Djehuty Ma’at-ra, Health Expert, Gets Candid About His Break From Dherbs

The well-known celebrity Herbalist and owner of Dhealthstore.com, Djehuty Ma’at-ra, established his brand and bolting reputation as a spiritual guru and worldly health educationalist. He utilizes an unconventional approach to existing teachings of health consciousness and offers a renewal of original preventative health care. On January 27, 2012, I got an opportunity to chat with Djehuty and found him to be mystical but unbelievably down-to-earth with painful experiences, colorful references, and of course, great advice. He began his journey into health consciousness after suffering from acute asthma as a young man. Experiencing the death of both parents (following health challenges) and an Aunt (due to suicide), Djehuty found motivation that grew into dreams from which we all benefit. I got to know him this day. The following abridged interview is below (live recording avalaiblable at www.sunsourcenutrition.com in the News and Media tab):

Well, I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to speak with you. I learned of you about three years ago one night while searching for information on a number of ailments. I was concerned for my friends as I do nutritional counseling. That’s how I initially found you. So, I thank you for speaking with me in the capacity of a journalist (writer for the Examiner's DC health column).

No problem. My pleasure. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed. We have to get the information to the people so I thank Journalists and I thank people who interview me because it helps me do what I am on planet to do so thank you love.

I am just so happy that I am in your space. At this point, I am going to give you a little about me and then give you an opportunity to talk about yourself maybe giving me information about your original name, then your new name, and just a little about your journey. So, let me start to say, I am Pamela McKenzie, Writer for the Examiner’s Healthy Food Column. I have a background in Finance and I work for federal government but I find that my mission isn’t being addressed if I don’t do something about our community when it comes to health and just having the appropriate knowledge to prevent illness so I dedicated the last ten years of my life to studying natural medicine and writing for this column. I have a small company where I offer specialized products and I provide nutritional counseling (been doing it for 2-3 years). That’s a little about me can you tell me about your original name, your current name and just a little about you in a time-line fashion?

Ok. I was born Earnest Cooper Junior; Second son named after my father. Earnest has Germanic origin and means one who is sincere and of an important nature. For a brief period, I dallied with Islam and changed my name to Jaber Abdul Akbar ("Jaber" literally means bone-setter). Under that name, I became a healer. During the mid-2000s, I kept hearing in my head “Djehuty, Djehuty”. At the point, I changed my name again from Jaber to Djehuty and that’s when things really took off. I became a light-worker under Djehuty.

That’s beautiful. In that space of time you decided that you wanted help others and formulate nutritional products. How did that come about?

Honestly, I knew my life’s purpose and had a sensing of it as a little boy. While playing with my brother and sister, I would be the one who would administer a healing aid- even though I was using Vaseline and toilet paper, it was still there. I was still inclined. After my favorite Aunty committed suicide in 1976, I went out to her backyard of her home in South Central Los Angeles and looked up to heavens and said God when I get older I want to be there to listen to people. I had learned that my Aunty was depressed and didn’t have anyone to talk to so I said at the age of six that I would be there to talk to folks.

Being radical or the black sheet of the family, led me the Nation of Islam where I saw a lot that I didn’t like. I tried the Afrocentric community in the mid-90s…got what I could get from that. But I would always do my own personal studies/ personal research. I spent thousands of dollars on books, studied political issues, conspiracy theories, goddess studies, legal issues, feminism and African history. I studied so much. I got into health and studied biology in 1995/1996. In 1999, my mother died of pancreatic cancer and my Dad succumbed before my Mother in 1994. In 1997, I got into health and herbs it was a wrap…by 1999, I was ready to go…started Afir Herbaceuticals.

Did you go officially public or just started the company?

Officially public in opening my company. Like I said, from 1995-96, it was lots of research..I researched and healed myself with herbs of bronchial asthma. With the success of experimenting, I thought, if I can heal myself from bronchial asthma, the same thing could happen for the blood ,the colon, liver, etc. It just took off…my wife, family, and friends tried the herbs and the results were mind boggling and in November 1999, that’s when I went public with the Full Body Detox and individual herbs. I didn’t have an online presence until 2003. Previously, I did business via phone. Celebrities would come to my small apartment- I am talking about luminaries….Stevie Wonder, Brandy, Shumar Moore, Darin Hensen, Boris Kodjoe. I didn’t have the internet! I was doing business by telephone!

I am sure that didn’t shock you...since when you are on your path. It's "like"the fastest communication….forget internet!

All I had to do was go downstairs to my mailbox and that’s how I was making my money. I was working a corporate job but retired March 23, 2001 -I know it was that day because that day is my Mother’s birthday.

What were you doing in corporate America?

I was working at an investigation agency, auto insurance industry, Stein Investment Agency…worked at Stein for seven years and I was pretty much a factotum – I am a Taurus so I am very laborious and proficient at getting things. I would go to the law firms and commune with the Attorneys, drop and pick up files, I did accounts payable/receivable. I did everything. When I decided to leave, those people did not want to see me leave…they wanted me to work part-time. They didn’t want to leave…they said herbs (herbal business) are not guaranteed and kept reminding that I had a great job and good future there. With Mars in Gemini (astrological natal chart), I am quick witted so I couldn’t be convinced to say. They taught me a lot but I still retired and I am never going back to corporate America.

That’s great. Can you tell us a little about your immediate family? How many children do you have and how did you meet your wife?

I have six kids (five biological) - two from my previous union, one from her previous union and we have three together. This story of meeting my wife is a magical story (you don’t find a lot of men particularly African American men who believe in fairy tales and fantasies) but I do because I am mental scientist. It goes back to the power of the mind…the subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between that which is contrived and what is actual. So I was going to get what I could conjure up in my mind. I wanted the ultimate wife, marriage, family – I knew that I could get it through the use of my mind!

Previously, I went through an ugly divorce with the first wife in 2002…took a couple of years to heal …Chakra balancing …Meditation…locked himself up from the world for four years. I purchased books, education videos, studied, and enhanced my vocabulary. I was celibate from 2002-2006. I was healing myself from the heart (fourth chakra). In 2004, I kept hearing “I am ready for love”, “I am ready for love”. Astrology books said the same. I was like, no I am not! During that time, I went to see my daughter and her Mother (the first wife) and she came out of no were saying she would like to talk - she expressed that she wanted to get together. I realized that I had been prepping myself for love at that point! I had watched movies – “When Harry Met Sally” and “Xanadu”. So, I finally decided that I was ready. And low and behold, a women I was talking to invited me to her church to give a lecture in June of 2005- this was totally plutonic but something happen and by September 2005, we knew in spirit that we belonged together. In September of 2005, we got married and consummated in November of 2005.

You should write a book on love!

I have! It’s called The Love Manual – an ebook. It’s available on the website…there is no way I wouldn’t cover that story (www.dheathstore.com)

It’s amazing to see your conviction. You have stone-hard conviction. Where did your convictions come from? Where you raised Catholic, Pentecostal, Baptist, etc.?

I know it was something I was born with; it had to be cracked open. I can’t deny religious studies helped especially Islam but religion just refined me. All of us have this. Anytime we have something unique about ourselves, we were born with it. We may go through manmade institutions, but all that does is polish it and get us ready to claim it and live upon it. I know that was the case with myself with my religious studies. Christian, Hebrew, Islamic, Buddhist, Confuscionistic Principals – I studied everything under the sun. I have Neptune in Sagittarius in my natal chart. In astrological language, this means it’s like a caterpillar. The religion is the caterpillar and spirituality is the butterfly. So when you have Neptune in your natal chart, you are going to be very religious and graduate to spirituality. That’s the trait that signifies that. I have that in my natal chart so I was born with it. Went through stuff to polish it and became conscious of it. It's second nature. I am passionate about anything dear to my heart and as far as convictions…there is no other way to live.

Neptune in Sagittarius is completely above my head….my familiarity is limited.

Well, it in your natal chart. There are free internet sites out there like www.cafeastrology.com whereby you can punch in your date of birth and your chart will pop up. You can find out what sign Neptune was in at the time you were born. I was born May 4, 1970 and at that particular time, Neptune was Sagittarius. The planets are in signs in intervals of 7 years, 13 years, 19 years, etc. The year you were born will dictate what sign Neptune was in.. it may be different but it means something and it is usually positive. This helps us to learn more about ourselves. We have two personalities - the inner and the personality predicated on life experience and the blueprint is the ultimate personality.

Do you consider yourself an empath and how do you feel about empathetic spirits?

Ah man, I really came to that realization of in 2005. I know we don’t have much time but there are so many things that happened to me of a paranormal nature…it freaks people out. Because I’ve worked so hard to establish myself, lots of folks are opening up to the paranormal realm and multi-interdimensional realm. But something happened to me, beloved, starting in 2002 -2005 that just cracked me open. I started having prophetic dreams! I realized I am empathic – a commercial psychic….an Empath without a doubt.

Let’s move on to talking about your products- they are awesome. I know that you are no longer with Dherbs.com. I learned of your former company initially and shared your Full Body Detox with a lot of folks that did the full body cleanse as a result of my running my mouth. While most purveyors of nutritional products focus on vitamins, minerals, and other new wave products, your company has a stronger position for herbal products and herbal formulas. Can you share why?

 

Without a doubt because nature does not produce anything in isolated form- Let me say this, Nature does not and she would never for if she did, there would be no life on earth, we’d be dead. Because if you remove the nitrogen from oxygen (air), we'd be dead. You’re not going to find anything fragmented or dead or isolated in nature. Nature deals with the whole. Ok, we want to heal ourselves; we have to go back to whole foods. When you dealing with whole foods, its stable. It has numerous ingredients - never just one nutrient. You can’t eat an orange and just get vitamin C. Nature doesn’t do that. Nature gives you vitamin C, calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin D, amino acids, you get everything you need. When you understand the herbs compared with the supplements on the market, you find out that the herb is the plant…the plant is holistic. Man will sell you vitamin C by itself and the trip thing about that is that vitamin C is ascorbic acid. The ingredients on the bottle should say vitamin C derived from the following foods because our nutrition should be food -based. When you turn that bottle around its says…ascorbic acid and there is no ascorbic acid in nature.

Didn’t Linus Pauling use ascorbic acid in his research?

Ascorbic Acid – yes. You have acerbate…which is found in nature but ascorbic acid is a chemical. There are great researchers but even some of them miss the mark when it pertains to nature. If you are not experimenting with rosehip or hibiscus…you are going to come up short. I understanding why you don’t have scientist dealing with herbs; herbs can’t be patented. No one is going to research herbs over chemicals. Researchers are looking to invest in something that they can benefit or get a cut from.

Can’t own something already owned by the earth. Thank God folks are waking up.

Yes, some people are waking up! I have couple of videos to do on that. I just blast- I hit the solar plexus! No time for faking the funk people…time is moving guys…you’re not getting any younger. You’ve got to claim your destiny…deal with the ugly stuff…deal with the truth and move forward. We’ve got to go back to nature.

I totally agree – because I had a stress ailment in 1988 and initially, I had been this energetic person; I wanted to accomplish everything. I was going to college, singing back-up in a band, I was working full-time, had this demanding boyfriend and so my whole system just shut down. I didn’t know much about nutrition and didn’t realize how I was harming myself. I had to realize that I was responsible for this illness. Basically, I needed to undo it so that was the beginning of my journey and that is a longer story and this is your time. But I wanted to ask if there is a difference between mainstream herbal products and your products. I know your capsules are not gelatin based. What are they made from.....why are your products better?

I am always going to give you the best for less. That is the Dhealthstore.com's motto. It’s my personal motto. I believe that people should always have the best…I can’t fake the funk. I can’t own the truth and then not give it to you. So you are dealing with herbs here. Commercial grade versus my herb –there’s going to be a big difference because I am not into saving money. I am into giving you what you need so that you can get better especially in the field of health. See, with commercial companies, it’s all about profits so they are not going to give you 100 percent red clover or 100 percent red raspberry. They’re not going to do it. They are going to mix it in with silica. They are going to mix it is with some type of fibrous aid – basically, they are going to cut it. You might get 60 percent red clover and 40% saw dust, fiber, silica, and/or magnesium stearate. I am giving you 100 percent plant herb in a vegan capsule because I don’t believe in using anything from animals. I don’t like how man eats the animal and makes a whole industry off of animal by-products. So when you understand that gelatin is derived from horses, cows, and pigs, you know that goes against a certain belief of mine. So, I am not going to use anything that comes from an animal and gelatin does - gelatin does not dissolve fully as do vegetable cellulose capsules. I need to get 100 percent assimilation, digestion, and absorption of the herbs. That is what vegan capsules allow and gelatin doesn’t.

So, the vegan capsules are made from cellulose? I was wondering how you did this – Does your former operation (Dherbs.com) using gelatin capsules?

Wow, I get so many inquiries about those guys. All I can say is I really hope that they are because I got an email from someone yesterday and she let me read it. It’s like, wow, that company is really devolving. It’s unfortunate because they are learning the hard way of what the “D” in Dherbs stood for - everybody in the world knew except for them…so I step away and give these guys an opportunity. They have seven years up under me and you would think they’d know how to manage but you know what’s being revealed - it was just not in the heart…you know…like the Jesus says “The disciples will fast when I am no longer there”. They are going through their period when the soul is gone and hope they are still using the vegan capsules but I really don’t know because I left in July of 2011 and took all of my products – I took everything that belonged to Djehuty Ma’at-ra. However, the articles are still on their site so people can get the knowledge even though they removed my name. I am building a new website for Dhealthstore.com where I will place 700 of my old articles and about 50-55 new articles that I have not revealed yet. You will have the new articles as well as the old articles on the new site. It’s going to be off the chain because my new website is going to be predicated upon the metaphysical and spiritual. In the past, I wrote about the raw and mundane type things but it still helped people but where I am about to go is going to be off-the-chain. And that information is only going to be available on Dhealthstore.com. It is unfortunate to hear all the things that I hear about the former business. I always knew that those guys didn’t have it like me…they pretty much worked for me – they did administration, phone calls, shipping and stuff like that and of course I was the brain of the operation. I was the image, the spokesperson, and all of that. I was the soul of Dherbs.com but what happens is you can start making so much money that you kind of loose site of the mission and that will never happen to me because I put that in the Universe you know asking God to always protect me. He will never let money corrupt me. When I was 19 years of age, I made this conscious through prayer; well, it wasn’t pray but a decision - I just spoke to God and said I didn’t want money until twenty years from then because I saw a trend with the dope boys getting the cars and the fine women. I knew that was going to end. That didn’t move me. I said God don’t let me get money until I get a head on my shoulders – I needed some sense in my head. It didn’t take twenty years it took fifteen years so by 2005, Dherbs started to make some money and my life begin to change. By 2008, Dherbs went to multi-million status after I was on a Warren Valentine show for fifteen minutes and that changed the history of Dherbs and also changed my life as well.

Now, let’s go back to the Dherbs operation again. You had how many people working with you? I know you mentioned AD was your main partner whom you started with right?

Yes, ma’am, Ahman Dolphin (AD) and Jamel Dolphin. It was just us and then AD’s girlfriend, Catalina Hash-Kova, came on board. We had some people who came and went but by 2007, it was Samantha, Cory, Fatima, Kimmy and then Tonya. So we had about eight employees.

I do remember that and it was great. It’s whatever the universe sees as fit. But it would be great if your former partners could figure it out and bring the soul back. They should figure out the appropriate direction because if not they going to lose.

Without a doubt they are going to lose. You know the heart is not right but AD is really a good person; he just got “out of blocks”. I told him if you don’t get your life together, you are going to lose everything. He also has Saturn in Taurus…I have Saturn in Taurus so we both have great work ethic. However, that brother has too many financial problems and fears….too much fear. A lot of people don’t know that the Universe will give you the desires of your heart. My desire was having ultimate freedom and I am a wild and crazy person when it comes to business – that’s my success. Now, I also am going to do things from the world like study business, corporate law, I love to study…so I got the mundane business thing mastered but I got that new age business model mastered where you use universal law. Think big and you dream and you do different things; don’t follow other people, you are a trendsetter. That is me. That scared the hell out of my Dherbs partners. I say its draining having to continuously build people up because they won’t take to time to work on self like I did. There were a lot of variables that led to the break-up of Dherbs so I don’t regret it a single day. I am at the peak of existence in business on planet earth right now…Jupiter is in Taurus – it has been in there for since June. It's going to be in there for a whole year and when you have Jupiter in Taurus you have expansion of the material and let me tell you. In seven months, Dhealthstore is where Dherbs was in its zenith – it took me seven years to get Dherbs up to this point. In seven months, Dhealthstore is where Dherbs was in its hay day. I have fifteen employees in a 1000 square foot facility. Dherbs had a 5500 square foot facility – My former partners have moved out due to poverty consciousness. The rent was like $5,500 per month. When I left and AD was in charge, poverty consciousness was in charge so they moved to a smaller building and they are only saying $2,500 dollars…that doesn’t make sense when you are making over $100,000 per month. What are they afraid of?