My Favorite Evening Tarot Practice

Most of my (mostly) daily tarot practice takes place in the morning, fit in somewhere between waking up and making my tea.

But sometimes the fading light of evening draws me back to my cards, to shuffle through the day's energy, and make sense of what has come and gone. Often, when I’m called to an evening tarot session it means that I need some extra support in getting settled into my resting body, so that I can get some sleep.

What follows is a simple evening tarot spread to help us ground and center so that we can proceed with our evening and night feeling rested. Of course, while I've written this spread with the evening in mind, it can be used anytime your energy is feeling stirred up and you're having trouble settling down. Beyond tarot, it can be use in a journaling practice, your evening or morning pages, and even as prompts to consider during your evening meditation practice.

May you be inspired to shape the following spread into something that works best for you and your needs.

Settling the Spirit
My Favorite Evening Tarot Spread

Card 1. To set aside

You can be as broad or specific when you are casting your spread. If you want to focus on an area of your life that you're having trouble feeling restless about, you could ask, for example, "What worry about my school project can I set aside just for tonight?" Sometimes we can pinpoint where are restlessness is stemming from and so you can keep this prompt open-ended.

Card 2. To acknowledge

This card points us towards something that is useful to acknowledge - often, but not limited to, an emotional experience. If you pull the Five of Wands, for example, it might be important to recognize that today held a lot of conflict and to notice where you're feeling that conflict in your body. Often just acknowledging where you're feeling something can start to move and release that energy, helping you feel more settled. If you pull a really positive card here it's important to recognize that great stuff that happened and how that feels in your body, too! Let that joy settle in your bones!

Card 3. To practice

I like pulling a card that reminds me to connect to a healing practice. If my energy is feeling unsettled and I'm wanting to pull cards about it, there is likely a lot going on in my life and I might have lost sight of the simple ways I can help feel grounded and centered. Sometimes I pull only from the Major Arcana for this card (and reference my oracle of care), but other times I pull from the whole deck. More often than not, I'm not meant to jump up and do the practice the card pulled here indicates, but to be mindful about incorporating this practice over the next few days. I find that one of the ways we can start to settle our energy is to know that we have some healing practices to look forward to. 

Card 4. To encompass

The final card helps call in the energy needed to help us settle right now. The prompt "to encompass" is inspired by Scottish blessings found in the Carmina Gadelica where holy ones are called upon to cover us with a mantle or blanket of protection. It's language that I use in my own nightly practices and the energy is very grounding, and not only feels protective, but very comforting. So this card helps us to connect with that grounding, protective, comforting energy needed to help our body to settle and rest.

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If you're looking for more healing practices to help you have a peaceful evening and restful night, you might enjoy this tea recipe and get to know a sleeping and dreaming plant ally. I also enjoy this bit of lunar wisdom to help point us in the direction of where we might rest deepest. For those of you looking for my complete collection of community tarot spreads, come this way.

I hope this simple tarot spread inspires your own evening practices and helps you to feel settled and steady on your path to deep, restorative rest.

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. ❤︎

The Astroherbalism Apothecary: Crafting Herbal Charms for Your Sun Sign

I've written about the gifts of our Sun sign and how we can connect with that energy of our birth chart through a simple tarot practice - and now it's time to explore working with our Sun sign plant allies in magickal practice.

Building upon the energy of exploring our birth chart, I wanted to explore some astroherbalism techniques to help you craft herbal charms and potions that support the energy of your Sun sign. As the Sun sign is a common starting point for many folks to western astrology, I'd thought it would be a good place to start, but I'll be continuing this series exploring the Moon sign and Ascendant, too.

While you'll find plant suggestions in this post, what I really want to share with you is the framework of how we would approach creating your own unique potions, elixirs or herbal charms for your Sun so that you feel inspired to use what is readily available to you. We'll start by naming the ways our Sun sign affects our energy and then look at the common ways that Sun energy might need support in our life because its been blocked or undernourished. I'll provide you with some suggestions to help you craft your own charms, and then leave you with a Sun sign ritual to support your magickal workings.

Let's get crafting in the astroherbalism apothecary!

As an herbalist, I work with astrology as a story-telling-listening tool and a way to help folks get to know and name the healing needs of their body (and by "body" I mean physical form, emotional and mental experience, the psychic body, and so on). Within traditional western herbalism, the Sun represents our inherent energy. There is no "good" or "bad" inherent energy, just the baseline energy that we're born with and our Sun sign helps us understand the ways that our energy flows throughout our life. Some of us, for example, have energy that is quick to show up and quick to disappear, while others have energy that is slow to arrive and meandering when it does get here. We bring this inherent energetic signature with us into all of our life experiences, including our experiences of wellness, discomfort, illness, and healing. 

Throughout our life we learn how to tend to the needs of our energy and develop skills to interact with the world that not only feels good to us (if at times challenging, but in a way that is helping us to stretch and grow more into who we are) but is sustainable. 

When it comes to supporting our Sun sign there are three primary paths that I work with: recipes that energize, recipes that soothe, and recipes that nourish. Below you'll find a brief description of each path of support as well as key phrases that help you identify your Sun sign energy needs. I encourage you to read these phrases aloud and if something resonates, to consider pursuing that path of magickal healing. Once you've identified what type of path will be most useful for you at this time, you can choose a few suggested herbs and then follow the guide below to creating your custom Sun sign charm with.

Crafting Your Solar Charms

I’ve suggested a variety of herb types and plant allies to create your own Sun sign charms. The simplest approach would be to use whole dried herbs, combining them together to create an herbal charm bag. You can also build a Sun sign altar, adding your chosen plant allies to it. If you have the flower essence version of whatever plants you choose you can easily craft your own flower essence potion. For those of you with herbal experience, you can even choose herbs to make your own Sun charm tea, tincture or topical herbal oil, taking into consideration appropriate individual needs and contraindications.

When available I’ve linked to the full plant profile of any of the plant ally suggestions below that are available for free on my community blog and they all contain additional magickal information. You can find all of my plant profiles in The Plant Ally Library (which is available to all of my patrons for free).

image via @mickeydziwulski

Energize Your Solar Energy

Herbs and essences that help to awaken, enliven, and generally stimulate Sun sign energy that may be sluggish, recovering from stress and/or illness, and in general need of waking up.

Key phrases that indicate you might be in need of an energizing charm include:

• I feel like I can't get going. 

• I feel stuck in one place. 

• What's the point?

• I don't feel inspired or creative.

• I just feel "blah" all the time.

Herbs for an Energizing Charm

For a charm that is helping to energize and wake up our Sun current, we want to work plant allies that are stimulating, inspiration-inducing, and energetically bright. From a magickal perspective, seeds and fruits are especially energizing, which is why I love incorporating plants into my Sun charms that are brightly colored and grow prolifically like Calendula (Calendula officinalis) not only in flower form, but in seed form as well. While you should check out the "Remedy Herbs" section of your astroherbology profile for your Sun sign, in general, brightly colored, especially in warm and sunny tones, plants that grow easily in a variety of conditions, as well as spicy or strong tasting plants, are great options.

Here are a few energizing Sun plant allies to consider connecting with:

• Calendula (Calendula officinalis)

• Ginger (Zingiber officinalis)

• Cayenne (Capsicum annuum)

• Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)

• St. Joan’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)

• Cinnamon (Cinnamomum spp.)

• Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum)

• Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

If they are already in your collection, you might consider adding any of the following stone allies to your energizing Sun charm including Citrine, Clear Quartz, Carnelian, Red Jasper, and Tiger's Eye. You can also consider choosing bright and warm color tones for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your charm.

image via @rayhennessy

Soothe Your Solar Energy

Herbs and essences that help to soften, relax, and create a sense of calm for Sun energy that is in excess leading to feelings of agitation, anxiousness, and general overwhelm.

Key phrases that indicate you might be in need of a soothing charm include:

• I'm so anxious!

• I don't fit in anywhere.

• I need a hug (or other comforting experience).

• I just feel on edge all the time.

• No one gets me.

Herbs for a Soothing Charm

Focus on herbs that help to diffuse excess Sun energy, helping to ground and center us. From a magickal perspective, roots and barks of plants (always sustainably harvested), have an inherently grounding energy which is why I love solar plants like Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale) for soothing solar charms. While you should check out the "Remedy Herbs" section of your astroherbology profile for your Sun sign, in general herbs that are cooling, including cooling colors such as blue or purple flowers, grounding, and relaxing are excellent options.

Here are a few Sun energy soothing plant allies to consider connecting with:

• Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale)

• Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

• Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• Burdock (Arctium lappa)

• Borage (Borago officinalis)

• California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

• Rose (Rosa spp.)

• Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)

There are also a variety of stone allies you might consider working with to help soothe your Sun energy if you already have them available including Smoky Quartz, Black Tourmaline, Bloodstone, Obsidian, Amethyst, Citrine, and Flourite. You might also consider choosing cool color tones for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your charm.

image via @kiendo

Nourish Your Solar Energy

Herbs and essences that tend to the fundamental needs of our Sun energy, helping us feel energetically fed and supported in our energetic needs - a Sun sign tonic.

Key phrases that indicate you might be in need of a nourishing charm include:

• I feel burnt out.

• Everything feels like too much.

• I'm exhausted.

• Who's going to take care of me?

• I could really use a break right now.

Herbs for a Nourishing Charm

Focus on herbs that feel comforting and inviting, helping us to come home to our solar self. From a magickal perspective, flowers and leaves carry nourishing energy and I'm particularly fond of plant allies like Rose (Rosa spp.) to help nourish solar energy.  While you should check out the "Guardian Herbs" section of your astroherbology profile for your Sun sign to help you explore nourishing herbs for your particular Sun energy, in general focusing on vitamin and mineral rich plants, herbs full of gentle but warm color, and herbs that you enjoy the scent, taste, and/or feel of can be good options.

Here are a few Sun energy nourishing plant allies to consider connecting with:

• Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

• Angelica (Angelica archangelica)

• Linden (Tilia europea)

• Sage (Salvia officinalis)

• Nettles (Urtica dioica)

• Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)

• Hawthorn Berry (Crataegus monogyna)

Stone allies that you might consider working with to help nourish your Sun energy, if you already have them in your collection, include Citrine, Rose Quartz, Rhodochrosite, Pink Tourmaline, and Magano Calcite. You might also consider choosing gentle and warm colors - such as rosy pinks, soft oranges, warm yellows - for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your charm.

image via @daiga_ellaby

Creating Your Sun Sign Charm

Decide on the form that your Sun charm will take (i.e. a spell bottle, a charm bag, a solar altar, or something else entirely) and gather all of your ingredients and items needed as well as a candle and candle holder.

If you are able to perform this charm on a sunny day, even better, but it's not necessary for success as often we need to recharge our solar energy because sunny days have been far and few between. Ground and center (perhaps with a tree of life meditation) and settle into sacred space through your preferred method. Lay the items for your charm out before you, along with your candle.

Light the candle by saying:

By the light of the Sun
By the light of the fire
By the light of my heart's
Honest desire
I work my magick
I cast my spell
To {charge, soothe, nourish} my energy
That all may be well.

Visualize the light of the candle (and the Sun if you are outside) growing and expanding, meeting with your own solar energy. Let the light fill up the places of your solar aura that need healing, helping to fortify your Sun energy. When ready, begin to craft your charm, naming aloud the purpose of each item that you are adding to it such as:

Calendula for energy and strength
St. Joan's Wort for hope and joy
Lemon Balm for clarity and community

Once the charm has been made, pass the charm through the flame six times, visualizing the light of the flame and the Sun being gathered up into the charm. Then pass the charm between you and the the candle flame, reciting at least six times (or until the energy needed is raised) in a rhythmic fashion:

By light, I am {energized, soothed, nourished}
My Sun renewed
Round and about
Through and through

When you feel the energy has been raised, press the charm to your heart and exclaim: 

So mote it be!

You can now use your charm as you please, carrying it with you or placing it in an auspicious place in your home. The charm can be re-charged by putting it under sunlight and/or repeating the Sun charm ritual as needed.

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While I love connecting folks with healing modalities, plant allies, and magickal practices, I've come to realize that a lot of my work is learning how to be an effective resource library and to help folks connect with their healing community. I find that astrological language can be an excellent tool for that, especially for marginalized folks who've been injured within medical systems - physically, emotionally, spiritually - feel hesitant to access the care they need. 

It was my own magickal practice that led me to re-membering, after being raised under the deep shadow of capitalism that tries to sell us the lie of the isolated individual solely responsible for earning their "wellness," that healing is a community act, that we all deserve healing resources (including accessing the work of mental health professionals) by simply existing. If you have read through this post and feel some resonance with a statement that you weren't expecting or feelings that feel hard to sit with, I invite you to seek out some of the incredible community-centered healing resources available to you (you can find a short list at the end of this post to help get you started). Part of working with paths like modern astrology is recognizing where the story of our birth chart is pointing us towards - including the types of collaborative healing spaces and skills that would benefit us the most during any and every stage of life.

That's magick, friends, clarifying our intention, naming it, asking for what we desire, and letting love open the path back home to ourselves and our community.

If you are looking to learn more about your Sun sign come this way and you can check out my astroherbology archive for an abundance of resources for your studies and practice. 

May your inner Sun shine brightly!

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

Stories of Hope: Linden Plant Profile

I’ve written many plant profiles over the years, starting during my student days and I imagine I’ll be writing profiles in one form or another for many years to come.

In The Plant Ally Library, where you can find all of the plant profiles I’ve written, I’ve realized that I’ve covered many of the herbs that I use on a regular basis in my practice. While I still have plenty of plants to write about, I’m turning my gaze more and more towards not only herbs that my community is interested in (i.e. my patrons get to choose most of the profiles I write about these days), but those that I consider essential to my practice even if I use them less frequently.

Linden (Tilia x europaea) is one of those powerful periphery plants for me. I don’t use them all the time like, say, Milky Oat (Avena sativa), but I would miss them were I no longer to have access to their healing gifts. Linden is also a plant that I learned about first through the richness of herbal oral tradition and that first introduction guides me whenever I consider choosing them as an appropriate ally to work with in a situation of healing need.

I hope you get to connect with a plant through the power of community stories like I continue to experience with Linden. For me, Linden reminds me of the really beautiful aspect of becoming an herbalist where after a while of reaching out to plants to help the people you’re serving, the plants reach back to you through people to share a story you might not of heard otherwise.

Anyways.

Let’s explore some Linden magick, learn about their healing gifts, and meet this tree of community.

image via @bdv91

Linden
(Tilia x europaea)

Common + Folk Names : Lime tree, limeflower tree, linnflower, tilluel, common lime, flor de tila, lind

Element : Air, Fire

Zodiac Signs : Leo (Guardian), Aquarius (Remedy), Pisces (Remedy)

Planets : Jupiter, Sun

Moon Phase : Waning Quarter Moon

Tarot Cards :  The Emperor, the Sun, the Fives, especially the 5 of Cups, the Threes, especially 3 of Swords

Parts used : Flower

Habitat : Native to North America, Europe, western Asia.

Growing Conditions : Slightly acidic soil, moderate water, and part sun, part shade.

Collection : Harvest the flower in summer.

Flavor : Pungent, sweet

Temperature : Warm

Moisture : Moist

Tissue State : Dry, Tense, Cold, Stagnant

Constituents : Vitamin C, iodine, manganese, essential oil, flavonoids, mucilage, phenolic acids, tannins.

Actions : Antidepressant, antispasmodic, astringent, cephalic, cholagogue, choleratic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emollient, expectorant, hypotensive, nervine, peripheral vasodilator, relaxant, stomachic, sudorific, tonic, vasodilator, vulnerary.

Main Uses : When I think of Linden I imagine the first time I met this plant through someone who embodied Linden energy within themselves and their beautiful home. They were the type of community organizer, working quietly and steadily in the background, who glowed from within with hope even when faced with the monumental task of shifting resources back into underserved communities. They were tender-hearted in a way that felt so unfamiliar (and, to be perfectly honest, undesirable) to me at that time in my life, but I left their house with a gifted bottle of Linden tincture tucked into my bag.

Many years later when I began to know and embrace my own tender-heartedness and struggled to feel hope amongst all these feelings, I would pull that bottle of Linden tincture out of my apothecary cabinet, adding a few drops to my water, and remembering that I had been told that this was a joy plant, a hope tree, a place to go to when the sorrow feels like it is going to eat you up. So as I sat down to write about Linden, I found myself filling up with the stories that had been shared to me about this beautiful tree, whether spoken or by the written word, and it felt important to convey the connecting, communal magick of Linden by quoting at length a few of those stories in this profile.

It's not uncommon for a first encounter with Linden to be in some variety of "happiness tea" with other joyful herbs like Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), and Rose (Rosa spp.). Linden is a wonderful plant to work with where excess states of tension has led to feeling stuck and low. Indications for Linden include difficulty sleeping, signs of excess heat like irritability, impatience, high blood pressure, heart palpitations caused by stress, and a general state of agitation. There is a struggle to settle into oneself. The herb is a wonderful ally to folks of all ages and can be useful to add into tea blends for children (and adults) who are learning how to channel their restless energy in ways that help them feel good in their bodies. In general, Linden is a great nervous system tonic supporting us in all stages of life, from childhood, pregnancy, times of heightened stress, and old age and can easily be combined with other nervines like Milky Oat (Avena sativa) to help us thrive. I love the following tea and description by herbalist Deb Soule as it embodies the essence of working with plants like Linden  for longevity of body and soul:

“Motherwort mixed with lemon balm, linden flowers, raspberry leaves, blue vervain, fennel seed, borage flowers and leaves, and chamomile tea, relaxes and soothes the soul and brings happiness, strength of the trees, sweetness of the bees, and courage to those who partake of these herbs.”¹

image via @gervele

Linden is one of those warming herbs that work well for instances of excess heat (much like Ocimum sanctum), because it works to effectively move trapped, stagnant or overactive heat throughout the body. Hypertension, for example, is considered an issue of Tension and Heat, so a plant like Linden can be a great ally to work with. Linden helps to "relax the coronary arteries, easing palpitations and therefore helping prevent and treat coronary heart disease."² Linden is the plant ally for the chronic stress that underlies so many of our diseases and discomforts.

Other Heat conditions that Linden can help alleviate include fever and colds where trapped heat is not allowing the body to effectively fight off the infection. For states of excess tension, Linden is an excellent choice for so many conditions including tension headaches and migraines, colic, cramping and period pains, depression (someone wants the feeling of being held, combine with Leonurus cardiaca), dizziness, back, neck, and shoulder pain. Use for chronic bronchitis and stubborn coughs where there is excess phlegm. I love these bits of Linden wisdom provided by herbalist Stephen Taylor from his own teachers which help to illustrate the ways that Linden (or limeflower, as his preferred common name for the plant) moves energy:

“Both of my herbal mentors had a special place for limeflowers, Christopher Hedley used to say that limeflower takes the fat of the arteries and puts it on the nerves where it belongs, and my other mentor Julian Barker, used to treat microcirculatory conditions of the arterial system with his triad of herbs combining limeflower, hawthorn, and yarrow.”³

Linden is a helpful diuretic alleviating arthritis, gout, general inflammation, and renal disease, especially when prepared as a warm to cool infusion. The mucilaginous qualities of Linden help to soothe all sorts of bodily passages including the intestines, urinary and respiratory passages. Add Linden to digestive blends to help alleviate symptoms of IBS. Linden is a good ally for vaginal tissue health both internally and externally, helping with postpartum healing as well as genital sores in general. Soule recommends combining Calendula (Calendula officinalis), Milky Oat (Avena sativa), Comfrey (Symphytum officinale), and Linden together for a healing sitz bath especially good for wounds and sores.⁴

Topically, Linden is a fantastic skin tonic helping a variety of inflammatory skin conditions including hemorrhoids, boils and abscesses, burns, rashes, urticaria, and shingles. Use as a compress for inflamed and swollen eyes and as a gargle for sore throats. 

Kaditzer Linde circa 1840 - image source

Magickal Uses : In Greek myth, the Linden tree is Philyra, the transformed mother of Chiron, though as with many tellings of Greek myths it's a rather traumatic tale. I would seek out modern, feminist Hellenic practitioners who have explored the story if you're feeling called to work with this myth, as I suspect there might be a useful retelling about birth and trauma to be told (or something else entirely as I am not a Hellenic practitioner with a depth of practice to draw on). Following the path of Chiron, Paul Beyerl suggests that Linden is a useful plant to use in all forms of Sagittarian and horse magick.

In Northern European traditions, Linden is associated with the Goddess Freya and Holda, and important community and council meetings would take place at the foot of the Linden tree. As the trees grow over 100 feet tall and live for over 70 years, it's no surprise that Linden was recognized as a place of gathering and pilgrimage to Pagans and later Christians. The tree is sacred in Slavic, Baltic, and northern Chinese cultures as well. There is also a tradition of divining with Linden leafs, which indicates they may be a useful addition to divination rituals.

Linden is a plant of Jupiter and can be used in all rituals where you want to bring in Jupiterian energy of abundance, healing, and beneficial energy. Traditional uses of Linden include hanging a branch above your door for protection, using the wood to create amulets of luck, and in spells of love and longevity.⁵

I feel a similar energy between the Oak (Quercus spp.) and Linden - whereas the Oak acts as a doorway from our world to the otherworld, Linden feels very much like a tree that offers a doorway from the otherworld into our world. It is a place to gather to hear the voices of our ancestors, to invite them back into the circle of our living community, and seek their wise counsel. I absolutely love this story from herbalist Karen M. Rose:

“There is a linden tree in Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, not too far from my home, where I take my apprentices when we do plant-identification walks. Every time I gather them under this specific linden tree, we have a spiritual experience. The feeling of safety and of being home and held is undeniable.”⁶

The Linden Personality : Linden folks believe in the myth of the lone wolf - they are self-isolating, believe that they are impossible to be understood by their peers, and so reliant on their idea of being the outsider that they have created a very lonely world for themselves. Often there is a story of trauma in their background that has deeply reshaped the way that the interact with other people, often choosing to avoid them as much as possible. There is also a type of Linden folk who have experienced online radicalizing forces, filling their heads with mean-spirited pseudoscience (i.e. the alpha wolf myth) and a toxic outlook on life. These chronically online Linden folks went seeking community in digital spaces but find themselves increasingly isolated from the rest of their lives through these dehumanizing theories and beliefs. Of course, not all Linden folks are chronically online, but as a plant that has gateway energy that helps to draw us back into real and loving community, Linden can serve as a very welcome ally to those who are wanting to address attachments to their online world that they no longer want. In general, Linden folks avoid giving and receiving love because they are afraid of the vulnerability involved, and instead choose to believe things about themselves that keep them isolated. Working with Linden helps them to open up to community, seek help for their traumatic experiences, and feel connected to others as a social creature, letting their "lone wolf" persona fall aside so that they can rejoin the pack. Linden folk shine in their ability to repair fracturedness, helping those who feel they are incurably lost be found again.

Contraindications : Generally considered safe with rare cases of contact dermatitis have been reported.

Drug interactions : None known.

Dosage : Standard dosage. Hot tea is best for diaphoretic action while warm to cold infusions are more diuretic in action.

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What sorts of plant stories have you been offered over the years? How do they continue to shape the ways you work with plants? Seek out these story sharing plant spaces whenever you can - I think it’s one of the ways that we keep herbalism a living, breathing tradition.

May your ears be full of plant stories, your visits with plant elders plentiful, and your ability to share your own stories abundant.

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

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Footnotes

1. Deb Soule, The Roots of Healing: A Woman's Book of Herbs (New York: Citadel Press, 1995), 120.

2. Anne McIntyre, Flower Power: Flower Remedies for Healing Body and Soul through Herbalism, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy, and Flower Essences (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996), 220.

3.  Stephen Taylor, The Humoral Herbal: A practical guide to the Western Energetic system of health, lifestyle and herbs (London: Aeon Books, 2021), 311.

4.  Soule, 171.

5.  Scott Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 2001), 160.

6. Karen M. Rose, The Art & Practice of Spiritual Herbalism: Transform, Heal, & Remember with the Power of Plants and Ancestral Medicine (Beverly, MA: Quarto Publishing, 2022), 25.

Discernment: A Rising Sign Tarot Spread

The Rising Sign or Ascendant (i.e. the astrological sign that is rising or ascending up from the horizon at the time of our birth) is a rather magickal part of our birth chart where we explore how we want to be perceived versus how we are perceived.

While exploring our Sun and our Moon signs can be a deeply internal process, with our Ascendant we are required to not only look within, but to take a brave look outwards, too. If you want a better understanding of how the Moon, the Sun, and the Ascendant interact with one another, creating a powerful triad of insight in your birth chart, be sure to check out my first post in this series.

Are you one of the many folks who feel not quite connected to their Sun sign, they'll often find themselves resonating with the energies of their Ascendant. Such an experience makes a lot of sense as our Ascendant better describes our personality - the Ascendant part of our birth chart represents who we desire to be perceived and what we do to achieve that desire. Our Ascendant shapes our behavior depending on what it is pulling us toward. A Taurus Ascendant, for example, might want to be perceived as grounding and thoughtful as their steady poise is not only something that they want for themselves but they believe that such traits make them desirable and worthy to others.

Our Ascendant sign is our personally tuned skillset of discernment, the filter by which we look out at the world which colors all of our interactions. The great work of understanding our Ascendant is to not only understand what internal desires are shaping our external perceptions, but to recognize that we cannot control the perception of others and how we are going to shape our life by that knowledge. Will we bend ourselves out of shape to fit in? Rebel against the system? Feel like a perpetual outsider instead of risking vulnerability? Recognize that there aren't any outsiders just folks who haven't found one another yet? Stop reading this post because astrology is silly? 

By exploring our Ascendant we have an opportunity to recognize how we've been shaped by the tension of perceiving ourselves and being perceived. We get to name the patterns of being that we really love about ourselves and help us feel at home energetically (Sun) and emotionally (Moon) while reconsidering and even releasing those patterns that feel outdated, meaningless or exhausting. There is a beautiful opportunity of synthesization and authentic engagement with ourselves and our world when we bring together what we've learned about our luminaries into all the ways we relate to the world.

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Discernment
A Tarot Spread for Your Ascendant

Begin by pulling out the card from your tarot deck that corresponds with the sign of your Ascendant. There are two correspondence methods to determine your Ascendant card. The first, simplest, and most common way is to choose the corresponding Major Arcana card based on the system used by The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:

• Aries: The Emperor

• Taurus: Hierophant

• Gemini: Lovers

• Cancer: Chariot

• Leo: Strength

• Virgo: Hermit

• Libra: Justice

• Scorpio: Death

• Sagittarius: Temperance

• Capricorn: Devil

• Aquarius: Star

• Pisces: Moon

The second way, for those of you more familiar with the astrological tradition of decans, is to choose a card based on the corresponding decan to your Ascendant (I personally prefer the first method, but if you have the skillset, the second is great, too).

Once you've chosen your card card from your tarot deck, set it out at the top of your reading space. If you like you can place candles around it and build an altar full of items representing your Ascendant sign energy. You might include plant allies to your ascendant sign (explore my astroherbology profiles for recommended plant allies) or any of plant allies you feel support your Ascendant energy, focusing on creating a space that feels welcoming to your personal energy and aesthetic.

Cards 1. Cosmic Lens of Beauty

The first two cards of our spread help us to understand the lens by which we are viewing ourselves and the world. For our first card, it is the lens of beauty - that which we are drawn to, place value in, and aspire to be perceived as. While I'm using the word beauty, it could easily be replaced by holiness, desire or ethics, but it is a card that helps us to understand what shapes our perceptions of our inner and outer worlds. 

Card 2. Cosmic Lens of Fear

The second perception card is about how our perception of life also shapes our fear of it. In other words, what we perceive to be lacking about ourselves and our world or what we perceive to be our faults that drag us away from the beauty we perceive in ourselves and the world. This card highlights what we fear we might be perceived as.

Card 3. Collective Gaze

This card highlights your current comfort or discomfort with being perceived, helping us to understand how much beauty or fear we think is being placed upon us by others. Affirming cards in this position can reflect on the work we've put into and the space we've been given to flourish. Challenging cards in this position might reflect that you're in a state of transition, changing how it is you perceive yourself and want to be perceived, and/or how significant areas of perception in your life (i.e. in relationships, at school or work, during intense social-cultural periods during election periods, and so on).

Card 4. Alignment

This card highlights ways that you can help align your inner perception of yourself with how you are perceived in the world (at least in safe, supportive relationships). A particularly challenging card in this position might show a state of conflict with how you want to be perceived versus how you've been allowed to be perceived by your family, friends, society at large. Even in challenging cards, seek the symbol or meaning that shows small paths of rebellion to eventual freedom.  

Card 5. Horizons

When we work with the energy of our Ascendant we can tap into the ability to gaze towards the horizon and get a glimpse at what it is that we are drawing towards us/what is drawn to us in connection to our perception journey.

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I hope you enjoyed our journey through the Luminaries (i.e. the Sun and Moon) and Ascendant in your birth chart. Explore the rest of the series:

• Vitality: A Tarot Spread for Your Sun Sign

• Illumination: A Moon Sign Tarot Spread

Becoming familiar with these parts of your birth chart will help you create a solid foundation for your astrological practice, include any astroherbology studies from the lunar to the tarot.

If you’re looking for more tarot inspiration, I have a decade’s worth of community posts for you. For those seeking to learn more about the intersections of stars and plants, come this way.

May your studies be illuminating, your cards clear, and your heart open to the possibilities of all that you are.

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