Strange & Lovely: Wood Betony Plant Profile

After well over a decade of writing plant profiles, I’ve written profiles for nearly all of the herbs that I use regularly in my practice. Now I’m starting to turn to those herbs which I use less frequently, but would miss if I didn’t have access to them. A lot of these plants are ones that I was introduced to early on in my studies and are often strongly linked to a particular geographic location. I was lucky to learn (and continue to learn) from teachers throughout North America in a wide range of regional environments.

These days, many of the herbs that I work with are local or have naturalized to the central valley and mountainous west environment where I live, but my student days were shaped by herbs of the northeast, midwest, and southwest (and I hope to learn - beyond books - from southern and southeastern teachers and plants one day!).

So while a plant like Wood Betony (Betonica officinalis) isn’t one that I use often, it was a plant that deeply shaped my relationship to the plant world and plant people in my early student days, which is why I’m excited to finally sharing what I know of their healing gifts with all of you!

image via Robert Flogaus-Faust, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wood Betony
(Betonica officinalis syn. Stachys officinalis)

Common + Folk Names : Common hedgenettle, betony, bishopwort, bishop's wort, purple betony, wild hop, bidney, betónica, bettonica

Element : Air, Fire

Zodiac Signs : Carries the energy Aries and Sagittarius. A remedy for Pisces.

Planets : Jupiter 

Moon Phase : Full Moon

Tarot Cards : Temperance (learn more about the connections between the tarot and herbs)

Parts used : Aerial parts

Habitat : Native perennial throughout Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.

Growing Conditions : Prefers well-drained soil and mostly-shady conditions. 

Collection : Harvest in spring in the morning. Some prefer to harvest before flowering, others prefer before and after flowering - both are fine options. Old folklore advises harvesting the herb in August without the use of iron.¹

Flavor : Bitter

Temperature : Cool

Moisture : Dry

Tissue State : Stagnation, Tension

Constituents : Calcium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, choline, tannins, delphinidin, betulinic, rutin, saponins, glucosides, alkaloids, betaine, coffeic acid.

Actions : Alterative, analgesic, antispasmodic, astringent, aromatic, bitter, carminative, cerebral tonic, circulatory stimulant, diuretic, emetic, hepatotonic, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, nervine, mild sedative, styptic, vulnerary.

Main Uses : Wood Betony is a plant I heard about from other plant folk before I ever read about in a materia medica. Hearing stories about this lovely member of the Mint family, that I didn't find written down in my herbals, was one of the first times that I remember really feeling the importance of oral tradition and storytelling in herbalism. These oral traditions are one of the reasons I encourage students and practitioners alike to gather in person - because there are stories only called forth by being gathered together, shaping everyone present by the telling and hearing of them. 

Depending on what herbal you're reading, Wood Betony is either a very important plant that can be used for nearly any ailment, or an old-fashioned remedy no longer used much. Culpeper was one of many herbalists who viewed Wood Betony as a prized panacea to always be kept in the house.² Of course, like many plants that have been in an herbal tradition for thousands of years, they are going to shift in their importance and change in their meaning. One of the enduring legacies of Wood Betony, at least since the Middle Ages, is its connection to alleviating nightmares and unwanted visions - an early indicator of the herb's connection to mental health and wellbeing (and something I explore more in the magickal section below). These days, Wood Betony is primarily used for nervous system stress, anxiety, and promoting general wellbeing. 

Wood Betony is a great option for headaches that stem from nervous tension, especially those that are chronic in nature. The herb helps to draw energy down from the head, helping to regulate circulation so that heat and stagnant energy doesn't lead to pain like sciatica, neuralgia, or even mild paralysis. In addition to general pain, Herbalist Anne McIntyre specifically recommends Wood Betony for trigeminal neuralgia or intense facial pain.³ Other indications that Wood Betony might be useful include dizziness, brain fog, memory loss, and nightmares.

Even if you're not experiencing headaches, but are struggling with anxiety, racing and intrusive thoughts, and general fatigue along with any of the other symptoms already listed, Wood Betony may be a useful ally (if you’re wanting to work with Wood Betony for mental health, it’s a good indication that it is time to seek support from mental health practitioners if you’re not already working with one or more). The herb is really helpful for folks whose anxiety has arisen from shock or strange circumstances - part of the root of the anxiety lies in the confusion and discomfort of not knowing why something happened. A tea of Wood Betony can help calm the body and relax nervous tremors generated from excess adrenaline and if your anxiety or tension produces pain of any sort, headaches or otherwise, the herb is a good ally to turn to. 

The herb helps students and other folks who've been engaged in long hours of study or complex mental tasks to slow down, take a break, quiet their thoughts, and rest. Culpeper recommends the herb specifically for those "wearied by traveling" but I find that it's an herb that is good for folks wearied by life in general.⁴ For my highly sensitive people and neurodiverse folks who struggle to feel settled after returning home from being out for any period of time (whether at social gatherings, school, work, running errands, etc.), a few drops of Wood Betony as a tincture or flower essence, can help the nervous system settle. I also really like combining Wood Betony with Milky Oat (Avena sativa) and Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) to help folks who have been stressed and fatigued for an extended period find a way back to feeling connected to and hopeful in their life. 

image via Lee Raye

Another common use for Wood Betony is as a digestive aid, especially if indigestion is connected to a person's mental state of being (i.e. anxiety producing stomachaches and gas). Other digestive indications for Wood Betony include heartburn as well as either diarrhea and constipation or symptoms that alternate between the two. The herb supports liver and gallbladder function, and is useful to take when you've eaten something that isn't sitting well.⁵ If you are struggling with high blood sugar, Wood Betony can help to lower blood sugar levels by strengthening glucose metabolism.⁶

Wood Betony helps to bring on menses and alleviates cramps brought on by congestion in the womb (during menstruation look for signs of dull, intense cramping of the womb and back, blood clots, and dark blood). You can also use Wood Betony for stagnant menopausal conditions such as restless insomnia and depression. The herb can be used to move along a stalled labor, helping to open the womb, strengthen contractions, and reduce the risk of postpartum hemorrhage, in part, because of its oxytocic effect from the presence of the alkaloid stachydrine in the plant.⁷ 

Though a less common use these days, Wood Betony has historically been used for clearing congestion in the lungs and alleviating varying respiratory conditions including asthma, allergies, and being used in cases of stubborn, painful head colds. If you are sick with an accompanying headache or migraine, try adding Wood Betony to your cold care tea and McIntyre recommends blending the herb with Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis) for head colds.⁸

Wood Betony has historical use dating back from the 5th century as a topical treatment for healing damaged or severed nerves - the herb was powdered and applied to the place of injury - while also taking the herb internally.⁹ The powder can also help to draw splinters. Combine with other skin healing plants like Calendula (Calendula officinalis), Plantain (Plantago spp.), and Rose (Rosa spp.) for a lovely salve, compress or wash for cuts, wounds, bruises to promote healing and prevent infection as well as varicose veins, and hemorrhoids. Combine with Sage (Salvia officinalis) for strains and sprains or with Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) for back pain. Use as a mouthwash for toothache and a compress for headache. 

Magickal Uses : I have told all sorts of strange stories about Wood Betony and by strange, I mean leaning into the fantastical and unexplainable, and they are stories that seem to emerge only after a class is over or a gathering of plant folk has gone long into the night or some similarly in-between space. Some modern herbalists tell stories of Wood Betony's ability to bring comfort to those abducted by aliens and I have heard similar tales for those who feel they spent a night or got lost in the otherworld.¹⁰

Wood Betony has been used for hundreds of years to protect against unwanted dreams and visions as well as evil spirits (which we might interpret in a modern lens as describing different forms or symptoms of mental illness or crisis). A distinct period of use for Wood Betony was during the Middle Ages when it was used to protect against nightmares, unwanted visions, and demons, keeping safe the soul when the sun had set and the dark had risen - a precarious time according to the dominant philosophy of medieval Christian Europe.

So, for our modern magickal practices, Wood Betony can be a useful ally in all rituals of protection, including protection against nightmares, the protection of our physical body, and the protection against all forms of baneful magick. If you are bitten by any sort of creature in your dreams, for example, apply freshly bruised leaves of Wood Betony to the place where you were bitten (an herbal oil or flower essence would also work). I think the herb is especially suited for removal of and protection against unwanted hauntings. Since Wood Betony seems to straddle the worlds easily, leading people safely out of strange and disconcerting experiences, the herb lends itself well to rituals of banishing, expulsion, and safe return.

For my paranormal investigators, Wood Betony (especially as a flower essence) is a great ally for those who are experiencing unwanted discomfort and ungroundedness due to the effects of high strangeness. All of this is just saying the same thing in a different tone: Wood Betony is a great ally for those feeling unsettled by something that feels unexplainable or confusing (at least for a particular moment).

I think that there is great use in rituals that help us to banish unwanted energies, including if we experience those energies as being or feeling haunted by some otherworldly presence in our life. Not fear-based rituals that are based on saving souls or damnation or ones that arise from a pressurized scam (you have to purchase this $3k ritual now to reverse the curse!), but somatic, trauma-informed, intersectional rituals that are restorative and empowering. Here is where we can invite in a plant ally like Wood Betony to help us with our work of disentanglement and liberation.

Wood Betony has a connection to deer magick and can be used by those who work with deer as guides or familiars (stags were said to seek out the plant when wounded).¹¹ The herb was planted on sacred ground like churchyards and graveyards, so you might plant Wood Betony (along with other magickal objects and stones) around your home to create an energetic field of protection. Place under your pillow or under your bed to protect against nightmares. Scott Cunningham connects the purifying magick of Wood Betony to the Midsummer bonfire, instructing folk to cast the herb into the fire before jumping over the flames to cleanse yourself from unwanted energy.¹²

image via Hans Simon Holtzbecker

The Wood Betony Personality : The experience of describing their symptoms to a health practitioner or friend or family member to just be met with confused stares or disbelief, is not an unfamiliar experience for many Wood Betony folk. There is an air of ungroundedness that is difficult to manage - feeling disconnected from community, from their sense of self, from their purpose - that only aggravates whatever physical, mental, and emotional symptoms they are experiencing. In other words, Wood Betony folk can feel isolated from instead of drawn into community through their experiences of feeling unwell or uneasy.

For some Wood Betony folk, they'll fall into a pattern of overconsuming information trying to seek out definitive answers to their experiences and easy-to-follow timelines for what they are going through. Other Wood Betony folk might get caught up in seeing signs everywhere, the world so hyper-connected that they begin to lose their connection to the people and places around them. There is a real need for grounding and centering work for Wood Betony folk as well as engaging with the mystery of life not as a puzzle to be solved, but as an energy to be respected, that healing and liberation do not require definitives, just informed wisdom and kindness. When in a state of dynamic balance, the beautiful energy of Wood Betony folk bless communities and relationships with their ability to get deeply rooted in intuitive knowing and the space to allow life to unfold. They aren't afraid of strange stories, because they are able to see the humanity of the person telling them.

Contraindications : Avoid during pregnancy and nursing. Caution with hypotensive and antidiabetic medications. High doses may cause intestinal upset including cramping, gas, nausea, and diarrhea.

Drug interactions : None known.

Dosage : Standard dosage.

🌿

Have you worked with Wood Betony or heard a story about it’s strange and lovely healing ways?

As always, you can find a printable version of this plant profile, along with an ever-expanding collection of every plant profile I’ve written, in The Plant Ally Library.

Since trouble with sleep is an indication for Wood Betony, you might find my post on plant allies for sleep and dreaming to be useful. Or perhaps you’d be interested in a relaxing, end-of-the-day tarot practice to help you ground and center.

I hope that you feel a little bit reassured that healing work can be strange and zig-zagging, but all of us deserve to be held and heard in the process of figuring out where we’re going and what we’ve experienced along the way.

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

📚 Footnotes📚

1. Maude Grieve, A Modern Herbal: Volume I (New York: Dover Publications, 1971), 97.

2. Nicholas Culpeper, and J. J. Pursell, Culpeper's Complete Herbal: A Compendium of Herbs and Their Uses, Annotated for Modern Herbalists, Healers, and Witches (Portland, OR: Microcosm Publishing, 2022), 42.

3. Anne McIntyre, The Complete Herbal Tutor: The Ideal Companion for Study and Practice, (London: Octopus Books, 2010), 159.

4. Culpeper, 42.

5. Wood Betony, living up to its reputation of countering the ill dealings of high strangeness, protects these same organs from baneful witchcraft. (Culpeper, 42)

6. Brigitte Mars, The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine (Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, 2007), 322.

7. Stephen Taylor, The Humoral Herbal: A practical guide to the Western Energetic system of health, lifestyle and herbs (London: Aeon Books, 2021), 405.

8. McIntyre, 159.

9. Graeme Tobyn, Alison Dunham, Margaret Whitelegg, The Western Herbal Tradition: 2000 Years of Medicinal Plant Knowledge (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2011), 312.

10. Matthew Wood, The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2008), 137.

11. Grieve, 98.

12. Scott Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 2001), 55.

Study Wellness: A Tarot Spread for Students

I loved my days as an herbal student (though, truthfully, you don't ever stop being a student as an herbalist as you're always learning from plants and people) and I love that as part of the ever-growing and diverse community of folks teaching herbal arts, I get to interact with students everyday. Being able to support students in ways that I was supported (and wanted to be supported) and helping them figure out what sort of path they want to travel as plant folk and magickal people has been an ongoing source of joy for me.

And, for as much as I loved being a student, I also struggled to feel like I fit into the herbal world, oscillating between intimidation and overwhelm when grappling with all there was to know (there are so many plants, help).

I keep my student self in mind when I'm creating my own online courses and especially when I'm teaching in-person, where I have a more direct control with the physical and social learning environment. I've also tried to pay a lot of attention to what it is that inspires, stresses out, clarifies and confuses the students who have taken my courses - it helps me create more accessible courses and develop my skills as a teacher. Over the years, one of the most common recommendations that I’ve made to students that they find helpful is to remind them that they can take their time, set their own pace, and show up as they are able to and with the adaptations they need to feel good in their studies and development.

It’s not surprising that slowing down and reflecting on what it is you’re striving for and seeking as a student is a important value within my courses - whether through changing your sense of time as a healing practice, connecting with your breath, embracing your sensitivity, using storytelling as part of your healing craft, or sitting in deep relationship with our plant allies.

With all that in mind, and being someone who uses tarot as a tool of self-reflection (and time travel and magick and healing), I thought it would be useful to put together a simple spread made for students who are feeling a bit overwhelmed, lost or uninspired in their studies. Make a sweet ritual of it, add some plants to your shower or bath, brew some tea, practice some breathwork, and then settle in for some card casting.

Study Wellness
A tarot spread for students 

Study Wellness is a slow-down and take a look at your inner landscape sort of tarot spread to help students shift away from stress and reconnect to the purpose of their studies. You can use whatever tarot deck (or system of divination) you prefer, but if you're looking for some tarot decks with a plant focus, come this way.

Card 1. The Querent

A card that you can either choose purposefully or draw at random to represent you and your current student energy.

Card 2. What Brought You to Your Studies

This card helps you to reconnect to why you were drawn to your studies in the first place. An inverted or challenging card here might reflect something that you're trying to undo (i.e. traumatic family patterns) or heal as part of your studies.

Card 3. Where You Hope Your Studies Will Take You

A hopeful card that is less about predicting the future and more about helping you remember where it is you hope you'll arrive once your studies are completed.

Card 4. What You Are Focusing Too Much On

This card helps us to assess what it is that has become outsized in our life and often highlights an area of major stress in our studies. It is a place to pull back from, shrink down to appropriate portions, and maybe even let rest for a bit. In a practical sense this card may indicate a part of your studies to set aside for the moment to focus on another aspect of your work (i.e. taking a break from writing plant profiles to doing some hands-on remedy making practice).

Card 5. Where To Turn Your Attention To

This card helps to draw your attention towards an aspect of your studies that you would benefit from focusing on at the moment. This can include another aspect of your studies, but it can also point you towards an overall part of your student life that you would might consider focusing on like taking breaks, getting outside and connecting with plants, consulting with teachers or collaborating with your fellow students.

Card 6. The Student Transformed

A card that might not make too much sense to you at the moment, but peers ahead at ways that you might be transformed by your studies. Something to take note of in a journal that you can forget about for now and look at again after your studies are completed.

Bonus Card. A Message From Your Plant Ally

If you're an herbal student working with a particular plant ally, you can pull an extra card that represents a message from your plant ally to you, helping to recenter your studies in relationship to our green kin.

🌙 📚 🌿

I hope that Study Wellness, whether you use it as a tarot or oracle card spread, as journal prompts or even as part of a study group with your fellow students, helps you to feel a little more settled, centered, and confident in your work. Of course, the work that you’re doing now shapes your future, but you should also let it shape your present in ways that feel good and affirming to you.

If you’re looking for more gentle tarot spreads you might enjoy my favorite daily tarot and evening tarot practices.

May your path as a student be an inspiring one, may you be supported in ways that help you flourish in your learning, and may your inquiries lead you to places you couldn’t quite imagine, but feel like home when you finally arrive.

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

The Astroherbalism Apothecary: Crafting Herbal Charms for Your Moon Sign

One of the reasons I love astroherbalism is the way that it combines the practical with the profound where we seek to support the intangible (i.e. inner world experiences and emotions) through hands-on creativity (i.e. simple herbal charms aligned with our healing desires).

Following the first part of this series where we explored the energies of our Sun sign, I want to turn our attention to crafting charms and potions that support the energy of your Moon sign. While knowing your Sun sign used to be the extent of most people's knowledge of western astrology, more and more folks can easily name their Moon sign, too, and being a very pro-lunar sort of witch, I love this celestial culture shift.

As with my last post in the astroherbalism apothecary series, I'll be sharing some recipes with you, but what I really want to share with you is a framework for creating your own unique herbal charms for your Moon so that you feel inspired to use what is readily available to you.

To do that, we'll explore how our Moon sign shapes our energy and the common ways that our lunar energy can get disrupted. 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, our Moon represents our consciousness, the way we perceive experiences, our feeling body, and our most honest stories. Some of us, for example, process our feelings quickly, while others take a longer time to figure out what our feelings are. Our ability to digest and process our experiences, to form stories from them, and let ourselves feel our feelings profoundly shapes our understanding of wellbeing in our life.

Throughout our life we figure out what it is that makes us feel comfortable and at home within our world, allowing us space to process our lived experiences. It is our Moon sign which represents and helps to guide us on this journey of homecoming and exploration.

When it comes to supporting our Moon sign there are three primary paths that I focus on: recipes that help us integrate lunar energy, recipes that settle and center us, and recipes that help us strengthen our intuitive instincts. To help you identify what path may be most useful for you at this time in your life, I've created brief descriptions of each path as well as key phrases that you may or may not connect with. I encourage you to read these phrases out loud 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 Moon sign charm. 

Crafting Your Lunar Charms

I’ve suggested a variety of herb types and plant allies to create your own Moon sign charms. The simplest approach would be to use whole dried herbs, combining them together to create an herbal charm bag or spell bottle. You can also build a Moon sign altar, adding your chosen plant allies to it. If you have the flower essence version of whatever plants you resonate with, you can easily craft your own flower essence potion. For those of you with herbal experience, you can choose herbs to make your own Moon 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 - they all contain additional magickal information you might find useful. You can find all of my plant profiles in The Plant Ally Library (which is available on a sliding scale as well as to all of my patrons for free).

image via @diosming97

Integrate Your Lunar Energy

Herbs and essences that help us integrate the emotional part of our experiences, reduce stress, and generally assist us in honoring our intersecting identities and stories in all of our wondrous wholeness.

Key phrases that indicate you might benefit from an integrative charm include:

• I feel like I'm a constantly changing up who I am depending on who I'm with.

• I feel uncomfortable in my own skin.

• I have a story to live, things to tell, but I'm afraid to do it.

• People wouldn't like me if they really knew who I was.

• Everything feels tangled up inside.

Herbs for an Integrating Moon Charm

I think of integration charms like meeting places at the crossroads - different path are converging to a singular point. When all these paths come together representing our various identities, responsibilities, and experiences, an integrative charm helps to bring all of these different parts of ourselves into a harmonious whole. Plant allies traditionally associated with the safe journeys like Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) work well with plants that represent and support the integration of wisdom like Sage (Salvia officinalis). In general, seeking out herbs that are associated with pathways and waysides, boldly scented plants, and herbs with bright colors are all good options.

Here are a few plant allies for a integrative Moon charm to consider:

• Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

• Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

• Sage (Salvia officinalis)

• Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

• Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris)

• Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

Stone allies can be a beautiful addition to an herbal charm if you already have them in your collection, including those that help us integrate disparate parts of ourselves such as Moonstone, Rose Quartz, and Sodalite. Choose your favorite colors that you feel represent who you are best for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your charm.

image via @sharonmccutcheon

Center Your Lunar Energy

Herbs and essences that help us create a protective cocoon around our energy, find equilibrium after a period of stress or shock, and to deeply nourish our nervous system.

Key phrases that indicate you might benefit from a centering charm include:

• Everything and everyone is getting on my last nerve.

• I just seem to feel so much more than everyone else.

• I don't know what to do with all of my feelings.

• Life feels overwhelming.

• I struggle to connect with what I really want.

Herbs for a Centering Moon Charm

Focus on herbs that help to draw lunar energy towards you, drawing energy in and downwards, helping to root and ground our Moon selves. Roots can be very grounding and you can incorporate the roots of lunar plants into your charm such as the root of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) or California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). In general, herbs that are considered soothing, cooling, and calming are all good options, including herbs with cooling colors like blues, purples, silvers, and gentle greens.

Here are a few Moon centering herbs to consider:

• Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

• California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

• Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• Rose (Rosa spp.)

• Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

• Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

• Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

If they are already in your collection, you might consider adding a stone ally to your charm, especially those that are grounding and centering including Black Kyanite, Obsidian, Smoky Quartz, and Bloodstone. Deep navy blues and forest green tones are also great for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your centering charm.

image via @wyxina

Strengthen Your Lunar Energy

Herbs and essences that not only increase the volume of our intuition so that we are able to hear it better, but our willpower and ability to follow through with our intuitive guidance.

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

• Something feels off about {situation or relationship} but I feel stuck.

• I know this feels wrong but I don't want to rock the boat.

• I don't know how I ended up in my current life.

• I don't feel like I fit into my life.

• Life seems to be passing me by, but I don't know what to do next.

Herbs for a Intuition Strengthening Moon Charm

When we're working from a place of strong lunar energy we are able to connect with and follow the guidance of our intuition. Intuition is often presented as a mystical gift reserved for a select psychic few, but in fact, it's a common skill of our species to quickly and unconsciously sort through past and present information and experiences to come to a place of instinctive reasoning about a situation. Our Moon represents that ability to perceive, filter, and organize our consciousness in a way that appears invisible to us - in other words, our intuitive abilities.

When we have been raised to distrust our intuition or have developed a pattern of ignoring our intuitive insights, it can take a lot out of us, increase our stress, and often leads us into patterns of living that feel out of sync with who we feel ourselves to be. A strengthening charm is going to be partially nourishing to our energy and partially energizing. We can incorporate herbs that are nourishing to our nervous system but also ones that feel magickal to us on a deeply felt level, as well as symbols, colors, and objects that pull at our sense of enchantment.

Here are a few Moon strengthening herbs to consider:

• Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

• Yarrow (Alchemilla millefolium)

• Elder (Sambucus nigra)

• Rose (Rosa spp.)

• Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

• Juniper (Juniperus spp.)

There are also a variety of stone allies you might consider working with to help strengthen your intuitive gifts and lunar energy such as Moonstone, Clear Quartz, Amethyst, and Labrodorite. You might also consider choosing purple and blue tones for any candles, fabric, bottles or other items that you incorporate into your charm.

image via @vixenly

Creating Your Moon Sign Charm

Decide on the form that your Moon charm will take (i.e. a spell bottle, a charm bag, a solar altar, flower essence potion, tea, etc.) and gather all of your ingredients and items. You should also have a bowl with water in it and a stone of your choosing as well as a candle and candle holder. Since water is the element of the Moon we’ll be integrating it as part of our charm.

If you are able to perform this charm on a night during a Moon phase that aligns with your needs (check out this series on rituals for the lunar phases for guidance), but if you're only able to perform this ritual during the day, no worries!

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, placing the stone in the bowl of water, and the candle positioned so that its flame will reflect in the water. 

Begin by holding your hands over the water and stone, charging up a space within and around you to assist your magick, saying:

Water holds
All land, all dreams
May I be held
Betwixt and between

Next, light the candle, whispering:

Dancing on the water
Light of the Moon
I whisper now
A healing rune
{strengthening, integrating, centering} charms
I gather round
By Moon and story
I am crowned

Visualize the light dancing on the water, the moon in the sky, and your own inner light illuminating the space within and around you, filling up the spaces within your lunar energy needs healing, and crowning you with your own lunar energy.

When ready, begin to craft your charm, naming aloud the purpose of each item that you are adding to it such as:

Mugwort for centering my dreams
Rose for strength and insight
Sage for intuition and wisdom

Once the charm has been made, pass the charm around the flame and over the water nine times, visualizing gathering up the Moon flame and energy of water into your charm. Anoint the charm and then your forehead with water in a crescent Moon shape, saying:

By plant, by flame,
by water, by stone
By lunar wisdom
I know to be my own
I am {strengthened, integrated, centered} by this spell
Nine times about
All is well!

Blessed 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 moonlight and/or repeating the Moon charm ritual as needed.

🌙

If you’re looking for more lunar inspiration, be sure to check out the Moon Studies section of my astroherbology archive, such as a guide for making herbal medicine by the Moon and a lunar return series to help you learn about your very own monthly Moon day.

Subscribers of my Magick Mail get free access to my not-so-secret grimoire of lunar recipes and rituals (there’s over 120 of them!). And for those of you ready to dive deep into your Moon-centered studies, you’re invited to The Lunar Apothecary.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the first post in this series on your Sun sign, and I’ll be back again with creating charms for your Ascendent.

May your inner Moon illuminate the path ahead!

This post was made possible through patron support.
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What is a Plant Ally?

If you've spent any time learning about herbalism, especially traditional western herbalism, you've probably heard the term "plant ally" on more than one occasion.

But what does plant ally mean?

Having written about plant allies for many years, it seemed that it might be a good time to offer my own perspective on the definition of plant ally, shaped by my herbal education and direct experience with plants and the people who seek them out. So let’s take a moment to explore what a plant ally is, why it is a useful concept in herbalism, and how it applies to our healing work.

For me, I define my herbal practice as being intersectional, earth-centered, and plant-led which informs the way that I connect with plants as allies. There are many forms and traditions of herbalism with in the world with different ways of defining our relationship to plants and value systems of a healer. How you choose to practice and be in relationship to the plants, people, and creatures you serve hopefully reflects the sacred values you hold as a healer.

What follows is my current understanding of practicing in a plant-led way and with plant allies. I hope that it inspires your own thinking and inquiries on the subject - hopefully with tea in hand and amongst your plant kin. 

image via @lanegore

What is a Plant Ally?

A plant ally is a plant, tree, herb, fungus, algae or other member of the green world that we are in a sacred reciprocal relationship with and that helps us to cultivate an experience of wellbeing in our life. In the sequence of evolution, plants are our elders, having already been present and witnessing our development when we first emerged on this planet as a species. Many have co-evolved alongside us, providing food, shelter, clothing, and medicine. As a species, we have spread their seeds through our millennia of nomadic and semi-nomadic life as well as our more recently settled and agricultural ways of being. 

Plant allies can appear to us during times of both acute and chronic healing need, and while some may be familiar from our childhood or earlier life, others completely new to us. Often there is an ancestral or cultural connection to the plant, but not always, since plants, in their vastness of generosity, will often show up with their teachings to folks no matter their heritage or background. 

Sometimes plant allies appear to us in dreams, other times in the food we are cooking, or a childhood memory. Sometimes they appear as gifts whether by human friends or dropped onto our path by an animal. Plant allies are often eager to show up for us - it is we who must practice showing up to them. 

image via @outimaarjana

The purpose of a plant ally is specific to the needs of your relationship with them. Many times plant allies provide relief to something we are suffering about, such as chronic pain, heartbreak or the long recovery from a difficult illness. Usually plant allies come because we have called them, whether consciously or not, and we've been fortunate enough to open up to their help. Some relationships with plant allies last for many years if not one's entire life, but sometimes an ally is here for a season or specific situation and then moves on. Being in relationship with a plant ally often results in growing deeper into your own understanding of your self and your interconnectedness with the cycles of life, death, and renewal. 

When I enter into a relationship with a plant ally (or sometimes wake up to realize that I've been in one for a bit without even realizing it - this happens more often than you think), I try to spend time with the plant in-person, from the uncultivated to cultivated spaces it grows. In general, I try to get to know my plant friend in as many ways and forms as possible (The Thirty Day Plant Ally Project is full of suggestions for connecting with a plant ally if you're looking for inspiration).

Mostly, I try to listen with my whole self to the messages of my plant ally, opening up to them as we navigate ways of feeling well together. If I can, I like to carry some of the plant ally with me, tucked into a small bundle that I can wear on my body which serves to connect me with the very old human practice of wearing plants on the body.

image via @yuliia_pat

If you are working with a client and they have a particular plant ally they have a relationship with, it can be healing to work with that plant ally as part of your herbal recommendations for them, from incorporating it into remedies to directly asking the plant for aid. It can also be incredibly healing to help connect folks with their plant allies in a conscious and meaningful way as there is so much opportunity for ancestral healing and cultural reconnection through plant allyship.

Finding a plant ally to work with can be as simple as choosing an herb that calls to you and starting there. Sometimes it can be helpful to think about the plants that led you to your interest in herbalism in the first place. Other times a plant from your childhood might be the one to speak to you. Let your curiosity guide you and trust the process of knowing yourself better through relationships with your plant allies.

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If you’re looking for more plant ally inspiration, have I got the archive for you. You can also find my complete collection of plant profiles in The Plant Ally Library if you like dozens of plant profiles with more added each year.

I hope you feel inspired to participate in the tradition of plant allyship that herbalists have been engaged in for generations. May your curious heart lead you home to kinship with our green world.

This post was made possible through patron support.
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Sweet Spring, Bright Summer: Herbal Remedies for the Waking Season

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

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

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

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

image via @anniespratt

Spring to Summer Remedies

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

image via @hasanalmasi

For When You Need Help Slowing Down

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

• 3 parts Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 1 part Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

• ½ part Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

image via @anniespratt

For When You Need to Cool Off

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

• 4 parts Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

• 1 part Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

• ¼ part Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis)

image via @anniespratt

For When Your Heart Needs Nourishing

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

• 4 parts Hawthorn Berry (Crataegus monogyna)

• 1 part Rose (Rosa spp.)

• ½ part Elder Flower (Sambucus nigra)

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

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

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

This post was made possible through patron support.
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