For our Día de Muertos season spotlight, Miss Grass sat down with Chicago-based curandera and founder of Tranquil Highs, Amorinda Martinez, whose work bridges plant medicine, spiritual care, and ancestral remembrance. Here, Amorinda shares a poem and her reflections on this season of honoring, healing, and returning to source.
Poem by Amorinda Martinez for Miss Grass
They say "we are the sum of the experiences of our ancestors"
Strong Bloodlines that crossed generations.
That made me.
Me—who bears beautiful brown skin,
Me—with my course curly hair,
Me—with almond eyes and deep portal pupils that see more than most know,
Me—who gathers the world in fragments, cross-checks them with the parts of myself touched by projections and mirrors around me.
Is it my India walking beside me daily, a quiet companion in the rhythm of my steps,
or is it my Africana, appearing when I am lost, a beacon in the fog?
Which parts of me carry wounds, which carry wisdom, and which of me stays to witness it all?
Q&A with Amorinda Martinez
How do you describe the energy you bring into your healing spaces?
I bring a constellation of energetic generations guiding me.
I bring the energy of all those who lived before me: their strength, their wisdom, their wounds.
With thick layers of all that I am, and the depth of my spirit.
And what intentions do you set during this time of year?
During this time of year, I set the intention to educate, that the honoring of the sacred is an always, not tied to a date but in every moment. It’s important more people understand why this matters now, during these times more than ever.
As the seasons shift and the veil thins, what practices or rituals are grounding you right now?
As the seasons shift and the veil gets thinner, it puts me into a deep need for Spiritual Hygiene practices of cleansing lower vibrational energies, thoughts, and beliefs—trying to remain in compassionate reflection, meditation, and consistent prayer.
What does Día de Muertos mean to you personally and spiritually?
Día de Los Muertos is not merely a single day for me; it is an ongoing, embodied awareness. It’s a living tradition that teaches me to walk with grace through grief, turning every moment into an offering. Honoring Nuestros Muertos has become a teacher of interconnectedness, a truth I stand in with conviction.
How does cannabis show up in your rituals or curandera practice this time of year?
I use cannabis in my personal daily life and in my curanderismo practice. I use it to deepen connections—with people present in front of me and with those who are not. I honor the plant’s spirit and wisdom by supporting the evolution of humanity and by sharing the wisdom it has shown me, that lives within me.
What connections do you see between plant medicine, protection, and remembrance?
I believe plant medicine opens the doorway to remembrance in the most safe and sacred way, when we approach the medicine and the wise plant spirits with reverence, connecting with it and not using it to escape but to go deeper into our awareness.
What scents, sounds, or sensations instantly bring you back to your roots?
I hear the sound of a shamanic drum, and once it starts, my heart aligns and everything begins to flow through me. It carries me instantly to moments in time I have not witnessed in this life, yet feel I have internally.
What does community care look like for you and Tranquil Highs right now?
Tranquil Highs is the heart of my work, and community care is the premise of everything I do—in a genuinely grand, heartfelt way. From plant medicine integration programs, healing events, retreats, spiritual education workshops, and my coaching, it’s all built to reach the community—especially those who need it most: underserved, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and beyond.
If you could describe your seasonal self in three words, what would they be?
Compassionate. Reflective. Devotional.
What offerings, literal or spiritual, are you leaving on the altar this year?
I offer my spiritual devotion, manifested in the literal form through my powerful healing container, “Heal With Me.” This year, I leave prayers, whispers, photographs, remembrance, and healing connections as offerings on the altar. It takes place on November 5 at 6:00 pm at The Stan Mansion in Chicago, a place that holds a large piece of my story—through death and grief—yet has become an inseparable thread in my life.
I am a testament to what it looks like when you offer selflessly and gracefully—how spirit reciprocates beyond what you imagined.
Photography courtesy of Amorinda Martinez. Learn more about her work at tranquilhighs.com.
