The Taste of Ancient Riches

Sacred rituals of chai, ghee, and goddess care in the quiet days between treatments

Even in the midst of chemo recovery, there are days when the fog lifts and a quiet current of Ojas (vitality) returns. These are the “upswing” days. Not quite normal, but not entirely down for the count. They are threshold moments, where we begin to remember the pleasures of taste, rhythm, beauty, and the rituals that make us feel whole.

On these days, I turn toward practices that feel like wealth, not the kind you store in banks, but the kind that you store in your heart. The kind that has always belonged to the goddess. The kind of wealth that builds and nourishes inner prosperity… self-kindness, space for reflection, and nourishing indulgence.

I often think of Cleopatra, not just as a queen of empires, but as a woman of the bath, of scent, of honey and salt. The ancient riches she once bathed in are commonly available to us today. Warm water, mineral salts, fragrant oils, jasmine steeped in steam, rose petals in milk. These are not just lushes luxuries they are Sacred Returns. Ancient forms of care for modern-day women reclaiming their bodies after illness… or simply because we are all goddesses, deserving of healing, nourishment, and grace.

Other timeless riches are still within reach, such as spices like cardamom, clove and black pepper, teas of the Orient, golden ghee, sacred honey, and fragrant essential oils. Their healing properties move through us in many forms…infused in our baths, our food, our breath, and our touch.

Here are three of my favorite rituals for these returning days:

🌿 Meeraji’s Chai

✨ The Great Gift of Ghee

🌿 The Beauty of the Bath: An Ancient Ritual of Return