Enjoy the following recipe from the Lunar Apothecary! In addition to the full year of material already posted, I also update the Lunar Apothecary with new material every single month! Ready to join our starry circle? Come this way!
Click here to learn more about the special powers of the Taurus Full Moon and additional Taurus herbs to use in your remedies and charms. You'll notice in the recipe below that I left space for you to further explore the healing powers of Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) and it's connection to the Moon! Enjoy your explorations - preferably while sipping on a cup of chai!
Congrats! You made it through the wild star weather we've been having lately! Your prize is a big and sturdy, gorgeous and bold, Taurus Full Moon! You know what Taurus teaches us, divine friends? Taurus teaches us a whole heck of a lot just like all of the signs, but with a big Taurus Full Moon hanging like a ripe promise on the horizon, she is especially teaching us about sensuality. Our earthy Taurus calls us back to the sacred temple of our bodies because our physical natures are special. Taurus calls us to sensuality on a rooted, grounded, physical level.
As plantfolks and herbologists, we facilitate relationships between plant, humyn, and creature. Ask yourself, where does the sensuality lie in your process of remedy-making, herb-recommending, and tea-drinking? It is easy to fall into the trap of mechanical thinking: our body is a machine that often gets broken and we need to take this pill (whether herbal or pharmaceutical) to make it better. To get in touch with the grounded nature of Taurean sensuality, I would encourage a practice of magickal thinking. Of your cup of tea not just being "what I should take when I'm sick" but a curved horn boat that allows you to ride through the watery currents of your body. Taurus encourages us to get tucked into ourselves. Get cozy in our bodies. Snuggle our bones.
I see a lot of folks running from body sensuality - I've done it, too. It is hard to reside in a physical form that we don't always feel at home in whether or not because we judge it to not be good enough or it doesn't match up with who we know ourselves to be. Taurus, being of earth and sturdiness, asks us to put aside what we think about our body and to feel our body instead. Do the things that feel good and pleasurable. Hot baths or long stretching. Gentle strokes and firm massage. A home-cooked meal and warm blankets. Bare earth beneath your feet and spices crushed between fingers.
How do you practice sensuality, sweet friend?
Rooty tonics are great Taurus remedies. Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinalis), Burdock (Arctium lappa), Angelica (Angelica archangelica), Ginger (Zingiber officinalis) as well as herbs like Rose (Rosa spp.), Sage (Salvia officinalis), and Thyme (Thymus vulgaris). Think about nutrient rich herbs in blends meant to tonify and strengthen the whole body. Taurus Moons can bring up a lot work around our ancestral heritage that we experience in our bodies, so think about working with flower essences like Rose, Lotus, and Black Cohosh that can help us navigate some of the emotional baggage we carry as well as embrace the strength we've inherited. Sit in the Fourth Moon Mansion (we cover all of the Mansions in new ways in the Lunar Apothecary!) and learn - it is an exceptional place to unpack and settle into our truth.
We have been diving into the deep work of transitions in the Lunar Apothecary and with such a powerful Moon cycle ahead of us, I wanted to share with you the most recent excerpt from my bi-monthly astroherbology newsletter to members.
I am thinking of sacrifice.
Sacrifice implies something sacred - that we are acting on behalf of some calling or value that is greater than our individual-in-the-moment-needs. A sacrifice honors the big vision. I am thinking of the last bright bursts of summer giving way to autumn in the northern hemisphere while the opposite is occurring in the southern hemisphere. For bright to willingly, lovingly give way to dark.
The stars have been churning in the sky and running wild in our blood. The Dark Moon in Sagittarius is approaching, acting as a threshold guardian before the planetary cycles of somethings-got-to-change coming up in October. Sagittarius is often seen as a restless, traveling spirit. That's true, our Sagittarian folk can certainly be prone to lustful wanderings. But lots of us like to travel whether or not we have the Archer placed strongly in our birth chart. I think the big gift from Sagittarius is that of the wisdom of transition. With the Dark Moon in partnership, the energy becomes intoxicating.
Though, to become intoxicated by the transition we must surrender. Give-up. Sacrifice. When I speak of the intoxication of transition I'm not talking intoxicating substances that we put into our bodies, but the intoxication that emerges from deep within. That shakes our core and undos our auric bindings. That focuses our vision so we may only see the bright arrow of certainty leading us to where we need to go.
What must be sacrificed in order to transition, Luna?
For these times of celestial and terrestrial transition, Flower + Gem Essences are such good medicine. Cerato, Olive (an essence of the 21st Mansion that the Dark Moon is in), Sage, and Sweet Pea might all be useful allies these days. Look them up and make your own if you can!
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My own sacred sacrifice this year will be the end of selling remedies full time through Worts + Cunning Apothecary. For those of you who have been following the progress of our wee Apothecary since its start over four years ago, you have watched as I have slowly downsized my offerings in order to focus on other projects - such as the Lunar Apothecary! October 31 will be the last day you'll be able to order any of my physical products such as Flower + Gem Essences and my teas. It has been a necessary transition so that I can grow the Lunar Apothecary and the Califia Collective.
It has been scary at times to imagine such a big change but it's also been intoxicating. So I know I'm on the right track!
Clever friends, what sort of transitions have you been going through?
The following is an excerpt from the bi-monthly Lunar Apothecary newsletter.
I've been thinking about magickal creatures lately. For a moment, think about the symbols of our solar zodiac. There are fishes, virgins (though, a donkey was apparently another option for the symbol of Virgo), water-bearers, lions, twins, and crabs; there are bulls and rams, scorpions and scales. Then we have a bow and arrow firing centaur (Sagittarius) and finally the mighty goatfish (or seagoat if you're taking an ever so slightly more serious approach).
Now a centaur (which is mighty and badass) has a point of easy relating for us humyn creatures - it is not only half horse, but half humyn. The goatfish? Well, it's like the unicorn of the zodiac - a unicorn crossed with a coyote crossed with a raven selling rainbow colored sprinkles that promise to reveal the great mysterious joke that started it all. It challenges our sense of reality and doesn't give us much ease of access when it comes to visual relating. I sense a trickster energy when I look at the mighty goatfish. When we speak of Capricorn we often emphasize the sign's sense of stability, steadfastness, and security. All of these qualities are certainly true. When we look at Capricorn from a lunar perspective, things begin to wobble, we begin to see things out of the corner of our vision, and suddenly we're riding a wild goatfish along the river of possibility.
The Full Moon in Capricorn is also swimming in the depths of the Twenty-Third Mansion. One of the energies of the Twenty-Third Mansion is that of the healing crisis - that point that we can no longer resist or ignore our need for wholeness. It is not only individuals that go through a healing crisis, but communities and cultures, too. Lunar Capricorn guards these moments of transition and fall, of steadfast determination to shakedown societal assumptions, cultural norms, and oppressive expectations. The goatfish aids us in reweaving the fabric of society into a more just one. Under the light of the Full Moon in Capricorn it is auspicious to study power dynamics, privilege, and the -isms we throw around and are thrown at us including racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and more. Full Moon in Capricorn reveals pathways of self-worth and boldly embracing your full self. Also, as the goatfish adapts to the habitats of land and water, we can learn how to adapt, too, and cleanse our self of distracting and demeaning thoughts and habits.
The Moon is growing in the sign of Cancer as we enter the month of April. The Moon is the guardian planet of the sign of Cancer, so we can expect a particularly strong flow of lunar energy washing through our psyche as we approach the shore of the crab. Within the Ninth Mansion the Moon takes time to retreat and re-balance before continuing on to Her eventual fullness. We could spend a lot of time talking about the emotional nature of a Cancer Moon - it is certainly productive and useful to learn how to communicate clearly with yourself and others what you are feeling - but sometimes you just have to feel it. So I've written up a short meditation for you to do while the Moon dreams in Cancer that focuses on the belly - the body system that the star crab guards.
Take a moment to place your hands on your belly.
Fill your lungs and belly with air.
Drop your awareness down from your head and into your belly.
Exhale, releasing tension and resistance.
Your belly holds your gut instinct, your second brain, and your true emotional nature.
What do you feel when you drop your awareness down into your belly?
Leave one hand on your belly and bring up the to your heart.
Take a deep belly-filling, lung-expanding breath.
Connect the emotional wisdom of your belly to the compass of your heart.
What do you feel when you connect your intuition with your heart?
Exhale, releasing fear and doubt.
Move the hand from your heart to your brow, placing your palm over your third eye.
Take another deep breath, connecting your well of intuition to your filter of consciousness.
What do you feel when you connect your well of knowing to your third eye?
Exhale, releasing blessings.
Bring both hands back to your belly and take three more deep breaths.
The Moon in Cancer is an auspicious time for healers and those who serve others to check in with themselves and be honest with the amount of self-care and community-care they are receiving. For everyone, whether you play the role of healer in your community or household, we can access emotions that we tend to suppress, cover up, and push aside when the Moon is in Cancer.
What do you need to feel that you have not given yourself space to feel all the way through?
Herbs that help us release tension, especially tension within the gut, are important. Bitters can help us access what feels bitter and difficult in our life and release it or transform it into new potential. Herbs of a bitter variety also help us pull out of states of stagnation and feeling bogged down. Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is a gentle Cancerian bitter herb and an easy addition to many tea blends or herbal baths. Bring out the herbs and essences that bring you joy as well and remind you of your strength as you transition with Cancer - add them to your bathing waters and teas. Cancer is a sign that appreciates immersion so create healing spaces that are immerse-full - fill the house with Cancerian scents such as Sandalwood (Santalum album), make beverages of a healing variety available in each room, create mini retreat spaces out of pillows and blankets and get tucked in. You are worth every bit of your healing, clever one.
What are Moon Mansions?
What is the interplay of earthly herbal healing with star wisdom?
Learn more through our ecourse and online community, The Lunar Apothecary.
The Moon is calling...
The following is a preview of exclusive