Lunaria Herbals, founded by herbalist Samantha, started as a personal journey into plant medicine. The story begins with empowerment and a resolute desire to make a difference.

Well wait… before all that empowerment came in… there was a lot of confusion, disconnect and ailments.

I embarked on this path out of necessity AND intuition. I began to understand the need for holistic wellness plus the importance of connecting with my own body. I had a realization that no one was going to guide me through the complexities of women's health - I had to reclaim my power back and start advocating for myself. Body literacy 101!

The story: I started hormonal birth control when I was 17 to “help control my acne”. No one explained to me what this would do to my body and brain while I was developing. I had to learn and experience it all for myself and unfortunately it had many negative consequences. My acne got so much worse - I was starting to get painful cystic acne, white heads, redness, and hyperpigmentation that made me feel extremely insecure. My periods also got worse. Way worse. I was already 4 years into my cycle and I never felt this horrible. I was experiencing heavy bleeding, excruciating cramps, nausea, bloating, headaches, heart palpations and those were just the physical ailments. I also felt emotional side effects - depression, anxiety, aggression, unworthiness. I was told this was “normal” - this is just what maturing women had to deal with every month. I couldn’t imagine it would get worse than this… I just had to pull through the next few years until I was past “this stage”. Another 4 years, and the same problems were there. And even worse as I was in so deep now. I had no guidance from health care professionals and honestly felt lost. Every time I went to the doctors it was the same conversation, “Nothing is wrong but here is a prescription for X”. I was on birth control, multiple pills for my acne, topical medication for my acne, and in between that whenever I got sick I was fed another pill. Multiple antibiotics and contraceptives (because they switched it up on me 3 times) later, I was beginning to experience digestive issues, major fatigue, and even undiagnosed rashes and body aches.

I was so exhausted of feeling unwell without any support from my doctors - you also begin to feel like you are losing your mind explaining how you feel while being dismissed. It was a very vicious cycle and that is where all the internal screaming finally made sense. My body was trying to communicate with me that something was seriously wrong and only I could change it.

I started to do my own research and found a plethora of information about hormone disruptors all around us. I was in awe when I learned that hormonal birth control was a major cause, along with toxins and chemicals in our everyday food and beauty products. I slowly started to “clean up” my life.

I stopped taking all prescriptions for my acne in 2012. After 7 years of hormonal birth control I made the decision to get off – that was in 2014. Since all of that happened, I have built a better routine for myself over the years. Choosing to eat less processed foods and more whole foods, rid of all the toxic beauty products and cleaning products. I incorporated a more aligned exercise routine, started meditating, practicing Kundalini, cut out high amounts of caffeine and alcohol and added in plants and herbal remedies

This is where my passion began. I realized certain herbs were there to support me during each phase of my life and healing journey. Not only do herbs aid you during times when you need it most but they also allow us to be more mindful of our bodies, cycles & phases to create a routine that helps us slow down a bit.

Herbs can help you manage stress, improve digestion and maintain wellness in a more natural and sustainable way. It is also a wonderful way to connect more with nature and all of it’s abundance.