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Shedding toxic spiritual beliefs (from snake to horse)

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

juniper stokes 3/4/26 juniper stokes 3/4/26

The Phoenix Has Always Been Watching: Collapse Consciousness and the Prophecies We Weren't Ready to Hear

What if the book that best predicted our current moment wasn't written by a climate scientist, a political theorist, or a tech ethicist. What if it was a pop culture, controversial, but kind of legit book channeled through a blind Chippewa elder and published in 1987 by a woman named Mary Summer Rain?

And almost no one talks about this one anymore.

Phoenix Rising: No-Eyes' Vision of the Changes to Come has been quietly gathering dust on the shelves of people who were once called conspiracy theorists — or worse, supporting cultural appropriation! — for taking it seriously.

The prophecies it contains — ecological collapse, institutional fracture, spiritual confusion, the rise and fall of false teachers, the return to small land-based communities — read less like warnings and more like dispatches from a very attentive present-day journalist.

Whether this book was made up, channeled, or contains true visions of the future matters less than how much it informs our response to said predictions it contains. Because it shows a historical landmark in the pervasive collapse consciousness spreading like wildfire in this Aries era.

So. Grab a bevie. This is a long one.

Who Was No-Eyes?

Before we go anywhere, we need to spend some time with the source.

No-Eyes was a blind Chippewa visionary who lived in the mountains of Colorado. According to Mary Summer Rain's accounts, No-Eyes chose Mary as a student and guide — someone to carry her teachings forward. The books that came from their relationship are channeled, personal, deeply place-based, and intentionally poetic.

The credibility conversation around No-Eyes is genuinely complex. There are sincere questions about cultural appropriation — a non-Native woman claiming direct transmission from an Indigenous elder. There are questions about the nature of the authorship itself. These are not small concerns, and I don't want to wave them away.

And at the same time: No-Eyes shared visions that have a structural coherence deserving of engagement, particularly when viewed alongside other Indigenous prophecy traditions and modern astro collapse speak.

Is it prophecy or pattern-tracking?

No-Eyes' visions give us is a map of imbalances already in motion — patterns that, if unaddressed, have predictable trajectories. In this way, they’re almost less prophecy and more pattern tracking.

I find this much more honest than most prophetic frameworks, which tend to offer either terrifying specificity or frustrating vagueness. No-Eyes offers a systems diagnosis.

The central themes, briefly:

The Earth responds to mistreatment. Water becomes polluted, soil poisoned, and weather destabilized. No-Eyes frames this spiritual rather than mechanistic, but the conclusion is the same one our any ecologist has been talking about for decades.

You cannot extract endlessly from a living system without that system reorganizing itself. This is pattern tracking as much as any prediction or prophecy.

Large institutions fracture. Governments, economies, systems built without integrity — meaning, without genuine reciprocity, accountability, or regard for future generations — eventually collapse under their own contradictions.

Again, this is a historical pattern. Every large culture in our human history has collapsed at some point. Persia. China. The Bronze Age Collapse of the Mediterranean. Do you know why there are three kingdoms (time periods) in ancient Egypt? Because each one collapsed at a certain point, followed by chaos until the next kingdom was established.

Spiritual confusion proliferates. No Eyes warns that many seekers will be drawn to teachers who offer power rather than wisdom, that sacred knowledge will be commercialized and stripped of its responsibility.

Anyone who has spent time in wellness or spiritual spaces over the last fifteen years knows exactly what she's describing. The psychedelic industrial complex. The trauma-coach pipeline. The way ancestral wisdom gets extracted from its living context and sold as a weekend workshop.

But it’s not new. The term “snake oil” was coined in the 1800s. And profiting of pain and promise existed long before then.

Indigenous and Earth-based knowledge disappears faster than we can record it. This one is interesting. No Eyes emphasizes this not as nostalgia but as urgent warning. The old ways aren't just culturally interesting — they contain the actual instructions for how to live on Earth without destroying it. Their loss is an ecological crisis and a cultural one.

Again, this pattern was well established before the book. Endangered languages and cultures, colonization that never ended…and good lord the twisted shit core shamanism became (y’all. it’s therapy with a bypass blanket). At least more modern mystics are

A purification period arrives. — not as apocalypse but as correction. The phoenix image is key here. Fire doesn't just destroy; it clears (oh, hey fire horse!). The question is what survives, what carries forward, what gets seeded in the aftermath. And the question is how we, as humans, move through these changes.

Small, spiritually coherent communities become the unit of survival and renewal. While this one gets so easily hijacked by survivalists and doomsday preppers, that’s not the real vision. It's a return to human-scale living. The communities she envisions aren't fortresses — they're gardens.

And throughout all of it: personal responsibility. The future isn't fixed. It shifts according to collective choices. Every individual who cultivates awareness, reciprocity, and humility changes the probability field.

More End-Times Prophecies

No-Eyes doesn't stand alone in these visions. And when a pattern shows up across multiple independent traditions — especially ones with no historical contact with each other — that pattern deserves attention.

The Hopi Prophecy of the Fourth and Fifth Worlds

Hopi tradition describes humanity moving through world ages, each ending in transformation due to imbalance and what they call koyaanisqatsi — life out of balance. The transition from the Fourth to the Fifth World involves purification through environmental disruption, political chaos, and the testing of those who still remember sacred law.

The parallels to No-Eyes are striking: environmental imbalance as consequence of spiritual disorder, a purification period, survival of those who live in right relationship. The differences are equally instructive. Hopi prophecy is embedded in a formally maintained ceremonial lineage — it's not a personal vision, it's a collectively held cosmological map, tended through specific ritual, clan, and ceremonial responsibilities. No-Eyes' visions are personal and relational. Both seem to be pointing at the same mountain.

The Andean Pachakuti

Pachakuti is a Quechua/Aymara concept describing a world-reversal — a great turning in which what has been upside down is set right. The concept isn't purely catastrophic; it contains an understanding that collapse is sometimes the medicine. That the unsustainable must become unsustained.

Andean cosmology centers ayni — sacred reciprocity — as both the cause and the cure. When ayni breaks down between humans and Pachamama (Earth), Pachakuti arrives. When it is restored, renewal becomes possible. This gives the framework something No-Eyes' visions share in spirit but not in formal doctrine: a very specific mechanism. We've stopped giving back. We’ve prioritized money over life.

Norse Ragnarök

I know, I know — comparing an Andean cosmological concept to Norse mythology feels like an odd jump. But bear with me for a moment, because Ragnarök contains a structural element that's worth examining.

The Norse end-times narrative describes a destruction of gods and worlds, followed by a world emerging renewed from the waters. The survivors aren't the most powerful — they're the ones who held memory and carried seeds (literally: the surviving humans hide in a sacred tree and emerge to repopulate the Earth).

Fire as purification. Collapse of power structures. Survival of those who remember.

One interesting facet to reflect upon: Ragnarök is cosmic inevitability. No-Eyes' prophecy is conditional. Which one maps better onto our current moment is, I think, one of the more important questions we can ask ourselves.

Contemporary Ecological Thought

Here's where it gets interesting for those of you who are skeptical of prophetic frameworks but very interested in systems science.

The structural logic of No-Eyes' visions maps almost exactly onto what researchers like Nate Hagens describe in The Great Simplification. Complex systems that overshoot their resource base collapse. Societies built on extraction — of land, of labor, of attention — eventually reach a correction threshold. This isn't pessimism. It's thermodynamics.

William Catton's Overshoot, Donella Meadows' Limits to Growth, the more recent work of collapse researchers like Pablo Servigne — all of it describes a pattern that Indigenous prophetic traditions have been articulating for generations. The difference is language and epistemology. The prophecies emerged from deep relational attention to living systems over long time periods. The science emerged from data modeling. They are arriving at adjacent conclusions from radically different directions.

No-Eyes wasn't wrong. She was early.

The Purification Threshold as Archetype

At this point, I want to name the pattern explicitly, because I think it's more than cultural coincidence.

Across traditions — Hopi, Andean, Norse, Chippewa, and in the structural logic of contemporary systems science — a specific sequence appears:

Hubris or imbalance. The living system is pushed beyond its capacity for self-regulation.
Warning signs arrive and are ignored. Usually because addressing them would threaten existing power arrangements.
Breakdown. The system reorganizes, often violently, toward a new equilibrium.
Survivors are those who maintained right relationship — with land, with each other, with sacred responsibility.
Renewal from the ruins. Not a return to what was, but an emergence of something coherent on new foundations.

The phoenix image is an almost perfect symbol for this sequence. It doesn't just survive the fire — it requires it. The fire isn't the enemy. The fire is the process.

What I find remarkable is how this archetype persists across cultures with no historical contact. Either humans are pattern-matchers who keep building the same narrative, or this sequence describes something real about how living systems — including civilizations — actually behave.

I think it's both. And I think that matters.

A warning

If you actually look at the outcomes of each collapse in history however…you can see that they led here. They didn’t lead to utopia. What will make it different this time?

Why We Weren't Ready to Hear This in 1987

Phoenix Rising was published at the height of the Reagan era, in the middle of the economic boom that felt, to many Americans, like proof that growth was infinite and technology would solve everything. The New Age movement was just finding its cultural footing. Crystals were becoming accessories. The idea that the whole edifice might be structurally unsound was not a popular one.

No-Eyes' visions would have landed as either fringe catastrophism or New Age doom-and-gloom, depending on your tribe. The prophecy had no cultural container adequate to receive it.

This is actually a core teaching of the text itself: knowledge arrives before we're capable of integrating it. The visions were given not because the world was ready to act on them immediately, but because preparation requires a long runway.

Now, nearly four decades later, the cultural container is finally forming. We have a language for collapse. We have ecological science that corroborates the vision. We have enough lived experience of institutional fracture, spiritual marketplace toxicity, and climate disruption to no longer dismiss these ideas as fringe.

The prophecy hasn't changed. We have.

The Spiritual Distortion Problem

I want to spend real time on the aspect of No-Eyes' prophecy that I think is most underexamined, because it's the one most directly relevant to those of us who live and work in spiritual and healing spaces.

She warns — with real specificity — about teachers who seek power rather than wisdom. About sacred knowledge being commercialized and stripped of accountability. About spiritual community becoming another vector for ego, manipulation, and collective delusion.

This isn't a peripheral concern. She positions spiritual distortion as one of the central engines of civilizational imbalance.

And honestly? Watching the last fifteen years of the wellness industrial complex, I think she was right.

We saw it in the commodification of yoga, of psychedelics, of Indigenous ceremony. We saw it in the rise of high-demand groups operating under the aesthetic of healing. We saw it in the way "shadow work" became a marketing strategy rather than a genuine encounter with what we'd rather not know about ourselves. We saw it in teachers who monetized vulnerability and called it sacred container.

None of this is new — there has always been spiritual corruption and spiritual predation. But the scale of it, amplified by Neptune-in-Pisces social media dynamics, became something genuinely unprecedented. The reach was global. The feedback loops were fast. And the people most harmed were often those most sincerely seeking something real.

No-Eyes didn't have the vocabulary of the internet, but she understood the mechanism. When knowledge becomes product, it loses its roots. When teachings are separated from the living traditions and reciprocal relationships that gave them meaning, they become — at best — partial. At worst, dangerous.

The antidote she offers is not institutional skepticism, though that's warranted. It's discernment. The willingness to ask: Is this teacher accountable to something larger than themselves? Does this practice require something real from me — not just money and attendance, but genuine transformation? Is this knowledge embedded in a living relationship with land, community, and lineage?

These are not comfortable questions. They're necessary ones.

Small Communities as the Unit of Renewal

No-Eyes is clear: the unit of survival and renewal is the small, land-based, spiritually coherent community. Not the nation-state. Not the global movement. Not the online ecosystem.

I want to be careful here, because this idea has been badly misused. The "small community" vision has been weaponized by survivalists and by cults in equal measure. It has been romanticized to the point of uselessness by people who want the aesthetic of village life without the accountability of actual village relationships. It has also been genuinely, practically lived by Indigenous communities worldwide who never stopped doing it and whose knowledge of how to actually do it is being systematically erased.

What No-Eyes seems to be pointing at is something more specific than a lifestyle choice. She's describing a relational technology — a way of organizing human life that keeps people accountable to each other and to the land they depend on. This is distinct from both mainstream suburban atomization and from utopian commune fantasies.

The communities she envisions aren't built on charisma or shared ideology. They're built on shared responsibility — for food, for land, for the transmission of knowledge, for the integration of elders and children, for the honest reckoning with what each person is actually capable of contributing.

This is, notably, what most functional Indigenous communities have always been. And it's notable that the communities most likely to survive the coming transitions are the ones that have been practicing these relational technologies continuously — not because they followed a prophecy, but because they never stopped living in right relationship in the first place.

There's a real humility required here for those of us coming from Western frameworks. We are not the ones with the answers. We are the ones who need to remember how to listen to the people who do.

The Collective Choice Point

Here's the thing about No-Eyes' prophecy that I find most important, and most easy to miss.

The visions are not deterministic.

She is not describing an inevitable apocalypse. She is describing a probability field — a set of patterns already in motion that have predictable trajectories if nothing changes, and genuinely different trajectories if something does.

The fire comes. The question is what burns.

If we do nothing — if we continue the patterns of extraction, spiritual bypassing, institutional corruption, and disconnection from land — the phoenix fire burns the whole forest. If we begin the work of right relationship now, the fire clears what needs to go and the roots hold.

This is not just spiritual optimism. It's how fire ecology actually works. In living forests, periodic fire is part of the renewal cycle. It's the suppression of fire — the insistence that everything should always look the same, that growth should continue indefinitely, that disturbance is the enemy — that leads to the catastrophic conflagrations we're now experiencing. A forest that has been in relationship with fire knows how to survive it.

No-Eyes is asking us to become the kind of civilization that knows how to survive fire because it has been in relationship with the whole cycle. Not fireproof. Fire-resilient.

The collective choice point is not a single dramatic moment of global awakening. It's the accumulation of millions of individual decisions to engage differently — with land, with community, with knowledge, with power, with each other.

This, I think, is the most honest reading of the prophecy: not that certain things will or won't happen, but that every choice we make either feeds the imbalance or feeds the roots.

A Practice for These Times

I want to close with something concrete, because I find that the most beautiful cosmological frameworks become useless if they don't generate action or awareness in the living moment.

No-Eyes didn't give us a ten-step program. But her prophecy implies a set of orienting questions that I find genuinely useful as a daily practice:

On the land: Where does your water come from? Where does your waste go? What are the names of the species you share your immediate landscape with? These aren't test questions — they're invitations to begin the practice of noticing what you've been trained to ignore.

On your teachers: Whose knowledge are you carrying? What is the living lineage it comes from? What accountability structures surround the person or tradition you're learning from? What are you being asked to give back, not just financially but in terms of genuine change?

On community: What would it actually mean to be accountable to the people you live near? Not to build an intentional community as a project, but to begin the slow, often awkward work of actual interdependence with actual neighbors?

On the inner life: Where are you still choosing the comfortable illusion over the uncomfortable truth? What's the small thing you already know needs to change that you haven't changed yet?

None of these questions have neat answers. They're meant to be lived with, not solved.

The Phoenix Has Always Been Watching

Here's what I keep coming back to:

The phoenix doesn't rise despite the fire. It rises through it. The image doesn't offer escape from the burning — it offers the possibility of transformation within it.

No-Eyes, the Hopi elders, the Andean paqos, the Norse skalds, the climate scientists and systems ecologists — they are all, in their different registers, describing the same threshold. We are in the fire. The question is not whether the burning is happening. It's what we're choosing to become in the middle of it.

The fact that you're reading something like this, asking these questions, sitting with this discomfort — that's not nothing. That's the work. The small, daily, embodied practice of choosing right relationship over convenience, truth over comfort, reciprocity over extraction.

The phoenix is patient. It has been watching for a long time.

And it knows what survives the fire: the things that were always, already, rooted in something real.

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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Shedding toxic spiritual beliefs (from snake to horse)

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

juniper stokes 2/28/26 juniper stokes 2/28/26

The March 3rd Lunar Eclipse in Virgo Is Here to Clean House (In the Best Way)

There's a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse landing on March 3rd, 2026, and it's sitting right in Virgo — which honestly feels very on-brand for this particular moment in time.

If you've been feeling the cosmic pressure build lately, this is why. Eclipses are turning points. They speed things up, shake things loose, and have a habit of revealing what you've been too busy (or too tired) to look at directly. And Virgo? Virgo doesn't let you look away.

Let's get into it.

The Virgo–Pisces Axis: Where the Dream Meets Reality

Every Full Moon lights up an axis — two opposite signs in conversation with each other. This eclipse puts the Moon in Virgo while the Sun sits in Pisces, and that pairing is genuinely one of the most interesting in the zodiac.

Pisces is the ocean. It's all feeling, all vision, all what could be. It's the part of you that believes in something bigger, that longs and imagines and dissolves into collective emotion like you're made of the same water as everyone else.

Virgo is the shoreline. It's where all that ocean actually lands — where it becomes something you can work with, tend to, and sustain. Virgo asks the unglamorous but necessary questions: Does this actually work? Is this healthy? Is this honest?

Together, they're not opposites so much as partners. You need the dream and the plan. The vision and the practice.

This eclipse is asking you to look at the shoreline — at where your beautiful, expansive Pisces dreams are actually meeting real life.

Why This One Hits Different

A couple of things make this eclipse particularly pointed. Mercury is retrograde right now, which turns the usual Virgo clarity inward rather than outward. Instead of immediately reorganizing your whole life, you're being asked to think first. To notice. To let the realizations come before the action does.

Saturn also just moved into Aries, which is opening a whole new chapter around identity, initiative, and what it means to actually lead your own life. That energy is humming in the background here — this push to stop endlessly preparing or endlessly dreaming, and start moving with both intention and follow-through.

What Virgo Eclipses Actually Surface

Virgo eclipses have a gift for revealing things you didn't know you were avoiding. Specifically:

The exhaustion you've been calling "fine." The routines that have quietly stopped serving you. The ways you've been giving, helping, or showing up that have started to feel more like depletion than devotion. The gap between the standard you hold yourself to and the grace you're actually allowing yourself.

Virgo is also deeply connected to the body — so physical signs and signals tend to get louder. Sleep, digestion, energy levels, chronic tension you've been ignoring. The eclipse may show up there too.

This isn't about harsh self-criticism. Virgo at its best isn't the inner critic — it's the inner editor. It removes what's distracting you from what's actually sacred.

The Shadow Side to Watch For

Every axis has its distortions, and it's worth naming them.

On the Pisces end: escapism, blurry boundaries, playing the savior, convincing yourself that feeling deeply committed to something is the same as actually showing up for it.

On the Virgo end: perfectionism that paralyzes, over-analyzing until the aliveness drains out of something, reducing every meaningful experience to a checklist.

If you've been all vision with no structure — Virgo is going to nudge you toward the practical.

If you've been grinding without any sense of why — Pisces is going to flood the gates until you remember.

What to Actually Do With This Energy

Virgo eclipses aren't really about manifesting. They're about auditing — looking honestly at what's working and what isn't.

A few good questions to sit with right now:

Where am I over-giving? Not just in relationships — in commitments, in energy, in time. What are you giving from obligation rather than genuine desire?

What routine needs to change? Not overhauled dramatically, just... refined. Made more honest to who you actually are right now.

What boundary would protect something I care about? Sometimes the most loving thing is a clear limit.

What dream needs a practical plan? Not to kill the magic — to sustain it. What would it take for this to actually work in real life?

The Big Picture

Here's the thing about Virgo that I think gets misunderstood: it's not anti-magic. It's not the buzzkill of the zodiac. Virgo is the part of us that takes something sacred and makes it livable — that turns inspiration into craft, longing into practice, potential into something you can actually hold in your hands.

This eclipse is a refinement moment. Something is getting clearer. Something unnecessary is falling away — not as punishment, but as preparation. Like grain being separated from chaff. You can't make bread with the whole wheat stalk; some things have to go.

What needs to be simplified so your actual calling can breathe?

That's the real question March is asking.

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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Who are the spirits of nature? A comprehensive guide to Nature Spirits

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

juniper stokes 2/26/26 juniper stokes 2/26/26

You are not here to heal. You are Here to create.

There's a reframe I keep coming back to, one that has changed everything about the way I work and the way I move through the world.

We are not here primarily to heal.

We are here to create. To architect something new. To step into our full role as conscious participants in an era that is demanding nothing less than our total becoming.

Healing is real. Healing is necessary. But when we make it the destination — when we spend our lives excavating wounds, managing symptoms, waiting to be whole enough to begin — we miss the point entirely. Healing is what happens on the way. It's the clearing of the path, not the path itself.

It Begins with the Earth

Every tradition that hasn't been flattened by Western psychology or colonized by academic frameworks seems to know this: you don't start with the otherworlds. You start with the ground beneath your feet.

Taoist shamanism knows this. Celtic shamanism knows this. Indigenous herbal traditions from across the Western world know this. Before any of the extraordinary work begins — before you journey, before you commune with spirit, before you open to anything vast and luminous — you locate yourself. Deeply. In the actual place you live.

This is where I start with everyone I work with.

We learn about ourselves by watching the world around us. We trace rivers and streams on the land and find them again in our blood. We see mountains and valleys in our bones. We look to the stars and recognize them as luminous reflections of the energy lines within our own bodies. The outside and inside are always already in conversation — we just have to slow down enough to listen.

When you sink into place like this, something shifts. You start to feel like you belong. You realize your community is far larger than the humans you know — you are always living alongside others, always embedded in a web of ecological relationship. Your nervous system was built to understand this truth.

From that rootedness, you begin to notice the cycles. The way certain seasons ask you to release. The way a sharp wind can blow change in too fast and the way cultivating earth energy helps you stay steady inside it. The way trees don't grieve their leaves. Can you meet your own transitions with that kind of grace?

We are in constant communion with the cosmos and the earth, whether we're paying attention or not. Sun penetrates our bodies. Our feet press into soil that is, in some sense, made of us and we of it. Every breath is a cycle. Stardust makes our bones. Our bodies will return to soil. The forgetting of this is not just a spiritual problem — it's a health crisis.

What We're Actually Healing

Here's where I want to be careful, because I think the word healing has been so flattened by its current cultural usage that we've forgotten what it actually means.

So much of what gets called shamanic healing in the West was designed to meet trauma — Western psychological trauma. And trauma healing matters. But that's not where the roots of these traditions live. The path was always, fundamentally, a path of awakening. A path of deepening connection to earth, to cosmos, to the full mystery of being alive.

The original wound, if we're going to call it that, is the forgetting. The illusion of separation from that web of life. And healing — real healing — is the restoration of that memory in the body.

Chinese medicine, which evolved from Taoist alchemical roots, has always understood this. The goal was never just treating illness. The goal was supporting people in living meaningful lives. These are not separate projects. When the body is understood as a microcosm of the natural world, and when health is understood as alignment — with the cycles, with meaning, with the deeper flow of your own life — then healing and spiritual growth are the same path walked from different angles.

And then there are the external factors. The world we're navigating is genuinely challenging in ways that are not entirely our fault, and Western culture's obsession with individual responsibility can become a way of avoiding that truth. We are breathing air with toxins. Drinking water with plastics. Absorbing synthetic hormones through our beauty products. Bombarded with more information in a day than our ancestors received in a year. The conveniences that were supposed to free us have, in many ways, severed us from the very natural cycles that kept us regulated and whole.

We cultivate gentleness with ourselves here. We are not failures for finding it hard. We are people navigating vast and powerful forces, and the work is to tend our resilience — not to achieve some perfect, individual optimization in a system that was not designed for our flourishing.

The Path of the Initiate

There is a natural sequence to this work, and I've seen it play out in my own life and in everyone I've worked with closely.

It begins with grounding — calling the spirit home into the body. This is the microcosmic orbit. Mindful breathing. Somatic meditation. Standing barefoot on the earth and actually feeling it. Sitting with the particular trees and waters of the place where you live until they know you and you know them. You cannot build anything lasting without this. Winter and early spring, the body remembering itself.

Once you are rooted — once there is actually somewhere for the energy to land — you expand. You grow into the cosmos. You discover that you are not only local, not only this particular body in this particular place, but something that participates in something incomprehensibly vast. Spring into summer.

Then comes the work of differentiation. What is actually mine, and what have I been carrying that belongs somewhere else? What old pains have I crystallized into patterns that are now acting as toxins in my system? This is the purification stage — the falling away, the autumn composting of what no longer serves. It's uncomfortable. That's how you know it's working.

And then: integration. A returning to self that is more fully self than before. More awareness, more safety, more space to bring your actual gifts. More capacity for real health, on every level, and a clearer sense of what it means to live a meaningful life. Winter again — but not the same winter.

This is the spiral. It doesn't end. But each time around, you are more you.

The Invitation

You were born at this time on purpose. The era we are entering demands creators, not just survivors. It demands people who have done enough of their own tending to be genuinely useful to the larger transformation underway.

The healing you do is real and necessary. But let it serve the larger purpose. Let it clear the channel so something can come through you that the world actually needs.

You are not here to fix yourself into readiness. You are already here. The work is to remember that — and then to build from that remembering.

That is what I mean by Wild Alchemy. That is what I mean by this path.

Welcome to it.

The Wild Alchemy Apprenticeship

We need soul healers who understand that our soul’s calling is creativity. That we are hear to heal along the way, but endless healing loops are not the goal. We need spiritual leaders and healers rooted in Earth and connected to the Cosmos.

This is what I call a practitioner of Wild Alchemy.

I’m opening up a small, pioneering cohort for Wild Alchemy practitioners in April 2026. This is a yearlong, deep and nourishing training in soul healing.

Feel the call? Learn more here.

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

juniper stokes 2/22/26 juniper stokes 2/22/26

This is what Most Westerners Miss in spiritual practice

The whole “mind-body-spirit” thing has been around awhile now. I think most of us are on board with the idea that all parts of ourselves are important to care for, and that this approach can provide a general framework:

Mind: Read interesting things, go to therapy, detox your media
Body: Move it or lose it, eat well
Spirit: Meditate, pull Tarot, practice devotion

This is an awesome starting place…

But y’all. That version of “spirit” falls wayyyy short of what our souls need.

I’ve found that by reframing this as a three-energy system—Jing, Chi, and Shen — we can access a path into deeper integration between the many realms of self, and go deeper into soulful nourishment.

We find physical wellness in our bodies, energetic flow in our vital force, psychological meaning as we navigate a world of duality, and soul-level resonance with the nondual spaciousness at the heart of all existence.

A note on terminology: In traditional Chinese medicine and Daoist practice, Jing-Chi-Shen are known as the “Three Treasures.” If you asked someone who has trained for decades in Classical Chinese Medicine to define these terms, you’d probably get quite different language than what I use here. I’m a philosopher who studies many pathways. What I share is a synthesis that attempts to honor my sources while offering my own inspirations—particularly around the nature of Shen. I’ve found this framework supports a depth of soul-level wellness that the simpler mind-body-spirit model can miss. It’s what makes sense to me, and I hope it offers you support for your own journeys.

The Corn Snake (Coluber fulvius?) published 1731-1743 Mark Catesby

Jing: The Life Force Energy In Your DNA

To nourish our Jing is to nourish our physical wellbeing. Jing is the energy that makes us who we are. In classical Chinese medicine, Jing is considered our deepest reservoir of essence—inherited from our parents and slowly depleted through life. It governs our vitality, reproductive capacity, and aging process. It is the energetic patterns and inherited vitality expressed through our DNA, and we feel its presence in our physicality and constitution.

So yes, Jing is the “body” of mind-body-spirit — but it’s more, too. Healthy Jing allows us to fully experience what we are here to experience. To enjoy the sensual pleasures of life, to have the energy we need to travel, create, love, and learn.

Chi: The Vital Energy That Animates Everything

In traditional frameworks, Chi (or Qi) is the life force that flows through the meridians of your body. It powers all movement, breath, circulation, and bodily functions. Chi is the bridge between Jing and Shen—it’s refined from your essence and in turn nourishes your consciousness.

When your Chi flows freely, you feel energized, your immune system works well, you digest food properly, and your body functions in harmony. When Chi is blocked or depleted, you experience pain, fatigue, illness, or emotional stagnation.

This is the realm of breathwork, movement practices like qigong or tai chi, and the energy body itself—your meridians, chakras, and the subtle currents that keep you alive and functioning.

Shen (or is it Chi?): The Realm of Consciousness & Soul

Here’s where things get interesting—and where even traditional practitioners disagree.

There are two fundamentally different levels of consciousness and spiritual practice, and confusing them can keep you stuck in mental loops when your soul craves something deeper.

All traditions agree on this distinction. Where they differ is in how to categorize it.

My trainings in Daoism have given me a somewhat conflicted understanding of how consciousness explorations are held within the Chi and Shen fields.

There are two fundamentally different levels of consciousness and spiritual practice, and confusing them can keep you stuck in mental loops when your soul craves something deeper.

Two Interpretations:

Interpretation 1: Mental Work (Even if Spiritually-Flavored) = Chi

In my closer mentorships, we treat active consciousness—imaginal practice, reading spiritual texts, working with archetypes and myths, shadow work—as part of the Chi field.

Why? Because these mental constructs live in the energy body. They are stories and ideas that influence the flow of our Chi for better or worse. It’s essentially dualistic in nature—there is a self and a world, even if that world is largely internalized.

In this framework, Shen is reserved for the deeper nondual awareness, spaciousness, and vastness that arises when our egoic explorations find stillness.

Interpretation 2: All Consciousness = Shen

The more common interpretation in traditional Chinese medicine is that Shen encompasses ALL consciousness—from everyday thoughts to mystical awareness, from clarity and focus to wisdom and spiritual insight, from mental/imaginal work to void states.

From this perspective, we can place our two levels of spiritual practice—active/mental and stillness/spaciousness—both within the broader realm of Shen.

Which Framework to Use?

I went back and forth with how to organize this article. In the end, I’m presenting it using the more common interpretation (both levels within Shen) so those familiar with traditional TCM will recognize the framework. But I wanted to acknowledge the alternative view, because perhaps the mind is messy enough that both systems have truth.

The important piece is that the two levels of consciousness and spiritual practice are named, understood, and tended intentionally and separately—regardless of whether you call the mental/imaginal work “Chi” or “Shen Level 1.”

For clarity in this article, I’ll refer to them as Shen Level 1 (mental/imaginal) and Shen Level 2 (nondual/spacious).

Shen Level 1: The Mind of Duality

This is where most “spiritual” practice actually happens in the West.

A lot of spiritual seekers think that guided meditations, shamanic journeys, and other imaginal practices — as well as reading spiritual texts and taking spiritual classes — are what is needed for deep spiritual work. And they are! But they’re not the whole picture.

In reality, anything involving mental imagery, myth, archetypes, and processing is firmly rooted in Shen Level 1—the realm of consciousness that still operates in duality. This is important soul-level tending — I mean, our world is dual and we need to understand what this means — but this is psychological and mythic work. It aligns with the mental/imaginal territory of the mind.

When we’re engaged with Shen Level 1 practices, there can be encounters with spirits, allies, curses, ghosts, remedies, symbols, and all sorts of wonders. All of this is valuable consciousness work—but it’s still happening in the realm of images, concepts, and the separate self.

When we end up with a spiritual practice that stays in this realm, we fall pray to a few pitfalls:

One, our spirituality becomes psychologized. Healing is the goal, so we get stuck in mental loops that perpetuate endless healing journeys.

Two, we get stuck in our identities. The more you attach to your visions, insights, and even spirit guides, the more you become attached to your identity and your story. Becoming more fixed is never good for becoming more free.

And freedom, deeper connection with the source of soul — this is what most people are actually trying to get to through all the mental “spiritual” work.

Shen Level 2: Enter The Void

The truly deep, meaningful, and expansive spiritual experiences our souls crave happen at what we’ll call Shen Level 2.

This is where we move beyond duality entirely. We enter the void. The mystery. Spaciousness. True surrender. The nondual foundation of all reality.

Shen Level 2 is about touching this nondual reality—what mystics call the numinous—and it actually lies at the heart of any true mystical tradition.

From the Eleusinian Rites, to whirling dervishes, to Bacchanalian festivals, to ayahuasca ceremonies, humans have sought to go beyond the bounds of ordinary consciousness to experience the oneness that transcends life and death. Plain old meditation can get you there, too.

In a way, Shen Level 2 is beyond language because it’s beyond what we have access to in our ordinary lives. Yet touching upon this realm, and remembering that it exists, is the foundation to spiritual soul-level wellness.

Diving Shen into two “levels” is about the most Western-consciousness, dualistic thing I could do, lol. But it’s necessary for making a really important point:

Most Western spiritual seekers never make it past Shen Level 1. We spend years in guided meditations thinking we’re doing “deep spiritual work,” when really we’re engaged in psychological processing—valuable, necessary even, but not the same as touching the void.

Without intentionally caring for both the imaginal and emptiness, full soul restoration falls short.

El Rio de Luz (The River of Light) 1877 Frederic Edwin Church

Tending the Three Fields (or four, if we’re being honest)

There are many pathways and practices to nourish each of these energy fields. So many, that you can probably see how entire industries have arisen to meet the needs of each one.

Our biohacking, peak experience, capitalist culture creates a lot of artificial obstacles to wellness in the form of solutions — this pill or peptide, this manifestation retreat, this live your best life workshop…Few actually address void consciousness. That’s less monetizable ;)

So let’s go through some basics as a starting point. You can pick and choose what works for you. Remember, all of us have our unique blueprints for this life — our own unique patterning and needs when it comes to holistic wellness.

JING CARE

I am going to quote one of my mentors, Jamie Wheal, here and recommend that you “Do the Obvious”.

This isn’t meant to be snarky — more a reminder that you really don’t need a five-hour morning routine or $500 supplement budget to take care of yourself. There are plenty of free, doable shifts that seem small but add up over time.

A few of my favorites?

Sun and moon gazing. Syncing with natural cycles and celestial rhythms does more for your health than so many of the expensive hacks out there.

Move. Walk outside when possible. Do some basic stretches. I’ve had a lot of injuries in my life, and several debilitating ones just in the past few years. I need to go slow in my body now, so I’m back to basics. Some squats, some pushups, some abs. The daily practice feels so minor, but the effects over time are significant.

Eat vibrantly. Any attempt at dietary recommendations here would be a landmine. You know what your body needs. When in doubt, listen to Michael Pollen: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Notice how all this is basically free or at least low cost? No fancy equipment needed. Just look at the sky. Get outside. Move. Eat.

You know how to take care of yourself. Don’t let some ideal from a podcast stop you from taking care of the basics. Your Jing will thank you.

CHI CARE

Chi care is all about getting energy moving and flowing freely through your system.

Breathe. When I was so burned out I could barely move, it was morning breathwork that made the biggest impact on my recovery. I did a lot of alternate nostril breathing, but start with a simple box breath and you’ll notice a difference.

Move your energy. If you have access to qigong or tai chi classes, these are specifically designed to cultivate and move Chi. But even simple stretching with attention to the flow of energy through your body works. The key is mindful movement, not just exercise. YouTube is filled with free videos if you need help getting started. (Have any favorites? Drop them in the comments so we can all benefit!)

Be in nature. Spending time outside allows you to absorb environmental Chi. Stand barefoot on the earth. Sit near water. Go forest bathing. Let the natural world replenish your energy.

Rest. Your Chi needs restoration. Quality sleep, rest, and proper digestion all support post-natal Chi—the vital energy you cultivate daily. I know getting good sleep is easier said than done for a lot of us. But a few basic sleep hygiene tweaks might make a difference: No tech an hour before sleeping. Read a real story in bed. Eat earlier if you can. Have a relaxing cup of tea in the evening. Get blackout curtains (that one does cost money, but not much and totally worth the investment!). Bonus: The sun and moon gazing help sleep cycles ;)

SHEN CARE - LEVEL 1: Tending the Mental/Imaginal Realm

Astrologically, I’m almost all air, so of course I love tending my mind and all the deep thoughts, lol. This area is probably also my realm of expertise. I’ve been guiding soulful humans through imaginal practice and spiritual explorations for decades. Here are practices that nourish Shen Level 1:

Read. Read something inspirational in the morning — spirituality or science are welcome (just hold off on politics and murder mysteries). Do this before you check your phone. Have a good book at the ready. Or draw an oracle card and read the message. The goal is to get out of your daily mental patterns and reconnect with magic and meaning at the start of your day.

Journal. I also like to commit at least 15 minutes (often more) to freewriting in my journal each morning. I keep one journal for tracking dreams, and another for brain dumping all my musings. And they are literal musings — this space is where I channel inspiration from the Muses for all my creative projects.

Engage with mythic consciousness. Hypnosis, guided meditation, shamanic journeys, traversing Jung’s imaginal territory — all of these are ways to use your mind and imagination to access spiritual wisdom and to learn about yourself. Work with archetypes, symbols, and the rich territory of the psyche.

Shadow work and therapy. Processing your psychological patterns, understanding your wounds, integrating your shadow—this is all Shen Level 1 work. Essential, transformative, and deeply valuable.

Study. Learn new things. Keep inspiration flowing. Push the boundaries of your consciousness and try on new ideas, find the philosophical underpinnings of previously unquestioned beliefs, take classes in areas of interest. Feed your mind.

Tending our Shen Level 1 involves following whispers of inspiration, trusting desires, and even exploring unconscious territory. It is an illuminating path that is key in coming into soul coherence.

SHEN CARE - LEVEL 2: Touching the Void

Your Jing, Chi, and Shen Level 1 activities will keep you full. Shen Level 2 is a return to emptiness.

All you need to do is create space for the kind of meditation that gets you here. Silent, focused zen-style meditation is great. Yoga nidra or NSDR works well for me. Accessing vast realms through the body and somatic meditation can also work when these practices dissolve the separate self rather than just relaxing it.

On occasion, working with a ritual or plant medicine to support this state can be helpful as well. Though it should be said this is not a guarantee of oneness experiences. Often plant medicines bring us to the edges of Shen Level 1 again and again until a breakthrough, or perhaps just a gift, of oneness arises.

Anointing is one of my favorite ways to support Shen Level 2 care. Actually, anointing your energy matrix with select essential oils can tend all three realms and both levels of Shen. Yet it’s especially helpful for shen: while the mind can’t force its way to spaciousness, the plants can open doors on your behalf.

The trick here is that you can’t make yourself feel spaciousness with willpower. It’s a surrendering process. It’s practicing with intention again and again, knowing that this alone is tending your spirit. Then, when Shen Level 2 happens, enjoy the gift.

All Are Needed for True Soul-Level Restoration and Coherence

If you look at the above, you’ll probably notice that most wellness and spiritual practices end up lopsided:

We might obsessively optimize our physical health (Jing) while our Chi stagnates and our Shen—both levels—remains completely untended.

We might train our bodies intensely (Jing) and even do breathwork for Chi, but never engage with the psychological/mythic territory of Shen Level 1, leaving us disconnected from meaning and archetypal wisdom.

We might spend endless hours in guided journeys and shamanic work (Shen Level 1), feeling very spiritually engaged, but never touch actual non-dual spaciousness (Shen Level 2)—and we don’t even realize there’s a difference.

We might become addicted to void states (Shen Level 2), bypassing the very human psychological work (Shen Level 1) we need to do, or ignoring our bodies (Jing) and energy (Chi) entirely.

All of these aspects must be tended together with intention. This is how our souls find true wellness in our lifetime.

When you look at these fields of energy, where do you sense you need more care? What kind of support or structural shifts might support your journey?

If you’re feeling called to this integrated approach to soul care, I have something that might interest you.

Starting in April, I’ll be taking a small cohort through a 10-month training that’s rooted in all of these areas. You will have support, community, frameworks, and structures so you can create a soul care rhythm that works for you.

Think group meditations for spaciousness. Accountability for daily wellness practices. Guided practices to explore the imaginal.

Think 10 months of soul restoration.

Also, think knowing how to share what you learn in ways that aren’t preachy, don’t overstep boundaries, and actually help others find the soul healing they crave.

Here’s a bit more about the program. Get on the waitlist if you’re interested, as I’ll be sharing some free calls and more info as April approaches.

This isn’t a big online course or program with 50+ people. This will be a small, intimate group where we can really get to know each other. And it’s spacious enough that you can be both in community and as introverted as you like. It’s a deeply personal container.

Feel free to ask questions about this between now and April – I’m happy to answer and am putting together a FAQ based on your real questions right now :)

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, intuitive astrologer, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
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Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

juniper stokes 2/20/26 juniper stokes 2/20/26

The Alchemy of Spiritual Perfume: A Complete Guide to Sacred Aromatics

In the realm of our senses, perhaps none is more etheric, more innately connected to spirit, than our sense of smell.

Fragrance has the unique ability to bypass our conscious minds, permeating not only into our subconscious, but into the spiritual core of our psyches.

The presence of aromatic fragrances has always signaled the presence of divine beings — pleasing aromas preceding the arrival of gods and goddesses in traditions throughout the world. And of course, humans in every culture, on every continent, have used aroma to call in spiritual support and connection.

It's no coincidence that the most sacred plants from around the world are also the most fragrant ones.

Plants have been central to medicine and spiritual practice as far back as we can trace human origins. And for most of our history, there wasn't a difference between the two. Healing with plants, communing with plant spirits, and tending to the sacred were not separate disciplines — they were one way of life. Sacred aromatics return us to that time. They return the power of healing to the people, to our hands and our homes and our altars, where it has always belonged.

This is a guide for those who feel the pull of that ancient relationship. Whether you're drawn to incense and smoke, ritual anointing oils, natural perfume, or the medicine of aromatherapy, you'll find the threads of one continuous lineage running through all of it.

What Are Spiritual Aromatics? A Guide to Types and Terminology

Spiritual fragrances have taken many forms throughout history, most commonly through smoke and oil. Here is a map of the landscape — the common forms you'll encounter on this journey and what makes each one distinct.

Perfume

Perfume can be a bit of a confusing word because of its dual meaning. It can refer to both a pleasing fragrance in general, as well as a specific fragrance in liquid form. It can be a noun, is in I ❤️ perfume, an adjective, as in a perfumed ointment, or a verb, as in the incense perfumes the room.

Here, I mostly use the word perfume in its more general sense — but I do want to highlight what makes an actual perfume, as in a pleasing fragrance liquid, different from other spiritual aromatics.

True perfumes differ from other types of aromatics in their composition and intention. They are primarily created and used for aesthetics — made to bring beauty into our world — and they are formulated with special attention to longevity (or sillage in perfume language), with top, middle, and base notes that unfold over time. True perfumes may come in alcohol, oil, or occasional solid form, and they tend to be more complex than aromatherapy blends, though this isn't always the case.

But don’t be fooled by the aesthetic nature of true perfumes: beauty is not frivolous. The creation of something beautiful is itself a sacred act — an offering, a devotion, an act of creative love. True perfume, at its highest expression, participates in this lineage.

There's a whole linguistic world within perfumery — from understanding the difference between an eau de parfum and an eau de toilette, to learning about the fragrance families used in natural perfumery.

Attars

Attars are traditional perfumed oils, most closely associated with South Asian and Middle Eastern traditions, though their roots span across the ancient world. Classically, attars are created through a process of steam or hydro distillation of botanical materials directly into a sandalwood base oil, which absorbs and fixes the aromatic compounds. The result is a richly layered, skin-warming fragrance of extraordinary depth. Attars are oil-based and alcohol-free, making them particularly beloved in Islamic tradition, where alcohol-based perfumes are traditionally avoided. The word itself comes from the Arabic 'itr, meaning fragrance or essence.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a vast and multifaceted field, with many approaches and applications — salves and balms, diffuser blends, sprays, oils, gels, and baths, to name a few. These products are blended primarily with essential oils, though herbal infusions are commonly incorporated into finished products.

The primary distinction between aromatherapy and true perfumery is intention: aromatherapy blends are created for wellness, while perfume blends are created for beauty — though of course there is significant and beautiful overlap.

And I believe, without reservation, that aromatherapy is inherently a spiritual practice.

In an attempt to legitimize this field, many modern aromatherapy practitioners have shifted toward a focus on the chemistry of the oils, investing in a growing body of scientific studies on their efficacy. While it's wonderful to have proof of the healing power of these plants, we risk losing the true gift of aromatic healing in the process. Healing with fragrant plants has always been a medicinal and spiritual art. Ignoring the plant spirit medicine of essential oils doesn't mean it ceases to exist.

Anointing Oils

One of the oldest forms of spiritual fragrance, anointing oils — also called ritual oils — are usually composed of essential oils or infused herbal oils that hold symbolic and spiritual significance. They are used to bless, consecrate, or protect individuals, objects, or spaces. Anointing with oils has been practiced in countless religious and spiritual contexts to signify sacred or chosen status — and the practice stretches back at least as far as written history.

Anointing oils are a major part of my personal spiritual practice, and many of the anointing oils I create are so divinely fragrant, they could easily be called perfumes.

Unguents

Unguents are similar to anointing oils but tend to be thicker in consistency, often taking the form of a salve or balm. Historically, they were used for anointing the body or for special ceremonial occasions. In many traditions, unguents were prized for their aromatic and medicinal properties as much as their spiritual significance. Some of the most famous unguents in history — like the Egyptian kyphi and the sacred anointing oil described in Exodus — were elaborate, multi-ingredient formulas that required great skill and intention to prepare.

Smoke Bundles and Smudge Sticks

Smoke bundles and smudge sticks are bundles of dried herbs that are burned to create a fragrant, purifying smoke. While smudging is a term specific to certain Native American traditions, the practice of binding and burning aromatic plant material exists in cultures throughout the world. Most often, this practice is used to cleanse and purify spaces, objects, and individuals — dispersing stagnant or negative energy and inviting in clarity and positive presence.

Incense

Incense is a mixture of aromatic plant materials — resins, herbs, and woods — burned to release fragrant smoke. It can be used as a loose blend of raw materials, or formed into pellets, sticks, or cones.

In modern times, incense is often burned for purely aesthetic purposes — pleasure, atmosphere, and mood-setting. Yet traditionally, its use was always spiritual in nature. Like smoke bundles, incense is burned to cleanse and purify the air and to call in benevolent spirits. What truly sets incense apart, however, is how it symbolizes the ascent of prayers and offerings to the divine — the smoke as a living bridge between the human and the sacred.

Hydrosols

Hydrosols, also called hydrolates or floral waters, are created from the same steam distillation process as essential oils — but a different part of the process is preserved. Hydrosols are made from the botanically-infused steam, recondensed into a gentle, aromatic, and long-lasting water.

Hydrosols were likely what was primarily used in ancient Taoist anointing practices and they are one of the most accessible aromatic medicines available today.

A History Written in Smoke and Oil: The Cultural Significance of Sacred Scent

The connection between scent and the divine is one of the most enduring threads in human history — present in every culture, on every continent, across every era we can trace. Long before temples were built or texts were written, humans were offering aromatic smoke to the sky and anointing one another with fragrant oils.

Many deities across traditions have been recognized by the presence of their scent alone — a perfumed wind, a sudden sweetness in the air, the inexplicable fragrance of roses in a room where no flowers are present. Scent arrives before language. It speaks directly to something older than thought.

Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome

In ancient Egypt, the creation of sacred fragrance was priestly work. The word perfume itself comes from the Latin per fumum — "through smoke" — a testament to how central burning aromatic materials were to early spiritual life. Egyptian temple rituals involved elaborate incense formulas, the most famous being kyphi, a complex blend of resins, wine, honey, and botanicals burned as evening offerings and believed to induce visionary states.

In Greece and Rome, fragrant oils and botanical extracts were woven into religious ceremonies. The rising smoke from incense was believed to carry prayers and offerings directly to the gods. Scent was a bridge between worlds — a medium of divine communication.

Eastern Traditions

In Hinduism and Buddhism, incense creates sacred atmosphere and purifies the space for prayer and meditation. The aromatic smoke is both an offering to divine beings and a practical aid to spiritual practice — its scent quieting the restless mind, preparing the inner landscape for stillness. In Buddhism particularly, the impermanence of incense smoke — beautiful, present, then gone — is itself a teaching.

In Shinto, the native spiritual tradition of Japan, nature is understood to be infused with spiritual presence, and scents are associated with kami, the nature spirits that animate the world. Offerings of scented oils and incense honor these spirits and enhance the sacredness of shrines and ceremonies.

Indigenous Wisdom

Indigenous cultures around the world have long incorporated aromatic plants into their most sacred practices — from the smudging ceremonies of Native American traditions using sage, cedar, tobacco, and sweetgrass, to the copal offerings of Mesoamerican traditions, to the use of palo santo by Amazonian peoples, to the frankincense traditions of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Each tradition carries its own understanding of the relationship between fragrant plants, the spirit world, and human wellbeing.

These practices were not isolated curiosities — they were sophisticated systems of healing and spiritual technology, developed over thousands of years in deep relationship with specific landscapes and plant communities.

Abrahamic Traditions

In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, anointing with fragrant oils carries profound spiritual weight. In the Hebrew Bible, the formula for the sacred anointing oil used to consecrate the Ark of the Covenant and the high priests is given in striking detail — myrrh, cinnamon, cane, and cassia in olive oil — a recipe so sacred its unauthorized use was considered a serious transgression. In the Christian tradition, anointing with oil remains a sacrament. In Islam, the use of attar — perfumed oil — is connected to the practices of the Prophet and carries associations with paradise. Fragrant oils were, across all three traditions, understood as gifts fit for the divine.

Perhaps most relevant to those embracing the art of sacred aromatics today is the path of the myrrhophore, a sacred anointing art most famously practiced by Mary Magdalene.

Shamanic Practices

Shamans and healers across many traditions have used scents derived from plants, resins, and woods to facilitate altered states of consciousness and communication with the spirit world. The strong aromatic compounds of plants like blue lotus, copal, frankincense, and various sacred mushrooms were understood not simply as chemicals but as the living intelligence of the plant — a form of medicine that worked simultaneously on the body, mind, and spirit.

The Science of Scent and Spirit

The spiritual understanding of fragrance is ancient. The science is catching up.

Of all our senses, smell is uniquely wired for depth. While most sensory information travels through the thalamus — the brain's central relay station — scent travels directly to the olfactory bulb, which has immediate connections to the limbic system: the brain's emotional center and the seat of memory. This is why a particular scent can transport you instantly and completely — not just remembering a moment, but inhabiting it again. It bypasses the analytical mind entirely. This direct pathway also helps explain why fragrance has always been understood as a spiritual tool.

Research has confirmed what ancient traditions always knew: specific aromas measurably affect heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol levels, and neurological activity. Frankincense, for example — one of the most sacred resins in human history — contains compounds that activate ion channels in the brain associated with the reduction of anxiety and depression. Lavender has been shown to produce measurable changes in brain wave activity consistent with relaxed, meditative states. Sandalwood influences the nervous system in ways that support stillness and inner focus. Rose activates heart healing on multiple levels.

But chemistry is only part of the story. The full intelligence of aromatic plants — what older traditions called their spirit or medicine — cannot be reduced to their constituent molecules. The plants are more than their parts. And the human beings who work with them are more than their neurons.

Creating Spiritual Perfumes: Intention, Ingredient, and Ritual

Making a spiritual aromatic is not simply a matter of combining materials. It is, at its best, a ritual act — an alchemical process in which the maker's intention is woven into the fragrance itself.

Choosing Your Ingredients

The aromatic world offers an extraordinary palette: flowers, leaves, roots, barks, resins, woods, seeds, and their distilled essences. Each botanical carries its own character and traditional significance — rose for love and the heart, frankincense for purification and divine connection, myrrh for protection and ancestral wisdom, sandalwood for grounding and meditation, lavender for calm and clarity, jasmine for joy and spiritual opening.

When I choose ingredients for a spiritual blend, I'm listening on multiple levels simultaneously. I'm considering the traditional and symbolic significance of each material. I'm listening to the materials themselves — their individual characters, how they relate to one another, what they seem to want to become together. And I'm holding the intention of the person who will ultimately receive and use the blend.

Natural materials — whole plant materials, steam-distilled essential oils, and traditional absolutes — carry a depth and complexity that synthetic aromatic molecules simply cannot replicate. This matters for spiritual work. The full spectrum of a plant's aromatic intelligence is present in a well-crafted natural extract in a way that a synthetic approximation cannot reproduce.

Blending with Intention

Infusing a perfume with spiritual purpose begins before the first drop is measured. It begins in stillness — with a clear intention, an open question, or a prayer. What is this blend for? Who does it serve? What quality of consciousness does it want to evoke?

In the classical perfumer's vocabulary, a well-crafted fragrance has three distinct phases that unfold over time: top notes (the first impression, bright and volatile), heart notes (the body of the fragrance, emerging as the top notes fade), and base notes (the deep, anchoring materials that persist on the skin and carry the fragrance's resonance). In spiritual perfumery, this temporal unfolding mirrors the arc of a ritual — opening, deepening, settling.

Harmonizing scents for energetic alignment means listening not just to how materials smell in combination, but to how they feel together. Does this blend open or close? Does it ground or elevate? Does it warm or clarify? These are as much energetic questions as they are aesthetic ones.

Ritual in the Making

Many perfumers and healers I respect approach the creation of spiritual fragrances as a ritual in itself — working at particular times (lunar cycles, astrological alignments, or simply times of personal clarity and peace), blessing the materials before blending, speaking prayers or intentions aloud as they work, or working in meditative silence.

I believe this matters. The maker's state of consciousness during creation is not separate from the product. It is part of it.

How to Use Spiritual Aromatics

Anointing and Blessing

Anointing — applying fragrant oil to the body as a sacred act — is one of the oldest spiritual practices we know of. The specific placement of anointing oils on the body varies by tradition: the forehead or third eye for spiritual opening and intuition; the crown for connection to the divine; the heart for love, compassion, and emotional healing; the throat for truth and voice; the wrists and pulse points for intention-setting.

Anointing transforms the everyday act of getting dressed into a moment of sacred attention. It says: this is intentional. I am here. I am stepping into this.

Meditation and Spiritual Journeying

Fragrance is one of the most reliable tools available for shifting consciousness. Certain scents — frankincense, sandalwood, blue lotus, oud — have been used for thousands of years specifically to facilitate meditative and visionary states. Used consistently in meditation practice, a particular scent can become a reliable anchor — a sensory cue that signals to the nervous system and the deeper mind: we are entering sacred space now.

This is why temples and churches smell the way they do. It's not incidental. It's intentional, cumulative, and profound.

Cleansing and Purification

Aromatic smoke — whether incense, smoke bundles, or resins burned on charcoal — has been used across cultures for energetic clearing. The fragrant smoke is understood to break up stagnant energy, neutralize negative influences, and create a fresh, protected field in a space or around a person.

Beyond smoke, aromatic baths are one of the most deeply nourishing forms of purification available. Adding essential oils, herbal infusions, salts, and sacred botanicals to bathwater creates an immersive full-body experience that works simultaneously on the physical, emotional, and energetic bodies.

Space cleansing sprays — hydrosols or water-based blends with protective and clarifying essential oils — offer a smokeless alternative for environments where burning materials isn't practical.

Sacred Aromatics and the Question of Ethics

Working with sacred plants is a privilege. It asks something of us.

Sourcing and Sustainability

Many of the world's most cherished aromatic plants are under significant pressure. Sandalwood, oud (agarwood), frankincense, rosewood, and wild-harvested palo santo are among the species facing overharvesting, habitat destruction, and compromised wild populations. As people drawn to working with these plants — not just using them but honoring them — we have a responsibility to understand where our materials come from and how they were obtained.

Sustainable sourcing means supporting producers who harvest responsibly, cultivate where possible, and maintain the health of plant populations and the ecosystems that support them. It means being willing to pay fair prices for genuine, ethically sourced materials. And sometimes, it means accepting a substitute or going without.

Cultural Respect

Many aromatic practices carry the fingerprints of specific cultures and lineages — the smudging traditions of Native peoples, the attar traditions of South Asian and Middle Eastern communities, the temple incense formulas of Egypt, India, and Japan. As these practices travel across the world and enter mainstream wellness culture, the question of cultural respect becomes important and nuanced.

There is a meaningful difference between sincere learning from and deep engagement with another tradition — approached with humility, proper attribution, and ideally, relationship with living members of that tradition — and the casual extraction of spiritual aesthetics without regard for their origins or continued significance to the people who hold them.

We can be inspired by the full breadth of human aromatic wisdom. We owe it to the traditions that inspire us to carry that inspiration with integrity.

Spiritual Aromatics as a Personal Practice

The most powerful thing I can tell you about working with sacred aromatics is this: your own relationship with these plants and fragrances is irreplaceable.

No article, no product, no tradition can substitute for direct experience — for sitting with frankincense smoke in the early morning and noticing what shifts in you, for finding the anointing oil that makes you feel most like yourself, for discovering that a particular blend quiets your anxious mind in a way nothing else does.

The plants meet us where we are. They are extraordinarily patient. They have been waiting a long time for us to remember that they are here.

The practice of working with spiritual aromatics is, at its heart, a practice of attentiveness — to the plants, to our own inner states, to the relationship between them. It is a form of prayer that works through the body and the senses, grounding the spiritual in the most physical and intimate of experiences: a scent that moves through you, changes you, opens something that had been closed.

This is the alchemy of spiritual perfume. Not the transformation of base metals into gold, but the transformation available to us every day — through fragrance, through intention, through our willingness to work with the living intelligence of the plant world.

Welcome to the practice.

Explore Further

All of my aromatic products are made with sustainably sourced, natural botanical materials and infused with intention. If you feel called to explore sacred aromatics in your own practice, I invite you to explore the collection.

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, intuitive astrologer, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

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Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

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The Big 5 Spiritual Bypasses of our time

We need to talk about the intense spiritual bypassing that is happening in response to global events right now.

Before you get triggered, take a breath, open your mind, and ask yourself if you can sit with paradox.

The ability to hold paradox, in my humble opinion, is one of the most advanced spiritual and human skills we can cultivate. Perhaps this is a moment to visit your paradoxical gym.

Before diving in, I want to briefly touch upon who I am — and who I’m not — talking to.

If you love the current administration, if your primary media feeds are telling you that everything is normal, or getting better, or that the actions we’re witnessing right now are good things, or at least legal and normal…cool. Not here to argue. You can move on now, because the purpose of this article is not to bridge the reality divide we’re in.

If you see the polycrisis as imminent, the current administration as accelerating the collapse of democracy, and you know in your heart that something has gone terribly wrong…this will likely be interesting to you.

If you don’t like what you see in general — the violence, the narcissism, the coverups, the colonizer mindset — but you also see this as some great evolutionary revelation that will ultimately serve humanity’s spiritual awakening — we need to talk.

And please. Remember paradox. More than one thing can be true at once. Just consider a few different perspectives.

Collapse consciousness and rapture ideology — A recipe for light-washing

At the end of the first year of COVID lockdowns, I gathered with a small, intimate group of consciousness explorers in Boulder, CO. I mean, Boulder — amiright? All the stereotypes for better and worse at play there.

Truthfully, the daylong retreat was a total delight. It felt so indulgent to spend hours upon hours in what one of my friends calls “Covid Conversations”* — reflecting on the meaning of life, what this implied for human consciousness and evolution, what survival would require…interspersed with yoga/song/tarot breaks.

*Covid Conversations: I find this hilarious. This language reminds me that a lot of folks really have made their way back to life as usual, focusing on kids’ sporting events and the grind of a 9-5. I don’t think I ever stopped having “covid convos” — they’re actually the only convos my man and I have ever had, even pre-pandemic.

Throughout our very Bouldery day, the theme of collapse arose again and again. And there was a definite underlying theme that collapse was a good thing.

Though I remember at one point a man saying, Do you all realize what collapse would actually look like? Is this really what you want?

Right on dude.

But the craving for collapse makes sense.

Anyone who actually looks at how our world works — economically, politically, religiously, socially — and bothers to pull back the covers even the tiniest bit, will see how daily life rests on a foundation of abuse.

We have to abuse the planet to survive. We have to abuse those less economically empowered to maintain even basic income levels of our own. We have to abuse our souls in order to feel safe.

Righteous anger at the systems that perpetuate this abuse is a healthy response. And anger, healthy anger, is always a messenger: A boundary has been crossed. A need unmet. An action required.

The anger, the call to action — these are good. We need to collectively re-ensoul the world.

But the idea that collapse — that the total destruction and rebuilding of life as we know it — is the answer? That rests on an unnamed and toxic foundation: rapture ideology.

This term is from Jamie Wheal and I write about it a lot — I have a deeper dive into what this looks like here (scroll to the end of that article).

In short, rapture ideology is the belief that something will save us, but in the saving, most of us will die. So collapse is an essential ingredient in salvation.

Whether you’re religious enough to believe in a Biblical rapture is beyond the point: salvation, the apocalypse, survival of the worthy: these are embedded deeply in all aspects of popular culture. If we don’t actively question and unravel these narratives within our own psyches, we will fall prey to collapse consciousness.

Many of those who were left-leaning wellness peeps, considered themselves apolitical, or were right-leaning liberarians, voted for T. in the last election because they were heavily swayed by the modern mythos of collapse and salvation.

They saw a broken system. They felt frustrated (and rightly so) that they were naming real concerns (the V, human trafficking) and being labeled as conspiracy theorists. They believed that an “outsider” would burn it all down to liberate the masses and restore power to local communities.

They knew collapse was needed, and they were going to vote for it.

To be fair, I think this set of voters truly believed that collapse would be relatively painless (at least for them) and lead to a better world: more peace, less corruption, collapse of institutions and return to Aquarian communities. (Again — this is rapture ideology: The future is worth the present’s pain because you and yours will be among the saved.)

I saw this appear in one persistent meme during our last election season in the States: We are living through a massive reset. People will die, systems will die, and humanity will ultimately be better off for it.

The choice wasn’t “avoid collapse or not” — the choice was “slow collapse vs ripping off the bandage”.

A collection of spiritually-minded voters decided to rip that motherfucker off.

I get it — but I struggle with this approach. Any rapture ideology is inevitably an “ends justify the means” mentality. But the means is all there ever is. The present is where the past and future collide. Our souls reside in the moment, and our souls wish for goodness.

If we choose to cause harm in the present, hoping it will lead to a better future, what does this do to the soul?

Why is this not okay at the individual level, but weirdly acceptable at the collective?

Let’s take a detour to wellness culture now, which is obviously entangled in the above narratives and voter blocks.

In recent years, there have been some healthy “come-to-Jesus” moments in regard to the icky spiritual bypassing that is so widespread in new age health mythology.

I’m talking about all the places where personal responsibility and empowerment — which are real and important — get warped into victim blaming. All the ways “it’s not happening to you; it’s happening for you” gets twisted. All the ways rampant individualism loses sight of the systems at play in all areas of wellness.

On the individual level, we’re starting to finally acknowledge the ways these narratives cause harm:

I hope you realize it’s no longer cool to think someone got cancer because they had negative thoughts (I mean, wow. Thanks 1990s Hay House.)
I hope you would not actually dismiss the trauma of an abusive childhood because we choose our parents.
I hope you would not tell a grieving mother who lost her child that everything happens for a reason.
And I hope that if a spiritual teacher ever told you that their abusive behavior was a reflection of your own shit and shadow, you would run for the hills.

So why does all this awareness get thrown out the window when it comes to our collective abuse?

Because rapture ideology is so damned ingrained in our consciousness.

And because it’s almost too painful to handle all the soul-level abuse we see without numbing out with some anesthesia-filled stories.

The Big 5 Bypasses

Here’s where we see major bypassing — and some insane gaslighting — happening now.

Let’s start with what I hope is a shared reality: January was hard, news-wise. (Again, if you disagree with that premise, this isn’t for you.) In response, I’ve seen the following basic ideas in comments across social media platforms:

What if this isn’t happening to us, but for us? What if this is what we need to wake up and co-create a more soulful, loving culture?
The bigger the light, the bigger the shadow. We’re seeing this level of toxicity because we’ve evolved into 5D consciousness.
It’s in the stars. Astrology has predicted this, so it was always destined to happen. It’s Kali Yuga. Turning of the ages.
It’s trickster energy. We need the divine trickster for a shake up so we can wake up.
In the nondual truth beyond the physical, we are all one and we are all love. Ultimately, that’s the truth that really matters, so why get caught up in samskara?

And then of course, there’s the more general: The trees are still growing. I look out my window and see flowers bloom. We’ve always faced challenges. Life goes on.

Here’s where the paradox arrives: All of these sentiments hold truth — this is why they resonate.

They are also hallmarks of bypassing the very real pain and trauma upon us. But more than that — they bypass the responsibility for what we’re experiencing.

If you wouldn’t tell a child that their abuse was happening for them — don’t tell us that what we’re witnessing is happening for us. And, I’m hesitant to even say this…but if you knowingly voted for collapse, wanting the “rip off the bandage and build a new utopia approach”, and now you’re telling us that this is all part of some cosmic plan…then you are engaged in some serious mindfuckery.

I actually love the idea that a bigger light illuminates bigger shadows. I hope it’s true. And, even if it is — let us not fall into the trap of believing that this means the pain we see was inevitable — because inevitability provides an excuse to abdicate responsibility.

The astrological cosmos provide us with maps for the different patterns of energy that will flow through our lives. We will encounter times of growth and challenge. We will cycle through periods of birth, life, death, and rebirth. And we always have the responsibility to choose how we move through each phase.

Trickster is important. But as mythologist Michael Meade shares, the true trickster cries. The trickster acts out of love with both laughter and tears for humanity’s foibles. The trickster isn’t cruel. What we’re witnessing is. To call intentional cruelty and abuse “trickster energy” is a level of bypass that blows my mind. The word “gaslighting” has become totally overused in recent years — but it applies here.

I’m actually very nondual in my personal spiritual practice, but nonduality is never an excuse to ignore the world we live in. I think of nondual spiritual awareness more like a vitamin — we need a good regular dose to stay healthy. It builds resilience and provides important perspectives that help us not get too entrenched in the muck of life. And we’re not meant to live there all the time.

Life will go on. Our ancestors have faced much worse. This isn’t new — the United States was founded on cruelty. Other countries have been experiencing civil war, famine, and authoritarian regimes for a long time. All of this is true. And none of it means that we have an excuse to ignore what is happening right now.

Reclaiming Mental Sovereignty & Loving Thy Neighbor

But y’all. The algorithms. Mental health. Intellectual sovereignty. Nervous system regulation. These are real challenges.

Can we both care for ourselves and avoid the bypassing mentioned above?

January was hard. And February continues to be a stream of awful news. But we are learning.

In January, we learned that each of us is fed a stream of AI-edited memes and “news” that is tailored to our existing political tendencies. We’re left feeling as if we live in different realities from our friends, families, and neighbors.
In February, we learned that at the most elite and power-holding levels, the left/right divide forced upon most of the population does not exist.

What does this tell you about the tasks before us right now?

We are responsible for cleaning up the messes we’ve made. And we are responsible for not allowing the metafield to dictate the thoughts that fill our minds and the emotions that run through our bodies.

One of the members of a community I’m in, artist Tyler Parish, shared words that beautifully reflect our task in these times:

“These days it’s a personal, social and cultural responsibility to not allow the corporations, politicians, algorithms, talking heads and social connections decide what thoughts fill our minds and mouths from moment to moment. Life is too full of beauty, opportunities for creativity, a need for true connection and expression, momentary chances to enjoy perfect simplicities and make the most important and necessary efforts to not afford them every single bit of attention and intention we can muster. To willingly and regularly trade that privilege for the systematically architected, for profit and purpose, low hanging fruit of chaos and division, is to squander the same freedom and liberty we speak so passionately about protecting.”

I believe our task is not to diminish the pain and entropy upon us, but to use our awareness to ignite greater creativity and love for the world.

To do this we must take exquisite care of the totality of ourselves. Tend the nervous system. Find community. Eat well. Connect with spirit. Enter altered consciousness and see beyond the veil of this sticky reality. Tend your jing-chi-shen.

And then come back to this pain more resourced. Face it and feel it. Ask what task you can fulfill to usher in more goodness instead of more collapse.

Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front was written in 1973 — and his words still hold the medicine we need now:

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.

Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. Can you do both?

Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Can you know that you do not know? Can you love beyond the borders the algorithm puts in place?

We do not need to bypass the pain of the world to protect our sensitive selves. We are strong. We can face this pain, take responsibility for the mess humans have made, and keep showing up to clean it up — with creativity, beauty, and love.

P.S. Many of the ideas in this article are explored in greater depth here. Please read if you haven’t yet.

A Call to Action: The Great Mother March

Another part of Berry’s beautiful manifesto reads:

So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

If the most recent revelations at the sick heart of misogyny and power tell us anything, it’s that women are not safe. And neither are our children. And, though this isn’t covered as much in mainstream newsfeeds, neither is the Earth.

We need to bring back the mother — the divine feminine force that is life-giving and life-sustaining. A force that lives within every human, regardless of gender. A force that cannot continue to be oppressed if we are going to survive.

I’m in absolute awe of my dear friend Whitney Freya. For many moons, she has been taking leaps of faith based on a divine inspiration from the goddess. She has created The Great Mother March.

Beginning on the Spring Equinox 2026, The Great Mother March will set forth from Asheville, North Carolina on a 500-mile pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., arriving on Earth Day.

Throughout the journey there will be dancing and painting. Art and celebration. Seeding of goodness and community care.

Walkers may join for part or all of the 32-day pilgrimage. I’m hoping to be there at the beginning.

If you can’t walk, you can donate. $13 makes you part of the movement. Or, explore the shop. I’ve made a Great Mother Mist (smells so good) — and all proceeds will support the march. You can see Whitney opening her box from me here. :)

There is hope — and the Great Mother March is part of shifting the frequency of these times to greater life, love, and care.

Learn more here.

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

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5 Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde (and how to use them)

The Perfumed Heart & Anointing the Windows to Heaven

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

juniper stokes 2/15/26 juniper stokes 2/15/26

Can the Goddesses Be Saved?

The Greek pantheon and its stories have embedded themselves within our modern Western psyches. Escape from this empire’s influence in modern cosmology is impossible — even if you don’t actively know much about these stories.

In the decades since Jung began to popularize the idea of archetypes — and with that the idea that there is some universal essence to these deities — it has inevitably become fashionable to criticize them.

Where do you fall on the scales of this critique? Do you, like famed Jungian scholar Marion Woodman, see the Greek Goddesses (and their Roman counterparts) as archetypal facets of the feminine psyche? Or do you, like some recent feminists, see them as warped expressions of a patriarchal culture?

I think the critiques are fair. Greek society was not only incredibly patriarchal — it was astonishingly misogynistic. It was not easy to be a woman in ancient Greece, and we see this throughout their mythology: women are constantly raped, kidnapped, jealous, vengeful, and overly pure.

As Woodman points out, only Aphrodite is a truly empowered feminine archetype — both sensual and free from marriage. Yet modern feminists might also point out that she is also super sexy, a facet that can be seen as trapping women in another oppressive narrative.

Despite this, I have received so much value from my relationships with these goddesses — a few of the gods (here’s looking at you Dionysus). They inspired my original magical, natural perfume line. They appear in my journeys and have places on my altars.

This begs the question: Are these goddesses — with all their patriarchal overlays — redeemable within a modern feminist consciousness? Do they have a place in our current era psyches and spiritual practices?

How you answer these questions will depend on how you view these deities:

Option 1: They are simple mythological figures, reflective of the times their stories emerged from. From this view, perhaps their value lies in teaching us how women survived in a society that actively disparaged them.

Option 2: They are archetypes. Living, shared energies within our collective unconscious. If this is the case, we must ask: Are the goddess archetypes terminally tainted by the patriarchal culture that created them? Or is there deeper wisdom we can access underneath the narratives we’ve inherited?

Option 3: They are goddesses. Like totally real spiritual beings that exist beyond our limited human understanding. In this case, it becomes our divine assignment to reclaim their stories from the oppressive cultures that have twisted them. It is up to us to deeply listen for the wise and powerful feminine truths they wish to share.

What do you think? Who are the goddesses to you, and how does this impact your relationship with them?

A Note on the Goddesses

Many of my natural, botanical, and totally magical perfumes are devoted to the goddesses. I try to share a ritual with each perfume listing. Explore the scents and rituals here.

On that note: If any are out of stock and you want me to prioritize remaking them, let me know in the comments! Or if any of your favorite deities are missing, tell me and I’ll add them to my making list :)

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

5 Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde (and how to use them)

The Perfumed Heart & Anointing the Windows to Heaven

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

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Shedding toxic spiritual beliefs (from snake to horse)

Here we go around the sun again. A new year…and another wild one by the looks of it so far.

In my cosmic convos, I keep hearing people talking about the year of the Fire Horse, all the movement and action to come.

Hold yer horses, folks (pun totally intended) — we aren’t done with the year of the Wood Snake yet!

We still have a few more weeks to finish up our snake era assignment: to shed the skins that have gotten too tight. 🐍

When you look back at 2025, what were you invited — and more likely forced — to let go of?

I’ve been tracking the collective vibes around this closely, and there’s one prominent theme I see emerging: Everyone has had to let go of old beliefs — especially toxic or outdated spiritual ones.

⭐Did you experience any shifts around this last year? I’d love to hear your experiences — please leave a comment if so!⭐

I can tell you that I 100% went through a whirlwind shedding of all the old spiritual boxes I thought I had to stay in for safety, for work, for loyalty…

This wasn’t out of the blue by any means. My soul had known for a long time that I was called toward a new, emerging, more authentic path. But this year I realized there was no going back.

Side note: I held a fire ceremony at the end of 2024 to cut ties with any lineages or spiritual traditions that were in the way of my full sovereignty.
Shit hit the fan two weeks later.
One year later and I felt true inner freedom in a way I hadn’t since I was a child. Our rituals are legit magic-making y’all.
Here’s a ritual guide I made if you want some inspo in this area.

On a related note…

A Story for the End of Our Snake Year

How many of you know the story of the split between Freud and Jung?

Once one of Freud’s prize students, Carl Jung had been questioning elements of his mentor’s philosophy for a long time.

His private journals and conversations with his wife reveal years of turmoil: If he spoke his truth, would he lose this relationship? His standing in the psychology community at the time? Would it be worth it?

History tells us the answer to all of these questions: Yes.

The falling out between Jung and Freud was public and dramatic. Many in the emerging psychology community of the time attempted to eviscerate Jung and and theories.

But none of this mattered in the long term. Because Jung had come into soul coherence.

He’d quit lying to himself. He was willing to let go of beliefs he once held sacred. He stopped trying to control his circumstances and started acting from his inner truth. He entered the liminal realms of the unknown.

And then he became one of the most influential thinkers of the modern era.

Where have you been lying to yourself in order to stay safe, control fate, or stay loyal? Where have you been avoiding a deeper truth and alignment because you’re afraid of hurting others or losing community?

Taking the leap into greater truth is terrifying. The challenges are real.

But this is the only way to truly experience the fullness of your soul.

It’s likely that our Snake Year catalyzed this process for you already. The Year of the Horse invites to let all that false self burn as you charge toward new more soul-aligned experiences.

An Invitation

If you’re ready to really, truly come into alignment with your soul — to come into greater coherence, creative capacity, and meaningful joy — then I invite you to join me for a year of intentional practice around just this.

You will experience a rich and intimate container for restoring your knowledge of who you really are — and you will learn how to facilitate this process for others.

This program opens for registration in April (post Mercury Rx, you’re welcome). Learn more and get on the waitlist for updates.

A few quick updates:

Limited Edition: Valentine’s Day Perfume Discovery Set

This is my FAVORITE. Seriously. And I only bring it out once a year. You get 3 mini (1ml) perfumes:

Aphrodite — goddess of love, floral chypre
Jaguar — sensual pleasures, exotic florals and botanical musk
Rós — for the flower at the heart of it all, a lovely soliflore perfume

I highly recommend this discovery set as a Valentines gift for your lover or yourself. Ethical plant magic is much better than the commercial options out there ;) Order by Feb 5 for V-day delivery!

Course Updates

Some of you have been patiently waiting for the Sacred Aromatics class — this was supposed to start this month but two things happened: 1, I got sick. And 2, I was hired to create an apothecary course for a bigger company! This course is coming together nicely and I think you will love it! It’s not on anointing, but it is on medicinal herbal magic and it will be suuuper affordable :)

Stay tuned – I’ll let you know when the apothecary course is ready :)

Click here to get on the waitlist and be notified first when the anointing training is open!

🌿 Explore workshops & trainings.
💠 Find alchemical aromatics in The Botanica.

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

5 Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde (and how to use them)

The Perfumed Heart & Anointing the Windows to Heaven

Juniper Stokes is a certified depth coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist, astrologer, and artist.

juniper stokes 11/16/25 juniper stokes 11/16/25

The Art of Elemental Anointing: Restoring Balance Through Sacred Aromatics

The act of anointing—applying sacred oils to the body with intention—is among humanity’s oldest ritual practices. From the chrism of ecclesiastical tradition to the abhyanga of Ayurvedic medicine, anointing represents a bridge between the material and spiritual realms. It is a soul-to-soul transmission of frequency from plant to human. A tactical prayer.

Sacred aromatics are central to my spiritual path and the way I practice healing arts.

For those who are newer here: I first started working with sacred aromatics and energy medicine in an intentional way during the 1990s (trying to embrace my age, folks).

Now, as a professionally trained botanical perfumer (I’ve studied with the greats), clinically certified aromatherapist (got that 610-hour certification), spiritual alchemist (decades of formal study here, too), plant communicator, and professional anointer, I have devoted decades to understanding how aromatic molecules interface with human consciousness. (My crazy bio is here if you want the full rundown.)

My work draws deeply from the Hermetic alchemical tradition, planetary correspondences, intuitive plant communication, and the sacred path of the Myrrhophore.

The elemental anointing oils I have created represent a convergence of these lineages, formulated as both spiritual perfume oils and ceremonial tools for restoring elemental balance within the human energy system.

The community at The Mythoanimist Path is what makes this content possible. Every single like, share, comment, and subscribe does more for my heart and this publication than you can imagine.

The Hermetic Foundation: As Above, So Below

Western alchemy, rooted in Hermetic philosophy, understands the cosmos as a unified field of correspondences. The axiom “as above, so below” suggests that the macrocosm of the universe is reflected in the microcosm of the human being. (The Taoist alchemical path I walk says the same thing.)

Within this framework, the classical elements—Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether (also spelled “aether”, or known as the quintessence)—are not so much physical substances as they are archetypal principles that organize the reality we live within.

Each element governs specific qualities of consciousness and manifestation:

Earth represents structure, stability, embodiment, and the fertile matrix that sustains creation. It is the principle of materialization, grounding, and belonging.

Water governs flow, emotion, intuition, and memory. It is the receptive, lunar aspect of our being, offering purification, healing, and the bridge between conscious and unconscious realms.

Fire embodies transformation, will, passion, and creative force. It is both destroyer and renewer, the spark of inspiration and the heat of metamorphosis.

Air symbolizes thought, communication, clarity, and discernment. It is the breath between worlds, the realm of imagination and intellectual insight.

Ether represents the quintessence—the subtle field that unites, holds, and transcends all other elements. It is pure consciousness, presence, and the stillpoint from which all movement arises.

Though this particular elemental system represents Western Hermetic thought, countless traditions have some form of acknowledging that our health and spiritual evolution depend upon maintaining balance among the elemental forces.

When one element dominates or becomes deficient, disharmony manifests in our bodies, emotions, and spiritual paths.

Elemental anointing helps us restore this balance in partnership with the plants, through the intentional application of plant essences that carry specific elemental signatures…

You Are the Alembic: Embodied Practice

Anointing is fundamentally a deeply embodied practice.

Unlike simply inhaling an essence or diffusing it into a room, anointing requires deliberate touch—the application of oil to specific points on the body with conscious intention. This tactile dimension activates multiple pathways of healing simultaneously.

From a physiological perspective, anointing delivers aromatic molecules directly to the skin, where they are absorbed into the bloodstream and lymphatic system. Essential oils are lipophilic, meaning they readily pass through the lipid-rich cell membranes of the skin. Once absorbed, their molecular constituents interact with receptor sites throughout the body, influencing everything from neurotransmitter production to inflammatory response.

Even more than these benefits for our physical bodies, sacred anointing brings in conscious awareness of our energy body, too. Specific points act like energetic gateways for plant consciousness to travel through. The chakras of yogic tradition, the dantians of Chinese medicine, the three cauldrons of Celtic shamanism…all of these are potent places addressing both our physical body and the subtle energy body that interpenetrates it.

Plus, even though I’m really not the touchy-feely type*, even I can recognize that welcome touch itself is medicine. For all of us, self-anointing is a form of loving self-care, soothing our nervous system and countering the chronic stress response that is a way of life for most of us these days.

*One of my friends still laughs, decades later, at the time when she asked if I wanted to go to a conscious dance party. And I said ew — I don’t want to be touched. And she said, I don’t think they actually touch you. And I said — no! With their energy! Because I’m that sensitive. Anyway…

When performed with reverence and intention, anointing becomes a somatic prayer that rewires our relationship to embodiment itself.

And this is where the real magic happens: you become the alembic.

An alembic is central to the art and practice of alchemy. It is within the alembic that dense material is transformed into gold and the light of spirit.

When you place plant oils and waters on different points of your physical body, you become the vessel for transformation to take place within.

All the plants travel along the lines of energy body, meeting and dancing with each other upon convergence points, creating something new in partnership with the field of energy you provide.

Through anointing, you become the alembic through which all transmutation takes place.

The Path of the Myrrhophore: Bearing Sacred Aromatics

The term “Myrrhophore“ refers to the myrrh-bearers—traditionally, the women who brought aromatic spices to anoint the body of Christ. Mary Magdalene is our feminine forebearer in the Myrrhophore tradition, most likely carrying forth a tradition with even older and perhaps Egyptian origins.

When we tune into the Magdalene path of anointing today, we help heal a legacy of feminine oppression.

As Myrrhophores today, we carry sacred aromatics as an act of devotion and service. This path recognizes anointing not merely as self-care but as a sacred mantel, a way of tending to the holy in oneself and others.

In my practice, the path of the Myrrhophore has involved years of apprenticeship to plants themselves—learning their languages, understanding their gifts, and discerning how to combine them in ways that honor their individual genius while blending them into an alchemical formula that carries transmissions of healing and beauty.

This is the work of spiritual alchemy: transformation through relationship. The marriage of substances to birth new consciousness.

Each plant essence carries its own intelligence—its own subtle frequency.

When I blend dozens of rare botanicals—porcini with myrrh, dragonsblood with mimosa, white lotus with oakmoss—I am convening a council of plant spirits, each contributing its voice to a collective intention. The resulting oils (and sacred perfumes) become ensouled medicine, ritual healing alive with purpose and power.

Why Elemental Anointing Matters Now

Pause for a minute and feel into your own body — physically and energetically.

Can you sense the elements within? How does Earth feel? Fire? Water? Air? Do you feel these elements in harmony?

Most of us will find some sort of imbalance. This is normal — we’re not static beings and we will always be in flux in terms of our elemental make up.

Yet we also live in an age of profound elemental imbalance. Modern life, with its emphasis on digital abstraction, sedentary routines, and relentless mental activity, creates systematic deficiencies and excesses across the elemental spectrum.

Feeling ungrounded, spacey, or disconnected from the body? Experiencing dissociation, anxiety, and or a lack of belonging? It might be time to reconnect with with the stabilizing force of the Earth element.

How is your emotional world? Are you hiding or stuffing down any emotions? Feeling creative or intuitive blocks? Ignoring your inner knowing? If part of you has forgotten how to flow, how to feel, how to trust the intelligence of the body’s deeper currents…it’s time to get your Water moving.

When Fire is out of balance, it looks pretty much like you’d expect: Too little, nothing cooks. Too much and you boil over. For us, this can show up as lack of motivation, no passion for life, and creative stagnation when running cold, or inflammation, anger, and burnout when running hot,

Air excess is super common these days — usually manifesting as overthinking, anxiety, scattered attention, and disconnection from our somatic wisdom.

But what of Ether? That ineffable, spiritual fabric of being? When our Ether becomes obscured, it can feel as if we’ve lost contact with the unified field of consciousness, the sense of being held within something larger than ourselves. A dark night of the soul or crises of faith can emerge at the extreme, with general malaise and hopelessness early warning signs.

Elemental anointing is so magical and powerful because it addresses these imbalances directly — without getting us trapped in the mind and overtherapizing patterns.

By applying oils formulated to strengthen deficient elements and calm excessive ones, we actively participate in our own rebalancing through the engaged alchemy of our attention, intention, and embodied presence.

cred me

How to Anoint: A Practical Guide

Anointing is both simple and profound. While the essential gesture is merely the application of oil to skin, the quality of attention brought to the act determines its depth of effect.

Preparation

Begin by creating sacred space, even if only for a moment. This might involve lighting a candle, taking three conscious breaths, or simply setting an intention for your anointing. Consider what quality you wish to invite or strengthen. Which element feels deficient or excessive in your current state?

Selection

Choose the elemental oil that corresponds to your intention:

Earth for grounding, stability, boundaries, manifestation
Water for emotional flow, intuition, purification, receptivity
Fire for passion, transformation, courage, vitality
Air for clarity, communication, inspiration, discernment
Ether for meditation, consecration, unity, presence

Application

Dispense a small amount of oil onto your fingertips or palm. Warm the oil briefly by rubbing your hands together, awakening its aromatic molecules.

Apply with deliberate, loving touch to the body locations that correspond to the element’s domain — or intuitively is always welcome:

Earth: Soles of the feet, base of spine, root center (perineum….though that can be sensitive, lol — the pubic bone is a good alternative), along the legs
Water: Heart center, wrists, lower belly, third eye
Fire: Solar plexus, heart, pulse points, palms
Air: Temples, throat, crown, back of neck
Ether: Crown, heart, palms, anywhere requiring consecration

As you anoint, you might speak your intention aloud, visualize the element’s qualities permeating your being, or simply rest in receptive awareness of sensation and scent.

Integration

After anointing, take time to breathe consciously with the oil’s aroma. Notice any shifts in your felt sense, emotional state, or quality of thought. You might journal, meditate, or move your body to help integrate the anointing. It’s also totally fine to simply continue you day, trusting the oil to keep working subtly in the background.

Frequency

Elemental oils may be used daily as part of a spiritual hygiene practice, or episodically as needed. You might anoint all five elements in sequence for comprehensive balancing, or focus on a single element for an extended period (days, weeks, or lunar cycles). Trust your own intuitive callings here.

The Element Oils: Ceremonial Grade Alchemical Creations

The new elemental anointing oils I’ve created represent the culmination of years of study, intuition, and refinement. Unlike typical elemental blends that rely on familiar correspondences, these formulations include rare and potent essences that elevate them to ceremonial grade.

Earth: The Fertile Matrix

This oil grounds, stabilizes, and nourishes the Earth element through a unique marriage of sacred resins, roots, and rare fungi essences. The inclusion of porcini mushroom absolute—a virtually unobtainable material—brings the deep, mysterious intelligence of mycelial networks. Combined with cedarwood, vetiver, oakmoss, myrrh, opoponax, benzoin, patchouli, black spruce, and angelica root, this creates a profoundly resinous accord that supports embodiment, stillness, and grounded awareness. Apply to the soles of the feet, along the spine, or over the root center when seeking steadiness, belonging, or manifestation.

Water: The Flowing Current

This oil restores flow and receptivity through precious florals, harmonizing leaves, and the extraordinary inclusion of seaweed essence—bringing the literal energy of ocean waters into the blend. With jasmine, key lime, violet, white lotus (another exceptionally rare material), clary sage, and mint, this creates an absolutely divine, flowing blend that softens emotional tension, deepens intuitive listening, and supports dreamwork and divination. Apply to heart, wrists, or third eye before meditation or ritual to encourage gentleness, adaptability, and connection with unseen currents.

Fire: The Transformative Flame

This oil awakens vitality and will through sensual florals, potent spices, and the rare dragonsblood ink—a resinous material that carries both protective and passionately transformative properties. Combined with turmeric, black pepper, ginger, blood orange, rose, cardamom, ylang ylang, coriander, and cinnamon, this spicy-sweet floral oil pulses with passion and movement. Exceptional for charging ritual tools, kindling inspiration, or supporting major release and transformational work. Apply over solar plexus, heart, or pulse points before creative work, dance, ceremony, or when courage and self-expression are needed.

Air: The Clarifying Breath

This oil clears and uplifts through fresh herbs, bright florals, and green forest essences. The inclusion of galbanum—a potent, green, resinous material used in ancient Egyptian perfumery—adds profound spiritual dimension. With high-altitude lavender, blue spruce, balsam fir, rosemary, and eucalyptus, this bright, resinous blend creates mental space and attunes consciousness to subtle currents of inspiration. Use before study, writing, teaching, prayer, or invocation. Apply to temples, throat, or crown when seeking clarity, communication, or discernment.

Ether: The Quintessence

This oil opens awareness to the subtle field uniting all elements. Through precious woods and ethereal florals—including mimosa blossom (an exquisitely delicate absolute) and tuberose (the night-blooming flower associated with spiritual awakening)—combined with sandalwood, neroli, balsam gurjan, geranium rose, and petitgrain, this blend encourages devotion, peace, and direct connection to Source. Use in meditation, consecration, or attunement practices. Apply to crown, heart, or palms before energy work or ritual invocation to harmonize the elemental body.

Each oil is formulated at a ceremonial-grade 20% dilution in jojoba oil, suitable for both daily wear as natural perfume and ritual application. Presented in 1 dram glass bottles, these oils are best used within one year of purchase and remain potent for up to three years with proper storage.

The complete set of all five elemental oils comes housed in a protective tin case—a portable alchemical apothecary for wherever your path leads.

Shop All Anointing Oils

Back to that Hermetic Stuff…

The Hermetic axiom reminds us that inner and outer reality are mirrors. When we restore elemental balance within our own being—through conscious anointing, relationship with plant allies, and embodied ritual practice—we participate in the restoration of balance in the world around us.

These oils are not meant to be precious objects kept on a shelf but living tools for transformation. Use them!

As you work with these living oils over time, you will develop your own felt sense of each element’s signature, your own intuitive understanding of which oil calls to you in any given moment.

This is the deeper gift of elemental anointing: receiving the healing properties of aromatic molecules and cultivating a refined sensitivity to the elemental currents flowing through your own consciousness.

In learning to recognize and rebalance these forces, you become an alchemist—a conscious participant in the great work of transformation.

Did you get something out of this article? Please like, comment, and share. It makes a huge difference…and does just a bit to encourage human-made content.

Juniper Stokes is a botanical perfumer, soul alchemist, and rewilding guide through mythic landscapes of the nature, spirit, and the cosmos. For over 25 years, she has been guiding soulful humans back to the heart of who they are and why they’re here.

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

juniper stokes 11/16/25 juniper stokes 11/16/25

The Magic & Medicine of Ponderosa Pine

I live in the land of ponderosas — and I can tell you that these are really special trees. Tall and straight, with long needles, huge cones, and amazing fire-resistant qualities…oh, and the fragrant resins…mmm…These trees are my guardians and loves in the lands of Oregon.

There are countless types of pines in North America alone. Y’all in Eastern States love your white pine, but the Ponderosa will always hold a special place in this West Coast girl’s heart.

Ponderosa pine is a western North American conifer recognized by its tall, straight trunk, thick scaly bark, and long needles usually bundled in threes. It shapes mountain and foothill landscapes and contributes resin, needles, and bark to fire-adapted ecosystems. Aromatically it gives a bright, resinous, clean evergreen note that calls to mind open forests and sun-warmed resin. Let’s dive into the magic and medicine of ponderosa pine!

Botanical profile and identifying features

Pinus ponderosa commonly reaches great height with a broad crown in mature stands. Needles occur in fascicles of three, and bark matures into puzzle-like plates on older trees. Cones hang downward and can persist on the tree for seasons.

Key identifying notes:

Needles: long, typically in threes.
Bark: thick, brown to orange plates with deep fissures on mature trees.
Habitat: dry slopes, montane forests, foothills from British Columbia south through the western United States.

Traditional and ethnobotanical uses

Ponderosa pine has long been used by Indigenous peoples and settlers who arrived here…unfortunately. Our logging history is rough. But, on a happier note: Needles and inner bark were brewed into vitamin-rich teas by indigenous peoples in this areas. Needle tea has been used as a mild respiratory support and a source of vitamin C in traditional preparations.

The resin, which infuse into oils and tinctures for sacred aromatics, served as an adhesive, waterproofing pitch, chewing gum after careful processing, and as a component in wound salves and fire-starting.

These uses emphasize practical survival skills as well as ceremonial applications—the scent of pine often marks liminal outdoor spaces and seasonal gatherings.

Aromatic and perfumery character

I’m fortunate enough to distill my own ponderosa hydrosol right here in the high desert of Central Oregon :) It’s divine. The Ponderosa scent profile is bright and resinous, with a pine-turpentine top and a warm green-resin heart.

Ponderosa pine essential oil reads as crisp, forest-like, and clearing. In blends it brings freshness and a high, camphor-resin clarity that pairs well with citrus, fir balsams, spruce, and warm resins like labdanum or frankincense.

Ponderosa pine pairs well with cedarwood, vetiver, lavender, rosemary, and citrus top notes for room or ritual blends. Blend with juniper, cypress, and artemesias for clearing and protective creations.

Ponderosa Pine Hydrosol

$16.00

Preparations and ritual applications

Forest clearing spray (room mist)

100 ml distilled water in a spray bottle
1 tsp vegetable glycerin (to help disperse oils and preserve)
Essential oil total: keep to a safe aromatic concentration (around 0.5–1% for room sprays); for 100 ml that equals roughly 15–30 drops total.
A fun starting formula: 10 drops ponderosa pine, 6 drops sweet orange, 4 drops cedarwood. Shake before use and mist lightly in well-ventilated spaces.

Anointing salve (external use)

30 g beeswax + 120 ml ponderosa infused olive oil (from chopped needles)
Infuse needles gently in oil, strain, warm with melted beeswax, pour into tins.
Apply to wrists or chest as a protective and breath-opening ointment.

Needle tea

A small pinch of fresh or dried needles steeped briefly in hot water can be sipped as a warming infusion. Prepare cautiously; avoid if pregnant and consult a practitioner if you have medical concerns.

Safety and cautions

Ponderosa pine contains compounds that have important implications:

Avoid excessive internal use. While needle tea has traditional applications, advice from a qualified herbalist or clinician is recommended before internal consumption.
Pregnant women should avoid internal use of pine medicines and high-dose essential oil exposure.
Essential oils are concentrated and can be irritating to skin and mucous membranes; always dilute. Keep oils away from eyes and infants.
If you have respiratory sensitivities or asthma, test aromatic exposure cautiously; concentrated pine vapors can be stimulating.

Harvesting and stewardship

Responsible harvest protects the tree and the broader forest:

Collect fallen needles or fallen small branches when possible. Post-windstorm is a great time to collect tree medicine.
When collecting resin, only take what falls freely from a tree — never force resin away from where it’s protecting that tree. Look to the ground for fallen resin.
Observe local regulations and Indigenous protocols. Many landscapes have cultural and conservation protections; gather only where permitted and ethical. See this free guide on ethical foraging for more.

Spirit and practice

Ponderosa pine embodies endurance, openness, and the long view. Use it for practices that call for clarity, steady presence, and ancestral remembering. A short morning ritual might involve a single anointed drop of pine-scented oil on the wrists, mindful breath, and a commitment to carry the steadiness of the tree into the day.

If you would like to explore plant medicines and aromatic craft more deeply, join the waitlist for Nectar & Alchemy: The School of Sacred Aromatics.

Current classes include Angel Anointing, Becoming a Myrrhophore, and more — and I’ll be sharing a foundational anointing oil class in January 2026!

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

juniper stokes 11/10/25 juniper stokes 11/10/25

Pink Yarrow: The flower essence of healthy boundaries

Oh my goodness. My pink yarrow emerged more vibrant than ever this summer! Look at the very real and unedited picture from my yard!

Pink yarrow (the rose- or pink-flowered forms of Achillea millefolium and close cultivars) carries the same botanical character as common yarrow but adds a soft, heart-leaning color. In folk medicine yarrow is famous as a wound plant and circulatory ally; in the flower essence tradition, pink yarrow shows up as a remedy for people who are highly empathic, who merge with others’ feelings, or who have porous energetic boundaries and need a steadier sense of self.

Family: Asteraceae.
Descriptors: clumping perennial with finely divided, feathery leaves and flat-topped clusters of many small flowers. Pink cultivars range from pale rose to deeper pink.
Habitat: meadows, roadsides, dry fields and open woodland edges across temperate regions where it readily self-seeds.
Harvest the flowering tops when blossoms are fresh and fully open for the best energetic and aromatic qualities.

Traditional uses

Historically yarrow earned names such as “wound healer” and “Master of Blood” because of its styptic action and its use in treating cuts, stopping bleeding, and assisting wound repair.

Ever heard of Achilles’ Heel? Well, achillea millefolium heals ;)

That physical reputation carries into energetic work: yarrow is trusted for closing leaks, mending ruptures, and restoring continuity to the field. These physical-plant uses appear throughout ethnobotanical records and contemporary herbal sources.

I love using wild yarrow in healing salves and oils, but I reserve the precious pink yarrow for flower essences…

What the pink-yarrow flower essence addresses

Pink yarrow flower essence as especially useful for people who absorb other people’s emotions, becoming confused, drained, or ill in highly empathic environments.

Healers, carers, and animals who take on others’ states and need a clearer boundary that still allows compassion can also benefit from this essence, as can those who wish to cultivate compassionate presence that does not merge or over-identify with another’s inner life.

How to use pink yarrow essence

I like to take 4 drops under the tongue up to 4 times daily, or as needed during periods of orbiting emotional overwhelm.

Safety and clinical considerations

Flower essences are considered vibrational remedies rather than herbal pharmacology, so they are typically non-toxic and used in tiny dilutions. Still, it’s wise to use caution with clients who have severe psychiatric conditions. For pregnant women, animals, or children, you can use a vinegar or glycerin-based remedy rather than the traditional brandy-based version.

Ritually-Made Vibrant Pink Yarrow Essence

Pink Yarrow

$14.00

Want to learn more about flower essences? I’ve created a totally free guide for you!

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

juniper stokes 11/7/25 juniper stokes 11/7/25

Why Hydrosols Are the Missing Piece in Your Wellness Practice

Hydrosols: the gentle powerhouse you didn't know you needed.

There's a reason hydrosols have been treasured for over a thousand years in healing traditions around the world. And there's a reason that once people discover them, they wonder how they ever lived without them.

If you've been feeling like something is missing from your wellness routine—if essential oils feel too strong, if you want plant medicine that's gentle enough for daily use but powerful enough to create real change, if you're looking for something that works on multiple levels at once—hydrosols might be exactly what you've been searching for.

What Makes Hydrosols Different?

Let's start with what hydrosols actually are, because most people have never heard of them.

When you steam distill a plant to create essential oils, you get two products: the concentrated oil floating on top, and the aromatic water beneath. That water is the hydrosol. It carries the water-soluble compounds of the plant, the vibrational essence, and trace amounts of the essential oil itself.

But here's what makes hydrosols extraordinary: they bridge worlds that usually stay separate.

Hydrosols are:

Gentle enough for the most sensitive skin, yet powerful enough for deep healing
Subtle enough for daily use, yet potent enough for spiritual practice
Accessible enough to spray freely, yet sacred enough to use ceremonially
Mild enough for children and elders, yet effective enough for acute situations

This is the sweet spot of plant medicine—the Goldilocks zone where accessibility meets potency.

The Problems Hydrosols Solve

1. When Essential Oils Are Too Much

Essential oils are incredible, but they're not for everyone or every situation. They're highly concentrated (it takes 60 roses to make one drop of rose oil), they can irritate sensitive skin, they require dilution and careful use, and frankly, they're expensive enough that most people use them sparingly.

Hydrosols give you the medicine of the plant without any of these limitations. You can spray them directly on your skin, use them generously, mist your whole body, your face, your space—no dilution needed, no sensitization concerns, no measuring droppers or carrier oils.

The result? You actually use them. Daily. Multiple times a day. And that consistency is where real transformation happens.

2. When You Need Something Now

We live in a world of overwhelm. Stress hits us multiple times a day. We need tools we can reach for in the moment—not things that require preparation, planning, or perfect conditions.

Hydrosols are instant. Keep a bottle by your desk and spray yourself when anxiety rises. Keep one by your bed for restless nights. Keep one in your bag for moments when you need to shift your energy quickly. Keep one in the bathroom for after-shower rituals that take 30 seconds but change your whole day.

This immediacy matters. The best remedy is the one you'll actually use, and hydrosols remove every barrier between you and the medicine.

3. When Your Skin Needs Real Care

Your skin is your largest organ and your primary interface with the world. It deserves more than synthetic fragrances, preservatives, and ingredients you can't pronounce.

Hydrosols are pure plant medicine for your skin. They're hydrating without being heavy. They balance pH naturally. They calm inflammation, reduce redness, tone and tighten, provide antioxidants, and feed your skin with the same compounds the plant uses to protect and heal itself.

But unlike most skincare products, hydrosols don't just treat your skin superficially. Because they work energetically as well as physically, they're nourishing you on multiple levels simultaneously—addressing not just the symptom, but the whole pattern that created it.

4. When You Want Spiritual Practice Without Complexity

Many people feel drawn to plant spirit medicine but don't know where to start. Working with plants spiritually can feel intimidating—do you need training? Special knowledge? The right mindset?

Hydrosols make it simple. Spray yourself before meditation and you're working with plant allies. Mist your space before ritual and you're clearing energy. Spritz your pillow before sleep and you're inviting the plant's medicine into your dreamtime.

There's no wrong way to do it. The plants aren't judging your technique. They're simply offering their gifts, and hydrosols are the most accessible form of receiving them.

5. When Your Space Needs Energetic Hygiene

We've become so aware of physical hygiene—washing hands, cleaning surfaces, purifying air. But what about energetic hygiene?

We absorb energy from every interaction, every environment, every screen we stare at. That accumulation affects our mood, our clarity, our vitality, our sleep. Yet most of us have no regular practice for clearing it.

Hydrosols are energetic hygiene made easy. Come home from a difficult day and mist yourself head to toe—literally washing off what isn't yours. Had a challenging conversation? Clear the room afterwards. Feeling stuck in old patterns? Change your frequency with a different plant medicine.

This isn't woo-woo—it's practical spiritual maintenance, and it takes 10 seconds.

My Alchemessence Hydrosols Are Magical

Not all hydrosols are created equal, and this matters more than you might think.

Commercial vs. Small-Batch Traditional

Most hydrosols on the market are byproducts of essential oil production. The oils are siphoned off and sold separately, and the leftover water is bottled as hydrosol. While these still have value, they're missing something crucial: the essential oils themselves.

Traditional hydrosols—made the way they've been made for thousands of years—keep the oils and water together. This means you're getting both the water-soluble compounds AND the oil-soluble compounds. You're getting the full spectrum of the plant's chemistry and energy.

This is how Alchemessence hydrosols are made: nothing is removed. The essential oils remain suspended in the aromatic water, giving you a more complete and potent medicine.

Grown with Intention, Harvested with Care

There's another factor that commercial operations can't replicate: relationship with the plants.

Every plant in Alchemessence hydrosols is either grown from seed or wild-tended on high desert land. Each one is observed, communed with, cared for throughout its growing cycle. Harvest happens at peak potency, often at specific times of day when the plant's medicine is strongest. The distillation itself is ceremony—honoring the plant's sacrifice and gift.

This isn't just romanticism. Plants are living beings that respond to how they're treated. The energetic quality of medicine made from plants that were rushed through industrial processing is different from medicine made from plants that were honored, thanked, and distilled with reverence.

You can feel the difference. People who use both commercial and small-batch sacred hydrosols consistently report that the handmade ones "hit different"—they're more alive, more present, more effective.

The Copper Alembic Factor

Alchemessence hydrosols are distilled in a copper alembic—the traditional vessel used by alchemists for millennia. Copper isn't just aesthetic; it has specific properties that affect the distillation. It conducts heat evenly, interacts with the plant compounds in beneficial ways, and many believe it adds its own energetic signature to the medicine.

Modern commercial operations use stainless steel because it's cheaper and easier to scale. But there's a reason the ancient alchemists chose copper, and there's a reason serious distillers still use it today.

Why Seasonal, Small-Batch Matters to You

Here's the honest truth about small-batch seasonal production: it means limited supply.

When hydrosols are gone, they're gone until next year's harvest. There are no warehouses of backup stock, no ability to suddenly make more when demand spikes. Each plant only yields so much medicine, and once that's been distilled, that's it for the season.

This might sound like a disadvantage, but it's actually what ensures quality. It means:

Every batch is fresh (hydrosols do degrade over time—fresher is better)
Nothing sits around for years waiting to be sold
I can focus on quality over quantity
Each hydrosol is made from that year's harvest, capturing that specific growing season
You're getting peak potency, not something that's been sitting on a shelf

But it also means that if you want these hydrosols, waiting isn't a good strategy. Popular varieties sell out within weeks. Once they're gone, you'll be waiting until next summer's harvest.

Real Uses for Real Life

Let's get practical. How do people actually use hydrosols daily?

Morning: Mist your face after washing as a gentle toner. The hydrosol balances your skin's pH, provides antioxidants, and wakes you up energetically. It's skincare and spiritual practice in one spray.

Throughout the Day: Keep a bottle at your desk. When stress hits, spray yourself—face, hands, the back of your neck. The aromatic compounds enter through your skin and your breath simultaneously, shifting your nervous system in seconds. This is better than a coffee break because you come back more centered, not more wired.

Before Bed: Mist your pillow, sheets, and yourself. Choose a plant that supports what you need—lavender for calming, mugwort for dreaming, pine for grounding. Your sleep quality will change when your sleep environment is infused with plant medicine instead of synthetic fragrance or stale air.

After Difficult Interactions: Clear your energy field immediately. Stand up, spray yourself from head to toe, take three deep breaths. You're not just refreshing yourself—you're literally washing off energetic residue. This practice alone can prevent the accumulation of stress that leads to burnout.

Before Spiritual Practice: Whether you meditate, pray, do yoga, or simply sit in silence—mist your space and yourself first. You're inviting the plant as an ally, creating sacred space, and shifting your consciousness into a more receptive state. The practice becomes deeper because you're not doing it alone.

As Needed for Skin Issues: Irritation, inflammation, dryness, redness—hydrosols address all of it. Spray generously on the affected area several times a day. Unlike creams that can trap problems under occlusive layers, hydrosols deliver healing directly while allowing skin to breathe.

Room Clearing: When a space feels heavy, stagnant, or off—mist it. After arguments, after illness, after energy-draining guests, or just because it's been too long. Think of it as energetic housekeeping that takes 30 seconds but transforms the feeling of your home.

The Plants You Need

Each plant offers its own particular gifts. Here's what's available from this summer's harvest:

For Protection & Boundaries: Wormwood, White Sagebrush, Giant Sagebrush
When you feel overwhelmed by others' energy, when you need to say no, when you're processing difficult experiences

For Grounding & Presence: Ponderosa Pine, Larch, Rabbitbrush
When you're scattered, anxious, or unmoored—these bring you back to earth and to yourself

For Peace & Nervous System Support: Lavender, Lavender White Sage Co-distill
When your nervous system is fried, when you can't turn off your mind, when you need softness

For Spiritual Practice & Dreamwork: Mugwort
The ancient dreaming herb—for accessing intuition, for liminal space work, for psychic opening

For Uplift & Celebration: Marigold (Tagetes), Apple Fruit
When you need brightness, joy, sweetness—these plants bring solar energy and delight

For Resilience & Healing: Yarrow
The warrior's companion—for maintaining integrity under pressure, for healing wounds seen and unseen

Most people find they're drawn to 2-3 specific hydrosols that become their daily companions, and then keep others on hand for specific situations. There's no wrong way to choose—trust what calls to you.

Why This Matters Now

We're living through a time of collective overwhelm. The nervous system assaults are constant—news, screens, isolation, uncertainty, divisiveness, environmental stress. We need tools that actually help, that we can use daily, that don't require perfect conditions or extensive training.

We also need real relationship with the natural world, but most of us are so disconnected that we don't even know where to start.

Hydrosols answer both needs. They're accessible medicine for modern stress. They're a daily tangible relationship with plants. They work on your skin, in your space, on your energy, and in your spirit—all at once.

And they're gentle enough that you'll actually use them, which means they can actually help.

The ancient Taoist physician Sun Simiao understood something profound: the best medicine is the medicine people will use. That's why he championed hydrosols over essential oils for common folk—not because they were inferior, but because they were accessible. You didn't need to measure, dilute, or be cautious. You could use them freely, daily, generously.

A thousand years later, we still need that same medicine. Maybe even more urgently.

What Happens When They're Gone

Here's what happens every year: people discover hydrosols, fall in love with them, use their bottle up, go to reorder... and find that their favorite is sold out.

Then they wait months for next year's harvest, wishing they'd stocked up when they had the chance.

Small-batch means small quantities. Seasonal means once a year. Popular varieties sell out fast, especially once people start talking about them.

If you know you want to work with hydrosols—if you can feel that these would fill a need in your life, your practice, your self-care routine—don't wait. Get the varieties that call to you now, while they're available.

You can't rush next summer's harvest. You can't demand plants grow faster or yield more than they naturally offer. You can only work with what's here, now, in this moment.

And what's here is a limited supply of potent, sacred, small-batch hydrosols made the traditional way, from plants grown with intention and distilled with reverence.

The question is: do you want to spend the next year with these plant allies by your side, or do you want to spend it wishing you'd ordered them when you had the chance?

The Invitation

This isn't just about buying a product. It's about choosing to bring plant medicine into your daily life in the most accessible, usable, effective form that exists.

It's about having tools that actually help when stress hits, when your skin needs support, when your space needs clearing, when your spirit needs remembering who you are beneath all the noise.

It's about working with plants that were grown and harvested by human hands, distilled in ceremony, and offered to you with the same intention healers have held for thousands of years: may this help you remember wholeness.

The hydrosols are ready. The bottles are filled. The medicine is waiting.

The only question is whether you'll invite these plant allies into your life before the seasonal harvest is gone.

Choose Your Hydrosols

Limited seasonal batches available now. Once they're gone, they're gone until next summer's harvest.

Lavender White Sagebrush Co-Distill

$18.00

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Ponderosa Pine Hydrosol

$16.00

Marigold Hydrosol

$18.00

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

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The Magic & Medicine of Wormwood

The Bitter Herb of Boundaries, Spirits, and Purification

Among the many plants that bridge the physical and the unseen, few are as enduring and paradoxical as wormwood. Silver-leaved, aromatic, and bitter beyond measure, Artemisia absinthium has been medicine, poison, and spirit ally for over two thousand years. It is the namesake of absinthe—the “green fairy” of Belle Époque legend—but its deeper reputation is that of a purifier: a herb that confronts corruption in both body and soul.

I grow wormwood in my own organic gardens and am ever grateful for the magic and medicine it shares.

The Nature of the Plant

Wormwood is a perennial herb of the Asteraceae family, native to temperate Europe and Western Asia. It thrives in dry, neglected soils and can endure long periods of drought—an embodiment of resilience through austerity. Its finely divided silver leaves carry resinous glands rich with volatile oils. These essential oils, heavy with thujone, sabinene, chamazulene precursors, and myrcene, lend wormwood its penetrating scent and bitter flavor.

Chemically, wormwood is dominated by sesquiterpene lactones such as absinthin and anabsinthin—the compounds responsible for its intense bitterness. These stimulate digestive secretions, increase bile flow, and expel parasites. The same molecular bitterness that cleanses the gut also defines wormwood’s energetic action: it rejects what is stagnant, invasive, or false.

Wormwood in Ancient and Sacred Use

From Egypt to Greece to the Celtic north, wormwood was considered a boundary plant. In Egypt it was used in ritual fumigations to drive out unseen forces of disease. The Greeks placed it under Artemis’s protection—patron of women, wilderness, and thresholds—and used it in moon rites and dream oracles. Roman soldiers took wormwood wine before long marches, believing it would guard against exhaustion and corruption of the blood.

Medieval herbals praised wormwood as “the mother of herbs,” a tonic and a guard. Monks planted it near doors to repel moths and vermin, and housewives bundled it in linens to deter insects. It appeared in plague remedies, burned in homes to cleanse foul air, and steeped in wines and tonics to protect the spirit during epidemics.

In alchemical medicine, wormwood belonged to Saturn—the planet of endings, truth, and purification. Saturnine herbs strip away illusion and excess; wormwood, with its austerity and bitterness, was said to temper indulgence and bring clarity.

The Absinthe Spirit

In the late eighteenth century, wormwood found new life as the heart of absinthe, the legendary green liqueur. Distilled with anise, fennel, hyssop, and other herbs, absinthe concentrated wormwood’s volatile thujone-rich oil into a clear elixir that clouded when diluted with water.

Artists and poets of nineteenth-century Europe turned absinthe into a ritual of inspiration and dissolution. They called it “la fée verte”—the green fairy—believing it opened the creative and subconscious realms. What they experienced was both chemical and symbolic: thujone acts on the GABA receptors, creating mild disinhibition and heightened perception, while wormwood’s Saturnine current stripped away veils of civility, revealing the raw and the visionary.

Absinthe was later blamed for madness and banned for decades, though modern analysis shows that alcohol abuse, not thujone, was the true poison. Even so, the mythology remains apt: wormwood intoxicates not with sweetness, but with revelation.

Parasites and Ghosts: The Same Principle in Two Worlds

Wormwood’s long reputation as an anthelmintic—an expeller of worms—forms the root of its English name. Its volatile oils and sesquiterpene lactones are hostile to intestinal parasites, stimulating the digestive fire that makes the gut inhospitable to them. This cleansing is both biological and symbolic.

Across spiritual traditions, parasites and ghosts are often metaphors for energies that feed upon vitality. In the body, they rob nutrients; in the spirit, they drain will and clarity. Wormwood acts on both levels through the same principle: expulsion of what invades without consent.

When used as incense or hydrosol, wormwood clears dense atmospheres, dissolving psychic residue much as it purges physical infestation. In folk magic it is burned to repel spirits of the restless dead or to sever unhealthy energetic ties. In the Slavic lands, wormwood was hung in thresholds to prevent the return of the unquiet dead after midsummer. In Western Europe it was added to funeral bouquets to guide souls to rest and to protect the living from their lingering sorrow.

In energetic work, wormwood corresponds to the solar plexus—the center of digestion, discernment, and will—and to the third eye, where perception clarifies. It sharpens boundaries while keeping channels clear. In this sense, its bitterness is an act of love: a refusal to let the sacred self be consumed by parasitic thought, energy, or emotion.

Wormwood Hydrosol

$16.00

Wormwood Smudge Bundle

$10.00

The Alchemy of Purification

To the alchemists, every herb mirrored a process of inner transformation. Wormwood’s alchemy was that of calcination: the burning away of dross to reveal what endures. Its ruling planet, Saturn, governs time, decay, and truth; its element, fire through air, carries the smoke of purification.

In alchemical operations, wormwood was used to temper the volatile with the fixed. Its essence was distilled into tinctures that “separate the pure from the impure,” assisting both physical detoxification and the refinement of consciousness. Its bitterness was seen as a form of instruction—showing the initiate that the path of clarity requires confrontation with the unpleasant and the unacknowledged.

Working with Wormwood Today

• Incense or fumigation – A pinch of dried leaf burned in a heat-proof dish clears a space before dream work, divination, or ancestral communion.
• Infused oil – Dilute carefully and use for protection of the solar plexus or to seal energetic boundaries.
• Tincture or bitters – When used under guidance and in microdoses, wormwood strengthens digestion and focus, though it must never be taken in excess.
• Flower essence – A gentle form that assists in releasing psychic parasites and emotional entanglements, restoring clarity and sovereignty.

Cautions

Wormwood is not a casual herb. Its essential oil is toxic when ingested and should never be taken internally. Even teas and tinctures require moderation and professional guidance. It is contraindicated in pregnancy, epilepsy, and liver conditions. Its power lies in its restraint—the dose defines whether it is medicine or poison.

Closing

Wormwood stands as one of the old world’s purest teachers of discernment. It embodies the sacred bitterness that guards life from decay and delusion. In the body, it awakens digestion and casts out parasites. In the spirit, it restores sovereignty by clearing ghosts, obsessions, and attachments. Its lesson is clear and unsentimental: to protect life, one must know what belongs and what does not.

Wormwood is the herb of the threshold—where the living meet the dead, where comfort gives way to truth, and where purification opens the path to wisdom.

If you would like to explore plant medicines and aromatic craft more deeply, join the waitlist for Nectar & Alchemy: The School of Sacred Aromatics.

Current classes include Angel Anointing, Becoming a Myrrhophore, and more — and I’ll be sharing a foundational anointing oil class in January 2026!

Enjoyed this article? The absolute most wonderful way to say thank you is by sharing it!

You might also like:

Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

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The Medicine & Magic of marigold

Few garden flowers are as instantly familiar as the marigold. Their orange and yellow heads catch the eye, their scent marks a place, and across cultures these flowers have been pressed into ceremonial, medicinal, culinary, and practical use.

But “marigold” is a common name that points to two different plant stories: the Tagetes marigolds of the Americas and the pot marigold, Calendula, that became a European herbal mainstay. Both sit in the daisy family (Asteraceae), but they bring different chemistries and different cultural roles.

Below I unpack both threads: who these plants are, what’s in them, how people have used them, and how you might work with them safely.

Two marigolds: Tagetes vs. Calendula

When people say “marigold” they usually mean one of two things.

• Tagetes — the New World marigolds (Tagetes erecta, T. patula, T. lucida, T. minuta, etc.). These are the bright orange, pungent-scented marigolds commonly used in large quantities at festivals in Mexico and widely planted in gardens worldwide. They were domesticated in the Americas and later spread across the globe.

• Calendula (Calendula officinalis), often called pot marigold, is an Old World medicinal and kitchen flower. It has been cultivated in Mediterranean and South Asian herb gardens for centuries and features in traditional European and Middle Eastern materia medica. Calendula petals tend to be softer in fragrance and prized for topical herbal preparations and cosmetic extracts.

Knowing which plant you mean matters, because their traditional uses and active chemistry differ.

Botanical and chemical profile — what makes each plant “work”

Calendula officinalis: the pot marigold

Calendula petals are rich in carotenoids (lutein and related xanthophyll esters), triterpenoid esters and saponins, flavonol glycosides, and polysaccharides. These lipophilic pigments give the flowers their intense yellow–orange color and contribute antioxidant and skin-soothing activity used in salves, wound creams, and cosmetic formulations. Modern analyses identify many individual carotenoids in calendula petals, with lutein derivatives among the major constituents.

Tagetes species: the New World marigolds

Tagetes flowers and roots produce a different chemical profile: essential oils rich in monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids, carotenoids in the petals, and sulfur-containing polyacetylenes called thiophenes (notably α-terthienyl) concentrated in roots and flowers. Those thiophenes are biologically active — nematicidal, insecticidal, and antifungal — which explains Tagetes’ long use as a companion plant and soil protector. Essential oils from leaves and flowers contain compounds such as tagetone and ocimene, which also contribute to biological activity and aroma.

In My Botanica

I love the medicine of both these flowers, but for very different uses. In my natural perfumes and anointing oils, I most often use tagetes — it’s fruity fragrance enhances blends with an undefinable note. This is also the variety I use to make my Marigold Hydrosol.

I use calendula to infuse into oils and teas.

Both are lovely to make plant pigments with!

Marigold Hydrosol

$18.00

Cultural lives of the marigold

Mexico and Mesoamerica — cempasúchil and the dead

Tagetes erecta (cempasúchil, often called the Aztec or Mexican marigold) has a deep history in central Mexico. The Aztecs used the flowers in ritual, in offerings, and as dye and medicine. Today cempasúchil is inseparable from Día de los Muertos altars and processions: its bright color and pungent scent are thought to guide and welcome ancestral spirits back to the home of the living. Large quantities of marigolds are laid on graves and woven into ofrendas.

South Asia — garlands, festivals, and weddings

Marigolds (mostly Tagetes species, introduced in the early modern period) are ubiquitous in Hindu ritual and South Asian celebrations. Strung into long garlands, they are offered at temples, used to decorate homes during festivals like Diwali, and carried in wedding processions. The flowers symbolize brightness, auspiciousness, and a life force that links offerings to the divine.

Europe and the Mediterranean — calendula as healer and dye

Calendula shows up throughout classical and medieval herbal texts for wound care, eye washes, skin salves, and as a culinary garnish or textile dye. European apothecaries prized the petals for anti-inflammatory and vulnerary preparations; today calendula extracts still appear in wound-care and cosmetic products for their soothing and reparative properties.

Gardens and farms — companion, dye, food, and pest control

Farmers and gardeners value Tagetes for more than ornament. Planted as a companion crop, marigolds help suppress certain nematodes and soil pathogens — a practical use that follows from the plant’s thiophene chemistry. Some Tagetes and Calendula cultivars are edible: petals add color to salads and can act as a saffron or dye substitute in rice and sweets. Tagetes lucida and T. tenuifolia are used as culinary herbs in some regional cuisines.

Medicine, magic, and modern uses

Medicinally, calendula is most commonly used topically: infused oil, salves, and creams for minor wounds, dermatitis, and inflammation. Laboratory and clinical work supports calendula’s anti-inflammatory and wound-healing potential, mostly tied to its carotenoids, triterpenoids, and polysaccharides. Tagetes species have a record of traditional use for digestive complaints, fever, and external applications; their root and leaf extracts are studied for antimicrobial and antiparasitic activity.

Magically and symbolically, marigold often represents the sun, life force, protection, and remembrance. In folk practice across regions the flower is used in protective bundles, funeral rites, and offerings. Because of their bright hue and longevity, marigolds frequently stand in rituals that mark thresholds between life and death, or that ask for resilience and abundance.

How to use marigold in your home practice and kitchen

Infused oil and salve with calendula petals — a classic for skin care: slowly macerate dried petals in olive or sunflower oil for several weeks or use low heat, then strain and whip into a salve with beeswax.

Marigold rice or dye — steep petals (Tagetes or calendula) in hot water or simmer briefly to release color for rice, butter, or baked goods as an edible dye. Use edible cultivars and be mindful of flavor. I’ve heard it called poorman’s saffron ;)

Garden ally — plant Tagetes as a companion in vegetable beds to help deter some soil pests and attract pollinators; harvest flowers before heavy rainfall to preserve potency. I always plant by tomatoes.

Cautions and contraindications

Don’t assume all marigolds are edible — identify the species and cultivar. Some Tagetes are bitter and can upset digestion in large amounts. Calendula oral use is generally discouraged in pregnancy; many sources advise avoiding internal use of calendula during pregnancy because of potential uterine effects. Topical use is common, but consult a medical provider if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or allergic to Asteraceae (daisy family) plants. For Tagetes, food amounts are usually safe, but medicinal dosing lacks robust safety data.

Tagetes essential oil is potent and must be used with care. It can be phototoxic or irritating; never apply concentrated oils undiluted to skin and treat essential oils with the usual aromatic safety protocols.

Closing

Marigolds are both practical and ceremonial: dyes and salves, altar flowers and companion plants. Calendula and Tagetes occupy overlapping but distinct cultural and botanical territories — each brings a rich tradition, useful chemistry, and specific applications. Whether you braid cempasúchil for an ofrenda, infuse calendula into a healing salve, or plant Tagetes along a tomato row, you are working with a plant that has served people’s bodies and rituals for centuries.

If you would like to explore plant medicines and aromatic craft more deeply, join the waitlist for Nectar & Alchemy: The School of Sacred Aromatics.

Current classes include Angel Anointing, Becoming a Myrrhophore, and more — and I’ll be sharing a foundational anointing oil class in January 2026!

Selected sources used above: PLoS/PMC review on Tagetes chemistry and thiophenes; Kew plant profile on Mexican marigold; ACS study and recent reviews on calendula carotenoids and phytochemistry; UF/IFAS and extension literature on nematode suppression; medical summaries on calendula safety (WebMD, Drugs.com).

Ritually-Made Marigold Essence

Marigold

$14.00

Want to learn more about flower essences? I’ve created a totally free guide for you!

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

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The Magic & Medicine of Mugwort

Oh mugwort — also called crone’s wort among women’s circles (which is a very appropriate name, as you’ll see below).

Mugwort is a plant I love and grow in my own organic gardens. This year, I created mugwort flower essence, mugwort smoke bundles, mugwort hydrsosol, and even mugwort pigment! I also baked mugwort cookies and dried leaves to use for teas and dreaming throughout the year.

Mugwort—most commonly Artemisia vulgaris in Europe and A. argyi or A. princeps in East Asia—is a perennial herb with a long history as a healer, a companion for dreams, and a plant of ritual protection. It carries a herbaceous, slightly bitter, camphoraceous aroma and has been used across cultures for digestive support, moxibustion, divination, and as a smoke medicine for clearing and opening subtle pathways.

Botanical profile and lifecycle

Mugwort is a hardy, rhizomatous perennial that favors disturbed ground, roadsides, fields, and forest edges. Stems rise from creeping rootstocks and bear deeply lobed, grey-green leaves often paler beneath. Flower clusters are small, inconspicuous, and wind-pollinated; they appear late summer into fall. Mugwort spreads readily by rhizome and seed, which makes it resilient but also aggressive in some settings.

Key identifying notes:

Leaves: alternate, deeply lobed, often with a downy or silvery underside.
Flowers: small, clustered, usually yellowish-green or brownish.
Growth habit: erect stems from a creeping rootstock; can form colonies.

Harvesting and sustainability

In many places, mugwort grows freely and weedily :) Harvest aerial parts just before or at early flower for best aromatic character and in ways that do not encourage unwanted spread into sensitive habitats. Respect private and protected lands; gather only where legal and sustainable.

If you harvest your own mugwort, be sure to check out my free ethical foraging guide and free plant identification guides.

Traditional and ethnobotanical uses

Mugwort has a broad, cross-cultural profile, often carried as a talisman against intrusion and used in protective bundles and sleep pillows to encourage lucid or prophetic dreams.

In the Taoist traditions I study, as well as Classical and Traditional Chinese Medicine in general, the leaves of mugwort are dried and used for moxibustion—compressed into cones or sticks and burned over acupuncture points to apply warming, focused heat.

On the European continent, artemisia vulgaris appears in herbal and folk practices as a bitter for digestion, a menstrual aide, and as a component in dreamwork. The Greek lunar goddess Artemis gave her name to this family of feminine-aligned plants.

Diana (Artemis) the Huntress - (1870-1924) Guillaume Seignac

Aromatic & perfumery character

While I use mugwort in some spirit sprays and anointing oils, it’s green-herbaceous, slightly camphoraceous, bittersweet aroma can overwhelm perfumes. Though, I do of course have mugwort and other artemisia’s in my botanical perfume for Artemis ;)

Mugwort registers as an aromatic green with medicinal and almost resinous facets when warmed. In perfumery it functions as a green-middle note that can lend herbal depth and an aged, medicinal nuance to incense, chypres, and leather accords.

Making your own magical perfumes? Some tips:

Use sparingly. A little mugwort essential oil shifts a blend toward herbal depth without dominating, but it’s super easy to overdo.
Pairs well with: cedar, vetiver, bergamot (use a bergapten-free fraction if blending for skin), frankincense, lavender, and smoky resins.

Mugwort

$14.00

Mugwort Hydrosol

$16.00