I wrote a book!

Friends! I wrote a book!

While you find the full description and details below - with some behind the scenes thoughts and feelings below the fold - before I go any further, I want to express my deep gratitude to all of you, dear readers, who have supported my work over the years and made it possible for me to do this wild-hearted work.

I wasn't sure I was ever going to write a book, much less one that was published through a long-standing traditional publishing house. I ultimately said yes to the opportunity because I imagined that some of you may find my book useful in your own practice, in the same ways that I have found so many books lovely and useful in my work. And that makes the roller-coaster of writing a book - a book you can hold and spill tea on and sit with under a tree - feel more than worth it! So thank you!

The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism is an invitation to re-connect to the land, our bodies, and our communities through the seasons, helping us find our way back home to our own embodied rhythms. 

Working from the foundation that by being of the land, we have always belonged, Alexis J. Cunningfolk invites us to engage with the changing seasons within and around us as a profound reconciliation of all parts of ourselves. 

Part seasonal guidebook with a focus on earth-centered magick and part practical herbal rooted in the diverse foundations of traditional western herbalism, The Apothecary of Belonging blends easy-to-access herbalism with observational inner work, helping us to map pathways of liberatory wisdom, whole body well-being, and transformative kinship. Throughout, you'll find methods for combining seasonal herbalism for physical vitality alongside magickal practices to support personal healing and community empowerment.

Along with chapters exploring traditional western herbalism energetics, working with plant allies, and creating your own oracle of belonging, each seasonal chapter includes:

🌿 Plant ally profiles written from the perspective of an intersectional herbalist who practices the full spectrum of traditional western herbalism from modern evidence-based care to folkloric studies and magickal practice

🌿 An indications-based guide to plant allies for common seasonal ailments with over 70 herbs to build your seasonal apothecary

🌿 Herbal remedy suggestions for community clinics and household apothecaries

🌿 Simple tea recipes to support your energy season to season

🌿 Rituals for solo or community practice that focus on interconnection and hope

🌿 Opportunities for sacred inquiry through divination and journaling

🌿 Lunar blessings to support your remedy-making throughout the year

Speaking to the common yearning for kinship and connection, The Apothecary of Belonging is a practical seasonal herbal, a book of magick, and a love letter to those who feel lost in these unsteady times, reminding us that we can always find our way back home to each other.

Preview the first 40 pages of The Apothecary of Belonging including the introduction, a chapter on working with plant allies, and exploring the energetics of an earth centered practice.

The Apothecary of Belonging will be out on November 3 and is available everywhere books are sold or can be borrowed. 

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While I've been writing publicly for over 15 years, writing a book (and sitting with the permanence of it all) is a whole other endeavor. When Weiser reached out to me I didn't have any idea what I wanted to write about - which was a strange feeling as someone who is writing all the time. Eventually I found my footing and Weiser let me write the book I wanted to write, which is quite a lot of freedom for a new author. Initially I thought that I'd be writing a black and white paperback, but it quickly transformed into a full-color illustrated hardback! And then a big-name author signed-on to write the forward and authors whose books sit on my shelves and who have shaped who I am as a practitioner agreed to review it, and well, friends, it's been quite a journey that I'm still in the middle of. 

Ultimately, I wanted to create something that would be useful to plant folk and magickal practitioners alike, a source of inspiration for a variety of communities, accessible to a range of experience levels, and something that I'd want sitting on my shelf to use as reference. I also wanted to stretch into some of the spaces of practice that don't always make it onto my community blog including developing a system of divination to help with your healing explorations (not something I had set out to do, but then book-writing is full of surprises!).

It all seems a bit unreal to me still, but I know that when I see The Apothecary of Belonging on the shelves of my local library I'm likely to burst into tears. I am a library kid through and through with a deep love for our library system and staff. Some of my happiest memories from my earlier years, especially during challenging times, take place somewhere in the library stacks, finding very old books and very new books, and learning about communities that I couldn't wait to find when I got older. In libraries I've found stories that were so familiar they broke me open, so fantastical they kept me afloat, so outrageous that I couldn't wait to write an alternative opinion (the latter playing no small part in me wanting to set up a blog in the first place). I wrote up my business plan for Worts & Cunning Apothecary on a rainy day in the Portland Public Library in Maine with a stack of checked-out books on entrepreneurship piled next to me. Then, when I started my own community blog well over a decade ago I wanted it to feel like a mini library, tucked into a quiet corner of the internet for folks to peruse. 

Libraries are living generators of belonging and I couldn't write my own book on belonging without the countless libraries and library staff that offered me and my neighbors shelter, through stories, through resources, and through a tenacious commitment to serving their communities. And if you're able to request the book that I've written at your library, knowing that another oddball queer kid who loved plants and magick might stumble across it while searching through the stacks, well, I might just start tearing up right now.

Friends, thank you again. If you end up reading The Apothecary of BelongingI hope that it feels like a magick-infused invitation into a practice with the land within, around, and between all of us, full of inspiration and possibility. I've been honored to be in practice with so many of you for so many years and I look forward to many more years to come - The Apothecary of Belonging is my big-hearted love letter to all of you and the land that holds us.

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

Footnotes

1. Will this be the first time I've cried in the library? Haha, no.

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

After a long summer, where it seems that everything might be gold and green forever, and the winds of autumn have yet to sweep in and pull the last of summer's fruit to the earth, I think of the ways that these spaces between seasons are a good time to check in on the boundaries within and around us.

While boundaries can sometimes evoke feelings of absence, pushing away, and borders, I find it more helpful to understand boundaries as an essential form of nourishment. To resist our need for boundaries is to go hungry - when we deny or ignore our own boundaries we can be left hungering for the protection and nourishment of ourselves and our dignity that sturdy boundaries provide. Testing and having our boundaries tested, in nonviolent, even playful ways, is a normal process of development, when we get to say no and figure out what our yeses look like as we develop our sense of self. The seasons of the year and the seasons of life are full of boundaries and edges, places to explore to know ourselves and our worlds better.

I find that the transition from one season to the next are times of boundary testing, seeing what has thrived, what has struggled, what has grown, what has been dreamed up in the past season, and how that will carry us through the next. There are the practical boundaries of the places we live in, the ways we feed ourselves, sources of income, and the day-to-day needs of our wellbeing.¹ There are also the less tangible, but equally necessary boundaries of the dreams we've protected, the discernment we've developed in our relationships, and the ways we respect the shape of our energy and healing needs. Tying the practice of boundary-making and re-shaping to seasonal tides helps us to create a cyclical rhythm to our boundary work instead of a one-and-done approach that can leave us feeling disappointed or exposed if we find ourselves having to create or renew a boundary.

Boundary work shows up in all sorts of interesting ways in herbal consultations and classrooms. There are the boundaries that I establish as a practitioner and teacher that helps define what I do and do not offer long before a client or students enter a space, the boundaries that respect the freedom of movement and encourage the curiosity of students and clients, and boundaries that respect the various relationships created in these learning spaces. There are boundaries of time spent together, boundaries of privacy, sensory boundaries, and the unique boundaries that will always arise at any given consultation, class or event. I make sure that I reflect on, renew, and adjust my boundaries frequently throughout the year not only for my wellbeing, but for the wellbeing of those I serve.

If you're a practitioner, what are the personal and professional boundaries that you hold in classes and consultations? If you're a client or student, what are your own boundaries and can you easily identify the boundaries that your teacher and/or practitioner holds?

image via @eilisgarvey

As the wheel of the year turns and one season shifts to another, I imagine boundaries less as fixed and stoic walls between me and a person or experience, and more of practices that shelter and strengthen me so that I can fully arrive in the coming season. As summer's long days give way to autumn's golden glow, I check-in with what it is I need to make sure that I'm able to make it - physically and energetically - to all of the harvest festivals that I want to attend in the coming months, including being able to show up to those celebratory harvests of personal accomplishment. In other words, my boundary work is less about building a wall and more about making sure that the path ahead is clear so that I can return again and again to beloved community and the experiences that I treasure most. 

So as summer transforms into autumn, I've collected a few of my favorite recipes for the bright season to help us store up light and energy for the rest of the year, strengthen our edges so that we better know what it is we are feeling and want to be held, and find ways to feel steady and sure in our practice.

Summer to Autumn Remedies

The following recipes are formulated as teas but can easily be made into herbal extracts, baths, or other forms of herbal remedies. I’ve crafted them with the transition from (roughly) Virgo to Libra season in the northern hemisphere and from (roughly) Pisces to Aries season in the southern hemisphere, but they can easily be adapted or used throughout the year.

image via @anniespratt

For When You Need To Store Energy

Summer is long where I live and sometimes the heat can feel neverending, but I've also lived in places where summer is sharp and quick, quickly bowing to autumn's splendor. I've learned that no matter what type of summer I may be living with, learning how to pace yourself in the heat and store up the season's light for the rest of the year is a good skill to cultivate. I like to work with plant allies that help strengthen our cardiovascular system (like Taraxacum officinale), build up the blood (like Crataegus monogyna), and increase our body's capacity to effectively manage our energy (like Ocimum sanctum), helping us to feel strong throughout the year.

• 4 parts Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum)

• 2 parts Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale)

• 1 part Hawthorn Berry (Crataegus monogyna)

image via @anniepratt

For When You Feel Ungrounded & Uncertain

If we feel disconnected from the earth of our body and the earth of the land, uncertain about what next steps to take, and generally uncentered, it can make setting and maintaining boundaries challenging. The end of summer and the beginning of autumn is such a beautifully earthy time of harvest and connecting with the nourishing energy of the land. Herbs like Sage (Salvia spp.), Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), and Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) help us feel centered, connected, and grounded in our bodies with the added benefit of strengthening our immune systems as we move into cold and flu season.

• 2 parts Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

• 2 parts Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

• ½ part Sage (Salvia spp.)

image via @anniespratt

For When You Foundation Needs Strengthening

Taking care of the structure of our body - our musculoskeletal system and skin - helps all other healing herbal remedies, wellness practices, and opportunities for joy grow more easily in our lives. Vitamin and mineral rich herbs like Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and Nettles (Urtica dioica) help to nourish and rebuild energy while sun-bright flowers like Calendula (Calendula officinalis) help the skin to glow from the inside out. 

• 3 parts Nettles (Urtica dioica)

• 1 part Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

• ½ part Calendula (Calendula officinalis)

• Lemon juice to taste

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Three simple recipes to help us move from summer to autumn with our dreams held close and our energy sheltered. You can find more seasonal inspiration for your practice by checking out my summer wellness apothecary and autumn wellness apothecary posts. You can also explore my series on herbal and magickal suggestions for every season. If you’re looking for more between-the-seasons guides be sure to check out:

• Slow Winter, Soft Spring: Herbal Remedies for the Quiet Season

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

May these days of shimmering glow settle all around you, so you may carry this light like a lantern into the dark half of the year, steady on the path illuminated all around you.

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

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Footnotes

1. Ideally, these would be needs that we didn't have to earn, but already have as an inherent part of a society's social net of safety and welfare. May we continue to call such a world into being.

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

I was lucky during the formative years of my herbal education to have many of my teachers emphasize the importance of time when it came to plant medicine. While there are plenty of situations where herbs work speedily (alleviating a fever within a few hours, opening up the airways within minutes, and so on), much of the healing power of plants takes place over many months, if not longer. While I was taught to alleviate as much suffering as soon as possible by addressing symptoms, more importantly, I was to focus on the underlying issues that had brought about the state of disease, and inform those I was serving that part of the healing of herbalism is giving time for plants to do their work.

As an earth-centered herbalist and Pagan, one of the ways that I help those I serve understand the ways that plants work in our lives, is to point to the wheel of the year and the changing seasons. We do not suddenly leave spring and arrive in summer, but the land is always in a state of transition, moving from one season to the next. So it is within our bodies (and I use the term "bodies" to represent our physical, emotional, mental, and energetic selves), that we are always in a state of transition and movement. One of the hardest places to be on a healing journey is to feel stuck in one place getting nowhere - yet, even in these moments we are already in motion and entering into a new season of our lives. 

Centering our practices as herbalists and plant folk around the cycles of seasons helps to protect us against the false marketing of herbs as "miraculous cures" and the desire for instantaneous healing exacerbated by social media - an influence that can sway any of us, especially when we are desperate to feel better. While the slow and steady nature of healing plants can feel disheartening at first, when we approach healing as something which is transformative, it can be easier to perceive the summer heat we're craving even during the long drizzle of spring. A transformative and seasonal approach to healing doesn't promise specific results or miraculous cures, but helps us to find hope and expansive connection through knowing that we are always in a state of transformative change. 

So as spring transforms into summer, I've collected a few of my favorite recipes for the waking season to help us make a little room for and connect with the sometimes hard-to-detect, other times bright and shining, transformations occurring all around and within us. 

image via @anniespratt

Spring to Summer Remedies

The following recipes are formulated as teas but can easily be made into herbal extracts, baths, or other forms of herbal remedies. I’ve crafted them with the transition from (roughly) Gemini to Cancer season in the northern hemisphere and from (roughly) Sagittarius to Capricorn season in the southern hemisphere in mind, but they can easily be adapted or used throughout the year.

image via @hasanalmasi

For When You Need Help Slowing Down

On the land I live with, spring moves fast and then summer is suddenly here - the time between wearing sweaters to wearing sandals can be dizzying. But even if you live someplace where the time between spring and summer seems to draw on and on, there can exist a social pressure to be extra "productive" in spring in order to get "summer ready" (yikes, no). Summer, with its days of long light and increased heat, can be a beautiful time to slow down and plant allies like the nervous system trophorestorative Milky Oat (Avena sativa) help us to do just that. Together with Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), an herb that helps us to find and connect with our own inner rhythms, and Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), a plant ally that helps to slow down racing thoughts and soothe anxiety, the following blend helps us to pause, rest, and recenter ourselves as spring tumbles into summer.

• 3 parts Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 1 part Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• ½ part Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

image via @anniespratt

For When You Need to Cool Off

Late spring and early summer can bring with it weather that oscillates between sweater weather and hot snaps, so it's good to have a few cooling herbs to work with. Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is one of my favorite hot season herbs, helping to calm, cool, and relax us. I love combining Hibiscus with Peppermint (Mentha piperita) which relaxes us when we need to calm down and energizes us when we need to wake up. The adaptogenic qualities of Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis) are great any time of year, but during the summer the plant helps to protect the skin from the inside out from the season's increased heat as well as helping to balance our overall energy. The following drink can be served hot, but I especially like it iced and sweetened (maybe even made into a swamp tea). 

• 4 parts Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

• 1 part Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

• ¼ part Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis)

image via @anniespratt

For When Your Heart Needs Nourishing

The expansive energy of the land blossoming from spring into summer, stirs the energy of our own heart centers. Working with heart herbs like Hawthorn Berry (Crataegus monogyna), which acts as rejuvenative cardiovascular tonic, and the heart-opening Rose (Rosa spp.) help us to get in touch with our own power of possibility. Both herbs are also excellent allies for those in the midst of heartbreak, helping to nourish not just the physical heart muscle, but the energetic heart muscle as well. Lovely Elder flower (Sambucus nigra) adds natural sweetness in addition to its restorative nervine qualities. 

• 4 parts Hawthorn Berry (Crataegus monogyna)

• 1 part Rose (Rosa spp.)

• ½ part Elder Flower (Sambucus nigra)

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Three simple recipes to help us move from spring to summer with inspiration and heart-centered excitement. You can find more seasonal inspiration for your practice by checking out spring wellness apothecary and summer wellness apothecary posts. You can also explore my series on herbal and magickal suggestions for every season. If you’re looking for more between-the-seasons guides:

• Slow Winter, Soft Spring: Herbal Remedies for the Quiet Season

May these days in-between seasons bring you a sense of wonder at the ways we are always in a state of becoming, full of possibility, filling up with hope like light increasing across the land.

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

A Might-do List for the Quarter Moons

Observing lunar time is one way of inviting a practice of ebb and flow into your healing work.

For those of us our raised in cultures and under institutional systems where our time and how we should “spend” it is often defined for us and not by us. So when we step purposely into healing work, at some point we find ourselves reassessing our time and all the ways that time can be measured and experienced. For me, the Moon offers an energetic pattern and mythological model that I find helpful when it comes to reconnecting to the sacredness of time (instead of its commodification), which is one of the reasons I’ve been writing a whole series on what you might (or might-not) do for the different phases of the Moon.

Having already offered might-do lists for the Full Moon and the New Moon, I wanted to turn our focus towards the Quarter Moons - the halfway points between energetics heights and depths of the lunar cycle.

The Quarter Moons, also known as Half Moons, are periods of balance tipping towards a period of expansion or increase with the growing or Waxing Quarter Moon or a time of retraction or decrease with the shrinking or Waning Quarter Moon.

The Waxing Quarter Moon, also known as the First Quarter Moon, marks a point of balance between what has been and what shall be. Momentum, disentanglement, vitality, and harmonization are key energies of the Waxing Quarter Moon.

The Waning Quarter Moon, also known as the Last Quarter Moon, offers us a time to shed, fall back, and sort out which seeds we're interested in planting, if not just quite yet. Change, reassessment, release, balance, and decluttering are all key energies of the Waning Quarter Moon.

With all that to explore, let's see what we might do (or might-not do, no pressure, it’s your time to experience) for our Quarter Moon celebrations.

image via @jannerboy62

Connect with the Elementals

I'm not entirely sure when or why I began associating the Quarter Moon with four element work and specifically working the spirits known as elementals, but it is a practice that has stuck with me through the years. The elementals or undines, salamanders, gnomes, and sylphs are part of European magickal and alchemical lore codified during the Renaissance, in part by German physician and alchemist Paracelsus, but with older folkloric roots. Of course, the idea of elemental beings is not isolated to European lore and you'll find stories of these types of creatures throughout the world - it can be a rewarding practice to seek out these elemental energy within your cultural and spiritual traditions if you’re not familiar with them already.

As a time of balance leaning either into expansion or retraction, the Quarter Moons can be an auspicious time to either call in more or release excess element-based energy by working with the elementals. If, for example, you've been trying to draw in more watery energy to you, such as for intuitive work, you might choose a Waxing Quarter Moon in a water sign such as Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces to help call in intuitive, watery energy through the mediating help of the undines. Alternatively, if you're dealing with too much fire energy in your life, you can work with the salamanders on a Waning Quarter Moon in a fire sign (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) where you offer them your excess fire energy, which they will be happy to accept. 

Practice Magnetizing Magick

The energy of the Waxing Quarter Moon is one of pulling towards and filling up. We can connect to this current of magick through magnetizing our practice to draw towards us of what we are seeking during any given lunar cycle. We might be in the midst of a long-term act of change, needing to draw courage to help us manifest who we are becoming. Other times we might need a quick bit of magnetic magick, drawing towards us opportunities and resources that we need as soon as possible. Within our communities, the Waxing Quarter Moon is a time for groups to act out big visions of what is possible, helping us all to bring in and anchor hope, and magnetizing our visions to draw in what is needed for the work.

Brew Recipes & Create Charms of Balance

Holding space between light and dark, the Quarter Moons are an auspicious time to make herbal recipes that help to bring us into a state of nourished homeostasis. Charms for balance, whether balancing energy, boundaries or whatever requires a steady balance in your life, can be made at either of the Quarter Moons. You might even draw the balancing energy of the Quarter Moons into the rest of your life through creating your own oracle of care to help remind you what it is that helps you feel centered.

image via @linalitvina

Rituals of Release

Whether walking a Moon Path (see below) or not, the Waning Quarter Moon is a time to release, let go, and sort out what seeds, ideas or dreams want to keep a hold of, and what we want to pass on for someone else to flourish with. Rituals to release regret, shame, sorrow, old identities and ideas, old pain and trauma, are all auspicious during the Waning Quarter Moon (and can be tied into any therapeutic support you've been receiving, such as supporting breakthroughs in therapy with ritual). If you need some divinatory support to better understand what needs releasing so that you can embrace your magickal gifts, come this way.

Get Rooted

Whether with the inward drawing energy of the Waning Quarter Moon or the expanding outward energy of the Waxing Quarter Moon, the Quarter Moon period is a wonderful time to practice grounding and centering magick. Living in times of hyperconnectivity and profound social noise, it can be increasingly challenging to slow down and get centered. Working with the phases of the Moon and the ebb and flow of lunar energy is a way to feel supported in our effort, connecting to an energy greater than our own to help us feel balanced. If you're feeling stretched too thin and pulled in too many directions, consider working with the energy of the Waning Quarter Moon. If you're feeling like you're struggling to stay strong and steady within yourself, consider working with the energy of the Waxing Quarter Moon.

Strengthen Your Resolve

By the growing light of the Waxing Quarter Moon we can practice rituals to help us strengthen our resolve, focus our willpower, and call in the allies needed to help us find whatever it is that we're seeking - from new job opportunities to like-minded friends to the courage to make a much needed change in our life. As the Moon waxes, so does your resolve, culminating in the vibrant energy of the Full Moon. As the Moon wanes, let it carry away doubt and fear, the New Moon carrying you forward with growing momentum.

Find Your Balance with Breathwork

One of the most effective ways that I know to find balance is through breathwork. Breathwork is free to practice and doesn't require any fancy equipment, and can be used at any time and in any place. With the balanced ebb and flow of energy present at the Quarter Moons, breathwork can be a powerful way to connect with your own sense of balance. You can find resources for your breathwork practice over here.

image via @oandersonrian

Tend to Your Tenderness

One of the ways that we can take care of those tender parts of ourselves is by taking time to pull our energy back from all the places it has gone wandering. Shedding layers of expectation, we can hold, with gentleness and care, those tender parts of ourselves that don't always get the space to just be soft. One of the mythological images of the Waning Quarter Moon that you'll find in modern Goddess spirituality spaces (though it is based on fragments of much older traditions), is the Waning Moon as the Goddess pulling her veil or blanket around her shoulders and head, retreating from the bright attention and needs of the world, to dwell a bit in the quiet dark. I love connecting to this mythological current of energy, drawing a protective mantle around my own energy, so that I can feel safe enough to spend time in my tenderness, instead of constantly trying to keep up with impossible demands of "toughing it out" under social and institutional systems not built for human scale. Plant allies like Milky Oat (Avena sativa) and Linden (Tilia x europaea) can be useful guides to work with if you're seeking extra support for your tender self.

Cast a Moon Path

Starting on the day of the Quarter Moon, there are about 8 to 9 days to either the New Moon, in the case of starting on the Waning Quarter Moon, or to the Full Moon if you're starting on the Waxing Quarter Moon. These days (or nights) of practice are an opportunity for Moon Path rituals, where you time your ritual to the increase or decrease of the Moon's light. If you're wanting to bring something into your life, something which requires effort and attention, a Moon Path ritual starting on the night of the Waxing Quarter Moon and culminating on the Full Moon can be a powerful act of magick. For something that you're wanting to release from your life, walking a multi-night lunar path into the dark to emerge again at the New Moon can be deeply healing.

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Do you have a lunar practice for the Quarter Moons? For more Quarter Moon practices, you can explore my simple rituals and healing practices for the Waxing Quarter Moon and the Waning Quarter Moon. You can also find the rest of my might-do lists for the lunar esbats below:

• A Might-do List for the Dark Moon

• A Might-do List for the New Moon

• A Might-do List for the Full Moon

If you’re looking for my full collection of post about the Moon (there’s a lot!), check out the Moon Studies section of my Astroherbology archive. If you’re looking for my might-do series on the sabbats, here you go.

And for those looking for a deep dive into the world of lunar healing work, come this way.

Friends, I hope that you found something useful for your own monthly practices, and that you find your unique balance and rhythm that helps you feel at home in your life.

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

Slow Winter, Soft Spring: Herbal Remedies for the Quiet Season

I enjoy the feeling of expectation, that glimmering glow of waiting for something. Whether it is knowing that the jars full of herbs from the garden will soon be strained and decanted into precious, healing tinctures or decorating the house with candles and flowering bulbs in anticipation of Imbolc, I've always enjoyed the spaces between big happenings and festive gatherings. These in-between times, where one season is slowly ending and another slowly beginning speak to the magick of possibility and hope.

Intertwined with this comfort of waiting are feelings of wanting to be prepared. Often this is for practical reasons - cleaning the windows as spring starts knowing that this will help welcome in light to our homes after a long, dark winter. Yet, there is a more complicated feeling of preparedness that is deep and ancestral, handed down through generations of people who had a long practice of having one eye on the horizon and bags packed. Many of us, whether or not we come from families where the preparedness instinct is both a useful and challenging inheritance, are experiencing some form of tension fed by the feeling of global dread as we grapple with the uncertainty of our futures.

It can be a lot for these little bodies of ours to handle.

So how do I avoid the pitfalls of fear and balance out the pleasure of the in-between, with the practicalities of being prepared, while keeping centered and hopeful? To be honest, I don't always manage. Sometimes I have to breathe through the fear as much as any other person, lay down on the earth, and let panic flow out from my nervous system into the ground. But I do find that hope becomes more powerful than fear, that I am able to welcome up green and grounded energy when laying on the earth, when I make and tend an altar for hope in my life. 

image via @geri_art

As an herbalist and Pagan, my altar of hope is formed by the seasons, a very human-scale rhythm of time that our species and our non-human relations thrive in. A cycle of seasons syncopated by lunar rhythms helps to break the spell of artificial capitalist systems that are inherently exploitative of time and resources and which require us to be fearful in order to be maintained. Returning to the slowness of winter and the softness of spring, two dangerously disruptive ideas of wellbeing in an overculture hyperfocused on productivity, is a powerful form of restful and radical healing magick.

With this radical, restful, hopeful magick in mind, this new series will focus on herbal recipes for the seasons-between-seasons that help us meet whatever is to come in our lives and communities with steadiness. What I hope to inspire for you is a sense of place in whatever season of life you're in, where you feel like you have plant allies to work during these times of transition, and that you can begin to build or refresh a seasonal practice that feels sustainable. 

Winter to Spring Remedies

The following recipes are formulated as teas but can easily be made into herbal extracts, baths, or other forms of herbal remedies. I’ve crafted them with the transition from Pisces to Aries season in the northern hemisphere and from Virgo to Libra season in the southern hemisphere in mind, but they can easily be adapted or used throughout the year.

image via @mind_n_soul_journey

For When You Need to Breathe Deep

The dry coldness of late winter gives and the damp coldness of early spring combined with a lot of time spent indoors can create an environment for respiratory illnesses and allergies to flourish. Herbs like Peppermint (Mentha piperita) help to open the airways while Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) brings warmth and energy. Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) is one of my favorite herbs for clearing out bronchial and lymph congestion, but helping us find a rhythm and flow in our current cycle of life. This blend of herbs is great not only for helping to clear out lingering respiratory illnesses, as well as protect against future ones, and repair the respiratory system, but is also just a lovely blend to use when life is getting ahead of you and you want to pause, take a deep breath, and re-center.

Blend together the following herbs:

• 2 parts Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

• 1 part Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

• ½ part Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

image via @ed_leszczynskl

For When You Need to Think Clearly

Winter is a time of rest and recuperation where many of us slow down physically and mentally, settling into a mellow coziness if our life circumstances allow. As spring begins to wander over, at a pace that oscillates between meandering and very sudden, we can feel a bit brain foggy and sluggish when we'd rather be feeling focused and energized. One of the reasons we can experience brain fog, especially as winter turns to spring, is that our nervous system needs some extra support. Milky Oat (Avena sativa) is my favorite nourishing nervine (i.e. nervous system tonic) and it helps to restore the nervous system to a state of balance. Combined with nootropics (i.e. brain tonics) like Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum, tenuiflorum) and Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) this blend helps all parts of the thinking body from the nervous system to the heart to the brain feel supported and in resonance with one another.

Blend together the following herbs:

• 2 parts Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 2 parts Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum, tenuiflorum)

• 1 part Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

image via @yer_a_wizard

For When You're Feeling Stuck

Sometimes the slow months of winter can dredge up a lot of feelings about what it is we inherited from our families of origin, the people who raised us, and the cultures we grew up in. The long dark and stark weather of winter can show us just how interdependent we are with one another, the patterns that we weave into each other's lives and how we carry this inheritance around in our bodies. With spring slowly creeping in, we can feel rushed and unready, insecure and saddened by the approach of a new season when we feel so held down by generations of seasons. As we linger between winter and spring and explore these stories, hopefully while being supported by sweet friends, chosen families, beloved elders, and mental health professionals, there are many plant allies that can help us through. 

Plant allies like Rose (Rosa spp.), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), and Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) help to move stagnant energy, keep our hearts steady, and assist us in clarifying what it is we are thinking and feeling about our experience of what we've inherited or whatever it is that is making us feel stuck between seasons of life. 

Rose (Rosa spp.) connects us back to the needs of our heart, Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) helps us to hear our intuitive knowing above the noise of the crowd (family crowds, culture crowds, social media crowds, etc), while Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) helps to alleviate the tension that can keep us feeling stuck and mulling over the same situations and experiences again and again. When combined, these herbs help to open the heart to possibility, focus on the patterns in our life that we find most useful, and more readily recognize the joy of our lives.

Blend together the following:

• 4 parts Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 1 part Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

• ¼ part Rose (Rosa spp.)

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Three simple recipes that help us to move from winter into spring with a feeling of levity and hope. If you're looking for more seasonal inspiration you can check out my winter wellness apothecary and spring wellness apothecary posts which guide you through stocking your home apothecary with remedies to support you and your community throughout the year. I also have a recipe to support the dreaming magick of spring as well as plenty of recommended plant allies for winter. You can also explore my series on herbal and magickal suggestions for every season.

May your in-between times be places of sweet softness as you learn who you are as a person in transition, always whole and always changing.

This post was made possible through patron support.
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