In 2020 many families were going through a very difficult time due to the pandemic. A lot of people were affect by this worldwide spread of COVID losing so many family members, friends, and loved ones. That was also the year that I lost my brother.

Through my grief journey when everything seemed almost dark, I started to learn more about the spiritual side of death. A quote that I grew hearing from my parents was “La muerte siempre es segura pero no es el fin". Meaning “Death is always certain but is never the end”. In that moment so many questions arose but it wasn’t until now that I fully understood what this meant.

Back in 2020 and till this day, I still experience grief but with a deferent mindset. I knew that my brother would not have wanted to see me sad and lost. So I started learning about herbs, crystals, and spiritual candles. This helped me learn more about myself, my ancestors, passed loved ones, and my culture. That’s when in 2021 Yerba Mystica was born. Yerba Mystica was created to share my love for plants, herbs, crystals, candles, and culture for everyone to see especially to those in the stages of grief. I feel you, I understand you, and I love you.

Now, years later here I am, Janet Ortega getting involved with my community of Mid-city, Los Angeles, sharing my experiences with losing a loved one, advocating the importance of mental health, sharing my knowledge about hierbas/herbs, crystals and connecting with my culture by sharing my love for Dia De Los Muertos. Curating items, making oils, incense, and jewerly and spreading my love one item piece at a time.