We were lucky to catch up with Megan Desrosiers recently and have shared our conversation below.

Megan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve been painting with watercolors since I was in fourth grade and had tried various artistic entrepreneurial businesses over the years; however, they ended in false starts before they had barely gotten started. I’ve discovered that my heart wasn’t in it but it wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy being creative. The issue was that I wasn’t creating something that I truly loved and had a deep connection with. I wasn’t getting my message or my voice out into the world. I gave up painting with my watercolors for about 10 or 15 years at this point.

A few years ago, several aspects of my life collided into what I now call Herbal Bones Art & Wellness. I had been playing around with the idea of pairing plants with animal skulls for a while but hadn’t actually acted on the idea. Then I met pink lady’s slipper in person for the first, and only, time in this lifetime. Try as I might that day, I could not locate the lady’s slipper again, but the message had been received.

For those who aren’t aware, lady’s slipper is about aligning with your soul purpose in this lifetime. I started taking a no-pick flower essence of lady’s slipper; within a month, I began painting with my watercolors again but with drive that I couldn’t explain. I only knew that something felt “off” when I wasn’t painting; I was creating at least one new painting every few weeks. At first I fought the idea of creating an oracle deck, even though I knew that was what was flowing through me. I now have greater clarity in my own purpose and the purpose of this deck, as well as other creative and mystical projects that are moving through me.

Megan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I struggle with this one because I really don’t like labels. While they can be helpful in defining someone, they also create the “other.” I also struggle with this since I am not easily categorized. To keep it simple, I will say what the essence of the first snowfall taught me, “I am one, but I am also many.” As a creative, I blend many practices and approaches into my own unique offerings.

Some labels that you could apply to me include, artist, creative, writer, poet, death worker, master Reiki practitioner, crystal healing practitioner, cacao ceremonialist, witch, psychopomp, animal lover, environmentalist, herbalist, wife, rescue dog mom. This list is by no means exhaustive, but at the end of the day, there is no simple word to describe all that I am. I am an intuitive and an empath, a kaleidoscope of colors and a multi-faceted crystal. I am a mystical being. I believe that there are gifts in all of our challenges and traumas, if we are willing to see it…to shift perception to learn from these gifts is the true challenge; to see with our heart instead of with our head.

I have been painting with watercolors since the age of nine and animal skulls have been finding me for most of my adult life. Through my study of geology and taphonomic zooarchaeology in college, I gained a deep appreciation for the art created by Nature. My goal is for others to become more comfortable with all forms of death; from the little ones we undergo throughout our lives to the big Death. By bringing the living world to the dead, we can begin to appreciate the cyclical connection of the two in our own lives.

My offerings include watercolor paintings and prints that pair life with death and crystals; vibrational essences; smudge bundles; hand-painted bookmarks; energy healing work; guided meditations; cacao ceremonies; and herbal programs.

(Taphonomy is from the Greek, taphē for burial and English -nomy; it is the study of the processes that effect bones and artifacts after they have been discarded.)

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience. My current and past life stories are all intertwined into the very meaning of this word. I’ve been knocked down and gotten up so many times; it is my essence: to figure it out, to get it “right.” I tend to see things from a different perspective, which isn’t always appreciated and is often not understood. This feeling of being misunderstood leaves me feeling lonely, but has also been something lifetimes in the making. I have been trying over and over again to get my spiritual message out into the world but failing in traumatic and dramatic ways time and time again.

While this lifetime hasn’t been as dramatic, there have been a lot of ups and downs, challenges and traumas to overcome along the way. I feel this journey, while often unpleasant, has allowed me to come to a better understanding of who I am while also helping me to have greater compassion and empathy for others. When people come to me for energy work, they intuitively know they will have that heart-forward support. Likewise, I had to try various outlets for my creative and artistic offerings to figure out what made me happy and learn different techniques along the way.

It is incredibly important to ask yourself why you are doing something, especially as a creative. If you can’t provide a good answer, then it is likely that you haven’t found your true calling yet, or that you are doing the work for others instead of yourself. It took me a while to come to my personal answer. For me, my work is about affecting change, about bringing a message of plant consciousness to the collective and about normalizing conversations about death. Life and death are a continuous cycle, with one feeding the other.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect is when I know that someone is thinking differently because of a painting, poem, or short story I created and put out for everyone to see. I’ve had people come up to me months later and say they are now thinking about the plants in their apartments in a different way. I’ve seen an actual shift in consciousness when talking with someone about life and death cycles. Knowing that the small conversations I have on social media or when someone writes me a personal note about how my recent blog post has them thinking differently. All of these things fill me up and are the most rewarding aspect of what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.herbalbonesart.com/
• Instagram: @herbal_bones_art
• Facebook: @herbalbonesartwellness
• Other: Medium.com – https://medium.com/@herbalbonesartwellness