Local business offering customers a ‘healing hand’ with natural herbs and other products
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IDAHO FALLS – If you’re into natural healing herbs, candles, tea, rock or crystal jewelry and other similar items, the Healing Hands Metaphysical Store at 429 B Street in Idaho Falls may be a place you’re familiar with.
For the last 13 years, it’s been a popular spot for customers to find a variety of spiritual wellness products.
“People want to learn about plants and the medicine they provide and make their own medicine from teas and herbs that we sell,” Owner Terri Ireland tells EastIdahoNews.com.
Ireland is a practicing Pagan and many of the medicinal qualities each product offers are based on Pagan beliefs.
Crystals are the most popular item Ireland sells because of the energy they give off.
“Crystals vibrate at a certain level, and when certain rocks work well with your personal energy level, it helps you feel better,” says Ireland.
Ireland speaks from experience. She worked at the Idaho National Laboratory for years and eventually got sick because of exposure to radiation. Traditional medicine never completely solved the problem for her. She found relief from natural remedies.
Ireland purchased Healing Hands in 2016 from the previous owners.
Raven’s Hollow
Amber Lerwill has been a frequent customer at Healing Hands over the years, and she opened her own little nook inside Healing Hands in March called Raven’s Hollow.
Lerwill offers a variety of 70 different healing herbs and shares what she calls “plant and herb wisdom” with customers.
“I’ve been selling products that I’ve created,” Lerwill says. “I wanted a spot where people could come in, like an old herbal apothecary…and create whatever they feel they need.”
Lerwill closed five days after she opened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since reopening at the end of May, she says the demand for her products is through the roof. She’ll be adding another 30 herbs along the back wall of the store soon.
One of the most popular herbs she sells is calendula, a sun herb that she says grows really well in eastern Idaho.
“The bud of the flower follows the sun, and if there’s a storm coming, (it will) close up,” says Lerwill. “(It) was used traditionally to determine if there was a storm coming.”
Her personal favorite is stinging nettle.
“Stinging nettle is a very vibrant plant,” she says. “It’s very well-known as a plant that helps with allergies.”
Lerwill is not a licensed herbalist or practitioner and does not prescribe anything for customers. She says she is a lifelong student of natural herbs and grows herbs at her home.
She remembers spending lots of time in the garden with her grandma and has fond memories of her wild mint plant.
“Growing up and looking into my ancestral lineage, I realized my grandma really knew what she was doing when growing that wild mint. She would give it to us when we were sick, and that made me even more interested,” Lerwill says.
Lerwill works part time as a surgical tech at Mountain View Hospital. Her understanding of chemicals found in certain herbs had a direct correlation with things she was learning in pharmacology school, she says. For her, traditional medicine and natural healing remedies complete each other and go hand-in-hand.
“I haven’t chosen one over the other because I love both,” Lerwill says. “Medicine is constantly evolving and so is the herbal world, so if I can keep evolving along with it, I think we can all benefit from that.”
Witch’s Farmer’s Market
Raven’s Hollow and Healing Hands is more than just a place to buy natural healing products. It’s also a gathering place for likeminded individuals.
“People want to meet other people who like crystals and other people who like herbs,” Ireland says. “They want to find the other pagans or hippies or witches (and connect with them).”
Throughout the summer, Healing Hands is hosting a Witch’s farmer’s market in conjunction with the Idaho Falls Arts Council’s Gallery Walk. The next event will be happening Aug. 6 right outside the store. Many items will be on display for customers and a live band will be performing as well.
“We have to be here anyway, so we decided ‘Let’s have some fun,'” Ireland says. “Come on out and meet some people who are good at natural medicine and understanding the natural world in ways you haven’t thought of.”
The Witch’s Farmers Market will begin at 5 p.m. and end at 8 p.m. Healing Hands is open 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Raven’s Hollow is open the same hours Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Visit the website or Facebook page to learn more.
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