Bathing with the Moon: Herbal Baths for the Lunar Phases

One of my favorite forms of herbal medicine and magick is the herbal bath. Simple and inexpensive, requiring no fancy equipment, and with the ability to use both fresh and dried herbs, herbal baths are a beautiful form of self and community care. Basically, herbal baths are teas that you bathe in. If you don't have access to a bath, you can use them as shower rinses, too. Herbal bath blends are incredibly fun to make with little ones in your life, coven mates, and magickal kin, as well as by yourself before your altar, amidst the plants of the garden, or in the quiet of your kitchen. 

I've been using herbal baths as part of my Moon practice for many a year and they help me to embody a slow magick that spirals and flows, ebbs and rests, and strengthens the energetic and physical body against the pressures of endless work, productivity, and cultural expectation. Bathing with herbs is a deep ancestral practice, an honoring of our ancient bodies' need for warmth and feeling held, and a way to pause while cocooned in the waters of life. What I hope is that your Moon baths and observations of lunar time are richly radical, imbued with the magick of change, and an ongoing act of liberation, free from the idea that self-care is a cure-all (it's not) or that any of us has to go it alone (thank, Goddess).

image via @masonkimber

What follows are general guidelines and then a few suggested recipes guided by the traditional western herbalism that I practice as well as my Pagan spirituality. As with all herbal medicine and magick remember that practicing an earth-affirming path of healing asks us to use what we have, adapt what we need, and carefully consider how and when we acquire resources. In other words, if you don't have Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) easily and responsibly accessible, that silvery Sage (Salvia officinalis) in your cupboard might do just as well. Systems of correspondences (i.e. why certain herbs are assigned to different Moon phases) are useful in that they connect us with the energy of tradition but our relationship to an herb and our need for a type of blend is just, if not more, important which is why innovation is a powerful magickal tool.

I've also included items beyond herbs that you might want to incorporate into your lunar bathing rituals - none of these are necessary but I do hope it inspires you to think about the crafting of your herbal bath and ways that you can bring beauty to it. A jar full of lunar herbs is an altar in miniature, the act of bathing a ritual, and the re-emergence from the waters a sort of gentle rebirth. The care and intention that we approach our herbal baths is as much part of the magick as any herb or stone we might be working with.

A final few notes. There are lots of phases of the Moon that you can observe, but I'll be focusing on the New, Full, and Dark of the Moon which is when I'm most likely in my own practice to have a lunar bathing ritual. You'll also find that I use a lot of the same herbs, in different proportions in the recipes - that's because these are my personal allies and the plants that I have kinship with. I'll list different herbs for each lunar phase, but you don't have to use different herbs for different phases but should feel free to work intimately and consistently with your beloved plant allies in different combinations. Finally, here is my basic herbal bath recipe and guidelines for herbal bathing.

image via @straz

The New Moon

In traditional western herbalism, herbs of the New Moon are considered hot and moist. Energetically what this is trying to communicate is that we are in a period of enlivening activity (i.e. life-giving heat) and these are the conditions needed to grow and develop (i.e. the moist warm soil needed to grow seeds). Magickally, the New Moon is considered a time of new beginnings, an auspicious period for starting new projects, work manifestation magick, and it's also a good time to energize any aspect of your life including spells and charms. The New Moon also carries the energy of endings (as a new cycle begins so an old one must end) which helps us to part with and give up that which is no longer needed in our life, so cleansing magick and cord cutting rituals are especially auspicious. For a more herbal medicine based perspective on New Moon herbs, come this way.

A quick note on timing. Different folks determine the New Moon at different times of the lunar cycle. For some, the New Moon is when the Moon is completely dark and not visible in the sky. For others, like myself, the New Moon is when you can see the first sliver of the Moon in the night sky after a period of complete dark. This was what I was taught and it also allows me to observe the period of the Dark of the Moon as an important and separate aspect of the lunar cycle. But there is no right way - it's all made up by people just like you and me, so follow what works for you. 

New Moon Herbs: Angelica (Angelica archangelica), Basil (Ocimum spp.), Elder (Sambucus nigra), Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Peppermint (Mentha piperita),  Sage (Salvia officinalis). Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris or your local variety) is considered a Moon herb for all phases.

My favorite herb for New Moon baths is Basil (Ocimum spp.) and especially Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum, tenuiflorum). I love how effective Basil is at moving energy throughout the body which helps to connect with the upwelling of energy present at the New Moon. It is also a great ally for removing unwanted energy and also helps to protect our energetic boundaries for the cycle ahead. 

New Moon Herbal Bath

• 2 parts Basil (Ocimum spp.)

• 1 part Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa damascena)

image via @gkumar2175

The Full Moon

Cold and dry herbs are the traditional correspondence found in western herbalism. Energetically, we're looking at the completed structure that is solid, livable, and created to last. No longer in the phase of ideas and creation, the Full Moon rises in the sky, a source of heightened and potent energy, fully realized. Magickally, the Full Moon is one of the most auspicious times to work magick, charge up charms, amulets, and other tools of the trade, as well as gather together with other magickal folk in reverie and celebration. For me, the Full Moon has always felt like a time of deep connection with my Witch ancestors, my current Witchen Kin, and those Witch folk who will emerge long after I'm gone. Watching the Full Moon rise in the sky has filled me with hope and a sense of holiness again and again and it feels like a prehistoric sort of ritual. Blessing the self, working magick for community healing and justice, and re-dressing the body in an energetic mantle of sacredness are all auspicious to do when the Moon is Full.

Full Moon Herbs: Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), Mugwort (Artemisa vulgaris), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Plantain (Plantago major),  Sage (Salvia officinalis), Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris).

It's hard to choose between Milky Oat and Rose as my primary Full Moon herb - so I won't! Milky Oat and Rose are some of my dearest teachers and to work with them at the Full Moon feels like traveling to a sacred circle of healing and magick. Milky Oat is my most beloved of nervous system herbs and acts as a tonic for the soul, helping us to feel held and nourished at any time and especially during the heightened energy of the Full Moon. The seeds feel like packets full of Moon milk. Rose is an herb of unfolding mystery and magick. The flower helps us to connect with the old and wise parts of ourselves having been with our species for millenia. To be held in our unfolding is why I like using these herbs together. 

Full Moon Herbal Bath - Restorative

• 2 parts Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• 1 part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

• ½ part Rose (Rosa damascena)

Full Moon Herbal Bath - Enlivening

• 1 part Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

• ½ part Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• ½ part Lavender (Lavandula officinalis)

image via @adilnapreda

The Dark of the Moon

I almost always make my Dark of the Moon herbal bath blend a few days before since I don't typically make any sort of herbal remedies when the Moon is Dark. For me, Dark of the Moon work is usually of two varieties: deep rest or shadow work. The Dark of the Moon is a time to retreat from the world, go deep within (including deep rest), and recenter yourself before re-emerging into the world with the New Moon.

Dark Moon Herbs: Elder (Sambucus nigra), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Lavender (Lavandula officinalis), Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), Nettles (Urtica dioica), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Sage (Salvia officinalis), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

Mugwort, my dudes. Mugwort is an herb that I love and can only use in small doses because of how powerfully it works on my body and through my energetic systems. I have learned this in unexpected and humorous ways again and again, so I make sure to approach Mugwort with a lot of respect as She is a powerful herb. In Anglo-Saxon tradition, Mugwort is called Una, oldest of herbs, and I feel that in my bones (here is a great in-depth look at the Nine Herbs Charm - you really should read the original out-loud to get a sense of just how rhythmic it is). The herb works to connect us to the liminal, enhance our dreamscapes, and loosen the spirit from the body if travelling through the worlds is what you require. In general, beyond my own sensitivity to the herb, I think that Mugwort is best enjoyed in small doses and I think it is more effective for dreamwork (especially lucid dreamwork) and promoting rest when smaller doses are used.

Dark of the Moon Herbal Bath - Rest & Dream Work

• 1 part Lavender (Lavandula officinalis)

• 1 part Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata)

• ½ part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Dark of the Moon Herbal Bath - Shadow Work

• 1 part Elder (Sambucus nigra)

• 1 part Rose (Rosa damascena)

• ½ part Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

image via @priscilladupreez

Additions to Your Herbal Bath

Add an herb for the Moon sign. When I am trying to work with the specific energy of the sign that the Moon is in, I add in an herb associated with that Moon sign. You can find affirmations as well as links to full profiles of each sign of the zodiac here. You can also choose to always add an herb for your Moon sign into each bath blend.

Salt and epsom salt. Adding salt or epsom salt to your bath can be a way of helping us connect to our oceanic origins (in the case of salt) or assist with pain relief (in the case of epsom salt). 

Honey. Honey is not only good for the skin but helps to sweeten the energy of whatever spell you're working.

Milk. Oat milk (preferably homemade) or your choice of milk is a beautiful addition to the bath and adds additional skin-soothing properties to the experience. Within folk magick milk is associated with the Moon because of its bright white color. 

Stones. Along as you check to make sure that they are water-safe, gemstones can be added directly to your bath water. Or you can place them in your herbal blend to add their energy to the mix before water is added. Silver coins are another traditional addition to lunar blends.

Add moonwater. Adding water charged by the Full Moon or whatever Moon phase you're working with can be a powerful addition to your bathwater.

Flower or gem essences. Flower essences and gem essences are a simple way to support the emotional body. You can add in the flower essences of whatever herbs you're working with (something I love to do) or different essences.

Invoke the spirits, call your guides. I bless the water and call in certain holy ones of the waters before I bathe. It is part of transforming the mundanity of my bathroom to a energetic temple holding space for my ritual submersion. On a practical level, speaking sacred invocations and other holy words before immersing myself in my bath is a way to help shift my consciousness to the magickal working at hand.

Work with Nines. Hearkening to the magick of planetary squares, the primary sacred number of the Moon is nine. So you can stir your blend of herbs nine times, chant a spell over them nine times, or any other variation of working magick nine times. I like the addition of mindfulness that this adds to my practice, helping me to focus on the work at hand.

🌙

I hope you're feeling inspired to draw a bath (or magickal shower) next time you're feeling like working some lunar magick. Lunar baths are also a wonderful addition to lunar magick in general and I've written a whole series on the Moon phases and magick. You can find posts for all the phases below:

• Dark of the Moon

• New Moon

• Waxing Quarter Moon

• Full Moon

• Waning Quarter Moon

If you’re looking for a deeper dive into lunar healing and magick, how about learning about your personal lunar holy day each month or a path exploring your gifts as a healer?

Wherever the Moon cycle finds you, may your baths be lunar and your magick abundant!

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

Finding Balance: Traditional Western Herbalism Energetics in Practice

In part three of my series on the elemental energetics of traditional western herbalism, we’re putting what we’ve learned in part one and part two into practice. If you haven’t read them yet, please start with the first two parts of the series to help you understand the practices I’ll be exploring below.

Let’s begin by helping ground us in the process of sacred inquiry. I want to help you move the four elements from a place of theory, only to be thought about, into a place of being felt in your life and practice. So, I invite you to orient yourself towards each element whether using the modern or traditional interpretation of Traditional Western Herbalism and the elemental cardinal points.

For the modern interpretation, which will fit with many Pagan practices, the compass directions they correspond with beginning with Air in the East, Water in the West, Earth in the North for the northern hemisphere, South for the southern, and Fire in the South for the northern hemisphere, and North for the southern hemisphere. Practicing with the elements tied to the four directions has helped me to ground my practice and what can feel abstract (such as the zodiac being mystical animals and creatures floating in the stars somewhere out there) to something I can literally turn to and face and know both within and without.

For a traditional interpretation of the four elements and cardinal points, that works better with the humoral system of traditional western herbalism, Water and Earth switch spots, with Water in the North (in the Northern Hemishpere) and in the South (in the Southern Hemisphere) and Earth in the West (in both hemispheres).

The Elemental Compass Meditation

Preferably performing this elemental compass exercise outside, as you turn to each direction observe both what is in your immediate environment as well as the global environment. Start by facing to the East, the direction Air, and of the rising sun. What do you observe in this direction both in your surroundings and in your internal landscape? Do you have ancestors that travelled from the East to the place you are now? When you consider the qualities of the East (new beginnings, impetus, all forms of communication, individual identity, and inspiration) and Air what comes up for you?

Next turn to the South and the direction of Fire if you are in the northern hemisphere or to the North if you are in the southern hemisphere. Ask yourself the same questions that you asked in the East. The direction of Fire is a place of creativity and justice, desire and willpower.

Continue to the West, the direction of Water, and proceed as before. The West is a place of dreams and intuition, the worlds beyond, and the collective consciousness.

Turn to the North and the direction of Earth if you are in the northern hemisphere and the South if you are in the southern hemisphere. The direction of Earth is a place of foundations and manifesting, of the cycle life, death, decay, and renewal, and of all things physical.

Finally, journey to the center of your compass and take time to stretch deep below, like the roots of a tree. Stretch high above, like the branches of the tree reaches up to the sky. And finally pull deep within to find all the worlds swirling together.

After any kind of meditation like this it is important to do something grounding and centering (like stretching or moving your body gently or eating and drinking something). Be sure to jot down some notes about the experience if you feel called as these observations can be interesting and useful to revisit. Or don’t, because that is just fine too, and not everything needs to be written down.

Another way to do this meditation is to sit with each of the directions at different points of the night and day. So begin at sunrise facing the East, return to the South (or North) at noon when the sun is at its peak, face the West at sunset, and return to the North (or South) at midnight.

A System of Measurements

When we use an elements based system in our herbal practice we are, in a broad sense, using elemental terms to understand and describe what we need and what we wish to release in a language that is less weighed down with judgement than some of the other words we might've been given. Instead of denigrating the way that someone has energy that is slower (something which is devalued in capitalism-driven culture like in the USA), we can honor this slow energy as manifestation of the Element of Earth within us, whole and holy. If we feel the need for it, we can invite in energizing Fire or Air herbs and activities to appropriately speed up energy systems that may be moving too slowly for our wellbeing. To work with the elements, whether the four sacred elements as presented below or elemental traditions within your own cultural frameworks, is to humble yourself to the mystery of both the profound (the elemental building blocks of all life in the universe) to the everyday (the elements that went into building the screen that you're now reading this on or in the making of the food you've eaten today). 

There are multiple approaches to how you might incorporate the four elements in your own herbal, healing, astrological, and/or magickal practice. It can be as simple or as complex as you want, guided more by intuition or relying more on tradition - it's up to you. As you work with the four elements in your life and practice your understanding of them will shift and change the more you engage with this part of traditional western herbalism. 

Primarily, the four elements are a system of measurement. In the simplest terms, and in a way that our traditional western herbalism ancestors would recognize, the elements measure excess and deficiency in the body. When I speak of the body I am describing the wholeness of someone's experience - the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and so on - as well as how their inner world reflects their outer world and vice versa. The four elements are not only used to describe a person's inherent constitutions and experience of life, but they are also used to describe a plant's energetics as well as the energetics of a disease. Ginger (Zingiber officinalis), with its heating qualities and spicy flavor, is an herb of Fire, just as a fever would be considered an illness with excess Fire, or a person who is prone to dry skin has a lot of Fire in their inherent constitution.

Beginning in your own life you can start to explore what elements are predominant, lacking, weakened, in excess or somewhat neutral for you. You can do this in a number of ways from looking at your birth chart and seeing what element(s) are most represented or by reading the above descriptions and finding yourself in the illustrations of each element. Or by trusting your own self-awareness and intuition. After exploring the elements within your own constitution you can begin to find them in the world around you from plants, to illnesses and health imbalances, as well as other people and creatures. This awareness helps us to practice the important skill of remediation or finding ways to bring healing energies into a situation in order to bring about a state of balance and wellness.

Elemental Remediation in Practice

At its most basic level, remediation is the process of strengthening or diluting the energies of one or more of the four elements present in a body. Below I've posted examples of remediation techniques for each element, so you can begin to get an idea for how you might intentionally incorporate the four elements into your healing work. 

background image via @lukaszlada

Remediating Air

Excess Air: Hyperactive and hypersensitive. Thin, balding, dry skin, poor circulation due to inability to retain heat. Flighty, indecisive, talkative, anxious, obsessive. Social media and technology addiction. Poor listening skills. Symptoms of dis-ease may include 8 gas and flatulence. Remedies of Earth. Roots and berries. Vitamins, minerals, and salt baths. Warm food and environments. Moistening herbs such as demulcents and nervines of all sorts. Art and movement based therapy to channel excess Air energy. Alternatively, stillness and silence. Uninterrupted sleep and dream therapy. Meditation. Calming music. Some Water therapies to soften the overtaxed nervous system and neural pathways. 

Lack of Air: Tension and heaviness. Sluggishness and weakness. Lack of circulation and oxygenation. Asthma, tight chest, feeble lung capacity, weak heart, low blood pressure. Indecisive. Lack of willpower and imagination. Poor communication skills. Social anxiety. Remedies might include meditative breathing exercises. Getting fresh air. Travel. Air-borne remedies including sacred incense and aromatherapy diffusers. Brain tonic herbs, circulatory tonics, and lung tonics. Laughing. Speech therapy. Educational activities and challenges (including brain training apps). 

background image via @77timon

Remediating Fire

Excess Fire: Hot, sometimes sweaty (with water in the chart) or atrophied (with air in the chart), dehydrated. Angry, agitated, irritated, inflamed, compulsive. Out-of-control, attention-seeker, adrenaline addict. Hyperactivity. Sensitivity to sunlight, sunburn, and sunstroke. Violent dreams. High blood pressure, heart attacks, aneurysms. Symptoms of dis-ease include inflammation, dry and flaking skin, fevers, boils, acne, chronic infection, and insomnia. Remedies of Water. Sedating and refrigerant herbs. Liver tonics. Cold and cool foods and environments. Anger management. Quiet and reflective activities including meditation, gentle swimming, calming yoga, and being still. 

Lack of Fire: Weak-willed and lacking desire for life. Low libido, low blood pressure, infertility. Depressed, lacking self-worth, bored. Poor digestion and assimilation of nutrients. Lack of creativity. Feeling purposeless. Inefficient body temperature regulation. Cold extremities and extra sensitivity to cold. Remedies include warm and hot food, drink, and environments. Spices and stimulating herbs. Blood-building herbs and digestive tonics. Exercise. Art therapy and classes. Exciting music, movies, and performances. Be sure to give fire something to ground in (earth remedies), be fed by (air remedies), and be tempered by (water remedies). 

background image via Aaron Burden

Remediating Water

Excess Water: Weepy, emotionally overwhelmed, and ungrounded. Tends towards daydreaming and childlike behaviors. Weak personality. Dependency, co-dependency, and addiction. Stagnation and too much damp. Compromised lymph nodes and glands. Tendency to sleep too much and drowsiness. Poor muscle tone, weak bones, teeth, and cartilage. Excess unwanted weight. Symptoms of dis-ease include water retention, bloating, sluggishness, weight gain, tenderness and swelling, excess fluids, growths and tumors. Remedies of a Fire nature including warm food and environments. Spices, including spiced tea. Avoid cold and wet foods. Sunbathing. Warm colors and heat lamps. Astringents and circulatory tonics. Warming movement and exercise. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Affirmations and positive reinforcement. 

Lack of Water: Dry, tense, over-exhausted nervous system, emotionally out-of-touch or unexpressive, insensitive. Cries very little or difficulty crying. Always thirsty Lack of fluids. Dry digestion and constipation. Symptoms of dis-ease include dry mouth, lack of lubrication, scant menses, and low libido. Remedies should be water-based including fluid based remedies (especially teas and baths) and time spent in and around bodies of water. Swimming. Moistening herbs such as demulcents and oily nervines. Aphrodisiacs. Investing in the welfare of others. Avoid dehydrated, processed, and salty food. Fresh fruits and vegetables including their juices. Meditation. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

background image via @whale

Remediating Earth

Excess Earth: Overly serious, dullness of mind, body, and spirit, bored, lethargic, and aloof. Heaviness and sluggishness. Conditions of stagnation including constipation, tumors, hard growths, and scar tissue. Skin and cartilage conditions including dandruff, eczema, brittle nails and teeth. Build-up of toxins physically and emotionally. Deeply buried trauma. Unresponsive to stimuli. Difficulty crying. Excess Earth dis-eases are often chronic and long lasting. Remedies of all the other elements. Fire to warm up and stimulate energy and movement in the body. Air for mental stimulation and reconnecting with vision to alleviate boredom. Water for emotional softness and expression. Avoid rich, fried, and processed foods. Address habits of excess including overeating, oversleeping, and procrastination (aka chronic avoidance). Bodywork to move energy including acupuncture and pressure points. Travel and trying new things. Doing that which feels scary and impossible. 

Lack of Earth: Ungrounded, indecisive, disconnected, easily confused, low energy and stamina. General weakness. Lack of willpower and feeling of security. Symptoms of lack of earth diseases include hypo-conditions, malnutrition, poor appetite, indigestion, and low immunity. Always sick. Tend towards coldness. Vitamin and mineral deficiency. Remedies of Earth including learning to ground and center, developing will power, mineral therapies, including eating mineral-rich foods and taking mineral baths. Massage and healing touch. Working with earth, clay, and stone. Forestbathing. Developing consistency and a regular rhythm of living. Body-centered and strengthening exercises including yoga and weight-lifting. Rich and nourishing food that is beautiful to behold. All herbs. Body-affirming practices including learning to become allied with the physical form, self-blessings, attention to dress and appearance centered in self-love.

An Elemental Remediation Example

Let's put some of what we've explored together into practice. While an herbal consult is complex and typically involves being able to sit with a person and observe them in real time as well as taking a case history, we can still practice our skills from the following short description I’ve provided below of our client, Aspen.

Of course, the art of reading a birth chart within a healing context is multilayered and complex. For our purposes, we’re focusing on a very small, but very useful aspect of the birth chart - Aspen’s inherent elemental balance or how each element is present in Aspen’s life since the moment of her birth. Starting with the four elements is a great way to begin looking at birth charts without feeling overwhelmed by the all the information staring back at you.

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Our sample birth chart was created via astro.com

Aspen just feels a bit blah. There doesn't seem to be any spice or excitement to her day and her level of interest in her old hobbies and activities seems to have disappeared. She's 29, described herself as generally in good health and works at a job she enjoys but it is a very high stress career and also feels like she has been there for a long time (15 years). She recently ended a 4 year relationship with her boyfriend because they had become more friends than lovers. She doesn't feel particularly depressed (people in her family don't get depressed she tells you), but getting up in the morning is difficult and she feels groggy most of the day, but in the evenings when she is trying to wind down for bed she is wide awake. Aspen wants her energy back and to feel excited and interested in life again. She feels like she used to know what she wanted to do in her life, but now feels adrift. She has a ragweed allergy. 

First, let's look at what Aspen has shared with us and what stands out in her consultation:

• She is feeling restless at work, maybe ready to move on to something new.

• She's recently out of a relationship which lost its romantic spark.

• She's lacking energy, mornings are hard.

• Family legacy of not allowing space for sadness (and perhaps, other "sad people" traits like resting or admitting to feeling dissatisfied or making radical changes to their life that go against the norm).

• She wants to feel energized, excited, and interested in life.

• She's feeling a bit adrift and ungrounded.

Let's look at her chart. We can see that Fire and Water are the most expansive and influential elements in her chart. Both her Moon sign (Scorpio) and Ascendant (Pisces) are in Water, while her Sun is in the Fire sign of Aries. The more personal planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars) are also in Fire or Water signs. Chiron is also in the Fire sign of Leo. She has some Earth coming through in her chart with Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and her North Node and only Saturn in an Air sign. 

In her chart there is affirmation (or testimony to use the classic astrology term) that there is a lack of Air energy needed to move energy around, spark ideas, and help to lift her from the humdrum. It's not to say that she is condemned to always be uninspired (she has lots of creative Water and Fire to support creativity), it just means that when she gets in these funks or places of stagnation in her life, she needs to actively cultivate Air energy to help her get out of them. She also spends way more time on social media than she likes which can be that lack of inherent Air energy searching for stimulation. Lots of Water and Fire in a chart can create the environment of a really pleasant and warm bath that can be soothing, but can also create drowsy, sometimes complacent energy that turns to stagnation (hard time getting up in the morning, restlessness mixed with inertia, lack of excitement, etc).

My heart is also concerned for Aspen's ability to just be sad and discontent - things that may have been shamed or restricted in her younger life. We all need to feel our feelings, but Pisces Ascendant folks are shaped by the currents of their emotional experience in beautifully profound ways. When supported properly can do great magick when it comes to developing their emotional intelligence and ability to connect with people. There's a need for supporting her emotional health and I would probably recommend a therapist if she's not already meeting with someone. In the remedies I recommend, I'll consider a flower essence or two as well, as these can be helpful in supporting emotional wellbeing.

With how Aspen describes her situation it seems like her Fire has been dampened and needs to be relit and oxygenated with some Air energy in the short term, and some more supportive structure (i.e. Earth energy like wood and a firepit) for her inner Fire to burn sustainably. I would ask some more questions about adrenal health and her nervous system to understand the source of her sluggish energy. Let's assume that through these questions it's been revealed that she also relies on and craves sugary caffeinated drinks to keep her going throughout the day (which she wants to rely less on while still being able to enjoy them occasionally and this is another sign of seeking stimulation to fulfill that Air energy need), seems to be getting sick more in the past year than usual (possible compromised immunity), her menstrual cycle is irregular, and she has trouble winding down in the evening in addition to the trouble waking up in the morning, brain fog, and lack of excitement about life. Along with the symptoms she's already shared, all of these issues can point towards adrenal fatigue. 

image via @kfionnm

With everything we've explored with Aspen in mind here's a list of recommendations I might have for her:

• Adrenal Support Tea Blend consisting of Borago officinalis (an Air herb that offers adrenal support as well as courage and the abilities to take chances), Urtica dioica (additional adrenal support while nourishing the inner Fire that burns steady instead of burning out, helps with menstrual imbalances, too), Mentha spicata (an Air cognitive function and stress relief).

• Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) Milk for before bedtime to help her relax into the evening and get ready to rest. Ashwagandha is a gentle adaptogen so it'll help the nervous system to settle.

• A Morning Chai blend with some Ocimum sanctum to help wake up in the mornings and support the adrenals (perhaps choosing coconut sugar as a sweetener since it has a lower glycemic index). Made as a concentrate for easy preparation in the mornings.

• For every sugary caffeinated drink, drink one to two cups of herbal tea or water. Slowly reduce and replace as she feels called, but mostly focusing on enjoying the addition of herbal teas and more water throughout her day.

• Milky Oat (Avena sativa) Tincture with the essences of Wild Oat and California Wild Rose.

• Talk about ways to address Air stimulation needs beyond social media and how that’ll also support her resting, sleeping, and waking routines.

• A plan to discuss menstrual cycles and tools for regulation in our next meeting as I want to see what changes with extra adrenal support first.

• Movement based breathwork (supporting a balance between Fire and Air).

• Start a journal with prompts.

Aspen is Pagan so we talked about setting up an Air altar facing East in her bedroom and she's going to read up on some myths within her cultural practice with strong Air themes (i.e. poetic inspiration, storms, the winds of change, the spirits of the Air, etc) for further inspiration.

Obviously, there’s so much more that can be recommended but I find it useful to start relatively simple. This way I’m able to see what a client has capacity for (i.e. if we meet again at our next consult and they disclose that it was hard to find time to remember to take a tincture three times a day) without overwhelming them. Starting simple helps me to track what works, what seems to be having little affect, and what can be added to the client’s protocol.

Through the process of coming up with recipes and suggestions for Aspen the elemental framework was used in a number of ways to help us understand:

Her birth chart and inherent elemental qualities: Aspen has a lot of Water and Fire in her chart, some Earth, and very little Air.

The elemental profile of the imbalances and dis-ease in her life: Aspen seems to be struggling with a combination of burnout (Fire) exacerbated by too much stagnation (Water) and not enough inspiration and movement (Air). In other words, a combination of adrenal fatigue, lack of feeling able to express emotions like sadness while struggling with the symptoms of these unexpressed emotions, and not having a clear vision of what she wants in the long run.

The types of remedies that would support her health and well-being: I've suggested remedies that are both enlivening and grounding in nature (Air + Earth) for adrenal support and to appropriately nourish and invigorate her nervous system and cognitive function; breathwork and movement-based practices (Air + Fire); and spiritual practice alongside journaling (Air + Water).

On top of all this is the most important aspect - the language I can incorporate into how I can reflect back to Aspen about what she's going through, the places in her body and life it sounds like she could use some extra support, and the remedies that I have in mind for her. We can talk about her elemental strengths and the ways that plants and practice that have shown up in our time together are going to help support parts of her Water self that maybe hasn't been able to express itself thoroughly and how we're going to help rebuild her inner Fire to burn steady instead of burn out. And we'll talk about how we'll bring in Air energy to help enliven and inspire this next chapter of her life all while creating a supportive and grounding container of Earth from which to grow from.

So that's one way of incorporating the elements of traditional western herbalism into your practice. It can become more complex with additional knowledge of medical astrology, incorporating aspects, transits, and more into the analysis of the birth chart - if you feel called to learn more about that aspect of traditional western herbalism, come this way. Or it can be far more simple, no birth chart needed, and simply listening and observing what your client shares with you and the signs of their body (shallow breathing, for example, can be both a sign of more Air and more Earth are needed to help bring oxygen deep into the body). Using an elemental approach to healing can be as intuitive or structured as you want - find what works best for you and those you serve. 

However you bring the insight of the elements into your practice, I hope you find inspiration from what I've shared here to help you create a healing practice that serves you and your community well.

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And that wraps up our series on the four elements and their energetics within traditional western herbalism!

I hope that this series has served to demystify some of the more seemingly esoteric aspects of traditional western herbalism revealing that it’s a lot more intuitive and understandable upon further exploration. What I really hope is that you’re feeling inspired to perhaps try new things of an old nature in your practice and/or explore the energetic roots of whatever tradition you are trained in or that your ancestors practiced. Studying, reclaiming, and dreaming anew energetic systems that draw us as a species back into the world is one of the small ways that we can shift narratives of what it means to be human, to heal, and care for each other and our planet.

Looking for the other two parts of the series? Here they are:

• The Four Elements of Traditional Western Herbalism (with bibliography)

• Elemental Imbalance & Disease in Traditional Western Herbalism

I originally wrote this series for my students in The Lunar Apothecary, so if you like what you’ve read here, you’re invited to check out my course of lunar-centered herbalism to help you discover who you are as a healer.

And, finally, blog posts like these are made possible through reader support whether through a one-time donation or through patreon. It means a lot and changes the lives of folks like me trying to create abundant resources that are free and low cost to support folks on their journey of healing. Thank you.

This post was made possible through patron support.
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The Beauty of the Year: An Annual Tarot Spread for Review & Renewal

Is this just an annual review tarot spread or is this secretly a spread to help us work with the magick of Venus retrograde? Yes.

Even though I don't tend to do end of the calendar year readings (or annual spreads at all for that matter) since I celebrate the end of the seasonal year at Samhain, I felt a need for something different this January. These past few years have felt both more amorphous and intense because of our ongoing shared global experience of crisis. So it has felt useful to add in more points of purpose and reflection at times of ending and beginning - such as we experience at the changing of the calendar year. Throw into the mix the Venus retrograde (read more about that through the wisdom of Chani) and there's a call for us to reflect and remember, release and renew all of which lends itself well to an annual review tarot spread. 

With that in mind, let's work with Venus in retrograde as a guide, helping us to review the year that has passed, looking within before looking ahead.

Cards shown are from The Natural Ink Tarot

The Crone, Inanna, and Venus Retrograde 

As the calendar year ends and begins again so many of us get caught up in the pressure to live in ways that “better” than we currently are, to be more perfect, more beautiful in all ways in our life. Yet, when Venus Retrogrades we are left not with the direct experience of harmonizing beauty (which is what Venus brings) but the question of “What is Beauty?”

Many astrologers liken the energy of Venus Retrograde to the story of the Descent of Inanna. It's an apt and useful comparison as the story of Inanna and her sister, Ereshkigal, is ripe with metaphor and wisdom. I also like to recognize Venus Retrograde as helping us to connect with the energy of the Crone who is beyond the need to be desired by anything other than their infinite self, emancipated from societal expectations of beauty, and confidently centered in their power as something wildly independent yet intimately intertwined with the ecosystem of life, death, decay, and renewal. Venus as a Crone asks of us:

• What would you do with your life if you were not blinded by beauty or afraid of your own shortcomings?

• How would you live if you clothed yourself only with self-assuredness, the songs of your ancestors, and glimmering jewels of visions of the worlds to come?

• How would you feel if you always found yourself at home within the deep knowing of your bones no matter where you were in the world?

What a powerful practice to look back on where we've been in order to dream of where we might go. As we review the year we let go that which we no longer need, pick up what may have been forgotten, and affirm what it is that keeps us steady on the path of becoming more sturdy and well-loved within ourselves, calling in and calling ourselves back to community along the way.

We are all just ancestors in the making and reflection practices like these help us to move along the path of the young crone, the baby hag, the old-one-in-training. And in the very practical living of our lives which rotate on an annual axis, the following tarot spread helps us to measure our needs, call in our power, and reflect in order to remember and renew.

An Annual Tarot Spread for Review & Renewal

Before you cast your cards, take a minute to create a space of beauty in which to work. Creating beauty will mean something different to all of us from setting up an altar, to taking a moment to cleanse and dress ourselves with intention or spending a moment tidying up our space. Beauty calls to beauty and since we are working with Venusian energies it can enhance the casting of our cards and the clarity of our reading to try and align ourselves with beauty from the start.

Card 1. Overview of Beauty
Where did the beauty of your life emerge this year? This is a card that helps us to connect with the beauty of the year whether generous or hard won, hard to see or brightly shining. To connect with the beauty of the year is not to ignore its hardships, but to help us find our strength through our beauty and the beauty of our community connections.

Cards 2 & 3. What Needs to be Released
These two cards help us to understand what it is that needs to be released and let go of. Sometimes these can be ways that we perceive ourselves, our lives, our work. Sometimes they are practices or ideas that we have enjoyed but it is time to honor and retire. In order to open ourselves up to the promise of renewal, we need to make space in our lives for such magick to take place.

Card 4 & 5. What Needs to be Recovered
These two cards help us recognize what may have been left behind, but it's time to bring back into our lives. These could be practices that we set aside whether through forgetfulness, busyness or a change in our lives. It might be a practice that we are entering into a renewed relationship with (i.e. approaching yoga not as a consumer but as a student committed to honoring the practice's roots or returning to a forgotten but favorite childhood pastime). Sometimes what needs to be recovered is more abstract in practice but still potent in experience - a feeling, a sense of home, a calling to hope.

Card 6. What Needs to be Faced
Returning again to the myth of the Descent of Inanna, after She has gone through the seven gates from the Great Above to the Great Below, She steps into the space of Her sister, Ereshkigal. With no treasures clothing Her, nothing shielding Her, Inanna is must face Her own vulnerability, Her mortality, and the finite reality of Her existence. So here is a card which reflects back to us something which needs to be faced - these are often entrenched but unhelpful habits (like overwork) that seem inevitable and unquestionable, but are ultimately the things we cloth ourselves with that can and should be set aside. Another way to understand the energy of the card is to imagine Venus as Crone, delighted in her own mortality, laughing and saying, "What makes you so fearful of your own wild life?"

Card 7. The Promise of Renewal
Here is the card which brings us back to the surface, returning from our retrograde, facing forward with the momentum of the year. It is a glimpse into what might become and our own beauty, newly understood and remembered, in the making.

Cards shown are from The Natural Ink Tarot

An Optional Addition: The Two Helper Cards
If you want, you can cast two additional helper cards to assist you in connect you with much needed allies. In the myth of Inanna, She is recovered from the underworld by two beings called galla (fun fact: these beings which are described in as "neither male nor female" are ancient examples of nonbinary and transgender expression). Cast two additional cards on either side of the spread to represent the type of support you should call to you in order to thrive or, more mythically speaking, to be  brought back to life, renewed and restored.

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If you love these types of tarot spread that center healing in the reading, you might enjoy my post on using tarot in your healing practice. For those of you stuck in the intensity of the descent that Venus Retrograde can sometimes bring, worrying that you’ll never get your magick back, here’s a love letter just for you. And if you’re just looking for more tarot spreads, come this way.

May the season of Venus Retrograde help you uncover the path of beauty in your life.

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

Gathering Ourselves Together: Plant Allies to Support Connection Without Burnout

The season of Solstice - both Winter and Summer - can be a time of increased gatherings and social outings with friends and family. Some of these get-togethers are easier to attend than others. Almost all of these gatherings draw us out of our normal everyday lives into extensively social ones with all the feelings, expectations, and (hopefully!) joy that can come with them. For those with social anxiety or neurodiversities which make social gatherings challenging, as well as empaths and highly sensitive folks, there can be an extra layer sensory and energetic input to have to contend with. Through all of the ups and downs and in-betweens of social gatherings it's important to take care of yourself and allow yourself to be cared for (Reach out for support! Ask for help!) in ways that help you connect better with those you love. 

So before you head out to gather with others, here are a few herbs that help you gather yourself together first.

All of the plants I'm discussing below can also be used as flower essences if that is what you have on hand or are inspired to create your own. Each of these herbs can be blended with the other whether as a tea or tincture, herbal bath or oil. I have chosen plants that are easy to find at local co-ops or from herbalists, easy to grow if you have the time and space, and are all considered generally safe (with the minor exception that some folks with ragweed allergies are sensitive to Chamomile). 

image via @yoyoqua

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is a gentle ally for all ages. If you're going to be eating and drinking together with others, Chamomile can be a great either before eating or after a meal as a tea or tincture. The herb is a gentle form of digestive bitters and while lively meals in different places and times than we are used to eating can be a joy, it can sometimes be a bit of a strain on the digestive tract. Chamomile also offers emotional support as a nervine (i.e. nervous system tonic) and is particularly useful for those folks who feel stress, anxiety, and general upset in their stomach. One of the key indicators for Chamomile is someone who is quick to anger and irritation when they find themselves in uncomfortable or stressful situations - if this is you, Chamomile might be a great ally to work with. It can also be a great herb to prepare as a milky tea for little ones in your life who struggle with the unexpected nature of new places. Learn more about Chamomile and all of it's healing qualities.

image via @phillip_larking

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is a magickal plant. I mean, all plants are magickal, so Lemon Balm is not particularly unique in that sense, but it is one of those plants whose magick feels incredibly relevant to our modern struggles. A few years back I was really struggling with social situations of all sorts and feeling more and more like I would be permanently on the outside looking in. Walking under the Full Moon feeling decidedly un-enchanted but casting spells in the ways that Witches do when they go walking while in great need, I felt drawn to a Lemon Balm plant growing on the side of the road in a tiny strip of garden (Goddess bless these slivers of tenaciously verdant refuges in urban spaces and those who care for them). Sitting with them, illuminated by moonlight, I found myself in the presence of a great harmonious hum. What I learned from Lemon Balm, plant of Bee Priestesses, was that there was a way to be in harmony with the collective without having to make myself into something I was not and without feeling over-run by social interactions. Were all my issues healed there on the spot as a hummed along with Lemon Balm under the Full Moon light? No, but they showed me a possibility that I didn't think possible for me, helping me remember that to harmonize takes a lot of different types of noises, lots of different types of people, but a harmony can exist between them all. 

Lemon Balm is a plant of life and joy, but it has this amazing power to help us feel in harmony with the world around us instead of constantly out of step. Perhaps this is the way the plant works on our nervous system, helping to bring about a state of homeostasis. Or maybe it is the way that Lemon Balm clears brain fog and helps us focus on what it is we want and need in our lives. What I've found over the many years of working with Lemon Balm is that they have a way of filtering out the noise so that we can connect with the hum. It can be social media noise, the noise of exhaustion and stress (it is a classic herb for postpartum for these reasons), the noise of self-doubt or whatever noise is isolating you these days. When it comes to social events and gatherings, these can be noisy events whether literally or emotionally, and Lemon Balm can be a beautiful ally to work with to help you feel connected to the situation at hand but not overwhelmed by it. I recommend taking Lemon Balm over an extended period of time for best results, but having the tea or tincture with you as you gather with others can be helpful for acute situations, too. Feeling inspired by Lemon Balm? Read more about them.

image by author

Calendula (Calendula officinalis)

Have you ever experienced Calendula (Calendula officinalis) herbal oil? For a lot of practitioners trained in western herbalism the making of Calendula oil is a nearly ubiquitous experience in the first year of training. This was certainly true for me and it's because if a practitioner of western herbalism is likely to use an herbal oil in their practice Calendula is probably going to be at the top of the list because it comes from an abundantly available, self-seeding plant and is just so heart-blossomingly lovely to use. What I love about Calendula oil, especially if you are using it in the winter months, is that it brings some summer courage and confidence to the physical and energetic body. Taking care not just of our physical body, but our energetic ones, is necessary when we're gathering with others, especially in situations that are less than ideal. Calendula sings "I know who I am and I love it!" and helps us feel the same especially when we are met with dismissal or cruelty at our self-expression and truth-living (hello especially to my beautiful alphabet soup and trans and nonconforming queerdos whose families of origins haven't been able to see you yet). Of course, you can use Calendula in tea or tincture form, and it is wonderful in baths and as a hydrosol, but I think there is a brave sort of magick that emerges from blessing your physical form with the oil of this bright blossom before entering into the fray of social situations. If you're resonating with what I've written so far about Calendula be sure to read more about them.

image source

Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

I love Milky Oat (Avena sativa) and Milky Oat loves you. A powerful and nourishing nervous system tonic, Milky Oat is a beloved plant ally of mine. While you can read my whole profile on them, what I want to focus on for this post is the way that Milky Oat helps us to healing parental energies. There are a few herbs which seem to help us humans connect with a spirit of a kind and generous parent, like Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) and Pine (Pinus sylvestris), and I find Milky Oat to fit well into this category. When kids grow up not getting the appropriate levels of emotional security and attachment from the parental figures in their life this often leads to a dysregulation of the nervous system (and often intense burnout around the first Saturn Return, i.e. when folks are about to enter into their third decade of life). Milky Oat can help to repair the nervous system and teach it how to find homeostasis all while making space for folks to re-parent their inner child even while they are interacting with and sometimes still parenting their own parents.

They’re a great plant ally as adjunct support before and after therapy sessions as well as if you're spending any time at home during the winter or even if you're sticking away from family but the holidays bring up a lot of feelings. What I love about working with plants when it comes to our big and complicated feelings is that we don't have to worry about wearing out our welcome with them. You could spend hours in a field of Milky Oat telling them your problems and they will continue to dance and sway with gentle encouragement. But what's even more magickal about herbs and how they help us experience our feelings is that they help guide us to the people and places we need to meet in order to feel more whole and better supported. If what I've written about Milky Oat resonates with you, be sure to check out the full profile I've written and especially the section on the Milky Oat personality.

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If you're looking for more support of the divinatory persuasion, here's a spread to help clarify the dynamic of any kind of relationship and here's one to help you connect with your future self (because getting together with family can sometimes make us feel like we're stuck in the past). If creating lists and systems is the way that you cope with the added stress of the holidays, how about putting together a winter apothecary? Or a deep dive into the energetics of traditional western herbalism?

Another practice that I find essential for navigating social spaces is breathwork so I've shared my favorite simple breathwork meditation to help you ground and center. Because while we don’t always have access to plant medicine we always have access to our breath.

Wherever the season finds you, may you find lots of rest and plenty of peace.

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

Make Your Own Flower Essences

One of my favorite healing modalities to use in my practice are flower essences. They are a vibrational form of energy medicine that works primarily on the emotional body. Flower Essences do not contain any plant material and are not herbal extracts (i.e. herbal tinctures or glycerites that are a potent form of herbal medicine) but instead help us to connect with the energetic quality of a flowering plant. There is no plant or stone material within the essences, only the energetic imprint. If you choose an essence that is not meant for you, it will not affect you. However, if you choose an essence that does fit your needs, it can be transformative.

Various forms of flower essences have been around for a long time, but the modern tradition of Flower Essences in western herbalism emerged in the 1930s through the work of English physician Dr. Edward Bach. He wanted to create a form of healing medicine that was inherently harmless and very easy to understand and use. Dr. Bach recognized that much of disease was caused by stress generated from emotional distress and that there was a healing that occurred when a client could recognize themselves in the remedy being offered (as opposed to feeling lost in unnecessarily medicalized jargon that created a schism between the body and its feelings). Some of you may have already heard of Rescue Remedy which is Bach's most well-known Flower Essence and helps to support a person's recovery from shock and trauma. Bach created 38 essences in total and many other folks have followed in his footsteps leading to the modern renaissance of essence making

Flower essences are fun and easy to make, using inexpensive ingredients, and the process encourages you to slow down and connect directly with plant spirits. For the modern tradition started by Dr. Edward Bach there are two primary methods (the sun and boiling methods), but nowadays you'll see a wide range of methods in use by folks who are continuing to experiment and play with the practice. I have described the way that I was taught to make essences which (as far as I've been able to parse out from the lineages of the teachers who taught me including Dori Midnight, Deb Soule, and the written works of Edward Bach) combines Bach, Flower Essence Society, and queer feminist witchfolk methods.

While I completely encourage you to get out there and start making essences on your own, if you do have the chance to sit in community and in communion with a teacher and classmates, it's an incredible experience. 

The process of making essences is simple - it is primarily a meditative act of paying attention to the plant spirits, the environment, and slowing down enough to listen with your whole self. I've listed out my process below and at the end included notes on flower essences and standard dosage. I hope you feel inspired to create your own essence after reading this tutorial and participate in the beautiful culture and community of flower essence collaborators (because it really is a collaboration between person and plant).

How To Make Flower Essences

Gather together supplies. For flower essence making you'll need:

• A clear glass bowl or jar

• A pair of wooden tongs or fine mesh strainer

• Spring water

• A funnel is useful

• Coffee filter

• A clean (preferably new) bottle to store your essence

• Preservative of choice

For my essence making bowl, I use an old, thick glass jar that used to house a candle - it is a tool in my practice that is used exclusively for essence making. If wooden tongs are difficult because of issues with dexterity, you can use a fine mesh strainer to scoop out the plant material. The uses for these tools will be explained in the essence making process below.

Begin with the breath. Before I even choose an essence to make and when to make it, I allow myself to come into a meditative state. The physical act of making flower essences is simple, the complexity of this form of remedy-making comes from the focus and intention of the practitioner in communion with plant spirits. For me, it means that I begin the process of making flower essences by returning to my breath and checking in to see if I'm in a place energetically and emotionally to be making essences. If the path feels clear, I proceed with the next step. And if it doesn't? I pause, I wait, I come back to the work another day, and that's ok. 

Choose the flowers to make an essence with. Like much of herbal medicine making, making essences is a seasonal craft and asks us to be aware of and sensitive to the growing world around us. Knowing when it is time and with what plant to make essences with is a bit practical (the Roses will be blooming in May) and a bit intuitive (ah, I hear Rose song - it's time to make an essence). I'll get an idea for making an essence, but sometimes the message I receive back when sitting with the plants is that I need to wait. The timing of making essences isn't about what works for my schedule but being in partnership with the plant spirits. I trust the process, knowing that'll all come together eventually, returning to my breath again and again so that I'll be ready to flow with the work when the moment arrives.

One note about choosing flowers to work with and researching them ahead of time. Personally, I prefer not to read up about what others have written about an essence before I make my own. Of course, I read about essences all the time so this isn't always possible, but instead of doing a deep dive into research like I would do for an herbal remedy I'm making, I instead strive for a state of curiosity and open-mindedness to learn directly from the plant when making a new essence. After I make an essence and have written my own initial notes about it (more on that below), I love diving into the words of others about that plant. 

Pay attention to the weather. While I can prepare all I like, one of the conditions which is out of my control is the ideal weather conditions for essence making. Here is where you'll most often find variation in essence making practices, mostly with folks being a lot more lax about weather conditions than I was taught (which is completely fine!). I find the observation of and waiting for the ideal weather to be part of the mindfulness of connecting with the plant world and is an essential part of essence making. I make essences on cloudless, sunny days or at least those conditions for the time that I'm essence making so that no shadow will pass over the bowl of essence water during the process (more on this in a minute). On rare occasions I make lunar essences under the light of the Full Moon.

Approach the plant spirits. I always approach the plant from which I hope to make an essence with reverence. For me that is breath and song along with simple offerings of water. I state my intention and I ask to be able to pick their flowers, always waiting for a response before proceeding. How you approach the plant spirits will look different, but it's an important step in continuing to make the energetic connection with the plant you are making essences with. Once I've received permission from the plant spirit, I move on to making the essence.

Set up your bowl. Fill your bowl with spring water and place it in such a way that no shadow, including your own will pass over it. Once I place water in the bowl I begin to be very mindful of my movements so that my shadow does not pass over the water. I was taught that the water at this time easily absorbs energy, including the transfer of energy from my body through my shadow. On a more mundane note, it's a practice in mindfulness, especially in group essence making situations, to be aware of where you are in relation to the essence.

Add flowers to the bowl. Now it is time to add whole flowers to the bowl. Here is another place of differentiation that I see with other instructions I've seen for making flower essences. I was taught to use only a few flowers (and in my case either three, six or nine flowers total) in the bowl, whereas other practitioners will completely cover the surface of the water with flowers. Be guided by the plants on this and be mindful to not take more than you need. Aesthetically it can be beautiful to fill a bowl with flowers, and sometimes that is the path to take, but often energetically you only need a few flowers.

I use wooden tongs to add flowers to the bowl so that I don't touch the flowers with my skin and mingle my energies with theirs before placing them in the bowl of water. If you don't have wooden tongs you can use a leaf pinched between your fingers and the flower so that your skin is not touching the flower as you pick them. Again, this is a practice in slowness and mindfulness that I find to be so beautiful with flower essence making.

Some practitioners don't even pick flowers, especially if a flower is rare or there are too few of them, and hold the bowl of water up to the flower, letting the flower rest on the surface of the water for a period of time. Though I haven't tried this myself, I think that this could be a really beautiful approach to essence making.

Be still and connect. Once the flowers are in the bowl of water it's time to let the essence brew. I was taught to be in meditation with the plants during this time, listening for stories they might offer about the essence that was being brewed and the healing qualities that it possessed. Instead of a set time of energetic infusion, I was taught to be plant-led to know when it was time to strain the essence. I write down what comes through from the plants at this point so I don't forget what can seem so clear in the moment but hazy upon reflection later. 

Offer the flowers back to the earth. Once the essence is done brewing it is time to offer the flowers back to the earth. I do this by picking them out one by one from the water with my tongs and laying them at the base of the plant. I do not let my shadow pass over the water until all the flowers are removed at which point the brewing process is done. I like to arrange the spent flowers in a way that feels pleasing to the eye. An offering of beauty can be a powerful one when making flower essences and it can be a really beautiful process when making essences in community to have everyone participate in the creation of a spent flower altar.

Filter and preserve. I set up my coffee filter in my funnel and add the essence water to my bottle. I'll add in my preservative of choice at this point (typically organic vodka, but that's just because it was a preference of one of my teachers; many essences are made with brandy) at a ratio of 75% preservative to 25% water. You can use non-alcoholic preservatives (like glycerin or vinegar) but these are less shelf-stable and I've personally not had a lot of luck keeping essences not preserved with alcohol from going off. This bottle is known as the Mother bottle and will be the source for the Stock and Dosage bottles you use of the essence.

Offer gratitude and thanks. End your flower essence making session with gratitude and thanks to the plant spirits for their help. I add any leftover water from the essence making process back to the plant. At this point I'll ingest a few drops of the newly made essence - this is always a special moment and I find it to help ground and center me after this meditative medicine making process.

Flower Essence Dosage Guidelines

What you've just learned is how to make a Mother Bottle which is the essence that you'll make Stock bottles from. Here is where the connection to homeopathy shows up with modern essence making (Dr. Edward Bach was a physician and a homeopath), as dilution is considered potentizing to an essence and a necessary part of remedy.

Most essences who find in stores or being sold online, including the Bach Flower Essences and Flower Essence Society essences, and sold as "stock" bottles. You're meant to create a dosage bottle from these stock bottles which means that those small bottles have quite a long shelf life. A dosage bottle typically lasts for one month, but that can vary depending on need and use.

To create a stock bottle: Take a one-ounce glass dropper bottle and blend together water with a preservative of choice (i.e. vinegar, alcohol or glycerin). You want to add 50% water to 50% preservative. Into this bottle add 1 to 3 drops of essence from the Mother bottle. Now you've made a stock essence that you can create dosage bottles from.

To create a dosage bottle: Take a one-ounce glass dropper bottle and blend together water with a preservative of choice (i.e. vinegar, alcohol or glycerin). You're looking to create a rough ratio of 75% water to 25% preservative. You can also use only water and simply keep the bottle in the fridge. I like using spring water because that was the wisdom that was passed down to me, but any water will do. To this bottle you want to add 1 - 3 drops of essence from your stock bottle(s).

Standard dosage for flower essences is 1 - 3 drops directly under the tongue or in a small amount of water up to three times daily. What I recommend for your personal rescue remedy is to follow the standard dosage and take 1 - 3 drops during acute moments of stress. Taken this way, dosage bottles typically last for a month. I like to use an essence for at least one cycle of the Moon and then check-in with myself to see if I should continue using the essence, pause, make adjustments to a blend or move on to another essence. Reflecting on your journey with an essence or blend after a month's time is an important part of working with flower essences, so I highly recommend it.

A Few Magickal Variations for Making Essences

• You can make essences under the light of the Full Moon using the same methods described above. This can be especially potent with night-blossoming flowers and flowers with strong lunar associations.

• Use Moon-charged water for the base for an essence.

• Time your essence making to astrological events (i.e. during conjunctions, planetary hours, and so on).

• Build an altar or nature mandala for your essences to brew on.

• Make essences in crystal bowls (like a rose quartz or jade bowl), wood bowls, or with quartz crystal in the bowl. These will all interact with your essence in interesting ways.

• Charge your essence with sound while brewing. Songs, singing bowls, monochords, drums, flutes, guitars or whatever instrument you play can be used to create a soundscape for an essence to brew in and also as an offering to the plant spirits.

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Do you make flower essences? Or use them in your practice? Not all herbalists do though I feel like most western herbalists will have at least some exposure to them in their training. I always enjoy being in a room of plant folk who suddenly start pulling out the essence bottles they keep on their person (there’s always at least one and, ok, I’m often that one) and start to share the magickal story of how these flowers have brought them healing and inspiration.

And maybe that’s what I love most about flower essences - storytelling and the communion between people and plants are inherent in their making and taking. So here’s to the more magickal of remedies in our practices and the stories they bring.

May you find yourself in a field of flower stories and find some healing and comfort there.

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