover. The readings work best when the client is open to receive practical and sacred insights related to their skin or other areas of their life. An individual may feel called to receive a Shamanic reading if simply curious, or when experiencing an imbalance in physical, emotional, or etheric body. It’s designed to help anybody seeking clarity, encouragement, wisdom, and self-compassion.

RW: Soul medicine that can also give you amazing skin; so Numinous! You mentioned that you “work in the shamanic and hedgewitch traditions.” Can you elaborate?
MY: Let’s back up a bit. I also use the term “Earth-based spirituality”. When I use this term, it includes (but is not limited to): shamanism, paganism, Wicca, I Ching, Tarot, tea leaf divination, and many other practices from around the world. Practices that were originally designed to forecast weather, invite hunting and gathering, honor the seasons and cycles, and bring discovery, insight, and healing to individuals, tribes, and the Earth.

I work in the shamanic and hedgewitch traditions, which means I incorporate plants and spirit beings (plants, animals, mineral spirits) in my creative and work process. As a modern woman, I also stay current in quantum physics, which lends an updated language to what has been known in metaphysics and spirituality for centuries. I am also aromatherapy trained. Above all, I really enjoy this personalized process. Getting to know my clients and their needs, emotional and physical, better, has brought a new layer of meaning to my work.

Personalized Shamanic Beauty Sessions with Mimi Young and Ceremonie can cover a wide variety of services, including:

– Making contact with Guides and Spirits (power animals and other animal totems, plant spirit allies, and mineral allies (crystals and metals)
– Divination
– Soul development and life purpose work
– Past life healing
– Healing the ancestral line

Discover more online, and book directly via [email protected], including SHAMANIC READING in the subject line. Mimi offers a limited number of readings per month—so book ahead!

TRIMARAN BOTANICALS: SKINCARE BLESSED BY A SHAMAN

Posted on May 4, 2016November 3, 2018 by Ruby Warrington

Mimi Young, founder of Shamanic skincare line Trimaran Botanicals, shares her journey and her process…

Occasionally, a brand appears on the horizon that just vibrates authenticity – and Trimaran Botanicals, a skincare line out of Vancouver, is one such offering.

Created by modern shamanic practitioner Mimi Young, it’s no surprise to learn that each and every product is interwoven with the energetic imprint of the spirit realm – to create a line that nurtures the beauty of the user, inside and out.

It’s been an honor to collaborate with Mimi on this piece, in which she discusses her connection to the spirits (“No different than a friend texting you – those little communications just happen…”) her products, and her process…

The Numinous: How did you originally connect with your plant spirits?
Mimi Young: It happened by accident, really. For almost two decades I had been psychically smelling plants – smelling fragrances of plants (and other substances) that are not physically in my surroundings, and it took me a long while to realize that this was the spirits calling to me for recognition, to be heard.

I then realized I had the gift of communicating with these spirits when I was in Mexico. There was a tropical house plant where were staying – the leaves resembled a peace lily, although to this day I am not certain what species it was. I was in the bathroom, and I quite clearly heard the voice of the plant, “It would be so nice to experience this Mexican sunshine!”

So right away, I picked her up and put her on the deck, and it was crazy because then I kept hearing, “Thank you, thank you.” When I returned home, one of my house plants – a peace lily that had not flowered for years – was blooming with radiance. I interpret that as a beautiful token of gratitude from the spirit.

I can hear plants, animals, and crystals – and, as mentioned, experience clairscent-based communication from those realms; I perceive scents beyond the limitations of physical space and time. This morning I was talking to fern, dragon, the wolves… I wasn’t asking for this, I just held the space and it happened.

Trimaran Botanicals Cellulite Oil on The Numinous — *Cellulite Oil, $138*

TN: And when did the idea for Trimaran Botanicals come up?
MY: Pun intended, it happened “organically”! I was searching for a product to assist with reducing cellulite after having a child, and so I made myself a body oil. To add to its benefits, I blessed it to ensure not only its physical efficaciousness but its emotional and spiritual effects as well.

The Numinous: How do you create your products now? What’s the process?
MY: I work with the spirits. I am physically the only human being when I am making the products, but I truly see it as a collaborative effort.

As a shamanic practitioner, I live my human life but the door to the spiritual realm, and to the plants, is always open. And the plant spirits (or animal, or crystals) will come to me and tell me things throughout the day. No different than a friend texting you – those little communications just happen. I mean it’s spectacular and beautiful, but it’s so much a part of my everyday that it’s normal for me now. A great example is that the plants just told me the other day to add to our current AURA COLLECTION, explained to me the functions of each new product, and even the ingredients I should be using!

In terms of filling orders, my process is both orderly and intuitive:

– I examine each order as if it’s a medical chart, as I allow myself to tune in to that customer’s order.

– I ask my plants what this person might need, be it an item from the line or a custom order.

– I always hold the product in my hand and bless it with that person’s name so it becomes “for” that person, but also adding that it’s also “for anyone else that might receive this product,” in case it ends up being passed forward – as a gift, in sharing, etc.

– I will also add to my blessing a mantra, an invitation for something like security, groundedness, self-compassion, etc. Sometimes I even write it down on my founder’s card to be placed in the shipment.

– Before it’s shipped, the order is placed in a nook in my studio – a space set up for my assembled inventory, surrounded with crystals and plants – to be charged with more intention, solfeggio music, sacred plants diffused in the air.

– Once it’s been charged, I pack it and anoint the package with sacred sage, asking that the order be delivered swiftly and without damage. So even the shipping process is energetically blessed. And I kid you not, all my orders end up being delivered far faster than expected!

Trimaran Botanicals on the numinous — *Good Vibes Elixirs, $44*

TN: Do you take the same care sourcing your suppliers?
MY: I have multiple suppliers. My requirements are their integrity as artisanal suppliers of the finest pure, wildcrafted, organic, botanical ingredients such as cold-pressed plant oils and first-distillation, solvent-free essential oils, but I the energy with the people themselves also has to feel right. All of my suppliers believe what I believe – I can quickly pass on any messages from my plant spirit to them, and it’s like everyday coffee break conversation!

I didn’t set out looking for shamanic suppliers, it just turned out that I attracted a network of suppliers who work the way I do: they speak with the plants, they too fulfill my orders with loving intention and anoint my shipments with sage for protection. They understand my process and share the same values. As such, my raw ingredients are always handled with love, and have not been sitting in a stale, cold, business as usual factory/storage space.

TN: How long have you been practicing shamanism – and what was your initiation into the tradition?
MY: Becoming a shaman isn’t like choosing to become one and taking a course (although I understand that there are courses out there), it is a spiritual inheritance, and it is through my work with a seasoned shamanic practitioner that I have honed my abilities to connect in an ongoing way with the spirit realm. What I have learned cannot be learned in the Western definition of learning, it’s been through spiritual experience and touch.

My shamanic practitioner did give me the formal tools and language for me to remove my “self” from my “ego,” however. In doing so, my ability to honor my “unknowing” and to ask for guidance from the spirit world has given me the ability to go deeper into my journeys and collaborations with spirits, and to bring back into the physical world a deepened intuition, and heightened senses.

Ultimately, my “knowledge” come from the messages I receive in my journeying, and with the plants – being a shaman means listening first.

TN: What will women gain by approaching beauty from a shamanic perspective?
MY: My hope is that the experience of using Trimaran Botanicals will bring a person’s inner beauty to the surface, as that is the purpose of the brand: alignment of deep inner beauty with the outer.

I also hope that Trimaran Botanicals is something that people can use to continue their own practice of connecting with themselves, of coming home to themselves, and of acknowledging that the plant world is interconnected with ours, so that they can truly connect with the outside world from a “whole” and holistic place.

TN: What’s your definition of beauty for the now age?
MY: I often question why we need to define beauty. For example, the lightness we experience when we are one with nature cannot be experienced through a facial or fitting into a pair of skinny jeans.

That said, beauty to me speaks of internal balance. It’s being happy with yourself, where you fit in the world, and where you fit in your own skin. When we can nurture this and cradle ourselves, is when I think we can begin to understand that we are really, truly beautiful.

Discover more about Trimaran Botanicals on Instagram or shop the brand at Trimaranbotanicals.com

MY MYSTICAL LIFE: SHAMANIC SKINCARE, AND ALOHA TO HAWAII

Posted on April 8, 2016November 3, 2018 by Ruby Warrington

Plus: healing my throat chakra, refining my elevator pitch, and conversation with the sober curious…

:: MONDAY ::
Skype chats about possible future collabs with beautiful Fern Olivia turned into a mini coaching session for me, after I shared how nervous I was feeling about hosting our Club SÖDA NY event this week (see below!) Public speaking is NOT my thing you guys. So Fern gives me a beautiful meditation to do beforehand to help open my throat chakra: lying down, place a crystal (either something blue, or a Rose Quartz) on my throat, and slowly chant “haaam,” feeling the vibrations resonate through my throat. This while visualizing a ball of blue light spinning and expanding there, until it fills up my whole body – and beyond. Which I share with YOU in case, y’know, public speaking isn’t your favorite thing either.

:: TUESDAY ::
My 11-year-old nephew (visiting from the UK): “What’s your book about Ruby?”
Me: “Well, it’s about how I used to work in fashion, but it was really unfulfilling, and so I decided to use astrology, and things, to bring more meaning to my life…”
Nephew: (looks non-plussed)
THE NEXT DAY…
Me: “You know what I said my book was about? (nephew nods) Well it’s really about how to be happy, by always making choices that are right for you.”
Nephew: “Sounds great!”
*way to work out your elevator pitch*

:: WEDNESDAY ::
A delivery from shamanic skincare line Trimaran Botanicals – as in, it’s skincare made and blessed by a shaman! Made in Vancouver, products are not only vegan, toxin-free and filler-free, but are also blessed with spirit messages from the plant and crystal realms, and imprinted with transformational mantras and vibrational potencies. I’m trying out a serum, which smells heavenly and feels like magic as I anoint my (almost 40-year-old) face with it. Self-care doesn’t come much more high vibe.

*Facial Serums, $128 CAD, Trimaran Botanicals*

:: THURSDAY ::
Blown away by the beautiful souls who came out for my Club SÖDA NYC event with Biet Simkin (see main pics). The discussion was on learning to trust your body to make you feel fantastic, your life to get you inspired, the people you love to feel connected, and your SELF to stay true to a life of high integrity that supports your highest purpose. And to quit outsourcing any and all of the above to the quick fix of alcohol. We pitched the event as a social experiment for the sober curious – and our findings were that this is a conversation that’s only just getting started… Join the Club SÖDA NYC Facebook group to connect and find out about our next events!

:: FRIDAY ::
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! And what a moment in time astrologically to be stepping into my FIFTH decade. Not only did yesterday’s Aries New Moon (potent intention-planting potential) conjunct my natal Sun to the very degree, Uranus (planet of breakthrough transformation) has passed over the exact SAME degree these past two weeks. Talk about the stars aligning for me to step into my future self with a whole fresh perspective on life, the Numiverse, and everything – which I’ll be shaping during a two week vacation in Hawaii. Which is a long way of saying, no Mystical Week column now until April 29. See you on the other side!

@NUMINOUS_BOOKS