Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Webb

Andrea, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

I started my journey to clinical astroherbalism as a teenager in the Midwest who was curious about the weeds and wild flowers growing in our farmyard. I read voraciously, everything our small town’s public library had on the subjects of wild plants and herbs. I still have the tattered pages of notes I scribbled! As I learned something new, even the smallest bit of information, I would try to test it out. I read that Yarrow was traditionally looked to for wound healing and so the next time someone got a cut – they also got Yarrow! I developed a very deep trust and solid working relationship with plants through the years and then when I was 28, I was able to acquire some more “official” herbal education. I graduated from the two programs I attended in 2020 and then opened my private practice, Every Light Wellness, in 2022. In 2023, I launched the Herbal Heathen Mentorship Program which offers a hands-on, community-centric herbal education for hedgefolk and wyrdos, and in 2024 I built and opened a building of my own in a lovely meadow full of weeds and wildflowers. The circle, as some might say, has been made full.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

The road has been anything BUT smooth, but Aretha Franklin wisely said, “It’s the rough side of the mountain that’s the easiest to climb; the smooth side doesn’t have anything for you to hold on to!” I guess I’ve been able to do as much as I have because there’s been so much rocky terrain to grab!
My biggest challenges have stemmed from the fact that I am the mother of two delightful sons. It can be absolutely brutal to create and maintain a living while being the primary caretaker of young ones. For years I held as many as three jobs to meet our needs, while still tending the work I wanted to do, navigating the aftershocks of a messy divorce, starting over, AND being the most present and resourced parent I could be. Some days I look back on the road traveled and almost feel a twinge of panic – how did we do this!?!? Creatively, I would say. Lots of part-time gigs and side hustles and seeking out bits of work that also taught me valuable skills for crafting my own living. I have been daily inspired and motivated by Motherhood to push onward to start a business where I could make my own schedule and hours, and now my office is within walking distance. I am grateful for the rough spots even though there were times I didn’t think I was going to make it!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?

I think my practice has developed a reputation for its, what we like to call “sawed-off shotgun” personality. Everything I do, whether it’s a one-on-one consultation, workshop, community gathering, or my frequent posts on social media, I do for the Folks. The everyday All of Us. In my roots, I believe that truly caring for the well-being of ourselves and our communities requires that our knowledge and resources be something we can hold in our hands and experience with confidence and skill.

I am passionately Of Place, fiercely community-based, persistent in my existence, and obstinate in my determination to have a business model that provides what is needed by the people it serves and NOT the other way around. I have to say, I am the proudest of this. I have been able to hold so many offerings that are low/no cost or sliding scale and have experienced the very real, tangible support of community without which I would not be able to do any of this!

Going by the feedback I have received from my friends, community and clients over the years, my great skill lies in being unafraid of the Dark and willing to witness those who sit with me, mirroring back the Light I see persisting within them.
I also delight in working with folks who may not feel at home with popular representations of herbalists, or who find themselves underrepresented, ignored or even harmed by some of the “natural health” rhetoric that exists today. This includes {but is not limited to} clients who may be on medications, who have or are in the process of transitioning, those without needed financial resources, nonbinary folks, and those in the BIPOC/LGBTQIA+ communities. As a queer, Brown folk myself, who’s spent most of their life well outside the “national average”, I am at Home in the Hedges and Edges and welcome those who find themselves there as well.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?

The most important lesson has been to keep your eyes on your own path! Comparison will drive you mad. Second would be to KEEP SHOWING UP. Show up with full hands, with empty hands, just show up.

Pricing:

• Low Cost Acute Care
• No Cost Acute Care
• Sliding Scale Long-Term Care
• Sliding Scale Astrological Counsel

Contact Info:

• Website: https://everylightwellness.squarespace.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everylightwellnessllc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/everylightwellness