An Inspired Chat with Katelyn Mariah of Neighborhood

We recently had the chance to connect with Katelyn Mariah and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Katelyn, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Creativity is my strong suit and when I am creating I always lose track of time. For example, as a visionary artist I get into an alternative reality, just like one does during meditation and the painting takes me on a journey.

In that space time disappears and I can look up and several hours have flown by.

Finding myself happens either through the process, or because I am hungry of if I am visited by a hungry kitty cat.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I have been a visionary artist for 40 years. Art has been both a spiritual journey for me and a vehicle for healing. In March 2016 I had the first of 5 heart attacks that lead to open heart surgery.

Early in my healing process I was guided by Spirit to paint paintings that had the anatomical heart as a center piece. By the end of this healing process I had painted 110 paintings, each of the revealing the next steps in my healing. I consider art a big part of why I have a healthy heart today.

I am also an award winning author of books for adults and children on alternative health and empowerment.

The last piece of my creative puzzle is that I am also a traditional herbalist. I have worked with herbs for many years but in 2020 I took it to the next level and studied The Art and Science of Herbalism under Rosemary Gladstar, internationally known herbalist.

This brings me to my brand., Magic of Alchemy. Sacred Botanicals Apothecary will be added to my herbal business, Magic of Alchemy which I started in 2021. I create handcrafted , high frequency, organic herbal products. I grow all of the herbs in a large medicine wheel in my yard. I wrote Magic of Alchemy Journal in 2023, which is a study guide for learning about herbs plus a journal to made studies your own. The user ends up with a book about herbs which is personal to them. It’s a very unique book unlike anything on the market.

Sacred Botanicals Apothecary started with a book, Sacred Botanicals, Remembering the Herbal Wisdom of the Ancient Feminine. This book takes the reader back in time via a time machine where they learn about ancient goddess cultures, and their herbal practices. There are 13 different goddess cultures explored in the book and ideas on how to integrate those practices into modern times.

Sacred Botanicals Apothecary will carry herbal creations exclusive to each of the 13 Goddesses and be an extension of Magic of Alchemy.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
When I first started doing visionary art, I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. I had been part of a shamanic training group and had developed a sore throat that wouldn’t go away. I was at my studio one day and said to myself “You are an art therapist, paint something.”

A woman came through me onto the page that I knew was important and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. They didn’t stop over the next month until I had painted 44 paintings which turned out to be channeled images of the Goddess.

I met, the person who showed me what was really happening in my art a couple months later. I met Ron Mangravite in 1996, at a spiritual salon that my friend Dr. Jan Adams held in her home once a month. I happened to bring my paintings with me to the salon and as I sat next to Ron, showing him the images he started saying things about them and their connections to different cultures and mythology and symbolism. I looked at him and told him I didn’t know what he was talking about. He told me he thought I had years of study in mythology and ancient symbolism and was surprised when I said no.

He said, “In attempting to find her identity, which is the Goddess, and find ways she could manifest, she apparently went down deep enough to get totally past Katelyn, to get totally past everything but her femininity, because these images are the Goddess. Katelyn dug down deep enough to get past anything that is the person and found real legitimate expressions that came from such a mixed bag of a culture that it would be very difficult for her to have truly cheated. She does not know that some of these symbols are Babylonian, Sumerian, Chinese, and Welsh. She cold not possibly known without at least 10 or 15 years of study. She could not have made this mixed bag up by faking it. It has to come from someplace very real.”

When he said, ”and therefore, I am extremely privileged to be here to be more or less the official midwife to announce to the world that this is not just an artist- Katelyn is an initiate of consciousness” I was stunned. This was the beginning of me recognizing this visionary gift I had been given.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
When I was going through the issue with all of the heart attacks I was having them every four months. Every time I started to feel good again I would end up in the hospital with another one.

When I had the third one I told my daughter I couldn’t do this anymore. I knew what recovery felt like. It was a lot of pain, suffering, work and believing in the process. I had already gone through it twice. One of those times was in Austria, where I was hospitalized for a week in a hospital where no one spoke English.

I felt like it was all too much to do all over again. I wanted it to go away, not in a “I wish I would die way” but I just wanted it to stop.

I didn’t give up. I got more determined. I went on to have two more heart attacks and open heart surgery.

I also learned a lot about my strength, courage and tenacity. I learned everything I could find about the heart so I could get healthy and I learned how to replace five pharmaceuticals with herbs that would support my heart.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
This is my philosophy,

I believe the true spiritual path is authenticity. We are here to uncover who we truly are, love ourselves and shine like only we can shine and impact the world.

And the power of each of us shining our true self will create a completely different world. I know that is a tall order but big change starts with a small spark.

To me becoming real, the being your soul came to experience, is the most important adventure. Accepting the body, the life events, your personality, your challenges, and loving yourself despite what others may think of you IS the path and we, as real people, will change the world.

So I strive to be authentic where ever I am and with who ever I am interacting with. There aren’t different personas for different situations. I am just me.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
I believe I would continue to create the kinds of things I am creating now because they are soul inspired. I know I am here to touch people with my art and with my words and through my herbal creations.

These are the things that feed me.

I know if I lived for ever my creations would grow and evolve but they would always come through my heart as I share a consciousness that has an impact which helps people discover who they truly are.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.KatelynDavidaMariah.com
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/katelynmariahvisionaryartist
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/katelynmariah
• Other: www.magicofalchemy.com,

Image Credits
These are all my own images