Today we’d like to introduce you to Hilarie Elaine
Hi Hilarie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My journey began with a pregnancy in 2019. I had never had much respect, let alone reverence, for my body until then. I mostly saw my body as an annoying vessel for transporting my brilliant mind around, and treated it accordingly. I had been dealing with painful gastrointestinal issues, anxiety, and depression for years, and never questioned whether I could have any control over those symptoms with anything other than prescription medication. But suddenly, now that I was gestating another life, medical providers were cautioning me about the negative health impacts of these medications, and questioning if they were really even worth the risks to my health, but far more importantly, to my unborn baby’s health.
Nothing about being pregnant in the medical system was how I had imagined it. I had expected to be met with glowing support, welcomed into a shiny fold of the fortunate and elite, whispered secrets and ancient mysteries, beheld with admiration and hope. Instead I was told to come back when I was 12 weeks pregnant, to see if it “took.” No one had any advice about how to make sure it “took” though, so I felt alone and abandoned and confused. When the pregnancy ended, a few short weeks later, my initiation into motherhood, and into radical womanhood, really began.
Watching my body perform this incredibly complex and precise process opened my eyes to the exquisite pain and beauty of what it is to be a woman. To be a portal of both life and death. The spirit who passed through my life so briefly taught me more about life and about my incredible body than any educator ever had. I didn’t pursue any medical support for my miscarriage, and this painful but incredible process ushered in a new era of awe and understanding.
My son was born on the 1 year anniversary of that loss. I birthed him into my own two hands in a kiddie pool in my living room with no medical presence whatsoever. Throughout his gestation, I unwound and unlearned more and more about the medical system, and what it means to be a woman in this system. This process was as uncomfortable as the pregnancy itself. Life was much easier when I blindly trusted medical providers and didn’t do any critical thinking of my own. But my son’s spirit guided me to further and further break down the programming I had received my whole life from media and mainstream culture about pregnancy and birth. I truly believe that my son wanted to be born in a different way: undisturbed, sober, in peace and in power, and he chose me as his mother to make this entrance possible.
He also maneuvered us to Manchester, Connecticut, a place I had never been or heard of, as a Memphis native. We ended up living on an acre of land that was bursting with wild medicine. I had been studying herbal medicine for a few years at this point, and purchasing dried herbs and blending my own teas. But getting to live alongside these wild, growing beings in their native habitats brought me to a whole new level of understanding and intimacy with these medicines. Motherwort, mugwort, yarrow, goldenrod, cleavers, chickweed, red clover, Queen Anne’s Lace, wild rose, and even St. John’s Wort were in wild abundance on my land, each of them teaching me more and more about the Earth and about myself. I harvested what felt appropriate and began making medicines from the plants to share with my community. That was how The Wheel was born. I began selling my medicines at local markets. The feedback from my community was amazing. Getting to introduce people to these incredible plants was so gratifying, especially when I got to hear how helpful and impactful they were.
Then, in 2022, I participated in the flagship class of the Blood Mysteries School, a program from the FreeBirth Society that taught me and a small cohort of women around the world all of the mysteries I had been craving to know about womanhood. We learned the science and sacred of the female hormonal cycle, and I became passionate about sharing this information with women everywhere. Here was what I had been hoping for when I stepped into that cold, dispassionate OBGYN’s office as a newly pregnant young woman, hoping to be welcomed into the fold. Here was an explanation for my fluctuations in energy levels, my sporadic inspiration, my abundant creativity, my SELF. I had never made more sense to myself, and this understanding was both exhilarating and grounding. I started teaching Blood Mysteries Workshop series to women in my community, and saw this experience reflected in the women I taught. “Why weren’t we taught this?!” was, and is, the most common refrain.
In 2024, divorce uprooted me from my land in Connecticut, and now I live in Memphis again with my four year old son. I continue to forage for medicine in Overton Park and in our Rhodes View neighborhood. My current project is to record my workshops on herbalism, nutrition, birth, and female body literacy to share with the world at large. I have plans for live virtual Blood Mysteries workshops in 2025. I currently consult women 1:1 to address their health issues holistically using herbs and nutrition, and to support them to have the birth experiences of their dreams. My apothecary is open and will soon be fully stocked with medicine from my Connecticut land, in time for the 2024 holiday season.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Getting a divorce and leaving my land has been the most intense challenge of my life. My land was everything to me- spiritual practice, grounds for exercise and exploration, my friend, my livelihood, my source of peace and grounding. Losing all of that as well as the relationship I thought would last for the rest of my life has been humbling, to say the least. All of that on top of becoming a single mother is sometimes more challenging than I think I can survive. But every day I survive gives me a little more confidence and strength that I will survive, and maybe even thrive.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an herbalist, holistic health educator, teacher, musician, and artist. I make medicine from plants that grow wild, and love matching them with people who can benefit from their wisdom. I teach women how to take their health and their birth experiences back into their own hands, so that they can see and believe in their own power. What sets me apart from other health and wellness professionals is that I do not give generic health advice. Every individual has a unique set of experiences, traumas, fears, preferences, hopes, and goals, and I pride myself on being able to tailor my recommendations to the unique individual in front of me.
I named my business The Wheel because during the American Revolution, a spinning wheel in the window was a sign of rebellion. It meant that the inhabitant could spin their own yarn. They were self-sufficient and thus didn’t need to rely on systems that were exploiting them. I named my business The Wheel to invoke this spirit of rebellion and self-sufficiency into everything I do. My goal is to educate women to be self-sufficient so that they don’t need to rely on systems that seek to exploit them. The wheel in my logo is based on my own Ashford Traditional spinning wheel, on which I spin my own yarn. The Wheel also speaks to my passion for cycles and living our lives according to them. The wheel of the year, the wheel of the hormonal cycle, the zodiac, it’s all the same thing to me, and aligning my life to these cycles is the basis for my spirituality, health, and well-being. It is my honor to guide women to a place of health, happiness, and self-reliance through the lens of cyclical healing and wisdom.
Pricing:
- Custom Herbal Consultation- $25/ 20 minute session
- Cycle Mentorship – $90/ 90 minute session
- Sovereign Birth Mentorship- $90 / 90 minute session
- Nutritional Mentorship Package- $250 / 2 sessions, custom meal plan and recommendations
- Follow-up Sessions- $60/ 60 minute sessions
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thewheelcycles.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewheelcycles/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewheelcycles
