by Melody Pohla

[make sure to check out the 'Phases' Tea Blend Set which is an herbal preparation made to enjoy next to this blog post and the live workshop it was derived from – available only while supplies last]

With the rise of the post-industrialist schedule that created what we adhere to now as a workday and weekend, days  “on” and days “off”, there has been less attention and respect to the cycles of life that have been present since the beginning of time. Cycles can be seen clearly in a variety of ways:

• The cycle of plants: Germination, Pollination, Fertilization, and Dispersal
• The cycle of the seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
• The cycle of woman: Maiden, Mother, Crone
• The cycle of menstruation: Follicular, Ovulatory, Luteal, Menstrual

 The last of our cycles listed above—the menstrual cycle—has been seen as something to hide, something “dirty”, something as a punishment, something to be shameful of.

 However, it is none of those things. Instead of viewing the monthly hormonal cycle as a burden, what if we viewed it as a source of power? A source of intuition? A source of boundaries? A source of creative flow?

 Within the respect of the cycle, we’re invited to work with our body and mind as opposed to working against it. As opposed to toughing through low-energy days with obscene amounts of caffeine to match the daily rigor of what is asked of us, we are invited to just say no to things that would be a detriment to our individual mental or physical health. As opposed to putting off an important conversation, we are invited to speak while our mind is in the best position to do so.

 What if you don’t have a physical monthly cycle? That’s okay! You can still use the monthly cycle in a similar way by cultivating intention and utilizing the energetic qualities of the 4 phases. You deserve regular rest and reflection in accordance with your body, even if you do not have a period. I invite you to reflect on how each phase’s guidance can be applied to your own cycle.

Follicular  | 7-10 days | Initiation

 creativity, invoke curiosity, plan

Herbs that can support this phase:

Tulsi, rose, lemon balm, peppermint, white sage, nettle

 Foods that can support this phase:

Focus on eating light &  fresh. Green produce, salads, fermented foods (kimchi, sauerkraut), oats, lean protein, flaxseeds (crushed/ground)

 Journal prompts:

Are there any people that I would like to connect with this month?

What does my month look like right now? How can I include things that excite me?

What feels overwhelming to me? How can I break it down into manageable steps?

 Ovulatory | 3-4 days | Growth

 socialize, collaborate, communicate

 Herbs that can support this phase:

Red clover, marshmallow, hibiscus, maca

Foods that can support this phase:

Focus on fiber. Dark colored vegetables, fruit, quinoa, lean protein, fish, flaxseeds (crushed/ground)

Journal Prompts:

Are there any opportunities I can take advantage of right now?

Write down a recent event or conversation that made you feel inspired, empowered, or excited.

Is there something I’ve been wanting to talk about? What is it?

Luteal | 10-14 days | Completion

Tend, finalize, slow down

Herbs that can support this phase:

Red raspberry, ashgawanda, chamomile, nettles, catnip, ginger, spearmint, peppermint, burdock

Foods that can support this phase:

Focus on more calories. Brown rice, sweet potato, cooked dark leafy greens, roasted veggies, walnuts

Journal prompts:

Have I been saying yes to things that don’t feel authentic to me? What are they?

What are some boundaries that I can implement?

Is there anything in my life I feel no longer serves me? Why?

Menstrual | 3-7 days | Rest

Reflect, slow down, review your intuition

Herbs that can support this phase:

Red raspberry, yarrow, chamomile, spearmint, cramp bark, nettles, oat straw, catnip, linden

Foods that can support this phase:

Focus on protein and healthy fats. Red meat, kidney beans, buckwheat, berries, kale, kelp, beets, seafood

Journal prompts:

What parts of my life have changed this past month?

What has come into my life that I would like to give more attention to?

What part of my life can be released to make space for things that feel more authentic to me?

~~~ 

Liver Supportive Herbs

(helps flush excess hormones that can lead to bloating, acne, cramping, etc.):

Dandelion, milk thistle, chicory, flax seeds, ginkgo balboa, licorice, garlic

Further reading

In the FLO: Unlock Your Hormonal Advantage and Revolutionize Your Life by Alisa Viti

Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar

~~~

This post was originally published in the Greenspell 'Greencurrents' Zine

If you enjoyed this article, and are interested in a deeper dive into the world of herbalism, ecology, and holistic health, consider signing up for the Greenspell Community & Virtual Garden.

This monthly membership offers a growing community of nature lovers, potion makers, and herbalists in the Chicago Region along with an ever evolving, online knowledge-base offering self-directed courses, plant profiles, and resources related to the study of herbalism, ecology, and herbal-medicine making of the Great Lakes Bioregion. Click the link above to learn more!

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by Ryan Brownlow

[make sure to check out Earth Grief Tea which is an herbal preparation made to enjoy next to this blog post and the live workshop it was derived from – available only while supplies last]

In her 1983 book Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age, the Buddhist philosopher and environmentalist Joanna Macy made the stunning proclamation: “The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.”

She was writing to anti-nuclear activists, urging them to keep the faith despite their perceived political losses. I have thought of Macy’s insight often over the course of the past year. One of the things I appreciate about this quote is that it links the personal experience of heartbreak to the unfathomable scale of the cosmos, suggesting that our feelings are powerful and important enough to hold it all. The whole universe. For me, Macy’s quote is prescient; despite the fact that it was written more than forty years ago, it seems to speak directly to our moment, when we are all inundated daily with despair-worthy stories and images and headlines about the state of our planet. These days, the bad news is hard to ignore. In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and in the face of accelerating climate change and species loss, many of us are feeling helpless, grief-stricken, and anxious. I think that we can find direction and encouragement in Joanna Macy’s proclamation about the extraordinary capacity of a broken heart. 

Roughly one year ago, my partner received a devastating and life-altering diagnosis that turned our family life upside down. Her condition required surgery– a risky, emergency surgery– as well as extensive radiation and chemotherapy. I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly in a caregiving role, and experienced bouts of overwhelming heartache as I adjusted to the change of circumstance. Heartache in the face of loss and rapid change. Heartache in witnessing my most beloved person suffer. Heartache at the reality that all my love could not change the facts of the diagnosis nor guarantee that my partner would survive it. The sorrow I felt was sometimes debilitating, but what surprised me was that it was also often grounding, sobering. The poet and essayist Ross Gay wrote in his recent book Inciting Joy that “grief is the metabolization of change,” and I have found nothing less to be true. This past year, my moments of deepest grief were also the times when I was able to get real about my situation, to drop the kind of magical thinking that kept me holding onto ideas of things as they were in the past. As devastating as it was to acknowledge all that had changed, it was also a great relief, and it allowed me to show up for my partner with a less guarded heart. In grief, I caught up to the present.

The personal grief that I experienced softened me and expanded the room I had in my heart for other people’s troubles and pain. It was no feat of altruism on my part; rather, I learned that this is what grief does. It slows you down and overwhelms you and breaks you open, and in so doing, it attunes you to the fact that you love, that in love your heart is tethered to other beings, and you therefore begin to notice that everyone around you also loves and grieves. I spent a lot of time in the cancer wing of my local hospital this past year, accompanying my partner to treatments and appointments, and I made more connections than my memory could catalog– so many tender moments with other caregivers and patients and nurses and doctors, flashes of intimacy in public. I imagine that folks who work in hospitals must experience this sort of thing all the time: strangers beholding each other in the fullness of their loves and losses, frailty and resilience mixed all together. Grief, I think, creates that kind of space, the kind you often find in hospital waiting rooms. The kind of space within which people are together with all their complexities and all their suffering, existing side by side in a temporary community of care. 

More recently, I have begun to wonder over the parallels between personal grief and the kind of collective despair that our current social and environmental crises catalyze. When I read earlier this summer about the tens of thousands of dead fish that have washed up on the Gulf Coast in Texas, my home state, an effect of warming waters, I felt devastated. I also felt surprised at my ability to hold those facts of loss – the thought of each of tens of thousands of individual fish dead – without cowering, and to acknowledge the pain it made me feel. Grief had built my endurance for sitting with difficult things. It didn’t give me the magical capacity to make hard things disappear nor to fix the world’s problems, but it did help me to slow down and consider things as they are. There is a lot of suffering to behold.

In A Sand County Almanac the ecologist Aldo Leopold wrote: “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.” I have long found this quote apt. It’s certainly been true in my life that the more I learn about this planet and the beings that constitute it, the more acutely pained I feel about the crises that plague it. The feeling has often been isolating. However, these days I’m inclined to question whether it’s inevitable that “one lives alone” amid the suffering. Can the world’s wounds not bind us together? Joanna Macy, who is now ninety-four, has been convening groups for decades to practice what she calls The Work that Reconnects, a kind of group work that was originally designed to cultivate resilience among environmental activists and other concerned citizens who were in the throes of despair. The work consists of group exercises, rituals, and discussions, and is organized into four main stages, represented visually as four points along a spiral sequence. One of these stages is explicitly focused on grief, or as Macy puts it: “honoring our pain for the world.”

Alongside Joanna Macy – and Ross Gay and Aldo Leopold – I wonder what grief can do. I wonder what our grieving together in these difficult times might make possible. I would like to believe that it would expand our hearts. I would also like to believe that it would grant us new eyes, allowing us to collectively metabolize the changes we are experiencing, to see and hear and feel what is, what might yet be despite our many and grave losses...

~~~

This post was originally published in the Greenspell 'Greencurrents' Zine

If you enjoyed this article, and are interested in a deeper dive into the world of herbalism, ecology, and holistic health, consider signing up for the Greenspell Community & Virtual Garden.

This monthly membership offers a growing community of nature lovers, potion makers, and herbalists in the Chicago Region along with an ever evolving, online knowledge-base offering self-directed courses, plant profiles, and resources related to the study of herbalism, ecology, and herbal-medicine making of the Great Lakes Bioregion. Click the link above to learn more!

dandelion image above by Dori Midnight

first photo by Celestine Urban

by Betsy Hathaway

Having an interest in herbalism and living in an urban area can feel puzzling at times, when you’re not necessarily able to walk out your front door and feel safe picking and eating plants, possibly due to heavy metals in the soil, or pesticides and poisons used on plants and animals. One day in the springtime I decided to make some watercolor paints out of various flowers that I picked in my yard. I found that it was worthwhile and fun to find ways to interact with the plants in my immediate vicinity without ingesting them.

1. Gather flowers or plants of like minded color in small heat resistant bowls or jars, I made three batches: purple, red and yellow
2. Spend some time separating the flowers from leaves/stems, anything that isn’t the color you’re trying to create
3. Pour just a little bit of boiling water over the flowers, not even enough to cover the flowers fully
4. Let sit for 10-15 min
5. Mash the mixture with any kitchen tools to extract more color and create a pulp (putting the mixture in a blender would also work)
6. Grab another heat resistant bowl or jar and a fine mesh strainer, pour the pulp into the strainer and press down to get all the water out
7. Let the colors sit and cool down
8. You’re ready to paint!

~~~

This post was originally published in the Greenspell 'Greencurrents' Zine

If you enjoyed this article, and are interested in a deeper dive into the world of herbalism, ecology, and holistic health, consider signing up for the Greenspell Community & Virtual Garden.

This monthly membership offers a growing community of nature lovers, potion makers, and herbalists in the Chicago Region along with an ever evolving, online knowledge-base offering self-directed courses, plant profiles, and resources related to the study of herbalism, ecology, and herbal-medicine making of the Great Lakes Bioregion. Click the link above to learn more!

See process in images below:

by SJ Cavé Doi of The Postpartum Partner

I like to think of the luteal, post-ovulatory phase as the “drama-queen phase” of the menstrual cycle. The uterus is upset because its precious egg wasn’t fertilized, that its nutrient-rich endometrium (which it worked all cycle long to prepare) isn’t going to be used. And so it throws a fit. Hormones drop as suddenly as the leaves on October trees – bloating, mood swings, PMS symptoms hit us at full swing.

Fortunately for us, there are many plant allies which offer support through this fall season of the menstrual cycle. Some of these include: 

Raspberry Leaf – A toning, mineral-rich, and astringent herb with a strong affinity for uterine muscles. Helps to decrease PMS symptoms and ease cramping

Chamomile – A simple but powerful herb to support the nervous and digestive systems, helpful for luteal phase bloating, indigestion and mood support. Chamomile tea during menstruation can also help soothe cramps.

Nettle – A nourishing uterine tonic, diuretic, and nutritive herb full of vitamins and minerals, some of which include magnesium, calcium, and iron. Nettles are helpful in preparing the body for blood loss and restoring nutrients during menstruation. 

Oatstraw – A soothing nutritive, nervine to ease tension and anxiety, especially helpful when dealing with PMS mood instability.

Spearmint –A refreshing carminative and nervine to aid with digestion and mild pain relief.

Hibiscus – Rich in Vitamin C, minerals, and antioxidants, formulated in Luteal Moon tea to increase iron absorption 

Combine these herbs together at home for your own 'Luteal Moon Tea', mix together (by weight):

• 3 parts Raspberry Leaf (30g)
• 3 parts Chamomile Flower (30g)
• 3 parts Nettle leaf (30g)
• 2 parts Oatstraw (20g)
• 1 part Spearmint (10g)
• 1 part Hibiscus  (5-10g)

Steep according to our Infusion Guidelines

~~~

This post was originally published in the Greenspell 'Greencurrents' Zine

If you enjoyed this article, and are interested in a deeper dive into the world of herbalism, ecology, and holistic health, consider signing up for the Greenspell Community & Virtual Garden.

This monthly membership offers a growing community of nature lovers, potion makers, and herbalists in the Chicago Region along with an ever evolving, online knowledge-base offering self-directed courses, plant profiles, and resources related to the study of herbalism, ecology, and herbal-medicine making of the Great Lakes Bioregion. Click the link above to learn more!

~~~

This post is a contribution to our Community Apothecary Zine 'Green Currents' and is offered by full-spectrum doula SJ Cavé Doi, MPH. Learn more about her work at her website and instagram.

by Kat Simonovic

Love/hate relationships abound with the substances that often infuse our social circles. In the city, we find just as much of an appetite for stimulation as we do for dissociation. Uppers or downers, which one are you?

After a buzzing summer, many of us are probably looking in the mirror with some ambivalence around our habits or perhaps just exhaustion from the high levels of social engagement that probably feels like a complete 180 from our first and highly isolated summer of quarantine. The nights out, Sunday fundays, street fests, and everything in between have brought me to resent every known flavor of alcoholic seltzer the market’s thrown at us over the past few years.

Let’s get real for a second... did anyone else look back at quarantine like a fond memory after an entire three months of non-stop, back-to-back events? * I asked that question with a hand on my lower back and a heavy exhale * My body sure misses it... The slowness, letting my nervous system breathe, and the lack of social pressure to imbibe.

Alcohol & substance use can be quite damaging for your body and mind – from the cellular level, to the whole ecological picture – but I probably don’t need to tell you that. What I’m here to share is that after diving into herbalism, I’ve found other (and far better) ways to evoke the sense of energy, inhibition, and liberation the more harmful substances often provide.

Replacing alcohol and other substances with well selected herbal preparations may sound farfetched, but I bet you’d reconsider after experiencing how in tune you can feel with your body through these herbs and the experience they foster.

Need I also add, zero hangovers or comedowns.

Stimulating Concotions (aka the 'Upper' replacement):

Ginseng Ginger Tea

Across Asia, but especially in Korea and China, ginseng root is highly regarded remedy for a variety of ailments. Despite it being caffeine free, it is still quite stimulating. It can be rather hard to find the specific root, so for this recipe, I shared a simple loose-leaf tea to make with additives.

The ginseng common to Asia (Panax ginseng) is a lot more stimulating than the native American species (Panax quinquefolius) and can be challenging to find a quality sustainable source. Check out the United Plant Savers website for good sources on forest cultivated varieties. Please do not purchase wild-foraged or wildcrafted as this plant is highly at-risk and wild stands need to be nurtured and protected.

Ingredients:

• 8-10 oz water
• 2-3 tsp ginseng root and/or leaf
• Ginger rhizome
• Honey

Directions:

• Bring water to a boil and let cool down for 60-90 seconds
• Put 2-3 tsp of Ginseng root/leaf into tea bag or
• Let steep 5-10 min, the longer the more bitter
• Grate a pinch of ginger into the tea with a fine grater
• Add honey to liking – ginseng can be quite bitter for some
• Note: If you would like to add caffeine, you can add green or black tea to the brew 3-5 minutes before straining to reduce astringency.

Calming Concoctions (aka the 'Downer' replacement):

Kava Kava Tea

Kava kava is an herbal remedy that some people use to relieve stress and anxiety and boost sleep. The infusion made from this root has a calming, euphoric effect that some people compare with the feeling of inebriation you might get from alcohol. But try it yourself, and you'll see it's its own thing :)

Kava Kava is another herb that has some sustainability issues if purchasing from wildcrafters, here is another herb you want to purchase from companies using fair trade practices and cultivating rather than wildcrafting. Root of Happiness is one that herbalist Christopher Hobbs recommends as a good source.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 - 1/2 cup of Kava powder (Ground kava root)
• 2 cups Water

Directions:

1. To make a kava brew, add 1/2 kava root powder and 2 cups of warm-hot water (around 130ºF or the hottest your sink can get).
2. Blend in a blender on high for 2-3 minutes, or set the powder in a nutmilk strainer or muslin cloth and knead into the water for 5-10 minutes.
3. Pour the infusion through a strainer (if not already)
4. Enjoy as is or allow to cool off.
5. Add ice cubes, ¼ cup of coconut milk, and ¼ cup of orange juice for a pina colada twist!

~~~

This post was originally published in the Greenspell 'Greencurrents' Zine

If you enjoyed this article, and are interested in a deeper dive into the world of herbalism, ecology, and holistic health, consider signing up for the Greenspell Community & Virtual Garden.

This monthly membership offers a growing community of nature lovers, potion makers, and herbalists in the Chicago Region along with an ever evolving, online knowledge-base offering self-directed courses, plant profiles, and resources related to the study of herbalism, ecology, and herbal-medicine making of the Great Lakes Bioregion. Click the link above to learn more!

~~~

This post is a contribution to our Community Apothecary Zine 'Green Currents' and is offered by Kat Simonovic, student of First Curve's Bioregional Herbalism Course.

by Karena Anderson Rodriguez of Lady K's Apotheca

The Empress represents the archetype of the mother in tarot. Her powers and domains are related to motherhood, power, gentleness, the sacred physical, acceptance, and abundance. She is ruled by Venus, planet of pleasure and relationships.

The Empress is a strong symbol of selfsovereignty, self-possession and healing. She knows herself, inside and out. These days it is extremely easy to become disembodied, losing connection with our body and sensations, and just go through the motions. Getting in touch with the energy of the Empress card can be quite the antidote to these go-go times, burnout, and negative thoughts or self talk. The Empress energy is a comforting, motherly force; she enfolds you in her embrace softly, overflowing acceptance and affection. I’ve chosen to highlight a few herbs we can all engage with as a channel to the Empress’s blessings.

These Empress herbs can help connect us with our own bodies, uniting it with mind and spirit, and blossoming to our fullest potential. Allow them to guide you to access parts of yourself you may have lost, hold yourself dearly, and sit firmly in your own power, just as the Empress sits regally upon her throne.

Motherwort: A heart opening herb ruled by Venus, motherwort’s Latin name, Leonurus cardiaca, means lion heart. This references her actions, which are both supportive of the physical heart, as well as our emotions. She provides courage in times of emotional turmoil, the strength and support needed to pull through trying times. The plant itself embodies the lioness by guarding her delicate pink flowers with spiny bracts, as a lioness would protect her cubs. This tenderness combined with fierce boundaries is a perfect embodiment of the Empress card, and can help us in refilling our own cups, while ensuring we don’t let anyone drink it dry again.

Rose: Rose is another Venusian herb, a flower we all associate with love. This can be romantic love or any other kind. She is also a flower of true beauty and gentleness. Her scent evokes a feeling of such happiness. Allow rose to letyou revel in love, joy, beauty, and creative energy; soothing body and soul. Rose opens our hearts to receiving and giving love and acceptance to ourselves and others alike.

Damiana: Damiana is an aphrodisiac herb known to get blood flowing and enhance the sense of touch. She is an herb of embodiment, and in this fast paced modern world, it can be easy to become detached from ourselves, or get down on ourselves. Damiana is not just a sensually powerful herb but also helpful in managing stress or anxiety, so that regaining your bodily sovereignty doesn’t have to be traumatic. Damiana will bring you back to center, reclaiming your first home, that of the body.

Milky Oats: Milky Oats are the immature seeds of the oats we all eat for breakfast. In this specific phase oats are incredibly soothing and nourishing. They are a great balm for fried nerves, and building the body back up from a tense state of overexertion and undernourishment. Oats and grains generally speaking are also associated with abundance, and reaping what we sow. In this way Milky Oats not only calms us from a state of tension, but shows us how to grow further in abundance. This herb nurses us back to health just like a mother, or the Empress, would.

You can engage with these herbs individually or blend them into a tea. You can also look to a few products that I love to engage with Empress energy and herbs:

• Lady K's Apotheca – Empress Oil
• First Curve Apothecary – <3 Love Potion

Whatever form they take, as you sit with the herbs, take your time and note how it all feels. Be present and intimate with yourself, thanking your body for carrying you this far in life, for all it does for you every day. Recognize the immense power and abundance inherent in having everything you need within yourself. Leave aside scarcity mindsets and thoughts of imperfections.

The Empress reminds you that you have enough and you ARE enough. Take several deep breaths and bring your mind fully into your body. Thank your body for its power, and recognize you are the ruler of this domain. Reconnect your body with your heart by imagining this power radiating out from it. A warm glow comes from your heart and suffuses from within you.

This is your empress power, and within this domain you are sovereign. Security, abundance, love and acceptance are yours. You gave them to yourself, for the power was within you all along.

~~~

This post was originally published in the Greenspell 'Greencurrents' Zine

If you enjoyed this article, and are interested in a deeper dive into the world of herbalism, ecology, and holistic health, consider signing up for the Greenspell Community & Virtual Garden.

This monthly membership offers a growing community of nature lovers, potion makers, and herbalists in the Chicago Region along with an ever evolving, online knowledge-base offering self-directed courses, plant profiles, and resources related to the study of herbalism, ecology, and herbal-medicine making of the Great Lakes Bioregion. Click the link above to learn more!

~~~

This post is a contribution to our Community Apothecary Zine 'Green Currents' and is offered by Karena Anderson Rodriguez, student of First Curve's Bioregional Herbalism Course. Learn more about her work at her instagram and shop.