Plant Allies for Ancestral Healing

I remember sitting alone as a kid, with my well-loved books on working with herbs open in front of me, and feeling like I was being gathered up not just by the stories of the plants themselves, but by something else alongside the green wisdom I was so eager for. I couldn't tell you what half the ingredients were in the botanical skincare book I was reading or yet identify a Peppermint (Mentha piperita) plant from a Sage (Salvia officinalis) from my gardening book, but I could tell that this feeling of being held was a good thing, a needed thing, a healing thing. I now reflect on these moments, where I experienced respite from the loneliness that can haunt strange kids, and recognize my ancestors drawing near and sheltering my curiosity of my plant kin so that it might grow into the life I live now. The books I was reading weren't full of ancestral magick (except for the occasional mention of "ancient people believed this plant to protect against lightning"), but reciting the names of plants worked like a spell, calling forth my ancient people, who understand the power of knowing a plant's name.

While I feel fortunate to have been introduced to working with ancestors as a path of healing early on in my life, I am fascinated and filled with hope by the ways that modern therapeutic practice is embracing the need to heal our ancestral lines, whether we call it epigenetics, inherited trauma or that story our great grandma used to tell. Of course, healing the ancestral line is not a new practice - this is an old path of healing, that some of us have been lucky enough to be raised in and others of us are getting to experience through renewed traditions. It makes my work as an herbalist easier, too, when folks come to me with some familiarity to the idea that the fears and anxieties their ancestors felt, especially from big traumatic experiences, have shaped all of us in all sorts of ways.

Before I was ever introduced to the concept of inherited trauma and epigenetics, however, I understood that some of the plants I was using today had been used by some of my ancestors for hundreds of years, and while I couldn't, as a child, give you a complex explanation of what that meant, I knew it was meaningful. While there is healing that takes place on a physical level through mediums like surgical interventions, appropriate medication, the tending of wounds, the healing that takes place on an emotional and mental level needs, amongst other things, meaning. It is meaningful, even if we don't know our ancestors' names, speak their language or have been offered any of their stories, to work with plants that our ancestors would recognize and feel at home with.

image via @appolinary_kalashnikova

Working with plants has always felt like ancestral practice because I started working with herbs as a way to reclaim and reconnect with the ways my ancestors. When I began practicing as an herbalist, and especially when I started working with other people of the global majority, especially mixed folks like myself, ancestral work and healing became increasingly centered in my work. For me, ancestral plant work starts with honoring plants as our ancestors - plants having watched our species evolve - so that every cup of tea can be a way of acknowledging the presence of and welcoming our ancestors in. One of the simplest ways to start an ancestral healing practice is to set out a cup of tea for your ancestors, inviting them in to enjoy it with you, every time you make a cup for yourself. 

If you are interested in developing an ancestral healing practice with plants as your allies, the following suggestions come from the plants themselves, my own experiences, and from plant folk who've shared them with me. I share them with you now in hopes of inspiring your own ancestral healing practice, as well as supporting the ancestral healing work of the communities you serve.

image via @andrewshelley

Work with ancient plants as your ancestors

If you feel called to honor plants as ancestral spirits, you can work with ancient plants. A few years ago I was in a particularly hard stretch of examining, trying to name, as well as make sense of some of my family’s inherited trauma. I held a complex pain as I sat with these stories of knowing they were incomplete, that I didn’t know many of my ancestor’s names or where even where they came from. I had started working with Rose (Rosa spp.) daily around this time and at one point felt a very clear sense of Rose as ancestor, helping to fill in those gaps of knowledge with their gentle wisdom. I later learned that Rose is an ancient plant species, having been around for millions of years before our modern human species. This experience with Rose changed my relationship with plants within ancestral healing as not just herbs that our ancestors used, but as ancestors themselves, having evolved before and with us as a species.

I consider ancient plants to be species that we know have been with us for millions of years or plants that are particularly long-lived. Ancient plants include Rose (Rosa spp.) and Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) both of which you can work with as ancestor spirits to help you connect with your own ancestral line. There is something powerful about sitting in deep reverence with a plant like Rose who has watched us grow and evolve as a species. You're essentially connecting with Rose as the Mighty Dead in order to seek out your known and unknown Beloved Dead. Long-lived trees like Oak (Quercus spp.), Yew (Taxus spp.), and Redwoods (Sequoia spp.) are also good options as well as the ancient plants of folklore such as Mugwort (Artemisia spp.) which is known as the oldest of herbs in Anglo-Saxon lore. 

Working with ancient plants can include using them internally (i.e. teas, tinctures, food, and so on) and externally (i.e. baths, incense, herbal oils, and so on), creating altars, charms, and talismans featuring your ancient plant ally, writing poetry, creating art, journaling with them, dancing and singing with them, and whatever else you're called to do. As I mentioned in the introduction, you can leave out a cup of tea for your ancestors whenever you make one for yourself as a way to invite your ancestors into your home, your practice, and to offer them to participate in healing your ancestral lines (or just have a bit of a chat). You can make this into a deeper practice, by choosing to do this everyday, combined with some sort of meditative activity, for a few days to a full cycle of the Moon.

What I love about working with plants as ancestors is that it helps those of us who do not have direct connection with our ancestral lines or complicated ancestors who we are struggling to connect with, to still work with ancestral healing. Working with ancient plants is a wonderful community practice, especially when working with a group of folks from a mix of ethnicities.

Work with plants within your heritage

Another way to approach ancestral healing work is to work with plants that you either know for certain or can make an informed guess that your (cultural, ethnic, and/or spiritual) ancestors used. This idea is part of many modern Pagan traditions which encourage practitioners to connect with their ancestors through plants, places, food, songs, and anything that would be familiar to their ancient people. Where this idea of ancestral plants for present-day healing really became centered for me was when I was during my training as a doula (birth labor assistant) and my teacher spoke to the healing that can happen when you use foods and herbs with your pregnant client that would be familiar to their genetic line. She spoke of it as a way to help a birthing person connect with the lineage and strength of birthing people before them through inviting ancestors in through the food and herbs they eat during pregnancy. It is a view of healing I've carried with me throughout my herbal practice.

Besides explicit exploration of your own or a client's ancestral and plant medicine heritage, if I have a few similar plants that I am considering offering to a client, sometimes I end up choosing one that is an ancestral plant for them. I've seen a lot of magick happen between plant and person when the story of how this plant has been working with their family and cultural line for generations is finally able to be told and heard. Reintroducing Turmeric (Curcuma longa) to someone as not just a plant they saw their dad cooking with as a child, but a plant with deep-rooted ancestral meaning can be powerful stuff. Working with plants that your ancestors would've known can be one of the ways of addressing epigenetic trauma as you're partaking in a medicine that is familiar to your body and the bodies of (at least some of) your ancestors on a genetic level. 

image via @jplenio

Work with trance plants

You can also work with plants that help to induce transcendent states to help you connect with your ancestors more directly. I'm not speaking about entheogenic plants, but herbs that are often classified as dream plants in traditional western herbal and magickal tradition. Plants like Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) are good options. For example, I use Mugwort to help bring about dreams where I connect with my ancestors or to deepen my meditation, divination, and/or trancework practice where connecting to my ancestors is the goal. I do think that these herbs work best when you already have a meditation and/or trancework practice already in place and if you're looking to develop either or those, breathwork is a good place to start.

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I hope you've found some inspiration for your ancestral healing practice. To be perfectly honest, it doesn't matter what plants you are working with - I think the most powerful way of working with plants in ancestral work is to view them as partners in calling in and making space for your ancestors.

If you're looking for more inspiration for developing a herbal healing practice, come this way. You can also peruse my collection of plant profiles to see if one speaks to your ancestral line. If you want to not only connect with your ancestors but your ancient self, I have a tarot spread for that. And if you want a classic, Samhain-inspired ancestor reading, I have a tarot spread for that, too. If you’re looking for a collection of Moon-centered rituals to support your ancestral practice, check out The Moonfolk Book of Shadows.

May your explorations of ancestral healing bear fruit while healing your roots.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Daily Weekly Monthly: Developing a Rhythm of Herbal Practice

One of the reasons that I've written so much about the ways that we measure and observe time, from seasonal to astrological practices, is that there is so much to learn about ourselves, our world, and our interconnectedness through how we experience time and space. Within herbal practice, and especially earth-centered herbal practice which seeks to work in partnership with the land, sea, and sky as opposed to the hyper-commodification of plants as abstract cure-alls, beyond trying to connect people with specific plants there is a lot of attention is given to how one is experiencing time. It's not unusual to be asked questions about the length of time you've felt unwell, how much time you spend sleeping, time you spend working, times when you feel anxious, times when you feel well, and so on when in an herbal consultation. Many herbalists want to know not just about the quality of the symptoms and discomforts that have brought you into their consultation room, but the quality of time as you experience it.

Asking about time helps us to make recommendations of care beyond herbal remedies, including spending more time resting, less time scrolling on screens, seeking quality time with a mental health practitioner, and more. In my experience, most folks just want to decrease the amount of time they are suffering and increase the amount of time they feel well. So, we talk about time and the practices that a client might incorporate into their life that helps them feel more empowered by time and less overrun by it. 

One of the ways that I work with clients and students in developing a conscious connection with time in their herbal practice is considering when and how to use different types of herbal remedies. Much of this is just part of the foundational training of an herbalist: some herbs are more appropriate to take a very specific times for very specific time periods (such as immunostimulants and antiviral plants at higher dosages for shorter periods of time for acute infection) while other plants, like culinary herbs and spices, can be used more often. Additionally, considering time in your herbal practice is one of the ways that we begin to understand and apply preventative care in our lives which can go a long way in lessening and preventing illness and suffering while increasing a sense of wellbeing.

How do you think about time in your healing practice? In U.S. English, a common phrases used to talk about time include "time well spent" or "spending time.” While "spending time" is not a good or bad phrase, it can be interesting to experiment with other ways of talking about time. Instead of time well spent, which can feel like we are always meant to be productive with our time and time is simply another form of currency, I invite you to think about experiencing time as well worn, time well experienced, time shared, and time well loved. How do those phrases feel to you in comparison to thinking about time in the context of "spending" it? What are ways of envisioning and talking about time that feel empowering or oppressive? It can be an interesting practice to come up with different ways of considering time and creating conversations about time not only in the consult room but in our personal practices as well.

In addition to thinking about time in your life, there is the practical ways that we incorporate different herbs at different times. Below you'll find some of my simple recommendations for how you might work with herbs on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. These are simple guidelines that focus on general health and preventative care and look a lot different to an herbal routine for acute conditions. These guidelines are only one approach to herbal practice and are meant to help you think about the rhythm of your herbal practice rather than be prescriptive rules to follow. As always, work with your health care practitioners to determine the most supportive course for your unique health needs.

Tarot deck shown is the Moon Baby Tarot (2nd Edition) by Brant Palazzo

Daily

For daily herbalism, I tend to focus on two categories of herbs: nutritives and nervines. The types of nutritive and nervine herbs that I like to use in daily practice are ones that are not only considered generally safe, but are best used over a long period of time. Nutritives are herbs which have a strong nourishing quality, often containing high levels of vitamins and minerals. Examples of nutritive herbs are Nettles (Urtica dioica), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Alfalfa (Medicago farfara), Turmeric (Curcuma longa), and Chickweed (Stellaria media). Many kitchen herbs (i.e. spices and herbs used for flavoring meals) are nutritive in value, too, and can be enjoyed on a daily basis. 

Nervines have a beneficial effect on the nervous system. While most nervines are relaxing, some are more sedating, others are stimulating, and some are considered balancing (i.e. nervous system tonics). I tend to recommend relaxing nervines and nervous system tonics though plenty of folks already include stimulating tonics (i.e. Coffee arabica and Camellia sinensis) in their daily routine. Examples of relaxing nervines and tonics include Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Lavender (Lavandula spp.), and Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata).

For many of my clients, one or two of these types of herbs will be included in my recommendations for them as having a daily herbal practice that is nourishing and nutritive is an important part of the healing process. Many of these herbs are also ones that students of traditional and modern western herbalism are introduced to early in their studies because they are such a foundational part of our practice.

I also pay attention to the ways I can incorporate seasonal herbs into my own and my clients’ daily practices. Chickweed, for example, shows up in the garden every spring and that's when I use it fresh in my daily tea as it's not a plant that stores well once dried (though it makes a lovely herbal vinegar if you’re looking to extend its healing qualities). Working with seasonal herbs is an invitation to observe and connect more deeply with the land and our plant allies.

Finally, one of ways that I feel-think about a daily herbal practice is that these remedies are the breath of my practice - a steady breath that allows me to meet myself, my community, and whatever the day may bring.

Cards shown are from the Dirt Gems Oracle by Anne Louise Burdett & Chelsea Granger

Weekly

With our daily practice established, what might a once-a-week herbal rhythm look like? Topical treatments like herbal masks and oils, steams, shower rinses, and baths are some of my favorite once or twice a week practices. Here is where we work with herbs a little more slowly than with teas or tinctures, and can experience more immersive sensations in our herbal practice.

I love herbal baths of all varieties and practicing self-massage with herbal oils is a simple and restorative way to not only support our nervous system, but nourish our largest organ - our skin. You can make these weekly rituals as simple or complex as you like (Make an altar! Light those candles! Write that time-sensitive email while your face is covered in Moon-blessed herbal powder and clay!), but think of the ways you can make space to slow down and be in your practice amidst the busyness of daily life. Some of my favorite herbs for bath and body are Rose (Rosa spp.), Lavender (Lavandula spp.), and Calendula (Calendula officinalis).

Once or twice a week can also be a beautiful time to bless your space with herbal incense or washes. One of my favorite herbs for burning is my local Mugwort (Artemisia spp.) variety.

For me, a weekly herbal practice motion and movement to the breath of daily practice. What am I moving into? What am I moving away from? What is moving within and around me?

Deck shown is the Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck in a Tin

Monthly

For monthly practices I focus on spiritual rituals and hormonal support. Herbs used in a monthly practice might be, but are not always, ones that have a more intense effect on our bodies and would not be appropriate for everyday use. If you are feeling like your herbal studies or practice is very much in your head space and you want to draw your practice down into your body, connecting with the plants on a less academic and more somatic level, I recommend creating a monthly practice as a path of connection.

As someone who loves a lunar practice, I try to make space each month for simple herbal rituals tied to certain lunar phases or returns. This might be a lunar bath, ritual, or gentle cleansing rite, but it is a time to step between the worlds and connect with the spirits of land, the deep needs of the dreaming body, ancestral lineages, and my own magickal practice. Sabbats and other special celebrations fall under this monthly category for me, too. What your monthly practice looks like will be entirely up to you, your spiritual needs, your cultural traditions, and so on, and if you don't have a practice like this already I hope you have fun discovering your very own version. 

In addition to a monthly spiritual practice, hormonal support might also be something you consider, especially if you menstruate or experience a monthly hormonal cycle. What these hormone regulating herbs look like will be different for each person, but in general, I love working with Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and Crampbark (Viburnum opulus). 

The monthly herbal practice is where we allow ourselves to be held by energies beyond our own effort, brought there by the movement and breath of our weekly and daily practice.

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This post is part of a series exploring some of the broad themes of herbal practice in the consultation room that started with Night Allies: Herbs for Sleeping and Dreaming. If you're looking for more seasonal guides to help you develop the rhythm of your herbal practice you can find them over here and you can also check out my series on the seasons of the zodiac, too, another interesting and mythic way of observing time.

I hope you're feeling inspired to explore what your herbal practice looks like through days, weeks, and months, and that you find the unique rhythm of your own healing path.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

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Cards Shown

Moon Baby Tarot (2nd Edition) by Brant Palazzo
Dirt Gems Oracle by Anne Louise Burdett & Chelsea Granger
Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck in a Tin

The Sliding Scale: How To Implement a Sliding Price Scale Online

I love writing about the sliding scale and financial accessibility, but I didn't expect that my two previous posts on the subject would not only be some of my most read of mine, connecting me to lovely folks all over the world. There's still a big need for resources on the sliding scale and financial accessibility in business so I'm working on expanding my original posts into a bigger community course (i.e. a donation-based course on sliding scale, financial accessibility, and thinking about money in a way that makes sense for you and your community). If that sounds like something you're interested in then sign up for my newsletter for updates.

In the meantime, I wanted to write a short post on one of the questions I've been getting again and again: 

A sliding scale sounds great, but how do I implement one on my website?

First of all - great question! There are a few options that I've used myself and come across online. Of course, anything you choose to do depends on the type of platform you're using, so I've tried to keep my recommendations general enough to allow for their usefulness across multiple platforms. However, no matter how you end up offering a sliding scale online, a lot of the success of your clients using the scale in a way that benefits you both is by being clear about your expectations and parameters of use. You can learn more about these things in the first, second, and third part of the sliding scale and financial access series. Now, on to the practical bits!

image via @ninaluong

Managed vs Unmanaged

If your platform allows it, the easiest way to implement a sliding scale is to list multiple price tiers for a single item with each price corresponding to one part of your sliding scale. There are two variations to this: the unmanaged sliding scale and the managed sliding scale. An umanaged sliding scale would mean that you offer your service from $0 on up without restrictions on either end (i.e. someone can pay $5 for a service while another person pays $65 and there is no minimum or cap to what someone can pay). You'll sometimes see this type of sliding scale called "Name Your Price" or "No One Turned Away for Lack of Funds." Some online shop platforms allow a Name Your Price option, but if yours doesn't a workaround is to use a third party platform to set up a donation button for your services where folks choose their own price that way. I have a donation button set-up on my support the work page if you want to see an example of this (and some questionable poetry).

I have used the unmanaged sliding scale model both online and in-person in the past and found that clients have found the amount of un-guided choice to be very stressful which is why I tend to use a managed sliding scale. A managed sliding scale involves listing a few prices that you choose and that reflect different points on your sliding scale (i.e. $5 for the low end of the scale, $10 for the middle, and $15 for the top end). Managed sliding scales can be as wide or narrow as you like and you can see an example of a wider sliding scale on my Begin With the Breath course and a narrower sliding scale for my Solace course. You can also check out my old listing for my Samhain Oracle where I listed out dollar amounts from $1 to $21. I talk more about the managed sliding scale and why I like it over here.

image via @jorae

Discount Codes

The other way to offer your sliding scale online is to list one standard price and then offer discount codes for folks to use to access different parts of the sliding scale. I first learned about this technique within the world of knitters  (specifically through Jessa Maed who now offers access to discount codes once you sign-up for their mailing list which is a great way to build a newsletter community). You can see an example of a sliding scale accessed via discount code on Francoise Danoy's Aroha Knits page (also, you're welcome, dear readers who are also knitters and who have not yet discovered Francoise's or Jessa's knits). I recently used this technique for my annual fundraiser - where I sold a series of ebooks - and on the backend it was super easy to implement and folks seemed to find it easy to use. Here is the language that I used on my listing:

• Check out my Sliding Scale Guide below to help you find the price for you. The suggested price is $9. You are invited to pay less or pay more as you are able.

• The current listing price is set at $12 which is the Pay-It-Forward price.

• Use the coupon code JOYFUL to purchase at $9.

• Use the coupon code ABUNDANT to purchase at $3.

image via @dirtjoy

The Language of Your Scale

The language we use around money, financial access, and our sliding scales is one of the ways you help folks not only understand your own values, but a way to help folks feel empowered. I'm always adjusting the language on my course sales pages as I learn how to more clearly articulate how to use the sliding scale, why I use the sliding scale, and the feeling of confidence I hope folks feel when they're engaging with my sliding scale. It is a constant work in progress and I even spent a long time trying to figure out for this post if "managed" versus "unmanaged" was too formal and binary but then reminded myself that I can use the language I have right now and adjust again in the future.

For me, it's important to try and tie the concept of my scale and pricing to the greater Worts & Cunning learning community, so I use words like "support" and "community supported" to describe different levels of my scale (you can see this in action for my Solace and The Plant Ally Library courses). I also use the concept of Pay It Forward in my sliding scale because it feels empowering to folks who have the means to not only access a course they want to take but help others access it, too. Here is the current language I use for my sliding scale:

• Standard Membership: The actual cost of the course

• Supported Membership: For students on the low end of the sliding scale

• Extra Support Membership: The most supported membership price for those on the lowest end of the sliding scale. (This is only available for part of the year - see details below.)

• Pay It Forward Membership: Cost of the course plus a little extra to help create access to the course

Through my sliding scale I hope to communicate to folks that I want to support their ability to access my work and want them to feel welcomed in from the start of their journey as a student in my courses. As you create and adjust your sliding scale its important to not only keep in mind the financial parameters of the exchange but what you're feeling about your sliding scale and how people are using it as well as how you hope those accessing your sliding scale might be feeling.

Expanding and Contracting Your Sliding Scale

At different points of the year, I extend my sliding scale options for folks who need extra financial support and this allows me to create deeper access in a way that is also sustainable for my business. I announce sales, extended sliding scale, and payment plans at the end of one calendar year for the next calendar year which helps to reduce feelings of scarcity or pressure buying. For example, twice a year you can access Solace, which is a $36 course, at an "Extra Support Membership" of $12. I make sure that information is posted about this year round on the FAQ as well as the Creating Access section of the Solace sales page.  

Either version of a managed or unmanaged sliding scale (or a mildly managed sliding scale to be more accurate) can have boundaries put in place including limits around how many tickets, sessions, products or whatever it is that you offer are available at each price point. I go into this more on my post How to Make the Sliding Scale Better for You & Your Clients but essentially with a managed sliding scale you can say that three spots are available at $5 versus five spots available at $10 while a unmanaged sliding scale might look more like three spots are available at the $5 and under option and five spots are available within the $6 to $10 range and so on. I host my classes through teachable and they allow you to cap enrollment for different price points and I'm sure other online course hosts offer the same. I especially like creating these boundaries with my sliding scale for my in-person offerings where I have to cover expenses like travel, renting a space, class supplies, and so on.

I've expanded and contracted my sliding scale through the seasons for a few years now and I enjoy the rhythm of knowing that I can create more access in as stress-free and sustainable a way as possible. As you experiment with what works for you, know that your sliding scale and the way that you exchange money for resources and define your pricing is a living energy within your business that needs to be honored, changed, and adjusted as needed. 

Some questions to consider when incorporating a sliding scale into your practice:

Why do I want to use a sliding scale?

What form of sliding scale feels the most supportive to me and my community? 

What worries me about using the sliding scale?

What excites or interests me most about using the sliding scale?

How does using the sliding scale support my ability to create a sustainable and values-aligned practice?

How do you want a possible client to feel when they are learning about and participating in your sliding scale?

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These are the easiest ways I have seen the sliding scale implemented online, but let me know in the comments if you do things a different way. This post was inspired by questions left in the comments of my previous sliding scale posts, so if you have questions about the sliding scale, implementation, and financial accessibility in general, leave them down in the comments and I'll get to them as I can.  

Thank you for all of your support, encouragement, and kind words about my work around the sliding scale and especially for letting me know that so many of you have found it useful. That's the best feedback and I hope you find the system that supports your ability to thrive in your work. 

As we imagine a culture beyond the confines of capitalism, I hope that you’re able to access these visions of a more just and more kind world with greater ease and steadfastness. May our acorn dreams be the trees which shelter our descendants.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤ Thanks, friends. ❤

Finding Balance: Traditional Western Herbalism Energetics in Practice

In part three of my series on the elemental energetics of traditional western herbalism, we’re putting what we’ve learned in part one and part two into practice. If you haven’t read them yet, please start with the first two parts of the series to help you understand the practices I’ll be exploring below.

Let’s begin by helping ground us in the process of sacred inquiry. I want to help you move the four elements from a place of theory, only to be thought about, into a place of being felt in your life and practice. So, I invite you to orient yourself towards each element through the compass directions they correspond with beginning with Air in the East, Water in the West, Earth in the North for the northern hemisphere, South for the southern, and Fire in the South for the northern hemisphere, and North for the southern hemisphere. Practicing with the elements tied to the four directions has helped me to ground my practice and what can feel abstract (such as the zodiac being mystical animals and creatures floating in the stars somewhere out there) to something I can literally turn to and face and know both within and without.

The Elemental Compass Meditation

Preferably performing this elemental compass exercise outside, as you turn to each direction observe both what is in your immediate environment as well as the global environment. Start by facing to the East, the direction Air, and of the rising sun. What do you observe in this direction both in your surroundings and in your internal landscape? Do you have ancestors that travelled from the East to the place you are now? When you consider the qualities of the East (new beginnings, impetus, all forms of communication, individual identity, and inspiration) and Air what comes up for you?

Next turn to the South and the direction of Fire if you are in the northern hemisphere or to the North if you are in the southern hemisphere. Ask yourself the same questions that you asked in the East. The direction of Fire is a place of creativity and justice, desire and willpower.

Continue to the West, the direction of Water, and proceed as before. The West is a place of dreams and intuition, the worlds beyond, and the collective consciousness.

Turn to the North and the direction of Earth if you are in the northern hemisphere and the South if you are in the southern hemisphere. The direction of Earth is a place of foundations and manifesting, of the cycle life, death, decay, and renewal, and of all things physical.

Finally, journey to the center of your compass and take time to stretch deep below, like the roots of a tree. Stretch high above, like the branches of the tree reaches up to the sky. And finally pull deep within to find all the worlds swirling together.

After any kind of meditation like this it is important to do something grounding and centering (like stretching or moving your body gently or eating and drinking something). Be sure to jot down some notes about the experience if you feel called as these observations can be interesting and useful to revisit. Or don’t, because that is just fine too, and not everything needs to be written down.

Another way to do this meditation is to sit with each of the directions at different points of the night and day. So begin at sunrise facing the East, return to the South (or North) at noon when the sun is at its peak, face the West at sunset, and return to the North (or South) at midnight.

A System of Measurements

When we use an elements based system in our herbal practice we are, in a broad sense, using elemental terms to understand and describe what we need and what we wish to release in a language that is less weighed down with judgement than some of the other words we might've been given. Instead of denigrating the way that someone has energy that is slower (something which is devalued in capitalism-driven culture like in the USA), we can honor this slow energy as manifestation of the Element of Earth within us, whole and holy. If we feel the need for it, we can invite in energizing Fire or Air herbs and activities to appropriately speed up energy systems that may be moving too slowly for our wellbeing. To work with the elements, whether the four sacred elements as presented below or elemental traditions within your own cultural frameworks, is to humble yourself to the mystery of both the profound (the elemental building blocks of all life in the universe) to the everyday (the elements that went into building the screen that you're now reading this on or in the making of the food you've eaten today). 

There are multiple approaches to how you might incorporate the four elements in your own herbal, healing, astrological, and/or magickal practice. It can be as simple or as complex as you want, guided more by intuition or relying more on tradition - it's up to you. As you work with the four elements in your life and practice your understanding of them will shift and change the more you engage with this part of traditional western herbalism. 

Primarily, the four elements are a system of measurement. In the simplest terms, and in a way that our traditional western herbalism ancestors would recognize, the elements measure excess and deficiency in the body. When I speak of the body I am describing the wholeness of someone's experience - the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and so on - as well as how their inner world reflects their outer world and vice versa. The four elements are not only used to describe a person's inherent constitutions and experience of life, but they are also used to describe a plant's energetics as well as the energetics of a disease. Ginger (Zingiber officinalis), with its heating qualities and spicy flavor, is an herb of Fire, just as a fever would be considered an illness with excess Fire, or a person who is prone to dry skin has a lot of Fire in their inherent constitution.

Beginning in your own life you can start to explore what elements are predominant, lacking, weakened, in excess or somewhat neutral for you. You can do this in a number of ways from looking at your birth chart and seeing what element(s) are most represented or by reading the above descriptions and finding yourself in the illustrations of each element. Or by trusting your own self-awareness and intuition. After exploring the elements within your own constitution you can begin to find them in the world around you from plants, to illnesses and health imbalances, as well as other people and creatures. This awareness helps us to practice the important skill of remediation or finding ways to bring healing energies into a situation in order to bring about a state of balance and wellness.

Elemental Remediation in Practice

At its most basic level, remediation is the process of strengthening or diluting the energies of one or more of the four elements present in a body. Below I've posted examples of remediation techniques for each element, so you can begin to get an idea for how you might intentionally incorporate the four elements into your healing work. 

background image via @lukaszlada

Remediating Air

Excess Air: Hyperactive and hypersensitive. Thin, balding, dry skin, poor circulation due to inability to retain heat. Flighty, indecisive, talkative, anxious, obsessive. Social media and technology addiction. Poor listening skills. Symptoms of dis-ease may include 8 gas and flatulence. Remedies of Earth. Roots and berries. Vitamins, minerals, and salt baths. Warm food and environments. Moistening herbs such as demulcents and nervines of all sorts. Art and movement based therapy to channel excess Air energy. Alternatively, stillness and silence. Uninterrupted sleep and dream therapy. Meditation. Calming music. Some Water therapies to soften the overtaxed nervous system and neural pathways. 

Lack of Air: Tension and heaviness. Sluggishness and weakness. Lack of circulation and oxygenation. Asthma, tight chest, feeble lung capacity, weak heart, low blood pressure. Indecisive. Lack of willpower and imagination. Poor communication skills. Social anxiety. Remedies might include meditative breathing exercises. Getting fresh air. Travel. Air-borne remedies including sacred incense and aromatherapy diffusers. Brain tonic herbs, circulatory tonics, and lung tonics. Laughing. Speech therapy. Educational activities and challenges (including brain training apps). 

background image via @77timon

Remediating Fire

Excess Fire: Hot, sometimes sweaty (with water in the chart) or atrophied (with air in the chart), dehydrated. Angry, agitated, irritated, inflamed, compulsive. Out-of-control, attention-seeker, adrenaline addict. Hyperactivity. Sensitivity to sunlight, sunburn, and sunstroke. Violent dreams. High blood pressure, heart attacks, aneurysms. Symptoms of dis-ease include inflammation, dry and flaking skin, fevers, boils, acne, chronic infection, and insomnia. Remedies of Water. Sedating and refrigerant herbs. Liver tonics. Cold and cool foods and environments. Anger management. Quiet and reflective activities including meditation, gentle swimming, calming yoga, and being still. 

Lack of Fire: Weak-willed and lacking desire for life. Low libido, low blood pressure, infertility. Depressed, lacking self-worth, bored. Poor digestion and assimilation of nutrients. Lack of creativity. Feeling purposeless. Inefficient body temperature regulation. Cold extremities and extra sensitivity to cold. Remedies include warm and hot food, drink, and environments. Spices and stimulating herbs. Blood-building herbs and digestive tonics. Exercise. Art therapy and classes. Exciting music, movies, and performances. Be sure to give fire something to ground in (earth remedies), be fed by (air remedies), and be tempered by (water remedies). 

background image via Aaron Burden

Remediating Water

Excess Water: Weepy, emotionally overwhelmed, and ungrounded. Tends towards daydreaming and childlike behaviors. Weak personality. Dependency, co-dependency, and addiction. Stagnation and too much damp. Compromised lymph nodes and glands. Tendency to sleep too much and drowsiness. Poor muscle tone, weak bones, teeth, and cartilage. Excess unwanted weight. Symptoms of dis-ease include water retention, bloating, sluggishness, weight gain, tenderness and swelling, excess fluids, growths and tumors. Remedies of a Fire nature including warm food and environments. Spices, including spiced tea. Avoid cold and wet foods. Sunbathing. Warm colors and heat lamps. Astringents and circulatory tonics. Warming movement and exercise. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Affirmations and positive reinforcement. 

Lack of Water: Dry, tense, over-exhausted nervous system, emotionally out-of-touch or unexpressive, insensitive. Cries very little or difficulty crying. Always thirsty Lack of fluids. Dry digestion and constipation. Symptoms of dis-ease include dry mouth, lack of lubrication, scant menses, and low libido. Remedies should be water-based including fluid based remedies (especially teas and baths) and time spent in and around bodies of water. Swimming. Moistening herbs such as demulcents and oily nervines. Aphrodisiacs. Investing in the welfare of others. Avoid dehydrated, processed, and salty food. Fresh fruits and vegetables including their juices. Meditation. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

background image via @whale

Remediating Earth

Excess Earth: Overly serious, dullness of mind, body, and spirit, bored, lethargic, and aloof. Heaviness and sluggishness. Conditions of stagnation including constipation, tumors, hard growths, and scar tissue. Skin and cartilage conditions including dandruff, eczema, brittle nails and teeth. Build-up of toxins physically and emotionally. Deeply buried trauma. Unresponsive to stimuli. Difficulty crying. Excess Earth dis-eases are often chronic and long lasting. Remedies of all the other elements. Fire to warm up and stimulate energy and movement in the body. Air for mental stimulation and reconnecting with vision to alleviate boredom. Water for emotional softness and expression. Avoid rich, fried, and processed foods. Address habits of excess including overeating, oversleeping, and procrastination (aka chronic avoidance). Bodywork to move energy including acupuncture and pressure points. Travel and trying new things. Doing that which feels scary and impossible. 

Lack of Earth: Ungrounded, indecisive, disconnected, easily confused, low energy and stamina. General weakness. Lack of willpower and feeling of security. Symptoms of lack of earth diseases include hypo-conditions, malnutrition, poor appetite, indigestion, and low immunity. Always sick. Tend towards coldness. Vitamin and mineral deficiency. Remedies of Earth including learning to ground and center, developing will power, mineral therapies, including eating mineral-rich foods and taking mineral baths. Massage and healing touch. Working with earth, clay, and stone. Forestbathing. Developing consistency and a regular rhythm of living. Body-centered and strengthening exercises including yoga and weight-lifting. Rich and nourishing food that is beautiful to behold. All herbs. Body-affirming practices including learning to become allied with the physical form, self-blessings, attention to dress and appearance centered in self-love.

An Elemental Remediation Example

Let's put some of what we've explored together into practice. While an herbal consult is complex and typically involves being able to sit with a person and observe them in real time as well as taking a case history, we can still practice our skills from the following short description I’ve provided below of our client, Aspen.

Of course, the art of reading a birth chart within a healing context is multilayered and complex. For our purposes, we’re focusing on a very small, but very useful aspect of the birth chart - Aspen’s inherent elemental balance or how each element is present in Aspen’s life since the moment of her birth. Starting with the four elements is a great way to begin looking at birth charts without feeling overwhelmed by the all the information staring back at you.

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Our sample birth chart was created via astro.com

Aspen just feels a bit blah. There doesn't seem to be any spice or excitement to her day and her level of interest in her old hobbies and activities seems to have disappeared. She's 29, described herself as generally in good health and works at a job she enjoys but it is a very high stress career and also feels like she has been there for a long time (15 years). She recently ended a 4 year relationship with her boyfriend because they had become more friends than lovers. She doesn't feel particularly depressed (people in her family don't get depressed she tells you), but getting up in the morning is difficult and she feels groggy most of the day, but in the evenings when she is trying to wind down for bed she is wide awake. Aspen wants her energy back and to feel excited and interested in life again. She feels like she used to know what she wanted to do in her life, but now feels adrift. She has a ragweed allergy. 

First, let's look at what Aspen has shared with us and what stands out in her consultation:

• She is feeling restless at work, maybe ready to move on to something new.

• She's recently out of a relationship which lost its romantic spark.

• She's lacking energy, mornings are hard.

• Family legacy of not allowing space for sadness (and perhaps, other "sad people" traits like resting or admitting to feeling dissatisfied or making radical changes to their life that go against the norm).

• She wants to feel energized, excited, and interested in life.

• She's feeling a bit adrift and ungrounded.

Let's look at her chart. We can see that Fire and Water are the most expansive and influential elements in her chart. Both her Moon sign (Scorpio) and Ascendant (Pisces) are in Water, while her Sun is in the Fire sign of Aries. The more personal planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars) are also in Fire or Water signs. Chiron is also in the Fire sign of Leo. She has some Earth coming through in her chart with Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and her North Node and only Saturn in an Air sign. 

In her chart there is affirmation (or testimony to use the classic astrology term) that there is a lack of Air energy needed to move energy around, spark ideas, and help to lift her from the humdrum. It's not to say that she is condemned to always be uninspired (she has lots of creative Water and Fire to support creativity), it just means that when she gets in these funks or places of stagnation in her life, she needs to actively cultivate Air energy to help her get out of them. She also spends way more time on social media than she likes which can be that lack of inherent Air energy searching for stimulation. Lots of Water and Fire in a chart can create the environment of a really pleasant and warm bath that can be soothing, but can also create drowsy, sometimes complacent energy that turns to stagnation (hard time getting up in the morning, restlessness mixed with inertia, lack of excitement, etc).

My heart is also concerned for Aspen's ability to just be sad and discontent - things that may have been shamed or restricted in her younger life. We all need to feel our feelings, but Pisces Ascendant folks are shaped by the currents of their emotional experience in beautifully profound ways. When supported properly can do great magick when it comes to developing their emotional intelligence and ability to connect with people. There's a need for supporting her emotional health and I would probably recommend a therapist if she's not already meeting with someone. In the remedies I recommend, I'll consider a flower essence or two as well, as these can be helpful in supporting emotional wellbeing.

With how Aspen describes her situation it seems like her Fire has been dampened and needs to be relit and oxygenated with some Air energy in the short term, and some more supportive structure (i.e. Earth energy like wood and a firepit) for her inner Fire to burn sustainably. I would ask some more questions about adrenal health and her nervous system to understand the source of her sluggish energy. Let's assume that through these questions it's been revealed that she also relies on and craves sugary caffeinated drinks to keep her going throughout the day (which she wants to rely less on while still being able to enjoy them occasionally and this is another sign of seeking stimulation to fulfill that Air energy need), seems to be getting sick more in the past year than usual (possible compromised immunity), her menstrual cycle is irregular, and she has trouble winding down in the evening in addition to the trouble waking up in the morning, brain fog, and lack of excitement about life. Along with the symptoms she's already shared, all of these issues can point towards adrenal fatigue. 

image via @kfionnm

With everything we've explored with Aspen in mind here's a list of recommendations I might have for her:

• Adrenal Support Tea Blend consisting of Borago officinalis (an Air herb that offers adrenal support as well as courage and the abilities to take chances), Urtica dioica (additional adrenal support while nourishing the inner Fire that burns steady instead of burning out, helps with menstrual imbalances, too), Mentha spicata (an Air cognitive function and stress relief).

• Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) Milk for before bedtime to help her relax into the evening and get ready to rest. Ashwagandha is a gentle adaptogen so it'll help the nervous system to settle.

• A Morning Chai blend with some Ocimum sanctum to help wake up in the mornings and support the adrenals (perhaps choosing coconut sugar as a sweetener since it has a lower glycemic index). Made as a concentrate for easy preparation in the mornings.

• For every sugary caffeinated drink, drink one to two cups of herbal tea or water. Slowly reduce and replace as she feels called, but mostly focusing on enjoying the addition of herbal teas and more water throughout her day.

• Milky Oat (Avena sativa) Tincture with the essences of Wild Oat and California Wild Rose.

• Talk about ways to address Air stimulation needs beyond social media and how that’ll also support her resting, sleeping, and waking routines.

• A plan to discuss menstrual cycles and tools for regulation in our next meeting as I want to see what changes with extra adrenal support first.

• Movement based breathwork (supporting a balance between Fire and Air).

• Start a journal with prompts.

Aspen is Pagan so we talked about setting up an Air altar facing East in her bedroom and she's going to read up on some myths within her cultural practice with strong Air themes (i.e. poetic inspiration, storms, the winds of change, the spirits of the Air, etc) for further inspiration.

Obviously, there’s so much more that can be recommended but I find it useful to start relatively simple. This way I’m able to see what a client has capacity for (i.e. if we meet again at our next consult and they disclose that it was hard to find time to remember to take a tincture three times a day) without overwhelming them. Starting simple helps me to track what works, what seems to be having little affect, and what can be added to the client’s protocol.

Through the process of coming up with recipes and suggestions for Aspen the elemental framework was used in a number of ways to help us understand:

Her birth chart and inherent elemental qualities: Aspen has a lot of Water and Fire in her chart, some Earth, and very little Air.

The elemental profile of the imbalances and dis-ease in her life: Aspen seems to be struggling with a combination of burnout (Fire) exacerbated by too much stagnation (Water) and not enough inspiration and movement (Air). In other words, a combination of adrenal fatigue, lack of feeling able to express emotions like sadness while struggling with the symptoms of these unexpressed emotions, and not having a clear vision of what she wants in the long run.

The types of remedies that would support her health and well-being: I've suggested remedies that are both enlivening and grounding in nature (Air + Earth) for adrenal support and to appropriately nourish and invigorate her nervous system and cognitive function; breathwork and movement-based practices (Air + Fire); and spiritual practice alongside journaling (Air + Water).

On top of all this is the most important aspect - the language I can incorporate into how I can reflect back to Aspen about what she's going through, the places in her body and life it sounds like she could use some extra support, and the remedies that I have in mind for her. We can talk about her elemental strengths and the ways that plants and practice that have shown up in our time together are going to help support parts of her Water self that maybe hasn't been able to express itself thoroughly and how we're going to help rebuild her inner Fire to burn steady instead of burn out. And we'll talk about how we'll bring in Air energy to help enliven and inspire this next chapter of her life all while creating a supportive and grounding container of Earth from which to grow from.

So that's one way of incorporating the elements of traditional western herbalism into your practice. It can become more complex with additional knowledge of medical astrology, incorporating aspects, transits, and more into the analysis of the birth chart - if you feel called to learn more about that aspect of traditional western herbalism, come this way. Or it can be far more simple, no birth chart needed, and simply listening and observing what your client shares with you and the signs of their body (shallow breathing, for example, can be both a sign of more Air and more Earth are needed to help bring oxygen deep into the body). Using an elemental approach to healing can be as intuitive or structured as you want - find what works best for you and those you serve. 

However you bring the insight of the elements into your practice, I hope you find inspiration from what I've shared here to help you create a healing practice that serves you and your community well.

🌿

And that wraps up our series on the four elements and their energetics within traditional western herbalism!

I hope that this series has served to demystify some of the more seemingly esoteric aspects of traditional western herbalism revealing that it’s a lot more intuitive and understandable upon further exploration. What I really hope is that you’re feeling inspired to perhaps try new things of an old nature in your practice and/or explore the energetic roots of whatever tradition you are trained in or that your ancestors practiced. Studying, reclaiming, and dreaming anew energetic systems that draw us as a species back into the world is one of the small ways that we can shift narratives of what it means to be human, to heal, and care for each other and our planet.

Looking for the other two parts of the series? Here they are:

• The Four Elements of Traditional Western Herbalism (with bibliography)

• Elemental Imbalance & Disease in Traditional Western Herbalism

I originally wrote this series for my students in The Lunar Apothecary, so if you like what you’ve read here, you’re invited to check out my course of lunar-centered herbalism to help you discover who you are as a healer.

And, finally, blog posts like these are made possible through reader support whether through a one-time donation or through patreon. It means a lot and changes the lives of folks like me trying to create abundant resources that are free and low cost to support folks on their journey of healing. Thank you.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Elemental Imbalance & Disease in Traditional Western Herbalism

In part two of my series on the elemental energetics of traditional western herbalism, we’re looking at elemental imbalance and how it helps us to understand disease and discomfort. If you haven’t read part one yet, where I look at what the elements of traditional western herbalism are and their correspondences, I recommend that you do that first to help set you up for the explorations ahead.

A foundation of good health within traditional western herbalism is maintained through the harmony of the four elements within and around a person. In other words, living in ways (including sleeping, eating, moving, thinking, spiritual practice, and relating to others) and in spaces that balance the four elements within us. Being born with tendencies towards one or more elements (i.e. our inherent constitution), there are often things which we'll need to practice throughout our life to support our health. If we tend to have busy thoughts and are prone to anxiousness (a quality of excess Air), mindfulness practice might be a lifelong remedy that we use (which brings in grounding Earth energy).

Just as every person has elemental dispositions (i.e. the temperaments as discussed in part one), so too do diseases have elemental signatures. Fevers, for example, are an imbalance (and strength) of Fire, usually combined with too much Air (intermittent fever) or Earth (prolonged “bonebreak” fever). Too much cold (Earth and/or Water) might lead to issues with digestion and constipation where too much dryness (Air and/or Fire) can often manifest as skin issues. An excess of damp (Water) can show up as edema or a wet, unproductive cough. I'll highlight different elemental imbalances and the diseases and symptoms they may produce in the elemental profiles later on, but hopefully you're beginning to get an idea of how to think about diseases from an elemental perspective.

What I find useful about considering the elemental imbalance of disease is that it can help us think about the body as a living, holy space that needs to be cared for as a whole, as opposed to being overly focused on what is "broken" about a person. It is also a continuous process of recentering the healing process and the person in need of support as being of the land and seeking remedies of the land in turn (whether those remedies are simple herbal teas grown on your windowsill or complex, plant and organic material derived medicines administered by your pharmacist).

Of course, there is a lot more than considering the elemental balance or imbalance when it comes to assessing disease within traditional western herbalism. As you move further into your studies you’ll begin to encounter specific traditions within traditional western herbalism. Do you work with the astroherbalism of Culpeper? The regimens of traditional Greek medicine? The healing procedures of Unani medicine? Or the plant and spiritual guidance of Hildegard of Bingen? The medicinal traditions of the Eclectics? Those are just a few ideas, but that is beyond the scope of this post and I recommend exploring further if you're feeling inspired. 

The Elemental Correspondences of Herbs

Herbs can be categorized strictly using the systems of ancient correspondence used by the Greeks (where the heat, coldness, moisture and dryness of herbs was measured to different degrees), but these days the elemental energies of herbs are determined in a number of ways from ancient tradition to magickal correspondences and, importantly, direct experience. So it's not uncommon to see one herb assigned an elemental correspondence in different ways by different herbalists. The primary point of learning about the elemental system in traditional western herbalism is not to figure out the "right" correspondence (because that will always be subjective to some degree) but to have another way to directly connect with plants beyond a strict biomedical approach which ignores the spiritual aspect of herbalism and/or dangerously commodifying plants into cure-alls.

Knowing Ginger (Zingiber officinale) as an herb of Fire, for example, I have an instant sensory response - I can feel the heat in my body and I know that it assists with circulation which helps me better understand how Ginger would be of use when there is too much coldness in the body brought on by an illness and depletion of energy.

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As you go along and apply elemental energetics to your study and practice of herbalism, you'll also know that there is a lot of subtlety with the elements. All plants, people, and diseases are a combination of elemental energies and it's only through observation that we begin to pick up on those subtleties and begin to discern what herb would work best in what situation. I know from tradition and experience that Angelica (Angelica archangelica) is an herb of Fire, but for me it also carries with it a subtle Water energy because of the way that it moves through the body, soothing the nervous system, breaking up stagnation, and gently stimulating the imagination. 

Below I’ve created elemental profiles for each of the four elements. In addition to the aspects of the four elements we've already discussed, I've also included the Six Tissue States that each Element corresponds to depending on if there is excess or lack of an Element leading to imbalance. I've also included a summary of how we create elemental balance through working with each of the elements, magickal actions, remedy type suggestions, as well as a general overview of what each Element represents in a person's life beyond physical health.

You'll also find listed herbal actions (i.e. terms for ways an herb acts in the body and its most common properties) for each of the four elements, but I want to emphasize that these are not hard and fast correspondences, nor does any one type of herbal action defined by a single Element. The herbal actions and the four elements you see below are derived from the recorded traditional western herbalism, such as those codified during the 17th century by herbalists like Nicholas Culpeper, oral tradition and exchange, as well as my own direct experience with plants.

Discussing herbal actions is where the system of four element theory and modern herbal actions can seen to be in conflict if four element theory is taken at literally (i.e. all Air herbs are hot and heating in nature such), whereas an herb like Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) carries a number of Air qualities and is generally seen as cooling in nature. This is where we must remember that four element theory is a) describing not just actual temperatures but non-temperature based energies and b) our energetic system in traditional western herbalism has continued to grow and change over the centuries. Lemon Balm is generally considered cooling and is excellent for alleviating tension (many cooling herbs are) and tradition handed down from Paracelsus honors Lemon Balm as a life restoring herb - something which aligns it strongly with the element of Air. Flexibility of thought and understanding is needed when exploring herbal energetics so that we understand that there are multiple layers of meaning to seemingly simple terms like "Hot" or "Cold."

The Elemental Profiles

background image via @billy_huy

Air

Primary Quality: Hot + Moist
Secondary Qualities: Light, thin, subtle, adaptable, porous, moves energy upwards
Humor: Blood
Temperament: Sanguine
Season: Spring
Direction: East
Signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Excess: Tension/Constriction Tissue State.
Lack: Damp/Relaxation Tissue State and/or Damp/Stagnation Tissue State

Herbal Actions: Aromatics, balances temperature, stimulants, nervous system tonics, circulatory tonics, vasodilators, astringents that support focus, opens and expands, protective against air-born viruses and bacteria.

Magickal Actions: Inspiration, communication, uncrossing, hex-breaking, blessing new beginnings and endeavors, transitions, study aid, divination (all forms but especially wind, cloud, and smoke divination), bringing out change.

Remedies: Hydrosols, room and body sprays, incense, smoking blends, essential oils.

Excess: Flighty, nervous, anxious, lack of coordination, irritable, prone to mood swings, tense, fanatical or obsessive thoughts, the nervous system is overworked and feels frayed, sharp-worded, easily overwhelmed and over-reliant on others for help, remaining superficial in interactions. Excess Tension/Constriction tissue state.

Lack: Brain fog, unfocused, difficulty breathing, poor circulation, understimulated, lack of vision, uninspired, stagnant but restless, poor memory, insufficient memory, ineffective cellular metabolism, lack of tone, easily overwhelmed by feeling under-resourced, difficulty with executive functioning. Too much Damp/Relaxation and Damp/Stagnation tissue state.

Elemental Balance: When in balance, Air strengthens our intellectual, logical, and communication capacities. The element of Air also helps us to be grounded in consensus reality while exploring beyond its boundaries without losing ourselves. Working with Water, Air is able to become more mutable, a bit more solid, and able to experience empathy better. Fire and Air make a very energizing pair which can help to move us out of emotional and physical stagnation, but typically needs to be used in small, short-term doses. Earth and Air bring about a sensation of seated flying - the visionary qualities of Air are able to be rooted and grounded with the gifts of Earth. 

Air Herbs: Air herbs are often one or some combination of the following - aromatic and/or slender in appearance, warming to neutral in temperature, tightening, astringent to neutral in flavor. Examples of Air herbs include Vervain (Verbana spp.), Lavender (Lavandula spp.), Catnip (Nepeta cataria), Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Elder (Sambucus nigra), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora). 

In our life and remedies Air represents the ability to think deep and connect with what we are inspired by. Inspiration is what guides us to know more about ourselves and the world. Through Air we meet our inner scholar, engaging with the abstractions of the universe, and dwelling at the boundary between our inner depths and the world around us. Air is the part of ourselves that is most visible to the world around us and so it is a place that we also learn about how we express ourselves in alignment with our values.

background image via @yucar

Water

Primary Quality: Cold + Moist
Secondary Qualities: Moderate heaviness, soft, slippery, smooth, easily adapts shape of energy, receptive 
Humor: Phlegm
Temperament: Phlegmatic
Season: Autumn
Direction: West
Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Excess: Damp/Relaxation, Cold/Depression, and/or Damp/Stagnation Tissue State
Lack: Dry/Atrophy, Hot/Excitation, and/or Tension/Constriction Tissue States

Herbal Actions: Nervines, demulcents, adaptogens, analgesics, diuretics, anti-inflammatories, anti-spasmodics, cardiotonics, galactagogues, sedatives, vasodilators, emmenagogues, febrifuges, herbs that soften and open up, and cooling herbs.

Magickal Actions: Psychic development, sacred bathing and cleansing rites, rituals of transition, ancestral connections, emotional release, water based divination such as scrying, menstruation magick, Moon magick.

Remedies: Infusions and water based extractions of all kinds including teas, herbal baths, flower essences, hydrosols, glycerites, and spiritual waters (such as Moon or Florida Water).

Excess: Lack of willpower, easily overwhelmed, oversaturated emotionally, poor digestion due to weak digestive fire and to much damp in the system, lack of tone, water retention, tends to be cold, easily influenced by others, difficulty setting healthy boundaries, tendency to addictive habits and thought cycles, chronically self-sacrificing. Too much Damp/Relaxation or Damp/Stagnation tissue states.

Lack: Lack of empathy, underdeveloped emotional intelligence in regards to themselves or others, unyielding and inflexible, unable to adapt or change plans, aloof and disconnected from the needs of others, dismissive of the feelings of others, belief in invulnerability and avoidance of display of vulnerability. Excess Dry/Atrophy and/or Tension/Constriction tissue states.

Elemental Balance: When in balance, Water strengthens our emotional intelligence, reflective abilities, and capacity to empathize. With Water we expand our perception and are able to feel and resonate with the complexity of life. Working with Air, Water is able to dry up excess damp, think a bit more critically, and begin to communicate effectively in the world. With Fire, Water warms up and aids in metabolic function as well as strengthens willpower and self-confidence. With Earth, Water begins to take form, toning water-logged body systems, and helping rooting dreams and desires into real-world action and manifestation.

Water Herbs: Water herbs are often one or some combination of the following - water-rich and/or oily, sea and water growing plants, cooling to neutral in temperature, softening, gentle, sweet and/or neutral in flavor. Examples of Water herbs include Chickweed (Stellaria media), Cleavers (Galium aparine), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Mugwort (Artemisia spp.), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Aloe (Aloe barbadensis), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Willow (Salix alba), Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica).

In our life and our remedies Water represents the ability to feel deeply and connect to our dreams and other beings. We are able to evolve as a species through the empathy we develop with Water. Through Water we meet our inner mystic, distilling wisdom from simple and complex experiences, and learn how to dissolve the boundaries which keeps us separate. Water is the part of ourselves that can be most hidden from the world, because it represents how we feel and what we know to be true. So with Water we learn how to bring these stories to the surface or dive deep with them as needed.

background image via @tengyart

Fire

Primary Quality: Hot + Dry
Secondary Qualities: Absolute lightness, bright, very rare, transforms and transmutes energy into other qualities
Humor: Yellow Bile
Temperament: Choleric
Season: Summer
Direction: South (Northern Hemisphere) or North (Southern Hemisphere)
Signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Excess: Heat/Excitation and Tension/Constriction Tissue States
Lack: Cold/Depression, Damp/Relaxation, and/or Damp/Stagnation Tissue States

Herbal Actions: Stimulants, diaphoretics, anti-depressants, rubefacients, carminatives, cholagogues, cardiostimulants, herbs that stimulate digestion, herbs that help us reconnect to the spark of life and our willpower.

Magickal Actions: Candle lighting spells, fire and smoke magick and divination, fire-based cleansing rites (such as jumping the fire, burning sacred herbs), carrying prayers and spells via smoke, energizing all forms of spellwork, sex magick.

Remedies: Incense, herbal bundles for fumigation, herbal oils and rubs, liniments, alcohol extracts.

Excess: Prone to anger, short-tempered, restless and impatient, accusatory and quick to blame others, bullying and cruel, egotistical, overbearing, intolerant of differences, lack of empathy, self-centered, prone to burnout, overheats easily which can cause intense or chronic fevers, dry skin, poor digestion from lack of moisture, brittle hair, and chronic inflammation. Excess Heat/Excitation and Tension/Constriction tissue states.

Lack: Lack of willpower, prone to depression and pessimism, difficulty connecting with joy, creative lack and blocks, conservative mindset and lack of creative thinking when it comes to other ways of doing things or imagining possibilities, rarely excited, possessing an imagination deficit, lack of heat can cause poor digestion, circulation, and inability to fight off illness and infection. Excess Cold/Depression, Damp/Relaxation, and/or Damp/Stagnation tissue states.

Elemental Balance: When in balance, Fire strengthens our creative capacity, our love of life, and our inherent vitality. With Fire we realize ourselves as participants in shaping the world we live in and yet to come. Working with Air, Fire is fed and brings life and enthusiasm to all situations. With Water, FIre is tempered and taught empathy so that it can warm and not burn out or become destructive. With Earth, Fire is held and focused bringing heat and light where necessary and helping shape raw material into invaluable tools and skills.

Fire Herbs: Fire herbs are often one or some combination of the following - warming and dry, warm to hot in temperature, irritating and stimulating, strong or spicy in flavor. Examples of Fire herbs include Basil (Ocimum spp.), Ginger (Zingiber officinalis), Blessed Thistle (Cnicus bendictus), Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), Nettles (Urtica dioica), Rose (Rosa spp.), St. Joan’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum).

In our life and remedies Fire represents our spark of life and how we engage with the creative energies of life. Without Fire there would be no life, no joy, and no open-hearted hope. Through Fire we meet our inner optimist and change-maker, learning how to find possibility and bravery in the most dire of situations. Fire is our source of energy and shapes the way that we pass on wisdom and knowledge to those around us, including the generation to come.

image via @sebastian_unrau

Earth

Primary Quality: Cold + Dry
Secondary Qualities: Heavy, firm, stable, dense, sustained and enduring energy that centers and moves downwards
Humor: Black Bile
Temperament: Melancholic
Season: Winter
Direction: North (Northern Hemisphere) or South (Southern Hemisphere)
Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Excess: Cold/Depression, Damp/Relaxation, and/or Damp/Stagnation Tissue States
Lack: Dry/Atrophy (think poor soil quality) and/or Hot/Excitation Tissue State

Herbal Actions: Alteratives, carminatives, expectorants, bitters, anti-parasitics, anti-catarrhals, hepatics, nervines, food staple plants like Oats (Avena sativa), tonic herbs that can be taken over a long period of time.

Magickal Actions: Rituals of transformation, death rites, stone and rock magick, rituals acts of burying, garden magick, dismantling systemic oppression, strengthening community, body magick, and rituals of self-discipline.

Remedies: All forms of cooking with herbs, powders, herbal salt rubs, compresses, salves, decoctions, herbal pills, suppositories, herbal sachets and plants worn on the body.

Excess: Too much Earth can lead to stagnation in issues of health and in life in general, stubbornness, cynicism, workaholism, overreliance on systems of hierarchy, being loyal to an idea, cause or person beyond reasonableness, dictatorial behavior, decrease of mobility physical, emotional, and mental, self-indulgent, over-valuing the acquisition of material objects or "perfecting" the body as a sign of self-worth. Excess Cold/Depression, Damp/Relaxation, and/or Damp/Stagnation tissue states.

Lack: Difficulty being present in the body (everything from being spacey to dissociation and beyond), inability to manifest dreams into reality, demonstrate follow-through in projects, under-developed survival skills, a dislike or disinterest of "nature", lack of stamina and vitality, unreliable, over-promises and under-delivers, prone to posturing in place of actual self-reflection, stuck in one part of life and not growing and developing as a person. Excess Dry/Atrophy and/or Hot/Excitation tissue states.

Elemental Balance: When in balance Earth helps us to be embodied in all aspects of our life. With Earth we see ourselves as part of the world and in a deep interconnectedness with all other beings. Working with Air, the steady and slow nature of Earth can find a bit of speed and mutability, warming up what can be a cold element. With Water, Earth can become a rich and fecund place of growth, helping to bring empathy to embodiment. With Fire, Earth is warmed up, becoming a greenhouse where the spirit and body can thrive throughout the year and all kinds of experiences.

Earth Herbs: Earth herbs are often one or some combination of the following - nutrient dense and/or oily, cold to neutral in temperature, toning, strong, earthy, and/or bitter in flavor. Blessed Thistle (Cnicus bendictus), Chickweed (Stellaria media), Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Elder (Sambucus nigra), Elecampane (Inula helenium), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), Rose (Rosa spp.).

In our life and remedies Earth represents our ability to manifest, ground and center, and to be embodied in the physical world. Without Earth there would be no growth, no sensations of life, and a lack of shared experience. Through Earth we meet our animal self which has never forgotten that we were born of wild places and that from Earth we emerged and to Earth we shall return. Earth is our source of physicality and the way we experience all our sensation in the world, gleaning wisdom from a very real and felt journey through life, death, and rebirth.

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In the next part of our series we’ll be exploring the four elements theory in practice including simple remediation techniques. If you’re head is buzzing with all this information and paths of study to follow, may I suggest a cup of Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) tea?

A practical exercise you might do to help you integrate some of this knowledge about elemental energetics is to think about a recent health issue you had and begin to describe it from an elemental perspective? A cough that was damp and persistent? That sounds like too much Earth and Water. A rash that’s red and dry? Lots of Fire and Air happening there. It’s one simple way to begin to think about yourself and the world from an elemental perspective.

Until next time, friends!

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