SugarPill is herbalist and homeopath Karyn Schwartz’s modern apothecary. Her passion for natural medicine is evidenced by her large selection of medicinal house blends and herbs, which she dispenses with warmth and expertise. SugarPill also carries artisanal foods, rare chocolates, and an impressive collection of gourmet salts. Originally a beloved community hub in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, SugarPill relocated in 2023 to Whidbey Island.

Story
Karyn Schwartz knows her herbs, but talking to her about homeopathy quickly goes beyond herbal remedies and wanders into deeper territories. SugarPill is her neighborhood apothecary, featuring extensive herbal remedies, cocktail bitters, gourmet salts and chocolates, and yummy natural products for body and home - an all around healing sanctuary. Symptoms, Karyn will tell you, are the language our bodies use to try to get our attention, and homeopathy is about learning to understand that language. It’s also about reclamation- of our self-knowledge and our right to heal deeply, safely and affordably. “There’s a lot that I know, that we should all know. We should learn it in school, but we don’t,” she says. “When they come here I hope I can give people an experience of being listened to, and validate that what you know about yourself actually matters.”
Having struggled from a young age with health issues that Western medicine failed to address, Karyn became captivated by questions about the larger social justice context of medicine when her best friend at college became the first gay man to test positive for HIV. As a member of the LGBTQ community, she was intimately confronted by the deeply political nature of medicine. Homeopathy not only healed Karyn’s own health issues, but gave her a paradigm and tools to address the injustices she saw and experienced.
SugarPill has also become a gathering place. When something jarring happens in the world, people come to SugarPill to find solace and access the genuine connections and sense of belonging that are rapidly disappearing in this technological age. “Everyone has anxiety and depression now, it’s all I talk about anymore. And it’s about a whole world view that lacks time and lacks mystery. There’s this hunger in people’s souls to wonder about things and to think that things are possible outside the scope of our immediate imagination. And I think there is medicine in that.”
Fun Fact
You can make cough syrup out of onions! Want to know more about the medicinal items you already have in your home? Visit Karyn at SugarPill!
Business Owner
Karyn Schwartz
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