We recently connected with Katie Scott and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Black Bird Apothecary came about in an effort to continue providing trauma-informed services, outside of the trauma and domestic violence scope.

After surviving domestic violence as a child and, later in life, a parent, I became a domestic violence/trauma advocate for youth and their families. I worked for over a decade providing advocacy, education and support for survivors of abuse, systemic responders of domestic violence and youth. After years of dedicating myself to my community of survivors, I found I was drained and needed to shift the capacity that I did my work in.

I decided to continue providing trauma-informed advocacy, community building and healing practices that I had used both professionally and personally to open a business that would offer supportive services, products and practitioners through a holistic health lens. This is how Black Bird Apothecary came to be.

I began as a market vendor who did readings, energy work and sold goods. Eventually, I opened my brick and mortar and partnered with Tacoma Psychic, Molly Bender (www.MollyIsAPsychic.com), and we now run Black Bird Apothecary in tandem with her business, www.MollyIsAPsychic.com

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The services that I provide now (energy work, crystal healing, readings, channeling, etc) were a part of my own personal practice. I read cards for 13 years before I started offering it as a service professionally. Over time I grew my knowledge of crystals and their uses and properties, and began crystal healing for others.

My shop is a holistic health apothecary, where we focus on supporting the individual’s mind, body and soul through partnership with herbs, crystals, tools, and services.

Often the customers that come in to see Molly and I are individuals who tells us they have always been curious about starting a spiritual practice but have had barriers. The most common barrier being “I didn’t know where to start.” At Black Bird Apothecary, we honor where our clients are, and partner with their highest good to get them to where they want to be. This can be in the context of life goals, health, mental space, energetic cleansing, connecting with loved ones (including pets!) and recommending community providers for additional support needs that folks may have.

We try our best to create an atmosphere in our shop where folks walk in and feel lighter. We will often see folks enter the front door, pause, take a deep breath and stand for a minute taking in the vibes before telling us “oh! it feels/smells SO good in here.” That’s the goal for Molly and I, creating a community space where folks can come and rest for awhile, be supported and perhaps find a few things they want or need, before having to re-enter back into this wild world.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We few months ago I woke up early and began my morning routine. Made some coffee, sat in my favorite chair, intentionally crafted my outfit for the day, and checked some emails. When I opened my email, I found one from a community member telling me the windows at the shop were broken and it seemed as though someone had vandalized it.
The front of our shop has a front door in the center, and then two garage door roll ups on either side. The rolls up have glass panels set within the metal framing. Someone had taken rocks and thrown them through the window panels into the shop, breaking some items inside and shattering a jar of dandelion leaves. For those who may not be familiar with the spiritual properties of dandelion, it is often used to bolster resilience through hard times and is a powerhouse for vitamins and nutrients.

I cleaned up the mess, had the windows boarded up and laughed about the irony of someone throwing rocks into a rock shop. It was almost as if they were giving us an offering (joke). So on the street side of the board we wrote “We (heart) Rocks!” in a sharpie across the boarded up window, took a picture of it, and had the picture screen printed on some shirts and now this is our shop merch.

I love telling people the lore of the graphic, and we always have a good laugh afterwards because in our line of work, ANYTIME someone gives you a rock, its a special gift.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My partner and I decided to try and open a brick and mortar for my business, but we did not anticipate it happening as soon as it did. When I came up with the concept, and we were crafting and curating the space, I knew I wanted to partner with as many local folks as I could to offer their goods and services. After doing markets alongside so many awesome vendors, I had heard countless stories about folks wanting to do more than markets, but not being able to afford it. So when got the opportunity to open a brick and mortar, it ws not a second thought for me to share that space with vendors I had worked alongside of and created relationships with along the way.

Molly Bender of MollyIsAPsychic.com is a natural born psychic who uses tarot to offer readings, mediumship, channeling and other services to our clients. Molly and I, although we didn’t know it when we first met, have been orbiting each other throughout most of our lifetime. From elementary and middle school connections, to being hired at a job as the other person left, to both pursuing our gifts as full time work around the same point in our lives. Over the time we have worked together, we have uncovered countless stories about how our paths crossed. The coolest being we both were readers as a local metaphysical store. When she left that store as a reader, I was hired to take over the exact days/shifts that become available upon her departure!

We have had so many synchronicities throughout our lives of how we were unknowingly connected to each other, now when a new one reveals itself we just look at each other and say in unison “Of course!”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.BlackBirdSpritual.com
• Instagram: @BlackBirdApothecary_
• Other: Molly’s links are:
  Website – www.MollyIsAPsychic.com
  IG – @MollyISAPsychic

Image Credits

Darcelle Photography for the front door picture of me. The rest are just ones I have taken.