About Shooting Star Botanicals

​Hi!
My name is Elokin Orton-Cheung, L.Ac., my pronouns are they/them/or just Elokin. I'm a community herbalist, activist, and big garden nerd. I fell in love with plants when I grew my first bean as a kid- it was magikal to watch a little seed turn into a full grown plant, covered in delicious string beans! I was very shy, and through gardening I found community- since then I have been growing plants of all kinds, and working with them as medicine.

I am deeply grateful to all the teachers I've learned from: the plants and the people who have shared so much knowledge with me. Howie Brounstein at the Columbine's School of Botanical Studies became my first Western herbalism teacher after we met in 2003, and I became a clinical community herbalist through the teachings of Karyn Sanders and Sarah Holmes at the Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine in 2012. I am also a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I graduated from the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in Oakland* in 2021, studying my ancestral lineage of medicine. I've learned a lot through my own experiences listening to the plants, and through the wisdom shared by my friends and beloved community. I have a lifelong commitment to being a student as well as a teacher, there is always so much more to learn.

I created Shooting Star Botanicals in 2012, after going through my own experiences with health challenges created by the ovarian cysts I've had. My work as an herbalist is founded in a commitment to health care in a social justice framework- I believe we all have the right to affordable, accessible, high quality health care. I am a mixed race, mixed gender, queer person of color, and one of my goals is to help build more accessible and safer spaces committed to healthcare that center racial, environmental and gender justice. My work is trauma-informed, as well as sex worker and kink affirming.

​I offer herbal consultations and teach classes on plant medicine and sustainable gardening. I'm honored to teach anywhere I'm invited that feels in alignment with the values of justice and healing. My goal is to support people to develop their own connection with plants to improve emotional, spiritual, and physical health. I believe through connecting with the deeply healing nature of herbal medicine we can begin to make the changes we want to see in ourselves, the communities we are connected to, and the world we are part of. 
​
I love this work, and look forward to connecting with you! ​

These photos on the right are some of my favorite plants to work with, even though it's so hard to choose just a few- I really love so many of them! From top to bottom this is Pink Yarrow, Chamomile Borage and dried Calendula and Roses that I grew. 
​
*Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley are part of Huchiun, unceded Lisjan Ohlone territory. Learn more by visiting The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and supporting their work.