Creating a Personal Curriculum: Herbalism Edition

Have you heard about personal curriculums?

For those who are not yet familiar with the idea, a personal curriculum is meant to be an antidote to the current content overconsumption but information-deprived era of online social spaces by committing to slow, deep, and inquisitive learning practices. To say that I - a 900 year old moss hag and keeper of this ever-growing archive of community resources -  love this movement is a dramatic understatement. A community response that encourages curiosity and the joy of learning to counter advertising-driven "social" spaces online and the concurrent dismantling of offline third spaces? Yes!

I try to encourage this sort of curiosity that inspires people to create their own interest-based curriculums throughout my writing (whether in my courses or my book). In fact, when I was first planning out Worts & Cunning Apothecary and what I wanted it to become I wrote down "curiosity" as one of my core values. I believe so strongly that curiosity rooted in compassion is a vital skill to cultivate as an herbalist. Curiosity helps us to notice when we need to learn more, have the grace to admit such a thing, and then to have the initiative to pursue understanding. Curiosity is a central ingredient in the spell of collective liberation. 

So with all that in mind, I'd thought I'd share some ideas for personal curriculum courses of study as an herbalist - imagine these as classes you might choose from a course catalogue if Worts & Cunning Apothecary was a university (called Mugwort Commons, of course), complete with academic terms based around the equinoxes and solstices. Choose one or more courses that you're excited about studying for the time frame that works best for you whether that be a lunar cycle, from the solstice to the equinox or even a full turn of the wheel.

And, yes, I've created fake course catalog style signifiers for each course like HERB101 and ANC201 because I'm imagining whole school departments in this pretend university of ours. The current departments at the university (with plans for expansion) are:

• Herbology (HERB)

• Apothecary Arts (APOTH)

• Ancestral Studies (ANC)

• Literature & Media Studies (LMS)

• Critical Social Thought (CST)

• Herstory, History, & Theystory (HER)

• Community Practice (COM)

• Department of Rest (REST)

Pages shown from The Plant Ally Library

Mugwort Commons: Solstice Term Courses

🌿 Foundations: A Plant Ally Study (HERB101)
A great course to take if you're not sure where to start and want more structure to your studies. A plant ally study can consist of completing my (increasingly ancient) Plant Ally Project or simply choosing one herb to study and work with for the term. Begin with What Is A Plant Ally? as your first lesson.

🌿 Foundations: Materia Medica Study (HERB102)
Choose one materia medica or herbal book to read through and take notes on, including what you felt about the author's approach (both in philosophy and organization) as well as further areas of study inspired by your reading. Practical applications of recipes or other practices from the materia medica are encouraged, as well as beginning to create your own materia medica. Adaption: You can easily adapt this class to any book on healing arts or broader discussion on health and wellbeing.

🌿 Apothecary Arts: Create An Indispensable Herb List (APOTH201)
Create your own list of indispensable herbs through studying the herbs you choose and creating your own plant profiles to reference. Additional credits can be earned by creating and/or writing down recipes for each of your indispensable herbs. For magickally minded folks, an altar with all of your indispensable herbs present or represented can be created and added to throughout the term.

🌿 Apothecary Arts: Create An Equinox Apothecary (APOTH202)
Depending on whether you're in the northern or southern hemisphere, choose to create season specific remedies for your autumn apothecary or spring apothecary. 

🌿 Herbal Names, Herbal Stories: From Common Names to Herbal Novels (LMS201)
A media and literature course exploring the ways that herbal knowledge is shared through myth, folklore, modern stories, and all varieties of media (including podcasts, movies, and television shows). Students can choose to learn about the folklore of a plant ally you are studying (such as the meaning behind the common name of Alchemilla vulgaris and the myths of healing surrounding the plant). Additionally, students can seek out and access media featuring herbal practice and herbalists to inspire their own practice and learn about the original folklore that inspired such portrayals.

🌿 The Herb Bundle: Starting on the Ancestral Path (ANC201)
Connecting to ancestral practices through your herbal practice is powerful and this course focuses on exploring the traditions of people and place in your ancestral line. This class focuses on regional studies (so finding a book on herbs the regions that your ancestors lived), cultural studies, and incorporating ancestral herbs into your current practice.

🌿 The Crossroads of Practice: Intersections of Culture, Identity, and Power (CST301)
For those wanting to understand systems of power, privilege, identity, and oppression within our current medical models and why people seek "alternative" paths like herbal medicine. The course focuses on exploring the social dynamics of power and privilege so that students can strengthen their intersectional perspective on healing and ability to competently and compassionately serve those that seek their services. Examples of areas of study include: the impact of race and class in accessing and receiving competent medical care, the impact of generational trauma on descendents, exploring one's privileges and oppressions, and creating inclusivity in herbal clinics, gatherings, and classroom spaces.

🌿 A Time & A Place: Era or Event-Specific Herbal Practice (HERS301)
For students interested in the history of herbalism and how herbs were used in certain periods of time. Examples of areas of study include: herbalism and the influenza epidemic of 1918, the rise of Thomsonian herbalism, herbal practice in the ancient world (with a focus on a specific region and period of time), herbalism in the era of Nicholas Culpeper, and so on.

🌿 Community Studies: In the World Practice (COM102)
This course focuses on bringing your herbal practice into the world including activities like starting an herbal garden or spreading seed bombs, creating or attending a plant walk or visiting a plant filled place, starting an herbalism focused little library, creating or joining an herbal study group, making and donating remedies to herbal calls to action, and more. The focus is to be on creating community ties, meeting up with people, and engaging with community. 

🌿 Moss Beds & Crescent Lounges: A Seasonal Rest Seminar (REST101)
A course dedicated to finding ways to rest and slow down this season, prioritizing screen-free activities and extra credit if rest occurs outdoors. Students gently observe the seasons as wellsprings of inspiration for their rest practices. Connecting with Sacred Ones of dreams, rest, and healing sleep is encouraged, as well as working with plant allies that help relax the body. Completely optional post-seminar activities might include creating digital or physical resources for clients or community members on rest-centered practices of healing and plant allies.

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If you enjoy this post and not just herbal-focused but magickal-focus personal curricula, come join my sweet patreon community where this series lives. Not only will you be supporting my ability to continue to create free and low-cost resources on herbalism and magickal practice, but you get to hang out with other curious and folk while getting access to hundreds of patreon-exclusive posts.

For those of you looking for more seasonal guides to your herbal studies, you might like the  create your own apothecary series or having a browse around my plant allies archive. You can also check out my herbal resources list for more ways to study herbalism through the abundance of free resources and gatherings out there.

Wherever your studies take you, I hope that they lead you to a greater sense of connection with the world within and around you, inspired by what you discover there. 

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

Tarot for the Unruly

Tarot charmed me from the start.

I've been completely enamored with this oracle of 78 pieces of paper ever since I got my very first blue box tarot set with a Waite-Smith deck tucked inside, reading the cards and teaching classes about tarot ever since.

When I'm not reading tarot, I enjoy reading tarot books, perusing a tarot blog or two, and watching an occasional tarot vlog.¹ I genuinely love learning about how people's personal approaches to tarot as well as the history behind some of our most beloved tarot spreads. Tarot is a point of connection, conversation, and, if the flow is right, a lot of clarity. 

One of the things I love most about Tarot is that inherent in its tradition is an encouragement to deviate from tradition. What started as a fancy parlor game for nobles (full of humorous and slightly seditious imagery), shared roots with the developing game of playing cards, and soon found its way into becoming something that might predict the future (be it by the reader's intuition or some spirit behind the cards) or at least provide for an entertaining evening with friends. And that's not mentioning all the modern development of excellent memes that have expanded the tarot lexicon.² Through all its transmutations, tarot is one of the few traditions I've come across that is a comfortable home for both the precious rule-collectors and the gleaming-eyed rule ignorers. 

As it's been a while since I wrote a general post about tarot instead of a specific sort of spread, I wanted to share with you some of the ways we can embrace the unruly, tradition-redefining, and new-guidelines-creating energies that tarot offers. Most of the suggestions are meant to be approached with a sense of play, a bit of adventure, and as much of a nonchalant attitude about the results as can be mustered. Additionally, a lot of these suggestions are meant to be breaks from your normal - more of a "vacation" practice to stir up fresh energy in your tarot routine rather than trying to adopt a new fixed approach to reading. Have fun! Play with friends! Allow your deck to breathe and tell you new stories! Let yourself approach tarot with the intensity of someone who's very excited but has no knowledge of tarot and even less interest in doing things "right." It's all made up anyway so participate in making-up of it all!

background image via @efsane17

Don't write it down.

I actually think that writing down your tarot readings and interpretations as you're learning the tarot is pretty invaluable (and especially the writing bit or maybe even an audio-to-text option rather than typing). And then there are moments where it can be helpful to take a break from writing any of it down - including to do a reading, interpret it, and then forget about it. 

One of the ways we hinder ourselves as readers is not letting there be enough time for the cards to be interpreted. I'm not suggesting marathon, multi-hour readings, but taking a gander at the cards, having your initial interpretations arise, and then not doing anything else with the cards for a bit, especially if a reading feels unclear. You can even announce to yourself (and your guides if you work that way) about reading a spread, "Thanks for the reading! Let me know if you have anything else to add later!" and then let new insights arise over the next few days, with a relaxed intuitive gaze instead of trying to go out and find answers. A relaxed intuitive gaze  is a good muscle to develop as readers, not just for reading cards, but for approaching the unknowns in life with a healthy dose of respect and appropriate distance.

Don't look it up.

Now this suggestion only works for those of you who actually read your tarot books, whether a deck's accompanying little white book (LWB) or a 1990s feminist tarot tome that can double as a brick, and not my wee feral friends who immediately traded their LWB for a biscuit. 

I love reading a tarot creator's thoughts and intentions behind a card's styling, especially when it's filled with personal story, and I've learned so much over the years from these types of books. But I think that there is a benefit to doing readings without picking up the guidebook, if only for a short period of time, before looking up correspondences again. If you feel like you don't know what a card means or you're interpreting it wrong - that's great! It's ok to feel reasonably uncomfortable as you stretch out into a new way of connecting with your tarot deck. 

But if you really, really want to use a book in your readings, then check out my next suggestion.

image via @gopinathgopu

Look it up, but in the wrong place.

Congrats! You can pull a book out during your readings again! 

But it can't be a book on tarot. Better yet, it should be, at least on the surface, far removed from the world of tarot. Your great-aunt's tofu extravaganza cookbook from the 1970s? Perfect! A collection of medieval graffiti? Go ahead! A memoir of a crayfish veterinarian? You're on the right track!

To use your book of choice, choose a card to read for and then open your book at random. Read for your interpretation, letting whatever funny little intuitive insights pop-up to help you along your way! 

Pigeon readings only.

Instead of doing readings for yourself I want you to get real nosy about your neighborhood pigeon's work-life balance. Or do a daily draw for your favorite tea mug. If you want to read for people, recruit your friends or participate in social spaces of tarot communities where folks practice their spread reading skills.³ Mostly, I want you to either choose a time frame (such as a full lunar cycle) or a certain number of readings (13 readings for others) before you start reading for yourself again. Here are the some suggested guidelines:

• You're not aiming for grand intuitive breakthroughs (especially not for pigeons, they hate that), but just slinging cards in a way that's not about you. You can even preface your reading given to others by letting them know that this reading will be a very unserious, but always kind endeavor. 

• If you never read tarot books when doing readings, pull one out for this practice, and vice versa.

• Pay attention to the cards that you're emotionally attached to, that bring up big feelings for you, even when you're reading for your coffee mug.

background image via @micheile

Interpret first, cast cards second.

Have a question you really need an answer to? Looking for clarity on an issue? Choose your spread and before you cast a single card, write down all of your interpretations for each card position. These interpretations can be:

• Super serious where you're trying to actually tap into your intuitive gifts.

• Super silly where you're trying to actually tap into your intuitive gifts.

• Trying to predict what you want the cards to say.

• About facing your fears and writing down what you don't want the cards to say.

If you feel overwhelmed by the idea of writing an interpretation without something in front of you to interpret, choose lyrics from songs you've been listening to lately or let yourself be truly absurdist in your approach and start reading descriptions from items in your pantry. Remember, we're not trying to be Pythian priestesses - we're aiming for the street market energy outside their temple.

Once you've completed your interpretations, cast your cards, and compare notes. Where is there overlap? Where is there strange synchronicity? Where is there dissonance? Be open and curious, comfortable with the fact that it may appear to be more of a jumbled mess than a coherent casting. It's more of a practice of paying attention to where you're already at before you cast a spread.

Lose your cards and find your answer. 

So this takes a bit more effort and the willingness of a few friends (preferably magickally-minded), but it's a lot of fun. You need to be willing to know that you're going to be losing a few tarot cards in the process or you'll need to plan ahead and print out or draw pictures of a deck ahead of time. Choose a spread, give your friend(s) your tarot deck (or pictures of tarot cards), and sit back and relax. Here's what your friend(s) will be getting up to:

• They'll choose a starting point in the designated area that the spread will be cast - this could be a block or two, your neighborhood street, your college campus. Basically, where it is safe enough to wander about a bit looking for tarot cards.

• When they've chosen the place for the spread to begin, they'll shuffle the deck, choose a card for the first position, and post it there. 

• They'll find another place based on vibes or something meaningful or because there's shade and they want to have a little sit down. Shuffle again and post a card.

• Your friend(s) will repeat this process until the spread has been cast and all cards posted.

Now, they can choose to make a note of where every card is posted, but eh, it's not so necessary. The next most important step is to let you know that the spread is cast, the cards are in the wild, and whether you choose to try to find them right now or over the next few days is up to you. 

Are you likely to find them all? Probably not, but that's part of the magick of a Lose Your Cards approach - you have very little control over the whole thing, but a lot of opportunities to participate in a game of noticing and finding as part of gaining clarity for whatever question you may have asked.⁴

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I hope you found these less common recommendations for your tarot practice to be a fun exercise in imagining ways of bringing in more playful, challenging-in-a-good-way, and maybe even a little unruly energy to your practice. While tarot is a lot of things, it can be an incredible tool of insight and storytelling, helping us to explore some of the more tender parts and shadowy edges of our experiences. We try to find clarity where there's confusion and insight when the path ahead seems murky - and a practice like that needs interjections of play and plenty of opportunities for expanding our perceptions in order to be sustainable. 

If you're looking for more tarot resources, have fun perusing my tarot archive where I have tarot spreads for the cycles of the season, both terrestrial and celestial, as well as castings that are a bit more experimental. 

For all of my tarot friends - the ones with the rules and social contracts that keep us humming along and the ones who show up with strange and noisy suggestions that might just work - I hope your castings are as surprising or comforting or revelatory whenever you need them to be.

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

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1. Please bring back webrings on a grand scale so I can enjoy traveling through tarot-based websites like that again.

2. The "DUMP HIM" meme is an early viral favorite and just communicates the energy of certain readings in a way that only a visual medium can do.

3. I don't have a connection to Moonlight World or the folks behind it, but let me tell you that this is what I thought the internet would look like in the future when I was a kid. I think it's a really clever set-up and I love that they're growing the social aspects of the site in a way that is connection-driven, not algorithm-based.

4 One of the most magickal qualities about tarot, in my opinion, is it’s ability to create a third space wherever a deck is brought out (or a card is spotted) - take advantage of that energy!

The Gifts of Summer: An Herbalist’s Perspective

Every season holds a song, each of us carrying a basket-full of lyrics gathered from where we’ve been, pulled from dreams of what we might become. Our lyrics are gathered from cultural wisdom, spiritual tradition, family inheritances, friend-group celebrations, national holidays, and more. Sometimes we don't know how something ended up in our seasonal basket, other times we know exactly when and were we carefully placed a word in our bundle.

As I was writing The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism, I thought a lot about the stories that shaped me in my early days of not-quite-a-teen witchcraft and early herbal practice. They were stories full of wildcrafted words that described gatherings of magickal folks, ruminations of druids, mythmaking of queer witches, discordian glitter rituals, and the power of ritual as resistance. Working within a word count (what tis a word count? I wondered, adding yet another podcast, nary a thought to words or their counting) and trying to write a book that felt relatively cohesive, I eventually decided to focus some of my effort on a handful of words to draw upon for each season. These words like gratitude and shelter are ones that inform my personal herbal practice but felt broad enough to both work for many and, more importantly, inspire folks to rummage through their year-wheel baskets for the lyrics of their own seasonal songs.

What follows is one part from the summer section of my book, where I explore a theme of the summer season that shapes how I work as an herbalist and magickal practitioner with an earth-centered practice. My hope is to inspire folks to spend time reflecting on the roots of their own practices, the lyrics, ideas, and myths of each season that they've inherited through their upbringing, and the underlying energies which support their longevity as practitioners. 

So, friends, join me on the path of gratitude as we wonder through the heat and shade of summer, meeting ancestral plant allies, and finding reverence for our interconnectedness.

Book shown is The Apothecary of Belonging

Gratitude

Summer is here - the starkness of winter is a distant memory, the busyness of autumn not yet arrived, and the tender life of spring grown into something a little steadier, more confident, more robust.

It can be easy to feel grateful during the long, languid days of summer when life and time are abundant. Summer can enchant us with its song of plenty, and one of its strongest rhythms is gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful practice of observation, community-building, and land-reconnection, helping us recognize what makes us glad-hearted. The early plants of spring have blossomed into the steady growth of summer, giving back to the soil as they root deeper into the earth, yet still full of promise for the harvest ahead. When we meet summer in our own inner landscapes, we feel more confident in who we are and the gifts we bring to our lives and communities.

When I think of gratitude, I think of summer bonfires lighting up across the land, from backyards to hilltops, between sacred stones and shorelines, in hearths and in hearts. Bonfires make me think of all the ways gratitude and listening to what other folks are grateful for can help us become generous of heart and action. Starting from at least sixty thousand years ago during the Old Stone Age, our ancestors have been working with plants as medicine. It was during this same period that we also find some of the earliest examples of art, from sculptures like the Venus of Willendorf to cave paintings of animals, geometric shapes for decoration or to mark maps and calendars, and generations of stamped and stenciled handprints. Around ancient cookfires, stories were shared, advice given, food passed, and something created between people that wouldn’t exist without the exchange of ideas and knowledge. My gratitude for these ancient peoples and their observations of the world that led to the development of traditions like herbal and modern medicine can sometimes feel overwhelming - what a profound lineage we are all born from. 

I am grateful, too, for the land that has provided for generations and to all of our beyond-human kin, knowing that there were many moments when our ancient ancestors observed how animals interacted with plants in order to understand their uses. It is incredible what knowledge has survived, shared first by storytelling and in the libraries of cave art. Cultivating a gratitude practice is a powerful act of ancestral healing, and it can help to work with plants that have been on our planet for millennia, such as Rose (Rosa spp.) and Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), when trying to connect with our long human legacy.

image via @jessicafadel

I was first introduced to the practice of gratitude as a teenager, reading in one of my books on magick about how gratitude was recognizing the abundance that already existed in your life in order to grow more of it. Every evening before bed I would link paper clips, each representing something I was grateful for that day. These long lengths of little metal clips helped me notice and hold in my hands - and begin to feel in my body - those things that held me in my life, softening the shoulders of teenage angst, giving myself some perspective, and eventually leading me to explore the world of class, access, and the politics of labor throughout my youth and young adulthood. Gratitude is a skill that can be developed, giving people of all ages, but especially younger ones, the space to get to know themselves as individuals while recognizing cohesive family and community structures for them to thrive in as interconnected and beloved members of a greater whole.

For too many of us, though, the closest we got to a gratitude practice was through being instructed (mostly by older folks in positions of authority) to be grateful for whatever it was they provided. Being “grateful” in these circumstances was a way to force conformity rather than an invitation to an actual connection. In its more pernicious form, demands for gratitude from those around us can take on an air of toxic positivity or be a thin excuse for abusive situations. Untangling the “you should be grateful” pattern is an important part of developing a true embodied gratitude that protects us from developing a hostility towards sharing the abundance of our ocean planet. A gratitude practice should be an invitation to expansiveness and a way for the land of our bodies to experience the vital wellspring of summer’s long-lasting hope.

Sometimes, the idea of a gratitude practice feels less like a gentle summer stroll and closer to feeling exposed under the scorching midday sun. Gratitude can be a challenging practice because it is an exercise in observation, recognition, and naming, leading us to consider our inner and outer worlds with more nuance, recognize what feels abundant and lacking in our life, and name why that is. For folks just starting to explore the dynamics of access and oppression, institutional and interpersonal systems of power, and our many identities - all of which are necessary for creating an enduring healing practice - I encourage developing a gratitude practice because it can be all too easy to get lost in an ocean of guilt, despair, and/or shame when we don’t have sight of the shoreline.

And all these brave explorations, these complex experiences of inheritance and lived experience, and these generations of trauma intermingled with generations of wisdom can be a lot to hold. Even though our ancient ancestors passed down wisdom, not everything old is good, so traditions need to be renewed through cyclical and collective reexamination. Plant allies like Rose (Rosa spp.), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), and Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) can help us navigate our experiences and refine our discernment while soothing our heart and nervous system.

image via @a_d_s_w

Gratitude is our sightline, reminding us why we get into the work of restorative healing. With all of its mystery and uncomfortable vulnerability, it is through gratitude that we remember why we are doing all this. Looking out over the land in summer, it can be easy to spot abundance, and just like in the cold depths of winter, under the shadeless heat of summer we can easily identify any lack. Summer is a time of pausing and planning. We can pinpoint where resources are lacking, what needs to be built for the dark of the year, and move together in a spirit of gratitude that helps us to see what skills we already have, while carrying the stories of our ancestors alongside the bold, unhindered wisdom of our youthful descendants. What gratitude in your life helps you keep sight of the shoreline and your safe harbors?

I know so many folks called to the path of healing and restorative justice because of their deep gratitude for the people, places, and nonhuman kin who were there at their most vulnerable moments. Gratitude is hope in action and the foundation of reciprocal relationships, guiding us through some of our most challenging conversations. In my own practice, the opportunities for gratitude are endless! I’m grateful for the trees and hedges that sheltered me as a kid, the people who’ve done this work before me, who taught me how to listen, speak my heart, and spot places for connection. I’m grateful for those who’ve shown up in my consultations and classrooms asking for help and seeking knowledge and those who have made space for me to show up in all my unsteadiness and for being shown when I need to get out of the summer’s glare and into summer’s shade. In my practice of gratitude I try to answer the question: What are the ways that I am showing reverence and gratefulness to the land, the people, and beyond- human kin who I am interconnected with?

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Physically, at the end of spring and beginning of summer, we might need to rebuild our energy after a season of allergens has left us depleted and run-down. Many summer herbs are not only nutrient-dense but reenergizing for our body systems, helping us store vital energy for the rest of the year. Incorporating, as well as making remedies of, nutritive nervines, cardiotonics, and adaptogens can help us flow through summer with ease as well as protect us against illness during colder months.

Find more resources for your summer practice:

☀️ The Plant Allies of Summer: How to Create a Summer Wellness Apothecary

☀️ Sweet Spring, Bright Summer: Herbal Remedies for the Waking Season

☀️ Joyful Summer, Golden Autumn: Herbal Remedies for the Bright Season

☀️ Why Swamp Tea is the Best Tea for the Summer

☀️ Bonfire Offerings: A Summer Solstice Tarot Spread

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I hope you’re inspired to explore the ways you experience summer (or any season) and how this shapes your perspective as an herbalist or plant folk or magickal practitioner. If you like this sort of writing and want to explore more seasonal practices with me, consider checking out my book.

Friends, I hope your summers are sweet and gratitude illuminating life around you with its golden, dreamy glow.

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

Plant Allies & Herbal Recipes for Headaches

Headaches are a pain.

(Thank you, sorry, I'll see myself out.)

Headaches are not only a common pain but a common complaint through the ages. Our ancient and not-so-ancient ancestors came up with all sorts of remedies - both effective and dubious - to alleviate the common headache with ancient herbals and folklore full of suggestions. Fortunately, there is quite a collection of herbs for headaches ranging from analgesics to nervines, digestives and circulatory tonics.

While there are many sorts of headaches ranging from the dull to the debilitating and occurring because of underlying illnesses, hormones, allergies, medication use, physical trauma, disability, and more, we’ll be focusing on those cause by stress and tension. Other types of headaches require a lot more specialized one-on-one care than can be effectively communicated through a blog post and if you're experiencing chronic headaches especially when combined with symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, blurry vision, you should visit your health care professional.

While I’m focusing on herbs for stress and tension headaches, many of the plant allies on the following list would be useful for all sorts of headaches since stress and tension are often contributing factors to whatever else is happening to bring on a headache. I’ve also included sensory overwhelm and general high sensitivity within the realm of stress and tension headaches as it is an area of focus that is near and dear to my heart.

image via @kkalerry

Plant Allies for Headaches

🌿 Lavender (Lavandula spp.): Lavender it is a wonderful overall headache remedy and nervous system tonic. Headaches and migraines brought on by nervous tension are well-served by Lavender as well as headaches that accompany a cold or the ‘flu. Indications include overstimulation, crankiness, headaches made worse by physical heat and bright light, feelings of overexposure, agitation, nervousness, and insomnia - especially for overheated conditions such as anger and irritability. A little goes a long way with Lavender and it works well blended with most other herbs on this list.

🌿 Milky Oat (Avena sativa): My favorite nervine, Milky Oat helps alleviate headaches by settling the nervous system and helping us find equilibrium. It is one of my most recommended plants to folks and makes an excellent addition to most headache blends. Indications include general fatigue, loss of hope and inspiration, stress and anxiety, trouble sleeping, and a general feeling of discombobulation in the body.

🌿 Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis): Like Milky Oat, Lemon Balm is an herb that I find to be most effective when taken over an extended period of time. It's a great herb for those who have been sick and are trying to work through that post-illness malaise where body aches and pains - including headaches - are getting better but still lingering. It's also one of my favorite plant allies for headaches brought on by social anxiety and all those big life transitions where tension is high. Additional indications for Lemon Balm include chronic stress and desiring connection but struggling to show up in relationships of all kinds.

🌿 Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora): A great plant ally for hyperactivity in general, including busy thoughts (including busy anxious thoughts that cause tension), restlessness that disrupts sleep, and people who are on their phones too much (contributing to tension headaches) and are looking for plant ally support for their nervous system as they learn how to look less at their screens. Other indications include headaches that arise from indigestion including a nervous stomach, muscle spasms, and overall body tension. 

🌿 Wood Betony (Betonica officinalis) : Wood Betony is a great option for headaches that stem from nervous tension. The herb helps to draw energy down from the head by regulating circulation so that heat and stagnant energy doesn't lead to pain like sciatica or neuralgia. In addition to general pain, Herbalist Anne McIntyre specifically recommends Wood Betony for trigeminal neuralgia or intense facial pain - but you should be sure to check in with your health practitioner if you are experiencing either of these symptoms.¹ Other indications that Wood Betony might be useful include dizziness, brain fog, and nightmares.

🌿 California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica): A great plant ally if disrupted sleep is one of the contributing factors to your headaches. One of the ways that California Poppy helps us to get a good night's sleep is that it brings energy down from the head to our roots, calm racing thoughts, and reducing pain that can accompany restlessness. California Poppy is a nervous system restorative and when combined with other herbs like Milky Oat (Avena sativa) it can be used in low doses on a daily basis to help recover from burnout or a period of intense stress. Consider combining with herbs like Vervain (Verbena officinalis, hastata) if there is excess tension and a tendency to overwork or Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) if there is excess anxiety and racing thoughts.

🌿 Vervain (Verbena spp.): A classic remedy for tension headaches and for good reason! Vervain can be used both internally and as a compress for the neck and shoulders to help alleviate tension headaches brought on by stress and overwork. With tension headaches with a lot of mental chatter, I like to combine Vervain with Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora). Where there is lack of pleasure because tension gets in the way, I like to use Vervain with Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) and Rose (Rosa spp.).

🌿 Sage (Salvia officinalis): Sage is well-known as a circulatory tonic, but I would further classify it as a “processing” tonic in that it not only helps to move blood, heat, and information throughout the body, but it helps us to process these parts of ourselves as well. The herb moves energy downward from the crown of the head through the feet which is one of the reasons that Sage helps to calm us down, alleviate headaches, get restful sleep, and experience good digestion.

🌿 Peppermint (Mentha piperita): Headaches that accompany colds or allergy season that bring along sinus congestion can often be helped by Peppermint. The herb's circulatory tonic qualities help to move energy throughout the body, alleviating trapped tension that can give rise to headaches and brain fog.  Headaches caused by indigestion are another sign that Peppermint may be of use. 

🌿 Cramp Bark (Viburnum opulus): A useful herb that can help to alleviate headaches that might arise after physical exertion including working out (though if you're getting headaches after every time you work out, something needs to change in your exercise regime or a check-up with your health professional may be needed). A relaxing nervine, Cramp Bark is often useful for folks where heat provides relief. Cramp Bark helps to reduce “nervous tension due to the gentle warmth that it imparts to the nerves and brain.”² The clearing warmth of Cramp Bark can also be applied to states of stress that are alleviated by feeling held and comforted. 

image via @aaroncook

Suggested Practice

I will be focusing on herbal suggestions for headache care, but if you want some more general recommendations for reducing stress in your life (with plenty of plant ally suggestions), you might enjoy my series on supporting our sensitive natures.  

The most helpful tip for headaches brought on by stress and tension is to take your herbal remedy at the earliest sign of headache. Early use of herbs at the first sign of a headache can be key to stopping a headache from fully arriving or lessening the length and intensity of one if it does show up. 

My second most helpful herbal tip is to begin to incorporate nervous system tonics into your daily routine. Many of plant allies listed above are also nervines (aka nervous system tonics) and can be taken over an extended period of time to help our body recover from stress. If you don't know where to start, Milky Oat (Avena sativa) is a good plant to consider. Of course, you want to incorporate other modalities like breathwork and life changes to alleviate stress, but naming your need and working with plants conscientiously with your need can be a help keep you focused on your path.

Finally, make it easy to access your herbs in order to take them regularly. If that means leaving your jar of tea or bottle of tincture on the counter where you'll see it each morning while making breakfast - great. If it's carrying premade tea with you - lovely. Consistency in using your herbal remedies is important. If you need to leave up post-it notes to remind you - excellent. In other words, it's important to drink your tea or take your tincture, so make it easy to do. 

image via @mary_borysova

Herbal Recipes for Headaches

While you can easily make your own recipes based on the plant allies I've suggested, sometimes it's nice to have a recipe to work from instead of having to come up with own from scratch. These are a few sturdy ones, covering a wide-range of tension-style headaches but with a focus on easy-to-find herbs and only a handful of ingredients.  

🌱 A Tincture for Tension Headaches 

A relaxing blend that alleviates tension throughout the body, helping to draw stagnant energy out from the head, and prevent or alleviate headaches. I've added an option of adding California Poppy which I find works well in small doses during the day without causing drowsiness. If you are sensitive to more sedating herbs, then you can leave it out.

• 1 part Wood Betony (Betonica officinalis)

• 1 part Cramp Bark (Viburnum opulus)

• 2 parts Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

• 2 parts Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 1 part Sage (Salvia officinalis)

• Optional: ½ part California Poppy

Suggested dosage: 20 drops at first sign of headache or 10 drops up to three times daily.

🌱 A Tea for Tension Headaches

Some of my favorite plant allies for alleviating headaches all in one place. Pleasant tasting and easy to enjoy throughout the day and evening, this tea can be used on its own or combined with a tincture like the one suggested above (such as taking a dose of tincture at the onset of a headache and following it up with this tea). 

• 2 parts Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 2 parts Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• 1/2 part Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

Suggested dosage: 1 heaping teaspoon of tea per cup of water. Up to 2 - 3 cups daily.

🌱 Nervous System Tonic Tea or Tincture

A daily nervous system tonic is so important when trying to reduce the frequency and intensity of stress and tension induced headaches. The following is a great daily tonic complete with vitamin and mineral rich herbs, relaxing nervines, and plants with a reputation for increasing our body's ability to access joy. I like making a quart jar of teas like this first thing in the morning, making it easy to enjoy throughout the day.

• 2 parts Milky Oat (Avena sativa) 

• 1 part Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 1 part Nettles (Urtica dioica)

• ½ part Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa spp.)

Suggested dosage: 10 drops up to three times daily. 1 heaping teaspoon of tea per cup of water. Up to 2 - 3 cups daily.

🫖

If you're looking for more recipes, check out my archive which includes stress-alleviating recipes like my favorite tea for winding down and teas for when we're feeling tired whether from burnout, sensory overwhelm or disruptions to our sleep cycle. You can also find complete plant profiles for all the herbs I wrote about today and many, many more in The Plant Ally Library.

For those who feel like their headaches may be tied to issues of sensitivity and overwhelm, you might enjoy Solace.

May you connect with the plant allies and practices that reduce pain in your life, sweep away the stress, and help you find a way of moving through the world that feels steady and hopeful.

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

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Footnotes

1. Anne McIntyre, The Complete Herbal Tutor: The Ideal Companion for Study and Practice, (London: Octopus Books, 2010), 159.

2. Stephen Taylor, The Humoral Herbal: A practical guide to the Western Energetic system of health, lifestyle and herbs (London: Aeon Books, 2021), 286.

Chosen Family: A Tarot Spread for Finding One Another

I spend a lot of time in my work exploring belonging: how we recognize it, embrace it, and making more space in our lives for feeling it with one another.

One of the ways of experiencing belonging - of having our belonging recognized as whole, holy, and inherent - is through our encounters with chosen family. When we're seeking out new relationships and trying out new patterns of how we relate to others, being able to get a sense of how that new style of relationship might feel in our bodies can be a helpful. One of my favorite tools for finding certain sorts of feelings in the body is the tarot.

The tarot is a multifaceted tool with plenty of historical paths to follow, magickal elements to study, and somatic experiences to explore. Made up of 78 cards that seek to both embody universal experiences yet be open-ended enough to be endlessly customizable to individual lives, the tarot can be utilized in our quest for deeper connection with people we already know and those that we've yet to meet.

Chosen family refers to people in your life that you're not related to biologically but who you have a deep, healthy familial relationship with built on mutual respect, kindness, love, and care. Sharing resources, looking out for one another, and affirming each other's dignity are all hallmarks of chosen family and are typically in response to not receiving this kind of care and consideration in your family of origin. However your chosen family comes together, participating in the act of making and being part of a chosen family is one of the ways we let ourselves be seen and held while learning to listen and perceive more deeply. For many, queerness and chosen family are woven together and from my own experience as a queer kid chosen family was a matter of survival and now, as a queer adult, chosen family remains a sanctuary. But anyone can experience chosen family and I've found it amongst my Pagan and Witch friends as well as in a variety of other identity-affirming groups.

Chosen family shows up all throughout the keystone tarot developed by A.E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith not least because of Pamela Colman Smith's experiences with queer chosen family and, perhaps, A.E. Waite's experiences with the hermetic orders he belonged to.¹ For me, tarot has always been a tool of learning about and seeking connection not just with our inner worlds, but the people, places, and creatures of the world around us.

So let’s cast some cards and explore what sort of chosen family we’re seeking, the healing we’re looking for, and the hope of community that we’re cultivating.

The Chosen Family Tarot Spread

The following tarot spread helps us to understand the feeling of chosen family we're seeking and the type of relationships that feel missing or underrepresented in our lives.

Just the act of identifying the types of relationships we're yearning for can be healing - we're letting ourselves hope for connections that we may not have experienced before or had little of. After identifying the chosen family we're seeking, this spread leads us through understanding why we're seeking that connection and then tapping into the collective energy of chosen family - that magickal web that helps us to find each other - to receive supportive guidance.

Doing this spread again and again through the years can help you develop a deck-within-a-deck of helpful figures that you can call upon when looking for specific insight on your healing journey - you’ll find more suggested practices like this below. I’ve also included three sample spreads to illustrate the ways that this spread can be approached.

Note: While I love a precocious beginner, I do think that this tarot spread works best for folks with a firm understanding of the tarot (or oracle deck you're using), it’s structure and meaning, and a strong working relationship with the cards. Because we are seeking a somatic experience, where we feel the kind of relationship we're looking for, having a connection with your deck of cards already, where you've previously had somatic experiences with them, will serve you well.  

✨ Card 1. Choosing Our Family

Begin by choosing a card (or two) to represent the sort of chosen family you're seeking. A card for this position might come to mind easily, but if you're having a harder time choosing, here are two suggestions. First, you can look through every card in your deck, asking yourself "Who’s the family I'm seeking?" and choosing a card that feels right. Second, is to spend time journaling and/or meditating on the chosen family you're seeking and then choosing a card. There is no right or wrong card and there is a lot of room for play when it comes to your choice. Here are some examples of reasons folks might choose certain cards:

Natasha just wants someone to tell them how it is - gently but fiercely - and help them sort through the complicated dynamics with her biological family. She chooses the Queen of Swords as her first card.

Amira wants to feel part of a friend group that values in-person get-togethers and supporting each other's creative pursuits. They choose the Four of Wands.

Leo really wants a friend who is as excited about going on hikes as they are for sitting around with tea talking about everything from a favorite band to their favorite megaliths. He chooses the Empress as his found family card. 

background image @iamthedave | tarot deck shown is the Weiser Tarot

✨ Card 2. Finding Our Healing 

The next cards will be chosen at random, using your preferred shuffling method. The second card represents the healing that we are seeking with the family we’ve chosen in card one. We seek our chosen family to get a need met that we're not experiencing with our family of origin - this card helps us to name that need more clearly. Continuing from our examples above:

Natasha pulls the Page of Swords which speaks to her younger self's confusion within her family of origin who relied on unspoken rules and sharp criticism in place of open communication. The Page of swords represents the part of Natasha that craves clear communication in relationships and wants to trust that people can be open and honest in their communication style.

Amira pulls the Four of Cups and recognizes the ways that they felt bored and out-of-step with her family whose older siblings and parents didn't show curiosity around any of Amira's interests that didn't align with their own. It led to a pattern of Amira believing that they aren’t interesting enough to be part of anyone's friend group. 

Leo pulls the Five of Wands and laughs. His family was constantly in a state-of-disarray, especially when it came to doing anything outside of their normal routine. It made the idea of going out and doing things feel stressful not because of the stress of the unknown, but knowing that arguments and hurt feelings would be inevitable. 

background image via @tcooper86 | tarot deck shown is the weiser tarot

✨ Cards 3 - 6. Embracing Our Connection

The last three cards, pulled at random using your preferred shuffling method, represents a message of clarity from your chosen family card to help you embrace your instinct and desire for connection with people out in the world. These cards might point to next steps to take, new ways of thinking to consider, and other healthy actions to take in your life to make finding and embracing chosen family that much easier. Here's a brief rundown on the cards our example readers have pulled:

Natasha pulls the 10 of Swords, the Ace of Swords, and the Ace of Pentacles. She interprets this as the Queen of Swords saying that her family's approach to communication was almost comically useless but led to a real deprivation of language which carries a deep wound in Natasha's heart. It also shows how Natasha struggles to explain this pain to others, feeling overwhelmed by the task, but the Queen of Swords points out that there is hope on the horizon with the sunrise and Natasha's quest to learn beyond the limitations of her family of origin. The Ace of Sword points Natasha to continuing to strengthen her communication skills, to speak clearly of what she wants. "Let them know what you want! Ask for what you need! Say no! Say yes! Embrace that voice of yours!," the Queen of Swords speaks. The Ace of Pentacle encourages Natasha to seek out that feeling of being held in a relationship, being cared for, and having communication not just be about talking but feeling heard. 

Amira pulls the Five of Pentacles, the Three of Pentacles, and the Three of Cups. The Five of Pentacles points to that deep fear that Amira will always be on the outside, begging for social scraps. The interesting thing about the Five of Pentacles is that there are two folks in the card, reminding Amira that they're not alone in their fear and there are a lot more folks like them than not. The Three of Pentacles encourages Amira to show off their interests more, not less, and to embrace the perspective that there is enough interest to go around - that Amira doesn't have to live in a place of feeling like there is scarcity when it comes to connection. The final card is like a zoom-in on the Four of Pentacles and carries a lot of hope and encouragement - "We're here waiting for you, Amira! We can't wait to finally meet you!" 

Leo pulls the Eight of Wands, the Queen of Pentacles, and the Ten of Cups. The Empress points to the Eight of Pentacles and Leo's constant vigilance to conflict in his relationships and his need to guard against them. "What if you practiced laying that wand down, sneaking through the gap in the fence, and letting yourself visualize peaceful encounters more than strained ones?," the Empress suggests. The Queen of Pentacles points to practices that Leo might consider adopting including restorative stillness and the joy of being in a place rather than worrying about getting there. Finally, the Ten of Pentacles points to not only the hope and real future of chosen family awaiting Leo, but that he should seek out examples of how a healthy family acts in order to be able to spot it more readily in his current and future relationships. 

background image via @lkmatt | tarot deck shown is The Weiser Tarot

Future Practices

As mentioned at the top, working with a spread like this more than once helps us to develop our own deck-within-a-deck of useful allies - the spirits of our chosen family - to call upon when we need clarification. Natasha's Queen of Swords becomes a source of plain-speaking with things feel confused in her relationships. Amira's Four of Wands is a reminder of the vast possibility for community, illuminating all the pathways to get there. And Leo's Empress is a source of calm and reassurance, pointing out helpful ways for Leo to ground, center, and put everything going on around him into perspective. If you have a chosen family card that you want to work with you can always pull it out to do the Chosen Family spread again, but you can also pay close attention to whenever that particular card is showing up in another spread. You can also do a quick reading with any of your chosen family cards by looking for the card in your deck and reading the card before and after it as a message from them.

And if you're the altar-making type or love to cast a spell, cards from this spread easily lend themselves to an altar or spell calling in chosen family. It can be easier to follow up these type of self-reflective tarot spreads with actions when you have a sense of what these new types of relationships might feel like in your life, because feeling something can make it all the more real. So cast your cards, but also go to that game night that you've been planning on. Magick and real-world action go hand-in-hand!

✨

I hope you enjoyed the Chosen Family Tarot Spread and are feeling inspired by the ways we can approach tarot not only as a tool of self-reflective, but as impetus for connection.

If you’re looking for more tarot spreads, be sure to check out my tarot archive. There is over a decade of tarot spreads and tutorials for you to enjoy! And, if you interested in exploring the intersections between healing and belonging, come this way.

Finally, friends, I hope that your life is rich with people that love and support you and that you are able to be the chosen family to others in a big-hearted way. And if you’re feeling lonely right now, I hope that loneliness dissipates with the arrival of chosen family at the crossroads of wherever it is you are.

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

📚

Footnotes

The tarot deck shown is the Weiser Tarot.

1. Though orders like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn seemed more an intense interpersonal drama than a healthy chosen family. There were so many big personalities and feelings - intermixed with all the effort for costumes and rituals and arguing about secret texts - and including some truly incredible scam artists hanging out around the edges. But this also might just be a description of much of western esoteric tradition…