3 Herbal Recipes to Support Your Lunar Return
Every month the Moon returns to place in the sign that you were born in - known as a Lunar Return - and it can be an auspicious time to nourish your inner worlds. The Lunar Return is, in fact, just the Moon version of your Solar Return (also known as your birthday) or a Saturn Return, though the energy and meaning of a Lunar Return is different than either of those. I write a lot about the Moon because in astrology and western esoteric practice, it is through working with our inner Moon that we understand our consciousness and cultivate the insights needed to work as healers and bring healing into our relationships (I even created a whole course about it). Lunar-centered herbalism plays a special role in my practice as an herbalist whether it is observing the healing rituals of the different phases of the Moon, creating Moon-inspired baths, learning more about the magick of Moon signs in my herbal preparations or making teas for my Lunar Return.
With all the ways one can practice medicine and magick by the Moon, I find the energy of the Lunar Return to be something special, moving and changing each month, calling us to step into a more spiral understanding of time and our experience of it. Your Lunar Return can be many things, including a time of reflection, of rebalancing or of reconnecting with some part of yourself, and I wanted to share with you three simple herbal remedies that I use for my own Lunar Return practice that'll hopefully support your own.
About the Recipes
I try to write about herbs that are easily accessible within the traditional western herbalism repertoire, but I've also included the herbal action of each herb that I'm focusing on to help you choose alternative herbs based on your needs. You are strongly encouraged to adapt each recipe to make it your own. The recipe portions listed are estimations and can be easily adjusted to your own taste needs and you can add any variety of preferred flavorful herbs to your own mix. While the recipes below are written with tea in mind you can use them as herbal baths, tinctures, flower essence blends, topical herbal oils, and more.
Deck shown is The Gentle Tarot by Mari in the Sky
Reflection Moon Tea
Sometimes our Lunar Return is calling us home again through gentle reflection and dreamwork. I love working with my dreams with greater intention around my Lunar Return and the Reflection Moon tea blend helps to do just that. The blend helps to quiet the mind so that we can explore what's going on beneath the surface for us while also stimulating the dreaming part of our psyche. Reflection Moon tea is also helpful when it comes to awakening our inherent psychic gifs.
Medicinally, Reflection Moon can be a useful blend during and in the time around your Lunar Return if you're menstruating (Mugwort is a uterine tonic and all herbs have pain relieving qualities), looking to alleviating general tension especially when accompanied by headaches, and to help with slow and sluggish digestion.
2 parts Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora): Nervine, sedative, and relaxant
1 part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris): Relaxant and dream tonic
1 part part Rose (Rosa spp.): Heart tonic
Deck shown is The Illuminated Earth Oracle by Claire Mack
Rebalancing Moon Tea
Your Lunar Return can be a beautiful time to slow down and reassess what needs balancing in your life. Whether you're feeling run down and sluggish, want to support the start of a new cycle or firm up some energetic boundaries, the Rebalancing Moon blend is nutritive rich and restorative. If I'm experiencing decision and/or compassion fatigue it this blend or some variation of this blend that I typically reach for.
In addition to being a nutritive rich blend, Rebalancing Moon helps with digestion, helps with issues of circulation, strengthens the blood (i.e. can help to alleviate anemia), protects against seasonal allergies, and is an excellent blend for taking after recovering from a period of illness or stress.
2 parts Milky Oat (Avena sativa): Nervine and neurotonic
1 part Nettles (Urtica dioica): Nutritive, digestive, and whole body trophorestorative
1 part Spearmint (Mentha spicata): Digestive (carminative) and clears brain fog
Deck shown is the Heavenly Bodies Astrology Deck by Lily Ashwell
Reconnecting Moon Tea
Sometimes it can feel like we're searching for something lost or not quite remembered about ourselves. Or we've set aside practices we'd want to be doing, things we want to be learning, and people we want to connect with because of the busyness and stress of our life. Reconnecting Moon can help to calm our nervous system and nudge us back into communion with our desires. It's the blend I reach for if I'm feeling out of sorts with my practice and like I'm doing less and less of what I want to be doing in my life for whatever reasons.
Medicinally, Reconnecting Moon is a lovely tonic for the brain and nervous system, helping to support the lines of communication between what we're feeling-thinking. It's a good tea to share with others to help support clear lines of communication and to soothe frazzled energy.
4 parts Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis): Nootropic and nervine
1 part Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus): Nootropic and gentle nervous system stimulant
½ part Lavender (Lavandula officinalis): Nervine and circulatory stimulant
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I hope that these recipes serve as a source of inspiration for your own practice. If you haven’t already, be sure to read my full post on what a Lunar Return is and why you might start observing it. For those of you who read tarot or oracle cards, I’ve written a tarot spread to support your lunar observations.
May you find what you’re looking for as you gaze into the mirror of the ever-changing Moon.
This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎
