The Spirit Behind Gris Gris Gardens

Welcome, come a little closer...

You’ve stepped into sacred ground—where moonlight drips like honey and the veil between worlds flutters like lace in the breeze. This isn’t just a shop. This is a living, breathing love letter to magic, art, and healing... all born from New Orleans and the soul of one wild-hearted woman.

My Journey: The Soul of Gris Gris Gardens

My name is Ashley Testerman—but under moonlight and magnolia, when the veil thins and the candles burn low, I answer to Mama Roux.

I walk through life with the heart of an artist and the mind of a teacher. I’ve always been a nurturer, a guide, a reader of signs and stories. But it wasn’t until cancer entered my life that everything cracked open—and something sacred began to rise.

In the quiet between treatments, when the world grew still and soft, I found myself turning inward. My body was healing, but so was something deeper. I picked up a paintbrush with trembling hands. I pulled tarot cards like prayer beads. I whispered spells I hadn’t realized I’d always known.

My creativity became my medicine

And what bloomed through that pain and magic was Gris Gris Gardens—a mystical space where ritual meets art, where divination meets beauty, where healing is handmade. Everything I create—whether it’s a potion bottle, a tarot reading, or a painted altar piece—is poured from that place of truth. A garden grown from shadow and spirit, rooted right here in the soulful streets of New Orleans.

This is more than a shop. It’s a reclamation. A devotion. A becoming.

And I’m so glad you’ve found your way here.

The Soul Behind the Shop

  • What I Create

    Every item, every reading, every brushstroke is made with intention. Whether it's a handmade potion bottle, a tarot deck soaked in moonlight, or a spiritual reading whispered from Mama Roux’s lips—what you’re holding is a piece of my heart.

    This isn’t mass-produced magic.

    This is ancestral art alchemy.

  • Why "Accrescent"?

    The word accrescent means growing… becoming more. That’s what this page, this project, this life is for me: a place of expansion, even through the dark.

    • I am still becoming.
    • Still creating.
    • Still healing.
    • And I welcome you into this blooming.

  • With Love from the Garden

    Gris Gris Gardens is more than a shop.
    It’s a sacred little corner of the universe where we remember that healing is nonlinear, creativity is sacred, and the veil is always just a breath away.

    Thank you for being here. Thank you for witnessing this.

    May the spirits bless your path,

    And may your magic keep blooming.

Explore the Collection

If your heart’s humming and your fingers are tingling, that’s no accident, baby. The spirits are stirring—and they’re calling you to explore a little old New Orleans soul.

Shop the Magic