Creating a Healing Bath With Deborah Hanekamp, aka: Mama Medicine

I believe in the great power of nature, creativity, taking time out to work on yourself, being a good and kind person, but mostly I believe in healing with spas and spirituality—which is why I was drawn to Deborah Hanekamp. A self-described “seeress” and owner of Space by Mama Medicine, a wellness center in New York City, Deborah was recently recognized by VOGUE as one of the fashion set’s favorite healers. I first got to know her through her Instagram (yes, social media can have a positive impact), where her commitment to spiritual health and wellness shines through.

To me, those special individuals who help others with coaching and healing are the gentlest and most interesting people—and Deborah is one of them. She is living and facilitating spiritual healing and wellness to the many different types of people who seek her out. She provides one-on-one readings in New York, and medicine ceremonies throughout the world. Get ready for some cheesy gushing because I believe that Deborah is the kind of advocate for wellness the world needs today—a gentle and wise guiding light.

When did you first know you were a seeress, and what nudged you to pursue it?

I didn’t own being a, hmmm, let’s say “facilitator,” until I was seventeen—but even before that I was always trying to help my family through symbols and songs. I began facilitating healing at that time, but also tried to pursue so many different things as one does when they are a young adult trying to find themselves in the world, only to get boomeranged right back into the role of facilitating. In 2014, I came out about being a “seeress,” until that point I always kept the truth that I was reading clients’ auras hidden.

You’ve studied many forms of energy work in Thailand, and spent a lot of time in the Peruvian Amazon, eventually becoming an initiated shaman. Can you tell us a bit about what led you on this path?

Well I’ve always been spiritually curious in so many ways, so am drawn to the divine and whatever form it comes in. For example, when I was a child, I was raised in a Baptist sect and so would ask to be saved every Sunday. I would asked to be saved even though in that religion it’s a rite of passage you only experience once. I wanted to get the blessing of being saved over and over again.

I’ve always been spiritually curious in so many ways, so am drawn to the divine and whatever form it comes in.

How was the idea of Mama Medicine born?

The Mama from being a mom, and the energy I work with is divine feminine energy. The medicine part is in the plants, crystals, sound, and other facilities of healing I use in Medicine Readings.

How do you incorporate water in your practice?

I have it on my altar to remind me to be receptive, and I spray it over my clients to remind them to be receptive, too!

What can a beginner do to create their first bath ritual at home?

Take deep UJJAYI BREATHS  in a bath of Epsom salt, rosemary essential oil, and a rose quartz crystal.

 Would you share your favorite bath and recipe with us?

This one is slightly elaborate but also my favorite.

Ally Ritual Bath

Yes, we have allies everywhere, in a dear sweet and supportive friend, in family we are born into or create, in pets we love, in artists who inspire us, in writers of songs and poems who are communicating exactly what is in our hearts, in Great Spirit, and in Mother Nature and all of her magnificent creations. 

Taking time to open and spend time embraced by these allies is such restorative Medicine. This bath contains some of my most beloved allies. I want to share them with you because I think you will find they are sweet friends to us all. Use fresh or dried herbs. If you don’t have all the ingredients, it’s okay to work with what you have! If you don’t have a bathtub you can do a footbath. I’m a very visual person and view cleaning the tub and then offering the plants to a tree as part of the ritual, but if you don’t want to make a mess just put the herbs in cheesecloth or a tea steeper. You can also pre-make a tub tea and then add the tea to your bath.

 Ingredients

• 1 cup Epsom salt

• 6 to 8 drops patchouli essential oil

For the following ingredients, let your intuition guide you as to how much of each, but make sure they are balanced.

• herbs of evening primrose, echinacea, nettles, lemon balm (you can brew a tea with one or all of the ingredients for use in the bath)

• black-eyed susan

• clear quartz and jade crystals

• white pine from which to craft a wand

Ritual

• Cleanse aura with the smoke of dried cedar. Step into bath and dunk head underwater; make a wand from the white pine and lightly tap yourself all over to awaken.

• Sing gratitude to your allies and sigh into the water.

• Sit and soak in the powerful Medicine you’ve created .

 How can we be better about incorporating water into our wellness routine and pay homage to nature at the same time?

You can collect the water from your baths and share it with the plants, trees and earth that surround you.

 What is something you’d like people to understand about your work, or something you think is a misconception about seeing auras and being an empath/healer?

I don’t tell people about their future or speak with their dead relatives! I simply look at what they are carrying when they come to see me that day for a MEDICINE READING, and I speak about whatever it is they are looking to call in or clear out.

 Would you like to share any future plans for your practice?

There are so many exciting things coming! I feel I’m just at the beginning of learning and sharing so much. But as to the specific details? I’m going to play the secretive Scorpio card now!

Photography: Ashley Glynn