The Resting Body: Herbs for Sleep & Relaxation

Winter is winding down but the long enough nights of the season of Imbolc remain and I'll be indulging in as many of the quiet dreams of these still dark days as I can.

It's been a colder and grayer winter than recent years and I love this break from the rest of the year's endless sun. And while I'm trying to get just a little more time under the blanket of this gentle winter coming to an end and spring's raucous start, I also wrestle, like so many of us, with a restlessness that spits and hisses within me, pointing to a thousand (a million, a multitude) of reasons to sprint through the season, to try and dig a deeper well for the profound and thirsty needs among us. 

It can be really easy to give into the fearful noise that I carry within me, trying to convince me that taking a break will actually break something. I can spend a lot of time on that tumultuous shoreline, battling between a protective instinct that can be too easily fed by anti-rest culture and the thunderous waves of all that needs feeling through. But, I ask myself, why have I worked so hard to create shelter in my practice and to extend that shelter to others, if I won't let myself go inside and rest?¹ 

I've learned (slowly, slowly) that refusing to rest is to willingly engage in its forgetting and risk losing the words for rest and all its stories. 

image via @anniespratt

These body-felt words of rest that helped me to slow down and illuminate what was possible on my own healing journey, are too generous a gift from peers and partners, elders and guides, to not nurture them within the shelter we're all building together. We hold each other's possibilities, carrying these gifts of what-can-be through the seasons of our lives, offering them to fellow travelers as the wheel turns, and remembering a future where these words are abundant in the stories we tell. If the season of winter (or any season of the year) offers rest to me now, I'm learning to welcome it, knowing that it serves as practice for offering deep rest for others in the seasons ahead. And I'll still find myself on a noisy shoreline some days, but that's part of the practice, too - rest often arrives with the ruckus of a storm, making the everyday work of shelter, of story making, and little rests that much more powerful. 

Caring for the resting body is a central focus for many herbalists since it is through deep rest that so much of the healing work of our body occurs. Addressing disruptions to the cycles of rest and sleep in a person's life is an important part of supporting the ways that the healing gifts of plants move through our bodies. Our plant allies, like with most recommendations you'll receive from an herbalist, are only one part of supporting our cycles of rest, but they can make all the other restful practices we may be adopting that much more successful. 

So with all that considered, please enjoy the following excerpt from The Apothecary of Belonging all about my favorite plant allies for rest and sleep.

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Book shown is The Apothecary of Belonging. Deck shown is My Friend Fire by mari in the sky.

The Resting Body:
Herbs for Sleep & Relaxation

Herbal Actions:
Sedatives, soporifics, nervines, and adaptogens²

Creating a practice of rest and deep sleep is foundational to well-being. The roots of restlessness, exhaustion, and insomnia can range from the relatively simple to the complex, as our sleep cycles can be disrupted by illness, stress, structural racism, lifestyle changes, family obligations, adventure, and more. Here are recommendations for classic sedating herbs as well as nervous system tonics for more complex needs. With sedating herbs like Valerian (Valeriana spp.), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), and California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), I recommend starting with small doses (10 drops up to three times daily) before trying a standard dosage. As always, look up contraindications and consult with your health practitioners before adding herbs into your sleep routine.

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California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica): If you’re looking for an herb to reset disruptive sleep patterns but others like Valeriana spp. or Passiflora incarnata leave you too drowsy, California Poppy might be good to work with. California Poppy is less sedating but still relaxing, helping to draw energy downward. Indications include insomnia, tension headaches, bed-wetting, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a dysregulated nervous system.

Eleuthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus): A favorite relaxing nervine to help return the body back to a state of rest. Eleuthero reduces stress, regulates the endocrine system, and strengthens our inner vitality. Indications include hypersensitivity, nervous exhaustion, PTSD, ADHD, adrenal stress, and recovering from intense physical exertion.

Sacred Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum): A preferred nervine to alleviate tension and anxiety contributing to restlessness and disrupting sleep cycles. Indications include excess stagnation, brain fog, weak circulation, and sore muscles.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis): I love recommending Lemon Balm for finding that restful flow state during waking hours leading to easier periods of rest and sleep. Indications include tension, hypersensitivity, overextension of energy, stress, and postpartum.

Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata): A classic remedy for overworkers, the overworked, and those with difficulty taking a genuine break or rest without feeling anxiety or panic. Passionflower is excellent for insomnia, bringing in restful sleep, and helping you wake up refreshed. Indications include insomnia, muscle spasms, tremors, hiccups, pain, inflammation, and feeling easily overheated at night.

Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora): A great nervous system tonic and rest aid for those who start to fall asleep but get woken up by anxious thoughts. Indications include anxiety, overthinking, nervous exhaustion, and neuralgia.

Valerian (Valeriana spp.): When Valerian is effective, it’s great for calming the nervous system and bringing on sleep, especially when there are connected issues of anxiety. For a small percentage of folks, however, Valerian can bring agitation, so start slow and if Valerian isn’t a fit, try Eschscholzia californica. Indications include insomnia, tension headaches, muscle spasms, PTSD, and ADHD.

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If you're looking for more resources on incorporating plant allies of rest and sleep into your practice, here is my favorite relaxing tea blend. I also love recommending herbal baths and shower rinses to support cycles of rest and relaxation. Our Moon sign can be an interesting well of stories about rest to draw from - if you're curious, you might start with this post on restorative healing with a lunar focus. If you enjoyed the style of this post and would like to support my work, purchasing a copy of my book goes a long way in doing just that - thank you so much!

Friends, thank you for the words you carry and the stories of rest you've created and shared - may the season of rest always be easy to access, an everglowing brightness in your heart.

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

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Footnotes

The book shown in the photo is The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism. The beautiful deck shown is My Friend Fire by mari in the sky.

1. Since I work with a lot of fellow herbalists, activists, and organizers there is always a point where I find myself asking them some variation of this same question. And the only reason I've become better at asking it of myself is I’m trying to set a good example because it is something I still struggle to remember, too!

2. Ah, the term adaptogen. I wrote this book about three years ago and by the time I got to final edits I was questioning whether or not to use the term adaptogen. I decided to ultimately include the term in my book because I was both admittedly very tired of edits and it didn't feel like a make-or-break sort of thing to have to rework in the book. I still don't think it is make-or-break, but if I were to rewrite the book now, I'd probably take out the term adaptogen. Mostly, this is because I think the term is increasingly misused by the "biohacking" and "wellness" influencer types who are trying to promote herbs we've categorized as adaptogens as some sort of super drug (and promoting some really questionable use). But more importantly, I don't think the term is that useful anymore and we can use other more accurate terminology in its place (such as stimulating nervines for many plants classified as adaptogens).

When I was coming up in herbalism, adaptogens were considered a newly discovered type of herbal action - with whole books dedicated to the subject assigned as recommended reading in my courses - but even I remember as an herbal student reading about the less than ethical Cold War trials for these plants and feeling a bit concerned. I don't think the term adaptogen is going anywhere, but I'm more cautious using it these days, even though it has been a favorite term to describe that dynamic nervine nature of some plants like Ocimum tenuiflorum (you'll find other terms like "amphoteric" used among herbalist to describe herbs like Ocimum tenuiflorum or Mentha piperita that are either relaxing or stimulating as needed). But it's good practice to continue to be mindful and more expansive about the terms we use for plants and their actions, hence a two-paragraph footnote on the term adaptogen…

Herbs for the Winter Body

Friends, what follows is an excerpt from the winter section my book The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism that explores the energy of the season and how we can connect to herbs for the winter body from a traditional western herbalism perspective.

Within The Apothecary of Belonging I focus on how we draw ourselves back into relationship with the land, our bodies, and our communities through earth-centered seasonal practices - for all is land, there is no other.

As the darkest part of the year starts to stretch throughout the land, I thought I'd share a part of the winter section of my book with you. Each seasonal section includes practices for connecting with the land, from breathwork to simple rituals, a seasonal apothecary full of plant allies to work with, an invitation to connecting with your land-body through divination, and more.

You can find the introduction to the book here and if you feel inspired by what you read below, consider checking out a copy from your library or purchasing a copy for your own bookshelves. Thank you for your support and making the work of writing a book even possible!

❄️ ☕️ 🌿

Within traditional western herbalism, winter is a time of falling temperatures and increasing moisture, moving from the dry coolness of autumn into the increasingly damp cold of the darkest part of the year. The land is slowing: snowpack builds in the mountains, storing precious reserves of water that’ll flow down throughout the warmer seasons, while the combination of coldness and damp draws the energy of plant life inward or underground. The moisture and frost of winter aid in the process of decay started in autumn, drawing energy farther down and inward, rebuilding the soil before another season of growth begins. Traditional western herbalism associates winter with the element of earth moving into primordial water, representing the final period of maturation and age within the human life cycle.

Within our apothecaries we can support our winter bodies by incorporating immune system tonics into our daily brews, stocking our shelves with favorite cold-care remedies, including a variety for coughs ranging from dry to damp, brain tonics to support our seasonal mental health and agility, tonics to support our fluid-filtering organs, and remedies to meet the needs of our increasing age.

image via @yosoybrod

Winter helps us identify areas of our life that have become frozen, brittle, and lacking in vitality. Signs of Cold (one of the six energetic tissue states used within traditional western herbalism along with Heat, Tension, Relaxation, Stagnation, and Dryness) include weak circulation, ineffective digestion and absorption of nutrients, feeling understimulated, and an underperforming immune system so you’re catching every cold that comes your way. Many recommendations for winter health within the herbal world and beyond include warming remedies from herb-enriched broths to hot teas to counteract the season’s excessive Cold, which is why it is good to incorporate physically warming remedies into your winter rotation. 

When unresolved Tension or excess Relaxation from any previous season follows us into winter, it can mingle and get stuck with the season’s increased Cold, leading to Stagnation. Stoking our digestive fires with warming bitters as well as including gently energizing nervines in our rotation of daily teas can keep us feeling relaxed but present. Slowing down and resting are part of winter’s healing gifts, including moments of sadness and even somber introspection, but we want to guard against getting stuck in seasonal sadness or lingering burnout. Getting things off our chest energetically and physically (supported by lung tonics), sharing unexpressed grief, and working with plant allies as elders are all ways we can embrace and be embraced by winter. 

image via @sxtcxtc

Winter teaches us how to be watchful of muddy places that could become swampy and stagnant in our body, inhibiting the flow of energy. Signs of Stagnation include feelings of stuckness and malaise, buildup that results in conditions such as excess mucus or cystic acne, as well as general lethargy and even apathy. Most of us experience at least a bit of winter Stagnation. We also need to pay attention to the way we support the digestive warmth and fires of the body since the rich foods of winter combined with a slower digestive cycle from the long hours of night start to speed up again in spring. Signs of Stagnation such as bloating, constipation, gas, feeling like the food is just sitting in your stomach, and becoming overly tired after eating because digestion takes so much effort can be alleviated with digestive bitters and helpful energizing Tension in the form of astringent herbs that move energy. Late winter and early spring colds can lead to lingering congestion and an immune system needing extra support, so we can turn to anticatarrhal, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulating herbs.

image via @pollypommes

As a season associated with aging and elderhood, winter has us turn to plants with a special relationship to the aging process and longevity such as Sage (Salvia officinalis), Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), and Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus). Through winter and connecting with the ancient energies of the land, we can explore the wisdom of our increasing age, learning to discern and carry only what brings us meaning and connection. Winter is a beautiful time to explore what inheritances have been passed down to you through the generations and the healing needs of your ancient self. You can work with the ebbing energy of the land, returning to the ocean lungs of our planet, by tending to your lungs, your own inner sea.

During winter, the land travels the path to dream and settles into a seasonal slumber. We can mirror the winter of the land in our own inner landscape, connecting with plants that support our sleep body, especially if our rest and sleep cycles have been disrupted during the busyness of the year. Herbs like Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) not only settle us into a state of rest but pull into focus what really matters to us instead of what keeps us busy. Seeking connection with winter’s rhythms helps us reconnect to our own inner visions, finding inspiration with the dreaming land.

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Looking for more inspiration for your winter practices? I've shared my favorite warming bitters blend for the winter months as well as a whole post on creating your own winter apothecary. I've also written about winter herbal and magickal practices and I even have a winter solstice tarot spread for you.

Wherever the season carries you, may the bright clarity of winter’s cold brings you comfort, carrying you all the way through to spring’s bright dreaming.

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

Path of Beauty: Rose (Rosa damascena) Plant Profile

Two years ago, I was offered the opportunity to write a book by a publishing company whose back catalogue I’ve read most of since first spotting their ankh marked books in my local library as a kid.

When I eventually said yes I knew I wanted to fill the pages with some of my most beloved plant allies. Rose (Rosa spp.) was one of the first plants that came to mind since it was the first herb I wrote of in the style that would become the prototype for the plant ally profiles you'll find throughout this community blog - and I even painted a (nearly fluorescent) watercolor of to go along with that original but retired post.

To celebrate the official release of The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism it felt like a lovely bit of magick to share the Rose plant profile you'll find within its pages. I first came to know Rose as a young witch, then as an herbal student, and over and over again as a community herbalist - it is a layered and beautiful form of plant remedy, generous in its wisdom, and protective in its energy. I'm happy to be sharing the stories and healing ways that I've come to know about Rose as I release the book that I've describe as a love letter - reminding us that we can always find our way back home to each other. 

So with heartfelt thanks for all your support over the years that made The Apothecary of Belonging possible, let's get to know Rose.

byrev, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rose
(Rosa damascena)

Common + Folk Names : Queen of flowers, rosa, satapatri, witch’s briar, thorn mother, oginii-waabigwan

Elements : Water, air, fire

Zodiac Signs : Embodies the energy of Taurus and Libra. A remedy for all signs.

Planets : Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Moon

Moon Phase : Full Moon

Parts Used : Flowers, hips, roots

Habitat : There are 47 species of the Rosa genus growing wild in Europe and 10,000 varieties, both wild and cultivated, worldwide.

Growing Conditions : Partial shade to full sun with frequent watering

Collection : Collect rosehips before flowering. Collect flowers in the spring and summer.

Flavor : Bitter, sweet, astringent

Temperature : Cooling

Moisture : Moist (flower + seed), Dry (hip + root)

Tissue States : Heat, Relaxation, Cold

Actions : Diaphoretic, carminative, probiotic, hepatoprotective, emmenagogue, reproductive tonic, aphrodisiac, aperient, decongestant, febrifuge, nervine, anxiolytic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, astringent, hemostatic, antimicrobial, antidepressant, analgesic, vulnerary, deodorant. Flower: Anodyne, antibacterial, antidepressant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiviral, aphrodisiac, aromatic, astringent, blood tonic, cardiotonic, carminative, decongestant, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, hemostatic, hepatic, kidney tonic, laxative, refrigerant, sedative. Hip: Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, antioxidant, antiviral, astringent, blood tonic, cardiotonic, digestive, diuretic (mild), emmenagogue, kidney tonic, laxative, nutritive, stimulant, tonic. Seed: Diuretic, laxative. Root: Astringent, carminative.

Contraindications : Caution during pregnancy and while nursing

Dosage : Standard dosage

image via New York Public Library

Rose is one of the elder plants of our home planet, used medicinally for thousands of years and a beloved ancestor of our herbal practice. The herb helps us tap into ancestral wisdom, honor the ancient animal nature of our sensitivity, and learn how to unfold into our gifts just as a many-petaled Rose unfolds into maturity. As a sweet medicine that calms the nervous system, Rose assists with memory and promotes clarity of mind, heart, and spirit by connecting all three centers of experience. Within Ayurveda, Rose is considered a rasayana (rejuvenative tonic) and medhya (brain tonic and nervine) for all of the doshas. The Anishinaabe have a myth about Rose that teaches that “[t]he sight and smell of a rose are here to remind us of the harmony inherent in our world. The thorns are there to keep us mindful of greed that endangers the balance and thereby endangers the whole of creation.”¹

Rose is an essential remedy for imbalances arising from excess inflammation. The flower relieves pain from heat and inflammation, including gastritis, peptic ulcers, and cooling an overheated liver. Rose’s cooling qualities also alleviate the heat that can accompany autoimmune conditions and assist topically and internally with arthritic pain, improving flexibility of movement. Use as a remedy for fluid imbalances that lead to depletion of energy and blood in the body, including diarrhea, excess bleeding, and the accumulation of fluids. Rose prevents and alleviates colds and can also be used in the case of flu, sore throats, excess mucus, and coughs, including bronchitis. Rose is an uplifting, soothing, and nourishing medicine for those with weakened vitality, including children, elders, and people in recovery from illness. For fluid imbalances Rose can be effective in cases of an overactive bladder, bed-wetting, night sweats, and general excess excretion of fluids. Excessive menstruation is eased by a strong tea of dried Rose, and the herb is also useful for uterine spasms and cramping. A vaginal douche can relieve infection, inflammation, and conditions such as vaginitis and thrush. As an astringent, Rose can be useful for diarrhea and internal hemorrhage as well as acting as a healing herb in postpartum sitz baths.

As a digestive aid, Rose has wonderful probiotic qualities and supports healthy gut flora. Use Rose during and after taking antibiotics to rebuild gut flora as it encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria while countering harmful pathogens. As a clearing herb, Rose improves circulation and promotes healthy blood flow, breaks up kidney stones and helps the kidneys process toxins, and relieves brain fog.

As an aphrodisiac, Rose is an opener—it opens the heart and body to healing experiences with oneself and others. Like many aphrodisiacs, Rose has nervine qualities that relax the body into a place of connected intimacy. For those seeking fertility support, Rose has also been shown to increase sperm count. In addition to the powder and juice of Rose, a Rose honey can be a topical treatment for inflammation, rashes, wounds, ulcers, acne, herpes, and similar skin imbalances. My favorite form of Rose skincare is rosewater, which adds and maintains water in the skin and can be used as a mild antiseptic for first-aid needs. Use as a mouthwash for ulcers and bleeding gums. Rose vinegar or a strong tea is especially cooling and repairing for the skin after prolonged sun exposure. Apply externally on the eyes as a soothing compress to relieve eye-strain and conjunctivitis and improve vision.

image via @cristina_glebova

Seasonal Uses

In spring Rose skincare recipes rejuvenate winter skin. A Rose herbal oil can loosen up stiff joints, waking the body up to the new season. In summer, use rosewater, a strong Rose tea, or Rose vinegar for after-sun care, and keep Rose honey or Rose petal powder handy for stings, bumps, and bruises. In autumn rosehips are a great addition to tea to prevent colds and flu. Add Rose petals to teas and desserts during winter to gladden the heart and as a digestive aid so that the body can rest deeply during the darkest part of the year.

Magickal Uses

The Rose is a symbol of many ancient goddesses, including Ishtar, Isis, and Aphrodite. The flower also has a special relationship to Sappho and lesbians as it is from Sappho that Rose received the name “Queen of Flowers.”² Use Rose in spells and charms for love, desire, charm, and attraction. Add the petals to your dream pillow to dream of love. Rose is a great plant ally for those desiring to deepen their spiritual study and experience. Add to charms of mirth, reverence, and joy. Use in charms of secrecy (“under the rose . . .”). Use in handfasting rituals for divine blessing of the union. Thorns can be included in charms of protection. Rose tea awakens psychic visions and connects us to our intuitive heart-knowings.

The Rose Personality

The Rose personality has lost their spark of desire. They might have trouble sleeping, be restless and exhausted, and ultimately not have enough energy to explore their worlds either physically or philosophically. The desire to create and experience life and relationships of all kinds is low; their vitality stagnant. What they think they should be doing dominates their thoughts more than what they want to be doing. Sometimes they are not even sure they know what they want to be doing. Many Rose folks experience a disconnection in relationships, creating distance between themselves and those they love. For those who’ve been in this state of exhaustion for a while, their brain and heart fog can be punctured by sudden overwhelming feelings of despair, like they are living without a light in the dark. Sometimes, unresolved anger simmers deep below the surface - Rose teaches us how to use both our thorns and petals to set up boundaries and supportive spaces to express how we really feel. Working with Rose helps folk reconnect to their wildness, their fierceness, and their determination to know and name their heart’s desires.

Rose helps folks to dream and want and feel and move closer to the relationships that feel whole and holy, closing the distance between themselves and the people, places, and creatures they love. Ultimately, Rose connects folks back to the secret excitement of mystery, where it is safe to express desire and seek it out. The profound gift of Rose folks is the ability to name desire, honor it in others, and shine like a fiery, welcoming, and protective light wherever they go.

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I hope you enjoyed this exploration of Rose’s healing and magickal gifts. You can find many more plant profiles in my archive and my complete collection of plant profiles in The Plant Ally Library. If you’d like to learn more about the thorn energy of Rose, come this way. Rose has a special relationship with Venus within astroherbalism, and if you’re into connecting with the wise crone energy of Venus during the year’s renewal at Samhain, you might like this tarot spread.

If you are one of the folks who have already preordered The Apothecary of Belonging or are planning on purchasing it today or requested it at your library - thank you! Thank you for your enthusiasm - I hope the book is useful to you and your practice, becoming appropriately tea-stained and well-worn in the years to come.

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

The Apothecary of Belonging: An Introduction

Friends, I wrote a book, and I thought it would be fun to share the introduction with you!

The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism will be in bookstores this November and is currently available for pre-order. Thank you for all of your support and encouragement over the years - this work was shaped by our community and I hope that it is received as a big-hearted thank you.

So if you like hardcover books with built-in bookmarks (fancy!), color illustrations, and a mix of the practical (seasonal indications guides for plant allies!) and the magickal (simple rituals and a unique oracle practice for you to create!), then I hope that you’ll check The Apothecary of Belonging out. Also, all the cute art you’ll see below is from the book! If you’re looking for even more of a sneak peek, you can check out the first 40 pages for free.

In the meantime, please enjoy the full introduction from my book and my evergreen gratitude for all of you.

The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism by Alexis J. Cunningfolk

A Place of Belonging

The wheel of the year turns and seasons shift, a dancing pattern of life, death, and transformation, weaving together all that was, is, and shall be. Each of us is woven into the year’s turning, bodies of land sustained by the same earth, air, fire, and water that sustained our ancestors and will sustain all who come after us. All of us are shaped by and shape our entanglements—the well-being of the land, our bodies, and our communities intimately interconnected through a deep kinship. And even though we might forget our interconnectedness, the land always remembers. 

The Apothecary of Belonging is an invitation back into the wisdom that, by being of the land, we have always belonged. While many of us may feel disconnected from the land and one another, through working with the seasons of the year we can partake in a profound reconciliation of all parts of ourselves back home to the land, our bodies, and our communities. Within these pages, we’ll work with plant allies and simple rituals to connect with the energy of each season, mixing practical herbalism with inner work, mapping pathways of wisdom, well-being, and sacred relationships.

While this is a book mostly about the seasons of the lands we live with, in many ways it is also a book about bodies. For we are all land - there is no other - and though we may call land by many names, it is from a body of land that we are formed and it is as a body of land that we experience life. We are our physical bodies, mental bodies, emotional heart bodies, and bodies that are shrines for our infinite spirit. We are bodies of land, sea, and sky, as well as bodies that hold memories and stories experienced in our present life, inherited from our family and cultural lines, and carried for generations yet to be. As we seek out belonging and the places in the land within and around us in most need of healing, we travel through time, to sites of old pain and early wounds in the past, all while uprooting the belief that healing is an act of individual willpower and moving forward into futures that we are pulling toward us as much as we are being pulled toward them. Exploring seasonal rhythms of kinship helps us recognize what it is we want to make time and space for, developing the ability to cultivate connection in our lives no matter where we come from or where we might be going.

There are so many ways our ability to feel our belonging can be disrupted. Many of us have complex direct or ancestral experiences of displacement, migration, settlement, and return. Or we have challenging experiences with our family of origin or cultural upbringing that have made us feel like an “other” from an early age. Pernicious and overt systems of oppression work to divide up land - including our land-bodies - keeping us separated by fear-based borders and creating uncertainty around our own inherent dignity and sacredness. What I hope to explore with you in The Apothecary of Belonging is how, rather than a hindrance, the complexity of our land-bodies is an affirmation of our belonging to one another. We are already kin, but it takes practice to develop an intentional and healing relationship with the land and one another.

While the tools needed to dismantle oppressive systems will be as diverse as the people, places, and creatures living under them, there are some simple and useful earth-centered practices everyone can engage with. The central practice I hope to offer is finding connection with the seasonal rhythms of the land as a process of coming home to the healing seasons of your body and the kinship of community. When we begin our healing work from a place of deep knowing we already belong - being inherently of the land -we can begin to untangle beliefs about not being enough, worries about whether we’ll ever fit in, or concerns about finding a place for who we are presently as well as who we are becoming. I want you to be guided by the simplicity and complexity of the changing land to accept that you have always belonged and there is abundant space for all of who you are. 

Like many of you, I’ve experienced the discomfort, pain, and confusion of not knowing quite where I belong. As a third-culture kid, mixed womxn, lesbian who is allergic to binaries of all kinds, and someone who has experienced life at different class levels, I’ve had my share of experiences of believing or being told I don’t belong. At the same time, I’ve had profound experiences of belonging that have been life-changing and hope-sustaining. These experiences of otherness and belonging have shaped my practice as an herbalist, and I’m called to help folks cultivate a resilient and persistent sense of belonging regardless of what culture or family or systems of power may want them to believe is possible. I can’t resolve complicated family stories or identities for you, undo the pain of traumatic experiences, or directly place you in a community of loving peers (that would be the most amazing superpower!), but I can help you develop the skills of discernment and self-knowing to recognize how deeply, how profoundly, how beautifully you already belong and how to (re)connect with yourself and the world around you from that place of belonging.

The Path Ahead

Within The Apothecary of Belonging we’ll explore with our plant allies how to know ourselves as land and as beings who deeply belong to the land and each other

through three primary practices:

🌲 Connecting with and telling the story of the land within us

🌿 Observing and engaging with the seasons of the land around us

🕸️ Embodying our kinship through ritual and community practice with the land between us

We’ll begin by getting to know our plant allies, our guides to the land around, within, and between us. Then we’ll learn about the energetic foundations of traditional western herbalism that flow through the seasons within and around us, exploring ways we can map our inner landscape, and then journey through each of the four seasons with plant allies as our guides and companions. In each seasonal chapter, we’ll explore the common themes each part of the year brings as well as ways to connect through your body with the land from breathwork to sacred inquiry.

Each seasonal section also contains an indications-based guide to plant allies for common ailments. Indications are a succinct way of identifying what plants might be most appropriate for a condition through observations of the body. Being able to discern in our body, for example, a dry and hacking cough versus a damp and weak cough is one way to find the best herbs to work with. I have focused on herbs that are generally considered safe with few contraindications, but you should always reference the contraindications appendix as well as look up any plants you want to work with in your trusted materia medica or with an herbalist.

You’ll also find community clinic suggestions in each seasonal chapter. While not every one of us will or wants to work in a community clinic setting, these ideas can easily be applied to personal apothecaries, households, and friend groups, acting as a guide for sharing herbal gifts and making seasonal donations to herbal calls to action, neighbors, and communities in need. There are also simple tea recipes to support your energy season to season, rituals that can be adapted for solo or community practice, including divination techniques for the inner landscape maps you’ll be creating, and lunar blessings to support your remedy-making throughout the year.

Shared Language

As we journey together, I want to begin by defining some of the terms you’ll find here. I use body and land-body interchangeably to refer not only to the physical body, but our emotional, mental, and energetic bodies as well. When I write of bodies, whether our own individual and finite physical forms or bodies of land, I am speaking of bodies in their most expansive and complex forms.

When I speak of ancestors, I am referring to ancestry in the broadest way possible, from familial, cultural, and spiritual ancestors to nonhuman ancestors, including ancestors of place, plant, stone, and water. I use the term kin to refer to human and nonhuman kin alike, and sometimes I use terms like beyond-human kin and kindred to refer to these connections as well. When I write of relationships, it is about relationships of all varieties, not just romantic or family-based. Writing about consultations and clients can refer to professional practice but also encompasses the casual conversations you might have with friends or family members when suggesting herbal care.

Finally, the term traditional western herbalism is an imperfect way of describing not only my training and background as an herbalist, but the vast, complicated, and beautiful path of herbalism that such a phrase is trying to encompass. Traditional refers to the fact that what I practice is derived from ancient and modern herbal practices, from the evidence-based (including Indigenous science) to the folkloric and magickal. Western is much less useful, and I wish there was an alternative for it. Traditional western herbalism has ancient roots in North African, Greek, and Arabic medicine, having journeyed throughout Europe and on to North America, changing and adapting through the centuries. The more I learn about the ways traditional western herbalism developed, the more I’ve come to appreciate and love its multicultural roots. Terms like western, eastern, global south, and global north flatten culture and create misleading binaries about diverse swaths of people, places, and societies. I am sure a better term for this path of herbalism will emerge as language continues to grow more expansive and inclusive. In the meantime, traditional western herbalism is a widely used and recognized umbrella term and a meaningful differentiator from other herbal traditions.¹

While I’ll be wandering through the energetics of traditional western herbalism as a useful form of observation and storytelling, the primary focus of the herbal practice within these pages is building a relationship with our plant allies, which we’ll explore in the next chapter. 

As we journey along the path of The Apothecary of Belonging, may each chapter serve as a map, marked with the places where we might find benevolent plant allies and words of magick, simple rituals and skills of connection, as we trust in our shared belonging and travel the wheel of the year back home together.

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If you want to read more I’d love for you to get a copy of The Apothecary of Belonging from your neighborhood library or local bookstore. Of course, you can also peruse through my complete archive for more herbal and magickal writing. If you liked this introduction, you might enjoy some of my seasonal-focused posts from Between the Seasons series to my series on the wheel of the year.

Thank you again for all of your support over the years - may there be many more years together of exploring the green world and places in-between.

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

📚

Footnotes

1. I spent so much time wrestling with this paragraph and trying to squeeze libraries of complexity into a few sentences - something that I felt nervous to do especially knowing that this was going to right at the front of the book no less! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to refer to regions and cultures, going back and forth between increasingly specific to much broader categorizations. If I were to rewrite it I might use a term like SWANA in place of North Africa - one of the biggest points I wrestled with. Still what I wrote works for now and I hope it conveys that traditional western herbalism is a living tradition built upon living traditions, shared at the crossroads of cultures, and changed by all who practice it.

Earth-Centered Practices for Aspiring Herbalists

We need more herbalists in the world.

More scruffy punk kids who aspire to work all day with Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and the broken-hearted, more bespeckled biology nerds who want to make complex concoctions to help their friends and family feel better, and more drag kings who are running mini clinics between performances in the backrooms of queer clubs. More farm boys with a love for the wild weedy edges of the land, carrying around plant ID guides, more elders who've decided to return to the ways of their elders after a life lived tangled up in corporate chutes and ladders, and more tenderhearted types ready to open up community tea-rooms to help others get to know their own profound softness.

My own path started when I was called to be an herbalist before I knew that was something you could be, but thank goodness for all those hours spent up in trees and hiding in-between urban hedgerows because when a friend handed me a copy of a practicing herbalist's catalogue, I could recognize it for the invitation that it was. The older I've gotten the more I recognize (and love and adore and am grateful for) the fact that it is the land that calls us, through the song of our beloved plant allies, to the path of the herbalist. And so whoever you might be and wherever you might come from, I believe we should keep the earth centered in our herbal practices as a common heart of our varied traditions as we grow and learn and serve as plant folk. 

The social world is overly busy, our relationships complex, and the challenges we face as a collective are immense. And yet, the calling to the path of the herbalist continues shifting and changing with the needs of our times. If you are one of those plant people, I hope to offer you some grounding, centering, and empowering inspiration for creating a practice that is earth-centered, sustainable, and enduring. During a time of collective grief and disconnection where burnout feels more common than ever, I believe that an earth-centered practice is what can help us cultivate hope, (re)connection with the land and each other, and finding our longevity as herbalists and plant folk wherever our path might take us. 

Whatever ways you have come to herbalism to be earth-centerd in your practice isn’t always a default but it is always a choice. The path of the herbalist is varied, with some learning communities valuing the folkloric, Indigenous, and magickal roots of herbalism alongside modern medical understanding of plants, and other trainings focusing primarily on clinical settings, medical language, and little time spent in communion with plants. Many of us studying western herbalism (whether traditional, modern or a combination) will have found ourselves in a mix of settings, especially if your training has taken place in a country where herbalism is unregulated. Regardless of your path of study, I hope that you'll find the following list - from a Pagan and herbalist who teaches and practices from an earth-centered perspective - full of useful things to ponder and wander with as you develop as an herbalist. 

image via @fumirin

While I'm writing this for all aspiring herbalists who are interested in creating an earth-centered practice (and even those with years of practice under their belt looking to shift or renew perspectives), my heart especially goes out to those kids who, like me, felt stuck in-between and in a state of perpetual un-belonging but always found a sense of kinship in the quiet moments with plants and trees where boundaries that keep us apart seem to fade. To those young herbalists who worry that they're too urban, who can't walk through a wood and identify dozens of plants with ease (and who may very well be afraid of walking about in rural places), and haven't quite found their herbal kin, you’re needed as much as the sixth generation herbalist who grew up knowing the names of plants before the names of their aunts.

Focusing on creating an earth-centered practice that honors that all of us are of the land - and that by being of the land there is no other - I hope to invite you into the beautiful wisdom that each of us have always belonged. An earth-centered practice helps us understand our points of interconnectedness with the plants, the people and creatures we serve, and the changing wisdom of our inner landscape.

Slowly but surely what may currently feel like something that sets us apart can be transformed into the sacred knot that binds us together and your unique strengths as an herbalist. 

So, with all that said, let’s explore some of the ways that you can begin to create an earth-centered practice as an herbalist.

image via @tototosia

By Wind, by River, by Flame, by Stone: Understanding Your Herbalist Energy

How we express our energy as an herbalist matters not only in the way that we work with our clients but in how we connect to the land. 

I was in high school when I was radicalized by two prepositions and a noun, forever changing the way I understood the dynamics of energy. Sitting in the back of a class that I wasn't paying particularly good attention to, I was reading a twenty year old book called Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics by Starhawk. I'd picked it up from the used book shelf of my local metaphysical shop and found myself immersed in the world of political organizing and magickal activism in a way that spoke to my Pagan heart.

In Dreaming the Dark Starhawk explores power dynamics within groups, between individuals, and by corporate entities and state systems. She wrote of the difference between power-over, where people, governments, and organizations dominate the energy of others and adhere to a patriarchal worldview, versus power-with where folks worked together as equals while acknowledging differing access to cultural, social, political, and personal power. The concept of power-over versus power-with felt clarifying and exhilarating - it rang like a magickal spell throughout my being and became a tool of discernment I would continue use throughout my studies and training in activism and organizing over the next few years. Alongside power-over versus power-with there is power-under which describes the way that traumatized and oppressed people can undermine one another through undermining personal and collective efforts of liberation.² I would add power-through to make space for what has been and describe the ways that collective strength and wisdom flows through generations (such as cultural and spiritual inheritances) as well as between human and non-human kin, allowing space for the intangible tides of change that we can’t always spot or name.

These dynamics of power are present everywhere including in all the places we practice as herbalists. As aspiring and practicing herbalist it's important to investigate why we feel called to the work of sitting with folks in their vulnerability and why it is we think we should be there. In other words, what are the systems of power we are working with and how does that shape our energy as an herbalist. Do we think that we hold exclusive knowledge on how to heal someone? Or do we believe we "good enough" or "clean enough" or someone special enough to be an herbalist? Are we trying to make collective wisdom about medicinal plants exclusive? Are we trying to prove something or be approved of by our peers by becoming an herbalist? Where do we seek feedback and affirmation from? How are we trying to get those we sit with to conform to our expectations? Where are we most expansive in our ability to listen and be changed? How does our intersections of oppression and privilege shape how we practice as an herbalist?

As I continue to explore the way that I express, seek out, share, and receive power in my life, I turn to elemental language grounded in traditions of my herbal ancestors to help me honor my inherent instincts while learning how to adapt, grow, and change. Since herbalism developed before sophisticated diagnostic tools were available, practitioners had to rely on physical observation and client testimonies to understand what was going on in a person's body. From these observations, elemental language developed to describe and understand the physiological state of bodies, the healing qualities of herbs, and the actions and symptoms of illnesses. These energetic systems and elemental language are still used today by many modern herbalists from a variety of traditions. As a traditional western herbalist, I primarily work with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water along with spirit (sometimes described as pneuma) as an accessible form of storytelling, a way of relaying information to clients, and offering language for clients to use to understand their experiences in a way that honors their complexity. 

image via @alksndra

So what does this all look like in practice?

Let's pretend that Angelica is an herbal student who has fiery and fast energy, always excited to work at her school's busy community clinic, ready to connect with clients and solve problems swiftly. She's learning to recognize the strengths and shortcomings of her inherent energetic instincts including her impatience when answers don't come quickly or when stories take a long time to tell, and frustration when clients aren't keeping up with the pace she expects of them. Angelica is often prone to burning her energetic candle at both ends, but feels anxious about approaching her studies (and life) at a slower pace. Taking an elemental approach, Angelica begins to recognize that she needs to draw on more grounding earth energy (such as adjusting her pace with clients instead of expecting them to keep up) and even some steadying air energy so that she learns to draw on her evidence-based studies alongside her intuitive connections. Finally, she's working with a favorite teacher to develop post-clinic and classroom practices that are soft and watery in nature, that don't feel too slow for her wondrous fiery self, but also help her to cool off and settle so she feels more refreshed the next day.

Angelica’s story is a short and succinct summary of what can be a long and circuitous path to understanding our inherent energetic constitution and the remediation practices we can call into our life to keep ourselves steady and inspired in our work as herbalists. As we explore our energetic landscape we’re likely to encounter forgotten homelands, borderlands and boundaries, fragile dreams and familial obligations, and the inheritance of social and cultural expectation. Hopefully, in our explorations of our energy we’ll encounter the thrum of wild earth wisdom and hum of collective resonance that draws us back home to our bodies and the communities that we thrive in.

We can use the language of the land to guide us, learning how to ground like mountains, flow like rivers, change like the wind, find renewal through sun and flame. Centering the land in our practice not only as the source of our healing remedies but our collective wisdom as a species, helps us to keep grounded in the present moment, connect with the enduring legacy of intergenerational connection (beyond the latest digital distraction or social phase), and find ourselves part of the dream of a land that thrives with the stories we strived to live. 

Sacred Inquiry for Understanding Your Energy

How would I describe my energy using elemental language? 

What are my elemental strengths? What are my elemental shortcomings?

What clients do I think will be attracted to my practice as an herbalist?

How would I describe my ideal client? What do I expect of my clients? What does that say about my approach as an herbalist?

What boundaries do I have as an herbalist (these boundaries can be social, emotional, physical, financial, and so on)? 

What do I want my energy to feel like for my clients? What is the energetic landscape I am creating in my consultation space and/or with my offerings?

image via @lauraadaiphoto

The Year's Turning: Finding Your Seasonal Rhythms

Seasons of the year, seasons of life, generational seasons, seasons of practice and becoming, every one mingled with memory and expectation, trials and challenges, heartbreak and renewal.

As herbalists we are constantly traveling through the seasons of the lives of those who come to us for aid: walking with someone through a winter of their sorrow, helping little ones in the spring of their new life, sitting for a while in the limitations of a person's autumn as they recover from illness, and showing up for endless summer celebrations of guiding someone along the path of vitality. 

To keep a sense of where we are in our own life and practice, to experience the shelter of earth's healing guidance, we need to have a steady sense the seasons within our own inner landscape and the land that we live with. There's also the practical need for our seasonality as herbalists - we need to know when herbs are ready to harvest, when certain illnesses are more likely to arise at one point of the year, and adjusting our recommendations for folks based on the weather and what the weather brings.³

Finding our inner turning and changing in the land (and the land finding its changes within us) is one of the ways that we can remember that our practice is only possible because of the land, the plants who have offered their gifts to us, and the people who have listened long enough to find and form the words needed to tell the healing stories we pass around like so many cups of tea (including watching our beyond-human kin and the ways they use plants).  And, as a Pagan, I believe in the importance of seasonal celebrations to anchor us in kinship to the land and one another.

image via @midwestiscool

Finding the seasonal rhythm of your practice can look like reviving cultural traditions of your childhood that have fallen to the wayside in your adulthood but that still speak to you. Or making a commitment to show up for the seasonal festivals that resonate with your practice. But it can also just be a commitment to observing the land for a full turning of the year as you continue your herbal studies and start your practice as an herbalist.

When I moved to the place I'm living now I kept a simple garden journal where I wrote down when the Orange tree blossomed, when the Redwood tree grew new buds, when the grass became golden, and so on, creating a super local calendar of micro seasons to build upon. I now know that when the Cleavers (Aparine galium) start to go to seed that the first hot days of the year are close, that there will be a second blooming of the Calendula (Calendula officinalis) as the veil begins to thin at Samhain which reminds me to keep some of the summer's light in my winter remedies. I also have observed my inner seasons long enough to know that there are points of the year that I find hard and when I need to make lots of space for quiet downtime, and other points of the year where I'm ready to be out and about. I adjust my work as an herbalist to reflect these inner and outer seasons, to help me show up better to my practice.

I want to emphasize that this seasonal practice takes time to develop - it can't be rushed or achieved within a few hours. A seasonal practice needs to be lived over the years because it's a slow and profound sort of magick that unfolds at its own time and pace. And it's absolutely worth it.

If we are to sit with the land of others, those who come to visit us and tell us what healing they are seeking to make their inner landscape thrive, we need to be able to recognize the rhythms of the land around and within us. Not only is the land around us one of the greatest teachers we have as herbalists (And the land is always with you! You're reading this while being held by the land!), but having a relationship with our inner landscape helps us be more compassionate about our short-fallings and gifts, helping us to avoid the pitfalls of burnout, of overstepping the limitations of our abilities, and knowing when our land is speaking too loudly for us to be able to effectively listen to the land of others. 

Sacred Inquiry for Seasonal Rhythms

What are ways that I celebrate the changing seasons of the year? How do I want to celebrate the changing year?

What are hard times of the year for me? What are my favorite times of year?

What does spring look like within me? Summer? Autumn? Winter?

How do I currently or want to work with my inner landscape on a regular basis?

image via @anniespratt

Webs of Kinship: Honoring the Land 

While I love that herbalism can take many varied forms, for me, the practice remains a land-honoring path. In my practice, to speak of the land is to speak of bodies both vast and communal - bodies of earth, bodies of water, bodies of sky, bodies of community - alongside the small and individual bodies of land that form each of us. If I am going to work with someone, whether to help them relieve a lingering cough, rebuild their immunity or restore their sleep cycle, I must begin by honoring the body of land that produced the remedies we'll be using and from which all of us emerge from, the land-body and inner landscape of the person I am serving, and the way that the boundaries and pathways exist between the our lands as practitioner and client.   

There are practical ways I honor the land in my work, from sustainable practices in the garden to supporting climate justice initiatives and rematriation, and honoring the spirits of the land as part of my Pagan worldview. There are also all the ways that I bring in land-honoring practices within consultations and classrooms from using elemental language to honoring ancestors of land and place as part of my time together with clients and students. If I were still selling physical remedies I would be considering all of the ways I could be producing in a sustainable and zero waste fashion. But whatever I'm choosing to do in my practice, I try to choose from a place that is as land-honoring and earth-centered as I can feasibly achieve as an individual, letting go of expectations of perfectionism (a wholly un-grounded approach to anything) and seeking out joyful alternatives wherever I can.

As herbalists with busy lives and practices, it can be easy to become unmoored from the ways of being that help us feel centered and able to do the work that we are called to do. Creating an earth-centered focus as a student will serve you in the long run as a practitioner, helping you to travel the highs and lows of being an herbalist with greater ease with the land as a grounding foundation for your work.

Sacred Inquiry for Exploring Land-Honoring Practices

What am I in service to?

What are ways that I honor the plants in my practice?

What are ways that I currently honor the land in my practice?

What are ways that I want to honor the land in my practice? What are land-honoring practices that I feel inspired by?

How to I honor my non-human kin in my practice?

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As a land-honoring, earth-centering practice, herbalism is a practice of kinship and reciprocity that calls us into a place of belonging. 

Modalities like herbalism, when practiced with care and alongside other inclusive healing services, can be places where our inherent complexity is honored all while bringing much needed enchantment back into our lives to help call ourselves back home to our selves, our community, and the land.

For those looking for additional resuorces,if you're looking for inspiration for seasonal practice from a Pagan perspective, I've written a whole series on the wheel of the year. You might also like my "might-do lists" for each of the Sabbats and lunar phases. I also have a few resources for students and aspiring herbalists including a guide to starting your own herbal study group, a might-do list for your studies, and even a tarot spread made for students. If you’re looking for a deeper exploration into the gifts you carry as an herbalist and how to know and name them, come visit The Lunar Apothecary.

I also wrote a book about the land, seasonal herbalism, and how we might honor our the land within, around, and between us as a practice of belonging. It’s called The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism and I hope you’ll check it out.

I hope that you found something useful in this exploration of earth-centered practices and that you’re feeling inspired to ground your practice in ways that’ll help you thrive as an herbalist. Because we need you and all of our plant-hearted kin!

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

📚

Footnotes

1. The booklet was Traditional Uses of Herbal Formulations: An Herbalist's Guide for Natural Home Health Care by Deb Soule of Avena Botanicals. It was a free, pink, and smelled of Roses and full of incredible remedies alongside herbal advice - you can now access the digital version for free. These sort of generous free resources by herbal elders like Soule shaped my early understanding of how an herbalist should be a resource of knowledge and work to preserve and add to the free and open living library of our herbal traditions.

2. The earliest that I know of power-under being defined is in the 2003 book Power-Under: Trauma and Nonviolent Social Change by activist Steven Wineman.

3. For example, a hot and dry autumn is more likely to aggravate certain conditions more than a cool and damp autumn. With the growing unpredictability of the seasons, learning how to adapt to seasonal changes that can be vastly different year on year is an important skill to grow as an herbalist.