Karema McGhee, the founder of Luxinous has been a healer and alternative medicine practitioner for over two decades. She is currently in the process of relaunching her brand. The relaunch of her brand Luxinous is scheduled for June 1st. The entire relaunch process is in tune with her mission to change the way the world views smudge tools, healing arts and herbs.
Karema, Thank you so much for this Interview. Kindly tell us when and how did you associate yourself with smudging.
Thank you for having me. I’ve been a healer, alternative medicine practitioner for over 20 years. Some of my mentors, teachers, and friends have been some of the most sort after healers, herbalist, lightworkers, and freedom fighters I am proud to know. I found my way to smudging back in 2002, before becoming associated with the shrine of ptah in Brooklyn. New York.
Smudging has been traditionally practiced by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Tell us more about the current state of smudging.
I recall walking into the shrine and the priests were doing what we call the opening of the way. The smell was coming out of the shrine into the sidewalks of urban Brooklyn, I recall walking into the shrine impressed by the feeling of ritual. Mesmerized by the act of cleansing. I wanted to learn each chat, each movement, the dance, and most importantly the look of freedom and power as the sounds were leaving their bodies permeating the atmosphere. It was captivating. I was in. I was hooked. It was sage.
How is Luxinous impacting the lives of people who become a part of it?
My objective with Luxinous is to remove many of the stigmas, the dogma, the separatism and myths associated with the act of smudging.
To teach the facts that almost every indigenous people from every nation, from every religious association and denomination, has some form of smudging built into its ritual, religious, and cultural practices. Even those who are opposed to smudging because of religious reasons don’t realize that they already have a form of smudging built into their cultural fabric.
In order to live a fulfilled life, you need to set aside prejudices. How do smudging help in realizing our true potential?
The natives of the Americas are famous for white Sage & Sweetgrass, the native Peruvians for Palo Santo. I can go on and on.
The current state of saging, smudging, and the like is disheartening at times, as many want to own it, and not share it with the world. It’s as if we believe that if we shared our sacred arts with others, they will run off with it and we will never get the credit we deserved. We are afraid for our ritual to be common.
What is the your mission and how do you see Luxinous achieving that mission?
For me, my mission is to bring fair trade to the indigenous, to provide responsibly sourced healing tools to as many who want it. To bring unity, understanding, education and awareness, and to normalize ritual.
I believe that mother nature wants us to share with each other our regional wisdom. To heal one another. None of us own mother nature, but she gives of herself to us, for us, and as long as we approach the Goddess with an offering, with truth, respect, kindness, and fairness, we as a Human collective can further heal and began to see that we have more in common than we ever thought.
