A dose of healing with Joanie!

Read beneath to catch an interview from the podcast hosted by Taz, a dose of healing.

After that check out the Healing Together Spotify playlist curated by Joanie/Jones especially for us.

Find them on instagram @charmed_life_musings or their website, where you can find recipes, poetry, and commission Joanie for a birth chart✨

Taz(T): Introduce yourself and your work

Joanie(J): Hi, my name is Joanie Ayoade. I’m an herbalist and a spiritual guide. My work revolves around healing people from ancestral trauma. I guide people towards their life purpose and help them break generational patterns of harm. The tools that I use are natal chart readings, oracle & tarot card readings, energy readings, and candle wax readings. I love working with the planets and the stars. Healing people with plant medicine—and with astrology—always feels so special. It’s healing to me. It nourishes me. And it enlightens my clients. I currently work in an herb shop, and I blog about astrology things. I’m working on becoming a Certified Clinical Herbalist. Almost done!

T: What does healing mean to you?

J: Healing, to me, is a lifelong journey. It sometimes takes multiple lifetimes. Multiple reincarnations. Healing means facing the darkest parts of yourself and integrating those parts into a balanced whole. It’s about tapping into your divinity. We’re all born with a purpose, and we all have karmic lessons to learn. Healing is journeying into the shadows with a small candle & emerging with a torch. It’s letting your inner light guide you out of the darkness.

T: How does your work / what you do relate to healing?

J: Well, on a very literal level, I advise people on how to confront issues in their relationships, career, and finances. Those are the general areas people want to heal. I’m a channel, and I share messages with people. These messages are sometimes intuitive, and they sometimes come from people’s ancestors or their spirit guides. I have seen the relief and clarity that my clients get from these messages. I’ve also seen the pain and frustration that comes with the messages I channel. It is all healing though. Healing is uncomfortable, and it is emotional. It’s hard work. I walk beside people, reminding them of who they are. Of how strong they are. I also provide people with plant medicine. I’ve helped friends with skin problems, reproductive system issues, stress, and mood issues. I also write poetry, and I consider that to be healing work. Lately the themes of my poetry have naturally shifted to collective messages.

T:How long have you been on this journey?

J: I have been trying to connect with spirituality—or just something greater—since I was in high school. I tried church. It didn’t work. I tried communing with nature, and that felt right. Sitting alone on the grass in a park always felt spiritual to me. Looking up at the night sky felt spiritual. When I connected with Ifa—in November 2020–everything started to come together. Honestly things started to fall apart. That was when the real healing work began for me. I realized that the life I had built was unstable and unhealthy. I’ve had so many tower moments since then. And here, a year later, all I can say is that I am grateful for my ancestors’ guidance. I would not be where I am today without them.

T: What other practices do you use for healing and fortification?

J: Every morning, I pray to my Ori. Then I pray to my ancestor-Orishas. To Oya, my main orisha. To Shango, Orula, and Yemoja. I also pray to Esu & Ogun. I do a ritual every Thursday to worship Oya. My favorite practice is gratitude. I try to note what I am grateful for on a daily basis. I write it. I speak it. I think it. I’m also really into setting intentions at each New Moon. What else? I water my plants. I speak to them. Sometimes I sing to them. I sing in my room a lot. I write poetry. I dance. But my favorite practice is just speaking with the people I love. My friends! Talking to my soul family is so fortifying. It keeps my going.

T:What’s the importance of community healing?

J: I think that community healing is important on a society level. Like it leads to community cohesion. It heals human relationships. But it also helps heal the planet. I think that bringing balance to our relationships will bring the planet back into balance. Community healing leads to the healing of our entire world. Our ecosystems. Our climate. Our relationship with nature. It’s interconnected.

T: What is at stake or what do we stand to lose if we don’t heal?

J: Honestly, the future of our planet is at stake. Our suffering is mirrored by the environment’s suffering. We need this planet, and it needs us. If we don’t we’ll keep

perpetuating destruction. We’ll keep perpetuating abuse. We’ll keep exploiting each other—and this planet—until there is nothing and no one left.

T: Why is abolition important?

J: We need abolition. We have to acknowledge that the systems in this settler state, and in many other colonial states, are built on the premise of destruction. The goal of so many of these systems is to destroy our bodies, our lives, and our spirits. We have to start over, with a new premise. You cannot reform destruction. You cannot reform chaos. We have no choice but to tear down these towers and start over. We have to build new foundations, based on healing and cohesion.

Sensory Exercise:

T: What does healing…Look like?

J: It looks like a friend’s smile

T:Taste like?

J:Chamomile tea.

T:Smell like?

J:Lavender. Peppermint. Cardamom.

T:Sound like?

J:It sounds like deep belly laughter. And “News Come” by Mereba

T:Feel like?

J:A hug, warm and secure.